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Parliamentary Ombudsman

Answer

Since 1997, the Ministry of Defence has refused or omitted to give effect to recommendations of the Parliamentary Ombudsman in one case—that of the report A Debt of Honour, published in July 2005, which concerned the Far East Prisoners of War and Civilian Internee Ex Gratia Payment Scheme. The report made four recommendations; that the department should:"review the operation of the ex-gratia scheme;""fully reconsider the position of Professor Hayward, who had brought the complaint, and those in a similar position to him;""apologise to Professor Hayward and to others in a similar position for the distress which the maladministration identified in the report had caused them; and""consider whether it should express that regret tangibly." The department accepted immediately the third and fourth recommendations. The department initially rejected the first and second recommendations but subsequently discovered further information that led it to undertake a review of the scheme; the findings of this review were given in a Statement by my honourable friend the Minister for Veterans on 28 March (Official Report, col. 681). In his Statement, the Minister for Veterans announced that eligibility under the scheme would be extended and, on the basis of the evidence that Professor Hayward provided to the ombudsman, we would now expect him to qualify under the scheme. The Ministry of Defence has now, in effect, implemented all the recommendations in the ombudsman’s report.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

5215; 681 c86-7WA

Session

2005-06

Related items

Parliamentary Ombudsman
Wednesday, 29 March 2006
Written questions
House of Lords

Subjects

Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration Ministry of Defence

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk