Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will make an assessment of the level of independence of the complaint review process within the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The legal powers underpinning the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman’s investigations are invested in the Ombudsman themselves and they have personal authority in the investigation of complaints. I therefore have no remit to interfere with the Ombudsman’s investigatory work.
This independence rightly keeps central government at arm’s length from the service that the Ombudsman provides to members of the public; a service which is an important element of the overarching local government accountability system.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what oversight exists to ensure that local authorities engage constructively with parents who raise concerns on (a) fair process and (b) statutory obligations.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Local authorities must engage constructively with parents when concerns arise about fair process or statutory duties. Oversight is provided through several mechanisms. First, parents can use the statutory three-stage complaints procedure for children’s services, which includes independent review. If they remain dissatisfied, they may escalate to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, which investigates maladministration and recommends remedies to ensure fairness and compliance.
Ofsted inspections also assess how effectively authorities involve parents and meet legal obligations.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many referrals have the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman received in each year since 2015 regarding Children’s Continuing Care.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to ensuring that all children, including those with complex health needs, receive appropriate care and support whenever and wherever they need it.
The National Framework for Children and Young People’s Continuing Care provides guidance to support integrated care boards and local authorities to assess and agree support for children whose needs cannot be met through existing universal or specialist services.
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) is an independent organisation. The PHSO publishes statistics on the referrals and complaints they receive categorised by organisation and not by type of service provided or age group. Therefore, the Department does not have access to the information requested.
Asked by: Chris Coghlan (Liberal Democrat - Dorking and Horley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what (a) monitoring and (b) reporting arrangements his Department has put in place to ensure that repeated non-compliance by local authorities in the First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability) is escalated to (i) the Department for Education, (ii) the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, (iii) Ofsted, (iv) the Care Quality Commission and (v) other relevant oversight bodies; and where this information is published.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Data about whether any barring orders have been made by the First Tier Tribunal (Health, Education and Social Care Chamber) in each of the last three years could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Data on non-compliance, following a decision made by the Tribunal is not held centrally. The Tribunal does not have powers of enforcement over local authorities. Escalation of non-compliance of a Tribunal’s decision is to the Local Authority. If the decision is still not been complied with, this could be escalated to the Local Authority Ombudsman. Guidance about this is provided to appellants.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that (a) families and (b) carers can effectively (i) raise and (ii) resolve complaints about adult social care provision in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises the vital roles that unpaid carers and families play. The Government is committed to supporting them, including by ensuring that they can effectively raise and resolve complaints about adult social care, including in Surrey Heath.
By law, all health and social care services must have a procedure for dealing efficiently with complaints. Anyone receiving adult social care or their family, carer, or representative has the right to complain about decisions, service delivery, or related issues.
If an individual is not satisfied with the way a provider or local authority has dealt with a complaint, they may escalate it to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) who can investigate individual concerns. The LGSCO is the independent complaints lead for adult social care and investigates complaints from those receiving social care.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator for health and social care in England. Whilst the CQC is unable to investigate individual complaints, the CQC encourages the public to “share their experience” through an online feedback mechanism which allows them to raise concerns about the services they receive from providers. Any such cases shared with the CQC will be investigated as part of its ongoing monitoring of providers.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, further to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman's press release entitled Ombudsman writes to Secretary of State after council refuses to accept recommendation on abuse survivor’s complaint, published on 10 September 2025, what steps he is taking further to the letter from the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman relating to Leicester City Council.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Department is aware of the concerns raised by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman. We continue to monitor Leicester City Council’s compliance with its Best Value Duty, in line with our wider oversight of local authority risk.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what mechanisms exist for victims to challenge decisions on whether thresholds for anti-social behaviour case reviews are met.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office provides statutory guidance to support local agencies in the use of the powers and tools in the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act, including the ASB case review. The guidance makes clear how information should be shared between relevant agencies to ensure the effective operation of the case review. The guidance sets out that relevant agencies should develop agreements for information sharing, risk assessments and a common understanding of the aims of the ASB Case Review.
Victims can query decisions with the lead agency for the ASB case review where it has been decided that the threshold has not been met. Where the local council has led the review, victims may also submit a complaint to their using the councils’ formal complaints system. If exhausted or no response is received, victims can also contact the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.
Through the Crime and Policing Bill, we are creating a new duty for police and crime commissioners (PCCs) to provide a route for victims to query decisions via their office. This includes victims being able to ask the PCC to review decisions made by the lead agency in an ASB case review where they have deemed that the threshold has not been met.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance her Department provides to (a) councils, (b) police forces, (c) health boards, (d) housing providers and (e) other relevant local agencies on the of sharing information during anti-social behaviour case reviews.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office provides statutory guidance to support local agencies in the use of the powers and tools in the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act, including the ASB case review. The guidance makes clear how information should be shared between relevant agencies to ensure the effective operation of the case review. The guidance sets out that relevant agencies should develop agreements for information sharing, risk assessments and a common understanding of the aims of the ASB Case Review.
Victims can query decisions with the lead agency for the ASB case review where it has been decided that the threshold has not been met. Where the local council has led the review, victims may also submit a complaint to their using the councils’ formal complaints system. If exhausted or no response is received, victims can also contact the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.
Through the Crime and Policing Bill, we are creating a new duty for police and crime commissioners (PCCs) to provide a route for victims to query decisions via their office. This includes victims being able to ask the PCC to review decisions made by the lead agency in an ASB case review where they have deemed that the threshold has not been met.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data he holds on the number of (a) referrals and (b) complaints to social care services received by councils from (i) retirement residential home and (ii) independent living providers.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not hold this information.
By law, all health and social care services must have a procedure for dealing efficiently with complaints, and anyone who has seen or experienced poor-quality care has the right to complain to the organisation that provided or paid for the care.
If an individual is not satisfied with the way a provider or local authority has dealt with a complaint, they may escalate it to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman who can investigate individual concerns.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 20 June 2025 to Question 59355 on Local Government: Israel, whether the powers of the (a) Local Government Ombudsman, (b) Local Auditor and (c) Parliamentary and Health Ombudsman would extend to considering complaints from (i) local residents and (ii) local firms as a result of their local authority initiating (A) boycotts and (B) divestment relating to Israel.
Answered by Jim McMahon
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman may only consider complaints where the complainant claims to have suffered personal injustice. Whether they could investigate complaints relating to procurement matters would depend on the specific circumstances of the individual complaint.
Where matters of procurement policy are raised with local auditors, the auditor would need to determine whether the matters raised are directly related to the local authority’s accounts and/or would justify issuing a report in the public interest.
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman is not able to investigate the actions of local authorities.