Mr. Peter Tyndall:

Yes.

Compliance is a very difficult issue. I am familiar with the lost at sea report and heard Emily O’Reilly speak eloquently about it. She spoke at the same time as Ann Abraham, the former UK parliamentary ombudsman, who compiled the Equitable Life report which looked at lost pensions and another that was not implemented in full. Fundamentally, there is a question about the powers of the office. Within a democracy, the ombudsman normally has the power of recommendation on public service complaints. In dealing with private sector complaints, for example, a financial services ombudsman will have binding powers because there is no political process to back up his or her recommendations. Fundamentally, it falls to the Legislature to see these recommendations through. When the issue arises, parliamentary committees consider it. This is the process for most ombudsman offices across the world.

I do not want to comment in detail on the lost at sea report because I do not know where the process is at. I am familiar with the issues involved and have read the report. I will look at it should I successfully complete the recruitment process and take up office.

There are substantial differences in the remits of the Irish and the Welsh offices. The Irish role includes the role of Information Commissioner which I do not hold in Wales as that role is not devolved to the Welsh Assembly. Much of the work of my office deals with failings in the health system. I can consider clinical and social worker judgments. That makes for a sustainably different and extended remit.

One of the great joys of my life is that I get to investigate allegations against members of local authorities, including parish and community councils, who may have broken their codes of conduct. It will not greatly surprise the committee to know that many of these complaints come from other members.

There is nothing predictable about the level of complaints to an ombudsman’s service. It is random, except at Christmas when the complaints fall off a little. For local authority member complaints, each election year seems to have an entirely coincidental peak.