Costs

The request was partially successful.

Dear Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman,

Is my other FOI request you answered with
"In relation to question C, I have considered what recorded information we
hold that would answer your request and have concluded we do not hold the
specific information you have asked for. This is because PHSO does not
record the cost of specific reports or investigations"

If the PHSO do not record costs...

A. How can Value for public money be guaranteed ?
A.1 have there been any internal meeting ?
A.2 Is there an internal PHSO defenation of "value" ?

B. If no cost can be associated with an investigation or report how is "value" established ?

C. Given that your core business is running investigations how are Finincal reports compiled with a major source of expenditure missing?

D. In Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman scrutiny inquiry Dame Julie Mellor

"Dame Julie Mellor: Can I just start by saying it should not have happened? I take very seriously our responsibilities for looking after £32 million of public funding, and, as the NAO has noted in its report to Parliament, I have put steps in place that will improve our financial management and accounting."
This was in answer to a question about the PHSO finances. How can Mellor state "improvement" and not be accounting for investigation/report costs.

Yours faithfully,
Daniel McMorrow

foiofficer@ombudsman.org.uk, Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman


Thank you for your e-mail to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman. This return e-mail shows that we have received your correspondence.

foiofficer, Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman

Dear Mr McMorrow

 

Your information request (FDN-252542)

 

I am writing in response to your email of 27 March 2016 in which you asked
four questions which I have included below.

 

 A. How can Value for public money be guaranteed ?
A.1 have there been any internal meeting?
A.2 Is there an internal PHSO defenation of "value"  ?

B. If no cost can be associated with an investigation or report how is
"value" established?

C. Given that your core business is running investigations how are
Finincal reports compiled with a major source of expenditure missing?

D. In Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman scrutiny inquiry Dame
Julie Mellor

"Dame Julie Mellor: Can I just start by saying it should not have
happened?  I take very seriously our responsibilities for looking
after 32 million of public funding, and, as the NAO has noted in its
report to Parliament, I have put steps in place that will improve our
financial management and accounting."
This was in answer to a question about the PHSO finances. How can
Mellor state "improvement" and not be accounting for
investigation/report costs.

You have asked how PHSO ensures value for money given that it does not
record the individual cost of each investigation.  I should firstly
explain that, while PHSO does not record the specific costs of each
individual investigation, it does have clear oversight of overall
operational costs.  These are published annually in our resource accounts
which are available on our website at the following link:
[1]www.ombudsman.org.uk/about-us/publications/annual-reports 

 

While there is no specific PHSO definition of the term ‘value’, we are
always seeking to deliver the best value for money and are looking at ways
to save money over the next four financial years as part of our financial
strategy.  This is part of a wider government strategy to improve
financial management across the public sector as set out in the HM
Treasury handbook Managing Public Money:
[2]www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/454191/Managing_Public_Money_AA_v2_-jan15.pdf

 

You have asked if there have been any internal meetings in relation to
‘value for public money’.  This is too broad a request for us to respond
to as currently worded as many meetings will have been held at PHSO in
relation to delivering value for money, in relation to many different
areas of the business. 

 

As such, section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 applies to this
part of your request - the exemption for requests which would be too
costly to meet.  However, we would be happy to consider a revised request
from you with a more specific focus.  Useful advice on how to best frame
Freedom of Information requests is available on the Information
Commissioner’s Office website at the following link:
[3]https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/offici... You might also
find it useful to refer to our Board meeting minutes which are published
on our website here:
[4]www.ombudsman.org.uk/about-us/who-we-are/the-board/executive-board-minutes 
These include discussions relating to PHSO’s financial strategy.

 

You have asked how PHSO can determine value if it does not record the cost
of each individual investigation and how financial reports can be compiled
on this basis.  Your final question asks how Dame Julie can state that we
are improving our financial management and accounting if we do not record
the precise cost of each individual investigation we carry out.  As stated
above, we do know how much our work costs overall and this is stated in
our resource accounts.  During the PACAC scrutiny hearing which you refer
to in your email, Dame Julie Mellor used these overarching figures to
determine a rough cost per investigation.  The full transcript is
available online here:
[5]http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidenc...

 

I hope that this information is helpful.  If, however, you are unhappy
with our handling of your information request, it is open to you to
request an internal review by responding to this email.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Aimee Gasston

Freedom of Information / Data Protection Team

Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman

W: [6]www.ombudsman.org.uk

 

Please email the FOI/DP team at: [7][email address]

 

From: Daniel McMorrow [mailto:[FOI #324830 email]]
Sent: 27 March 2016 09:45
To: foiofficer
Subject: Freedom of Information request - Costs

 

Dear Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman,

Is my other FOI request you answered with
"In relation to question C, I have considered what recorded information we
hold that would answer your request and have concluded we do not hold the
specific information you have asked for. This is because PHSO does not
record the cost of specific reports or investigations"

If the PHSO do not record costs...

A. How can Value for public money be  guaranteed ?
A.1 have there been any internal meeting ?
A.2 Is there an internal PHSO defenation of "value"  ?

B. If no cost can be associated with an investigation or report how is
"value" established ?

C. Given that your core business is running investigations how are
Finincal reports compiled with a major source of expenditure missing?

D. In Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman scrutiny inquiry Dame
Julie Mellor

"Dame Julie Mellor: Can I just start by saying it should not have
happened?  I take very seriously our responsibilities for looking after 32
million of public funding, and, as the NAO has noted in its report to
Parliament, I have put steps in place that will improve our financial
management and accounting."
This was in answer to a question about the PHSO finances. How can Mellor
state "improvement" and not be accounting for investigation/report costs.

Yours faithfully,
Daniel McMorrow

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