On 9th – 10th October I had the great honour to co-host the 9th International Conference of Ombuds Institutions for the Armed Forces (ICOAF) in London. This was the culmination of a significant part of the work my office has done over the last two years, outside of our essential operational role. I am exceptionally […]
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Last month we asked our Twitter followers what issues they thought I should be blogging about. The responses all centered on the same theme – what happens if there are repercussions for making a Service complaint? This is a longstanding area of concern for myself and many members of the Armed Forces and their loved […]
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The role of an Ombudsman is not only to carry out investigations but to make recommendations. In addition to the recommendations I make each year in my Annual Report, I have the power to make recommendations in individual cases as part of my findings. In this blog I will be explaining more about this particular […]
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This month I had the privilege to sit on a panel for The Girls’ Network; a charity that aims to inspire and empower girls from the least advantaged communities. While this work sits outside of my role as Ombudsman, it is so important to me that I wanted to use my blog this month to […]
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Today is Reserves Day – an annual day that aims to showcase the important contribution Reservists make to the UK Armed Forces. Therefore it is only fitting that my blog this month looks at Reserve Forces and why they are a particular area of focus for my office this year. Each year, in addition to […]
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My role as the Service Complaints Ombudsman is to provide independent and impartial oversight of the Service complaints system. Much of that role is about putting things right when they have gone wrong, but what happens when something that we do goes wrong? In my blog this month I will be looking at that issue […]
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Diversity is more than a buzzword – it is an important issue within society and one that all organisations and their leaders should be invested in. At the end of last month I was invited to give the keynote speech at the Chaplain General’s Conference on the topic of diversity and organisational culture and thought […]
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Yesterday the first Annual Report detailing the work of my office was laid in Parliament. Instead of providing a summary of the report in my blog this week, I have decided to look at the importance of my reporting function. Generally when the work of my office is discussed it is about the day to […]
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On International Women’s Day I wanted to share with you some of my thoughts about the importance of this day and this year’s theme #BeBoldForChange. International Women’s Day is an important annual event to celebrate the achievements of women in all aspects of life. How the day is recognised and the importance placed on it […]
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We talk a lot about how the decisions I make as the Service Complaints Ombudsman are binding and can only be challenged by Judicial Review, but what does that mean? In this blog I will be looking at why the legislation requires my decisions to be binding and what Judicial Review is all about. When […]
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