Ombudsman Needed - Brass Neck And Conscience Bypass Essential (509)

To the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Secretary:
For Clarity - Attempt 509
.
509) Ombudsman Needed - Brass Neck And Conscience Bypass Essential.

Dear Mr Clark,

We've already attempted to point out that power without accountability - checks or counterbalances - is tyrannical. Combine that with Prime Ministers who as a point of principle refuse to answer questions on the floor of the House of Commons and the tone is set for the rest of The Establishment and those aspiring to get their snouts into The Golden Trough.

As taxpayers we pay people not to answer our questions and call this democracy.

The first rule for those intent on rising up the food chain - social mobility in early 21st century - is: Never Answer Questions.

Naomi Creutzfeltd and Chris Gill's research was in part funded by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, Dame Julie Mellor. They say;
"The project was delivered in partnership with the PHSO, which is currently under close scrutiny from a group of ombudsman watchers called, 'PHSO the Facts.' Several other UK ombudsman schemes have one or more ombudsman watcher groups, so that this phenomenon and the outputs of this project are likely to be of significant interest within the ombudsman community."
(www.law.ox.ac.uk/sites/files/oxlaw/critics-of-the-ombudsman-system-understanding-and-engaging-online-citizen-activists.)

We tried taking our complaint about the Ombudsman Services:Property Ombudsman to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman which was like asking the Camorra to investigate crime in Naples.

We acted more in hope than expectation.

Things did, however, start quite promisingly. We were invited to submit further evidence to Dame Julie Mellor's department to support our complaint and this we did. It included the remarkable claim by a former employee that the Ombudsman Service's investigating officers masqueraded as the ombudsman by cutting and pasting the ombudsman's signature onto reports written by them and then sending the bogus reports out to unsuspecting complainants. It was a cunning wheeze dreamt up by a new section head in order to clear a backlog of complaints. It seems to have worked spectacularly well and the executives rewarded themselves with a back-slapping celebratory party to celebrate just how civil their justice had been.

We thought this was corrupt.

Dame Julie Mellor didn't agree.

It would seem that because the ombudsman, the new section head and their investigating officers are only accountable to government and its docile monitors for the estate agent side of the charade and not the surveyors side (which is "regulated" by the RICS which means it isn't) there was nothing she could apparently do.

Except threaten to prosecute us should we disclose her department's detailed findings in our case. As far as Dame Julie Mellor was concerned this private redress scheme can cut and paste the ombudsman's signature onto reports written by minions until the cows come home. Apparently, there's nothing that she can do about it.

We admire, "PHSO the Facts" and wish them every success in their seemingly hopeless task - of bringing Dame Julie Mellor to account. Who knows, Naomi Creutzfelt and Chris Gill's project may play a crucial part in this quest for justice and accountability.

Q. Mr Clark, is a brass neck and conscience bypass essential requirements for the job of ombudsman in post-Brexit Britain?

The Ombudsmans61percent Campaign is seeking:
- answers from Vince Cable, Francis Maude, Norman Lamb, Mark Prisk, Michael Fallon, Nick Clegg, Jo Swinson, Oliver Colvile, Sajid Javid, Dame Julie Mellor and yourself.
- a public inquiry into the workings of Ombudsman Services:Property "a company formerly trading as he SOS before undergoing re-branding) and the role of the RICS.
- compensation for the victims of its ombudsman's illogical Final Decisions and its executives maladministration.
- the setting up of a truly, "fair" and "independent" redress scheme free from RICS malign influence.

Please comment or share your story either on the blog or by emailing: shockingsurveys1@gmail.com. Thank you. Steve Gilbert.