Watchdog admits her shortcomings

THE Bristol woman in charge handling complaints about the government has admitted her office had "taken its eye off the ball".

Ombudsman Ann Abraham told the Commons public administration committee that the unit "had a bad year last year" after it emerged it took five times longer than the guidelines to process complaints.

But changes have now been made to management systems, she said, and rules on the kind of cases she could investigate had been tightened up which meant she now took on fewer but "more meaty" cases.

The committee was also told there have been problems finding and recruiting staff and the lack of experience has had led to a backlog of cases. Ms Abraham, from Cadbury Heath, became the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman in 2002 and was previously the Legal Services Ombudsman.

She said: "I didn't see it coming and that's been a serious and great concern to me. I want to be exemplary and I'm well aware these are not exemplary results. I can only say it's my absolute intention that we'll do better by the end of this financial year."