Ombudsman Association (“OA”) 24th Annual General Meeting (“AGM”),held at Loughborough University
News
May 25, 2017
Our Deputy Ombudsman and Head of Investigations, Nicholas Caetano, attended the Ombudsman Association (“OA”) 24th Annual General Meeting (“AGM”), which was held at Loughborough University. He also participated in the 2-day Conference that was held thereafter, entitled “Holding up a Mirror”.
Photo from left to right: Donal Gallighan, Director of the Ombudsman Association; and Nicholas Caetano, Deputy Ombudsman and Head of Investigations
The Gibraltar Public Services Ombudsman is a fully participating voting member of the OA. During the AGM, the annual accounts of the OA were approved and a number of new members were elected to serve on the Board.
Various speeches were delivered during the Conference, with ‘introspection’ being a central issue that was considered. Delegates were also addressed on issues such as ‘taking time to reflect on complaints’; ‘international best practice on how to be more effective in the handling of complaints’; and, ‘being customer focussed’, which consisted mainly on the objective assessment of cases on their own merits.
Other workshops included ‘consistency in casework and quality assurance’ which consisted of a panel session run by the Casework Interest Group and which analysed the different quality assurance approaches taken by members to ensure consistency. This workshop was of particular interest as indeed was the workshop on ‘Incorporating human rights’, which explored the application of human rights issues in casework.
There were also opportunities for networking, exchanging ideas and offering updates amongst the participants of the Ombudsman Schemes.
