Schedule 1 - Children's Commissioner
Children Bill [Lords]
11:00 am
Mr Andrew Turner (Isle of Wight, Conservative)
I beg to move amendment No. 122, in
schedule 1, page 36, line 17, at end insert—
'(3) The availability or exercise of any power under this schedule shall not disbar the Local Government Ombudsman from considering a complaint about the performance of a local authority.'.
May I, too, extend my best wishes to you, Mr. Benton, in your chairmanship of the Committee?
I move swiftly to the amendment, which is probing. It was tabled because of my concern about exactly where the Government stand on the commissioner's power to investigate cases. We have heard today about clause 4, and the Minister said a moment ago that the commissioner will be able to consider individual cases that have wider ramifications, if there is no other body to which a reference could be made.
I tabled the amendment because, from my conversations with the local government ombudsman and my constituency experience in other contexts, I know that the ombudsman has difficulty in determining his jurisdiction when there may be overlapping jurisdictions. For example, if a parent has the right to go to a SENDIST, a special educational needs and disability tribunal—even though they may not have exercised the right—the local government ombudsman does not have the power to investigate a complaint that might have been referred to the tribunal.
Every complaint, in the end, is justiciable under administrative law. There have been cases that have established that just because something is justiciable—just because it can be taken to court—the local government ombudsman is not excluded from
investigating. I tabled the amendment because I was concerned about clause 4(1) and (2). Subsection (1) states:
''Where the Children's Commissioner considers that the case of an individual child raises issues of public policy . . . he may hold an inquiry into that case''.
The power to hold an inquiry into a case that raises issues of public policy means that such cases may not be investigated by the local government ombudsman, unless there is an exemption elsewhere in the Bill to allow that to happen.
I suspect that the Minister will refer me to subsection (2), which states that the commissioner
''may only conduct an inquiry . . . if he is satisfied that the inquiry would not duplicate work that is the function of another person''.
I suspect that she will say that for this purpose the local government ombudsman is another person. That is all very well as long as the boundaries are clear, and it is clear that no inquiry will be conducted into a case if the local government ombudsman has a role. If that is what she means by the subsection, I think I am content, although I should like to ask the same question with reference to the parliamentary ombudsman. However, if she means that there may be cases that the local government ombudsman may investigate but the Children's Commissioner may also investigate, there is a danger that the case load will fall to the commissioner when it might otherwise fall to the ombudsman.
The amendment is intended to make matters rather clearer. I recognise that it is not perfect, but it is clearer than clause 4(1) and (2).