Dear Reader,
Thank you for taking the time to read about our campaign for a public inquiry
into the Ombudsman Services Broken Solution to ADR.
To: The Leader of the House of Commons / The Business Secretary / The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and the CEO and Chief Ombudsman at Ombudsman Services:
Ombudsman Services Part 4: The Full English Cover-Up (47)
47) If The Home Secretary Didn't Know There Were Deportation Targets Then She Shouldn't Be The Home Secretary And If She Did Know There Were Deportation Targets But Misled Parliament And The Public Then She Still Shouldn't Be The Home Secretary.
Dear Mrs Leadsom, Mr Clark, Mr Javid and Mr Shand Smith,
The Independent's headline is:
Amber Rudd summoned back to parliament for questioning as calls grow for resignation
The Independent tells us that,"Amber Rudd admits deportation targets are used by Home Office after denying It.Rudd is due to give a statement in the House of Commons on Monday in which she is expected to again apologise for giving inaccurate informationAmber Rudd summoned back to parliament for questioning as calls grow for resignationShe is due to give a statement in the House of Commons on Monday, in which she is likely to apologise again for claims she made about the government’s use of deportation targets.Yvette Cooper, the chair of an influential parliamentary committee, said she had also asked the beleaguered home secretary to answer MPs’ questions amid “serious concern” over the accuracy of her previous statements."
The Ombudsman Services Property Ombudsman also appeared to make inaccurate statements but apart from the Ombudsmans61percent Campaign no one else expressed any concern about them, whatsoever.
For example:
We wrote to the then Chair of Ombudsman Services, Professor Dame Janet Finch to ask her about the following;
Q. 89: I asked the Independent Assessor to comment on the professional integrity of the RICS Firm given the Property Ombudsman's statement that, "I did not look at the photographs " and "Your view seems to be that external photographs taken without express permission are somehow inadmissible because they amount to evidence gathered in a suspect way."
(But the RICS Firm had previously stated they would NOT come to our home again!)
I pointed out to the Independent Assessor that I knew what I thought, but then I'm not the Ombudsman. I know that a teacher standing outside a pupil's home photographing it would be in serious trouble but that similar standards (of behaviour) do not seem to apply to certain surveyors.
The Ombudsman had the evidence (knew how it had been gathered. Knew that it was misleading and chose "not to seek them out" as she put it) but seems to have seen nothing wrong with this.
The Independent Assessor's response was, "The Terms of Reference, which can be downloaded from the website, provide that the procedure for the conduct of an investigation will be such as the Ombudsman considers appropriate subject, in brief, to the duty to proceed fairly, to make reasoned decisions, not to disclose details of a complaint except in certain circumstances, and to have regard to any the rule to law, contract, code of conduct."
That is not what the Terms of Reference say and 7.3 is quite specific on the matter. It states - "Information passed to the Ombudsman will be disclosed to the other party unless reasons are given setting out circumstances justifying reasons for non-disclosure."
Why was it that not only did I not get the other sides information, I didn't get an explanation from the Ombudsman setting out her reasons for non-disclosure either.None of the information contained in the Firm's two messages of 02 and 12 November was ever disclosed to me. I didn't receive a justification for their non-disclosure either. It's a crazy Catch 22 situation. By never knowing what is being said about me how am I ever going to know that I should have been given a reason for their non-disclosure?
The Ombudsman had written to me on the 24th August: "I would reiterate that the question of whether the Firm has acted in a matter consistent with the standards of conduct required is a matter for the professional body concerned, which in this case would be RICS."
Yet the Terms of Reference 10(b) state that the duty of the Ombudsman is: "To report to the RICS Regulatory Body any cases which involve serious or persistent breaches of the RICS Rules of Conduct by RICS Member Firms."
There are two issues here:
Firstly, it is a matter for the Ombudsman - it is a duty (of which she and the Independent Assessor both seem to be totally unaware) - to report breaches to the RICS Regulatory Board. Otherwise, how are they ever going to know if the Ombudsman doesn't tell them? It would be a remarkable turn of events should the Member Firm report itself to RICS.
Secondly, if the Ombudsman didn't consider the Firm's actions to be serious enough to report to the RICS Regulatory Board surely she should have said why. They are, after all, part of her duties and responsibilities as set out in the Terms of Reference.
It is not, "a matter for the professional body" - it is a matter for her as Ombudsman - a duty. Opting out is not an option.
We asked Professor Dame Janet Finch if this was not a case of institutional bias on the part of the Ombudsman. Either the Ombudsman doesn't know her duties as an Ombudsman and therefore shouldn't be an Ombudsman or knows her duties but is misleading a complainant in which case she still shouldn't be an Ombudsman.
