The Government published a draft bill on 5 December that would create a Public Service Ombudsman for UK reserved matters and public services in England.

The draft bill would abolish the existing Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman and the Local Government Ombudsman, merging their existing responsibilities into a single Public Service Ombudsman (PSO).

The draft Public Service Ombudsman Bill aims to simplify the public service ombudsman system, while also ‘modernising’ aspects of it. The Government expects its proposals will “make it easier than ever before to rectify complaints about a range of public services.”

One of the draft bill’s most notable features is the removal of the ‘MP filter’ – the requirement that all complaints to the existing Parliamentary Ombudsman (PO) must be made through an MP. This filter is unique to the PO.

You can read more here: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-7864/