Law Commission

[Amethyst]

Law Commission

You have less than four weeks to have a say in the work we do
We have been consulting since June on the content of our new programme. Anyone can propose any area of the law in need of reform for us to consider. We would welcome your views on what projects we should include. Find out more about our 11th programme of law reform and send us your suggestions by 15 October 2010.
What projects are we currently working on?
Current consultations

[Amethyst]

Re: Law Commission

Also

Public Services Ombudsmen

The Law Commission is conducting a review of the law relating to the public services ombudsmen. On 2 September 2010, we published a consultation paper, which contains our detailed provisional proposals for reform. A press release is also available.
Background
The public services ombudsmen have been created over the last 43 years to handle administrative complaints against public bodies, such as local authorities or central government departments. The public services ombudsmen are:

• Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration
• Health Service Ombudsman
• Public Services Ombudsman for Wales
• Local Government Ombudsman
• Housing Ombudsman

Their work covers almost all aspects of governmental activity, from the provision of health care or adult social care to war pensions.
The project is concerned with examining the legislative structure of the public services ombudsmen with a view to its reform. The aim is to make recommendations with a view to reforming the legislation so that:

• the public services ombudsmen have the tools they need to dispose of their statutory tasks in an efficient, transparent and effective manner;
• complainants have a clear and comprehensible redress system to remedy administrative failures;
• Parliament and the National Assembly for Wales have a stronger relationship with the public services ombudsmen.

Supporting documents
In addition to the full consultation paper, we have produced a number of supporting documents which are available to download from this page:

• Summary
• Impact Assessment

Responding to the consultation paper
The consultation period will run until 03 December 2010. You can send your response in hard copy to Keith Vincent at the Law Commission, or electronically to the team.
We emphasise that the provisional proposals put forward in the consultation paper represent our initial view about how the law should be reformed and we will be reviewing these proposals on the basis of the responses to the consultation paper. We welcome responses from all interested parties.
For more information about our work, contact the public law team or go to the team page.

NOTE - We are happy to provide information about our projects. However, we cannot give legal advice or deal with individual cases. Nor do we provide legal research to assist with student assignments. This does not affect your rights under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to request information.