Professor Dame Janet Finch didn't reply but instead passed our complaint to the CEO and Chair he in turn passed our complaint about the Ombudsman back to the Ombudsman who said she'd already answered our complaint.
Q. Mr Shand Smith, when our MP, Oliver Colvile, wrote to you about this matter your response was that we'd misinterpreted the Terms of Reference. How had we misinterpreted them - you didn't say.
This was what DJS Research referred to as, "the further representation process" and was just one of the 100 questions we sought to raise about the company's Broken Solution.
In the Ombudsman Services Annual Property Report for 2016 we read the following: "Key Themes: Often poor record keeping alongside a lack of holistic thinking - not following the trail. and incorrect assumptions drives survey reports not to accurately reflect the condition of the property on the date of the survey."
The above example appears to combine the following:
1. A lack of understanding of the company's Terms of Reference on the part of the Property Ombudsman and Independent Assessor.2. A failure to disclose evidence.3. A failure to look at the evidence (to seek it out).4. A failure to give reasons for not disclosing the evidence.5. A failure to follow the trail ie the Member Firm had stated that in hindsight they should have put things in writing after each visit. Why didn't they send us a copy of the photographs they'd taken - some apparently within side the garden boundary?6. Why did the Member Firm come to our home unannounced after stating in writing they saw no further purpose in doing so?7. If there was no further purpose in coming to our home why did they then come to our home and photograph it?8. How did they know we were, "upgrading to slate" when there NO slates on the roof.9. Why did the Member Firm include our roofers van in one of their shots?10. Why didn't the Ombudsman seek out a reason from her Member Firm as to why it had not replied to our emails regarding this matter?
These were just some of the issues surrounding one part of our complaint.
Q. Mr Shand Smith, isn't the above an example of; poor record keeping, a lack of holistic thinking, not following the trail and incorrect assumptions on the part of your Property Ombudsman and doesn't it explain why nearly 90% of property complainants are dissatisfied with your broken solution?
Ms Cooper said she had asked Ms Rudd to reappear in front of the Home Affairs Select Committee to explain why she had appeared to be unaware of her department’s numerical targets for deportations.
Q. Mr Shand Smith, wasn't the Independent Assessor and Ombudsman's interpretation of your company's Terms of Reference, misleading?
Q. Mr Shand Smith, over the past decade how many RICS surveyors were reported to the RICS Regulatory Board for serious or persistent breaches of the RICS Rules of Conduct by the Ombudsman Services Lead Property Ombudsman?
Q. Mr Shand Smith, why wasn't data on this matter included in your report to the OFT monitors and in your Annual Property report to consumers?
Ms Rudd has initially told the committee the Home Office did not use targets for deportations, only for this to later be proved untrue. She then claimed she had been unaware of the targets, but this too prompted questions when a leaked memo revealed details of the policy had been sent to her office.
Q. Mr Shand Smith, if the Ombudsman was unaware of her duties as an Ombudsman as set out in the company's Terms of Reference would this help to explain why your solution is so completely broken?
Ms Cooper told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: “We have obviously been given inaccurate information in parliament twice now.“This is a serious concern, and I am calling Amber Rudd to come back and give further evidence to the committee.“I think we will also want to hear from the permanent secretary as well, because this raises some questions about the way the Home Office is operating.”
Q. Mrs Leadsom, Mr Clark and Mr Javid, shouldn't Parliament be asking Ombudsman Services to fully explain just exactly how it solutions became broken, who broke them and why?
As she fought to cling on to her job, Ms Rudd used a series of tweets to respond to the leaked memo – around nine hours after it was originally published.
She wrote: “I will be making a statement in the House of Commons on Monday in response to legitimate questions that have arisen on targets and illegal migration.“I wasn’t aware of specific removal targets. I should have been and I’m sorry that I wasn’t. I didn’t see the leaked document, although it was copied to my office as many documents are.“As home secretary I will work to ensure that our immigration policy is fair and humane.”
Q. Mrs Leadsom, Mr Clark and Mt Javid, clearly an ADR scheme that is broken cannot be fair and humane. Why hasn't this Government done anything about it and why hasn't it compensated The Broken Scheme's thousands of victims?
The Full English Cover-Up at Ombudsman Services:Property would appear to be a well-oiled and slick operation. An unbroken solution due to a well orchestrated political cover-up.
No need yet for Michael Gove's services to truth and reconciliation.
Yours sincerely,Steve Gilbert - Workstock Number - 510458.The Ombudsmans61percent Campaign is at: www.blogger.com and www.facebook.com Ombudsmans Sixtyone-percent.Please comment - fund our office - and join the campaign.