Evidence on Housing Ombudsman Service

• Communities and Local Government Committee

The Committee intends to take oral evidence on the Housing Ombudsman  Service.  The Committee therefore invites submissions from interested parties, including academics with an interest in scrutiny, on the work and activities of the Housing Ombudsman. To assist those submitting memoranda the Committee suggests it may cover the following matters:

• the function, purpose and remit of the Housing Ombudsman Service;
• the volume and nature of complaints made to the Ombudsman and expected trends;
• the arrangements for handling complaints;
• the adequacy of arrangements;
• the impact of the extension of jurisdiction to include complaints from tenants of Local Housing Authorities in 2013; and
• the impact of the Ombudsman’s work on social landlords, particularly whether it leads to better administration and improved quality of service.

In undertaking this inquiry the Committee does not intend to investigate, review or reopen individual cases considered by, or currently before, the Ombudsman or its handling of particular cases.

Notes for Editors:

Submissions of no more than 3000 words are invited until 6 September 2012. 

Each submission should be labelled with the subject 'Housing Ombudsman', sent to clgev@parliament.uk, attached in Word format (with as little use of colour or logos as possible) and be accompanied by a covering email containing the name and contact details of the individual submitting evidence. A detailed guide for written submissions to Select Committees may be found on the parliamentary website. It should be noted that written evidence is often published and made available in a report and on the internet.