OMBUDSMAN ASSOCIATION FIRST CONTACT INTEREST GROUP

Notes of the 15th meeting of the ‘First Contact’ Interest Group

held on Friday 28th November at the offices of the

Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, Millbank Tower,

Millbank, London, SW1P 4QP

Attendees:

Name / Office/Scheme
Aitken, Debra / The Property Ombudsman
Applegate, Vicky / Independent Complaints Reviewer
Buckley, Jonathan (Secretary) / Local Government Ombudsman
Fraser, Pauline / Scottish Legal Complaints Commission
Galligan, Donal / Ombudsman Association
Kaur, Baljit (guest speaker) / Legal Ombudsman
McCue, Jane / Pensions Ombudsman
Medlock, Andrew / Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman
Moynihan, Daira / Advertising Standards Agency
Neill, Carol (Chair) / Scottish Public Services Ombudsman
Okuyiga, Alaba (guest speaker) / Employers Network for Equality and Inclusion
Pardo-Zammit, Nadine / Gibraltar Ombudsman
Perotti, Flavia / Housing Ombudsman
Shepherd, Rowena / Disclosure and Barring Service
Tambourini, Clare / Independent Case Examiner
Taylor, Caroline / Legal Ombudsman
  1. Welcome to members and introductions

Carol Neill welcomed members of the Interest Group toMillbank Tower in London for its 15th meeting and, in particular new members of the Group and guest speakers.

  1. Notes of previous meeting

Notes of the previous meeting, held on 23rd May atGibraltar House, London, were agreed as an accurate record. There were no matters arising.

Carol explained that the group had decided to trial a different meeting format by inviting two guest speakers to present on areas of interest. The meeting was scheduled to run to around 3pm-3.30pm, allowing time for discussions and questions around the areas of unconscious bias and reasonable adjustments.

  1. Unconscious Bias – presentation by Alaba Okuyiga, Employers Network for Equality and Inclusion

Alaba presented the group with an insight into unconscious bias and how it informs our day to day decision making in the work place. Presentation attached.

  1. Reasonable Adjustments – presentation by Baljit Kaur, Legal Ombudsman

Baljit presented the group with an overview of reasonable adjustments and our responsibilities under the equality act. Presentation attached.

A discussion followed and group members shared best and current practice in this area.

  1. Update on OA Matters – Donal Galligan, Association Secretary

Donal introduced himself as the new Interim Secretary at the OA. Donal explained that Ian Pattison has recently retiredand a survey of members on the OA had been the trigger to implement change at the OA which Donal was supporting the Executive Committee with.

Donal will be presenting a paper to the Executive Committee in May which will focus on key changes and recommendations for the OA.

Some of the areas that will be covered will include; how to increase value for members and reviewing membership criteria, how to improve communications, how to improve training and development opportunities, and a review of the administration and content of the biannual conferences.

The five interest group chairs are to meet on 11 December to discuss the functions of each of the groups and how to ensure accessibility to all.

Diary date: The next OA conference will be on 14th and 15th May in Loughborough.

  1. Open forum

There were no other items raised. The group commented how useful the two presentations had been and further guest speakers would be welcome.

  1. Future agenda items for discussion

It was suggested that it would be useful if future guest speakers could discuss how to manage unreasonable behaviour/actions and how effectively communicate with customers who are experiencing mental health issues.

  1. Date and location of next meeting

The next meeting will be held on Friday 22nd May at the office of the Legal Ombudsman in Birmingham (thanks to Caroline Taylor for the offer of the venue). Carol and Jonathan will be in touch with group members to identify contacts to present on topics at this meeting.

The meeting closed at 3.30pm.