I refer to the editorial ‘Parliament fails Ombudsman’ (April 22).

The public administration is far from making the Ombudsman’s work difficult or is being indifferent to the recommendations of the Ombudsman.

The governance publication by the Office of the Principal Permanent Secretary on how the public administration actioned cases by the Office of the Ombudsman is one such instance. 

The data available to the public administration shows that the Office of the Ombudsman (the Parliamentary Ombudsman and individual commissioners) investigated 291 new complaints during 2017.

A significant percentage of cases (40 per cent in 2017) was resolved by the public administration without the need for investigation by the Office of the Parliamentary Ombudsman or any of the commissioners. For the remaining cases, it is indeed rare for the public administration not to have taken immediate corrective action. 

In fact, our data shows that of all cases considered in the Ombudsman 2017 annual report, 70 per cent of cases either needed no further action from the public administration (these amounted to 51 per cent of all cases reported in the Ombudsman 2017 annual report) or the recommendation(s) presented were already fully implemented by the time of reporting (this was true for 19 per cent of all cases reported upon by the Ombudsman in his annual report for 2017).

Moreover, in-depth analysis by the Office of the Principal Permanent Secretary of the cases investigated by the Ombudsman has shown that there were no instances or cases that uncovered any breach of law, policy or abuse of power by the public administration.

In a few cases, one investigated by the Ombudsman and five by the Commissioner for Health, which cases are from 2017 and earlier, the recommendations were not accepted. This was not due to any disregard of the recommendations made. Such recommendations could not be implemented as they required further policy or, in some instances, statutory analysis or legislative revision. The public administration has the responsibility to ensure that remedial action is suitable, sustainable and in line with governing policies and protects the right for equitable treatment.

It is, however, asserted that in none of these cases was the Ombudsman recommendation not given serious and responsible consideration.