Accountability 1: The British And Irish Ombudsman Association (BIOA), The Cabinet Office, Ombudsman Services and The Rev Smith. (520)

To the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Secretary.:
For Clarity - Attempt 520.

520) Accountability 1: The British and Irish Ombudsman Association (BIOA), The Cabinet Office, Ombudsman Services and The Rev Smith.

Dear Mr Clark,

Naomis Creutzfeldt and Chris Gill's workshop with Ombudsman Watchers highlighted the huge and systemic failing of ombudsman schemes to be, in any meaningful way, accountable.

At about the same time as we were attempting to contact Francis Maude to complain about Ombudsman Services, the Cabinet Office issued the following guidance to the British public in September 2010;
"3. The British and Irish Ombudsman Association (BIOA) is a voluntary organisation to which all of the Ombudsman in the UK and Republic of Ireland belong. It has considerable experience and expertise, gained since its inception in 1993, in the establishment and running of Ombudsman schemes."
(www.gov.uk/governemnt/publications/new-ombudsman-schmes-guidance.)

Part of that supposed expertise included the insistence that Ombudsman Schemes wishing to become members of its organisation must have a Whistleblowing Policy.

The Ombudsmans61percent Campaign thought that was both fair and reasonable.

To any fair-minded person, a Whistleblowing Policy seems to be a fundamental and essential corollary to accountability. Like seat belts in a car.

Q. Mr Clark, when the CEO and Chief Ombudsman of Ombudsman Services became the Chair of The BIOA hat requirement for member organisations - like his - to have a Whistleblowing Policy suddenly vanished. Why?

The Ombudsmans61percent Campaign is seeking:
- answers from Vince Cable, Francis Maude, Norman Lamb, Mark Prisk, Michael Fallon, Monk and Partners, Jonathan May, Gillian Fleming, The Rev Smith, Dame Janet Finch, Dame Julie Mellor, Nick Clegg, Jo Swinson, Sajid Javid, Daniel Whiddon and yourself.
- 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, share your story and join the campaign either by contacting the blog or by emailing: shockingsurveys1@gmail.com. Thanks. Steve Gilbert.