ABSTRACT
The Parliamentary Commissioner is, as the name suggests, accountable to Parliament. In exercising his statutory function, the Parliamentary Commissioner reinforces the capacity of Parliament to deal with complaints against the executive. The Parliamentary Commissioner reports to Parliament through a series of annual reports, including reports of particular investigations and matters of concern, and his activities come under the scrutiny of the Select Committee on the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration. Complaints to the Parliamentary Commissioner are required to be referred by a member of Parliament and it is likely therefore that a complainant will raise their concerns with their own constituency MP. This is particularly so in the light of the convention that MP’s do not involve themselves in the business of other constituencies. The so-called ‘MP filter’ is a unique feature of the UK’s ombudsman system. In some respects, it can be likened to the leave requirement in judicial review proceedings discussed in Chapter 13 since it represents an opportunity to identify at an early stage those grievances which do not fall within the remit of the Parliamentary Commissioner. In the event that an MP is unsure as to whether the subject matter of the complaint is an appropriate matter for the attention of the Parliamentary Commissioner, the complaint is likely to be referred so that the Parliamentary Commissioner will ultimately determine the jurisdiction issue. The need for a complaint to be referred by a member of Parliament serves to reinforce the MP’s role as the elected representative dealing with complaints against the executive. This point was stressed by the government of the day in the White Paper (Cmnd 2767) which preceded the enactment of the 1967 Statute:
The Act of 1967 contains a schedule which includes all of those government departments and authorities whose administrative functions may be investigated on a complaint to the Parliamentary Commissioner. The list may be amended but may not include any body or authority whose functions are not exercised on behalf of the Crown. By way of an example, the Post Office was
removed from the list when it was created a public corporation in 1969. The Parliamentary Commissioner is also empowered to investigate action taken by or on behalf of any of the bodies or authorities listed in the schedule. In general terms, the bodies included in the list are the government departments headed by their respective ministers, and certain other bodies which are related to those departments, such as the Inland Revenue Commissioners. References to particular departments include their respective ministers, whose own contribution to any maladministration can be investigated. One of the most famous investigations carried out by the Parliamentary Commissioner arose from many complaints from individuals who considered that the government had contributed to their loss when the holiday firm Court Line Ltd failed in 1974. The essence of the complaints was that holiday-makers who had booked with Court Line were given the impression by House of Commons statements from the Secretary of State for Industry two months before the failure that the firm was financially viable. In a special report, the Parliamentary Commissioner concluded that a misleading impression had been given by the Secretary of State. The conclusion was rejected by the government which refused to accept liability for any compensation for those who had suffered loss.
