Call for ombudsman's office review rejected

MSPs have rejected calls for a review into the office responsible for investigating complaints about public bodies.

Holyrood's Local Government and Communities Committee closed eight petitions on the issue one day before the man in charge of the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman office is due to be reappointed.

Committee member Alasdair Morgan said the petitions should be closed in light of evidence heard from the ombudsman, Jim Martin, and the Scottish Parliament Corporate Body (SPCB), which put forward the motion for Parliament to endorse Mr Martin's appointment.

He said: "I think we should take no further action on these petitions and close it."

The eight petitions questioned the standard of investigations by the ombudsman and called for the office's remit to be widened. Campaign group Integrity4Scotland is concerned that a motion to reappoint Mr Martin was agreed by the SCPB while the petitions were live.

A spokesman for Integrity4Scotland said: "The information that came from the corporate body was scant and incomplete."

The call for an investigation was first heard at Holyrood last September.

The ombudsman's office, which was set up by Parliament, describes itself as the "last resort" for complaints about bad administration or failure in public services in Scotland.