BackRafael Ribó has been assigned by the Parliament of Catalonia to ensure that the rights of the LGBTI community are respected and to fight against homophobia. He also asks the Catalan Government information about the current protocols to donate blood, the permanent or temporary exclusion criteria and incidents arising from these criteria After opening remarks and an introduction by Jaime Mercado, the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman and IOI member Jim Martin shared his experiences about the collection of data, the areas and subjects of complaints by people at local government levels and the relationship between the Complaints Handling Procedure and the Public Service Improvement Framework. A brief summary of how the complaint world used to look like for citizens in Scotland in the past and the aims of the Complaints Standards Authority was followed by a presentation of the core elements of all CHPs, identifying ownership and responsibility of frontline staff, leadership and governance as the main catalysts for change. In addition, after having analysed indicators of annual complaints reports and providing examples about baseline local government performance across Scotland and CSA support and training modules, Jim Martin concluded how early opposition from organisations has shifted to support for CHP as a tool for improving performance and customer relation, marking a change in culture towards one of valuing complaints and thereby further improving the reputation of the Ombudsman.
In the second presentation, Toronto Ombudsman Fiona Crean shared her findings of a recent report on the impact of Ombudsman investigations on public administration of Toronto's local government. After dealing with the framing question of why to evaluate Ombudsman institutions, Fiona Crean further explored the process of self-assessment, the impact of systemic investigations on public administration and the guiding principle of fairness in public services. Independent researchers Dr. Myer Siemiatycki and Dr. Andrea M. Noack of Ryerson University then illustrated the Toronto Study, a qualitative case study of the Toronto Ombudsman`s impact on public administration. The study, which is based on in-depth interviews with senior public servants representing the scope of the civic service, triggered an overwhelmingly positive response and created the foundation for the development of the evaluation guide and tools, determining what to collect information about and how.
Finally, the presentation turned to the question of why taking the risk of evaluation, concluding that besides showing what works in order to create the basis for concrete improvements, such evaluation also improves communications between the stakeholders and eventually further enhances the legitimacy of the entire Ombudsman institution as such.
In the End, more than 80 representatives of Ombudsman offices, civil society organizations and academia from Europe, Africa, North America, Caribbean & Latin America and Australia & New Zealand actively followed the webinar. In the aftermath, each of the presentations offered space for interaction and dialogue, enabling the attendants to pose questions to the presenters and engage actively in the debates. The session was recorded and will be made available to all IOI members in due time.
Source: Catalan Ombudsman, Spain
