TNAG-0106-FCO40-142-Proposals-to-appoint-an-Ombudsman-1969 — Page 238

•

Reference........PUC....1/2...........

LAST

--

R. 205

RAR on ombudiman file please.

Mr. Staveley

PARLIAMENTARY COMMISSIONER FOR ADMINISTRATION:

INFORMATION FOR THE DEPENDENT TERRITORIES

You asked me yesterday if I could trace a circular which Sir Arthur Galsworthy recalled having been sent to the Dependent Territories informing them about the setting up of the Office or the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administra- tion (Ombudsman). You mentioned that the circular was issued before Sir Hilton Poynton, Permanent Under-Secretary Colonial Office, retired.

2.

The only circular we have been able to find to date is the circular issued by the Diplomatic Service Administration Office No. 55/67 of

3 May, 1967, rererence DSE 1/13, a copy of which is attached. This was sent to all our Diplomatic and Consular posts overseas, but there is no indication in our files that copies were sent to the authorities in the Dependent Territories and our enquiries on this point have so far drawn a blank. I should be grateful if you, or anyone to whom a copy of this minute is being sent, could help us to trace the circular to which Sir Arthur Galsworthy has referred. It may be, of course, that he has this particular circular in mind and I should be grateful if you could consult him on this point and let me know his reply.

3.

If it appears that neither this circular nor a separate version for the Dependent Territories was in fect issued to them, then it is for consideration whether we should not now inform the Governments of the Dependent Territories. There is the risk if we do so of actively encouraging the submission of complaints, the vast majority of which would be automatically barred by paragraph 3 of Schedule 3 of the Act, reproduced as List B in the notes prepared by the FCA's Office, which forms the enclosure to DSA circular 55/67. An example of an eligible complaint would be if a resident of a Dependent Territory, whilst on a visit to this country, suffered some injustice at the hands of a Government Department and, on return to his country of residence, wished to register a complaint to the PCA. In this instance it would be necessary for the local Administration to have available the necessary information to advise the individual.

*

I should be grateful for any comments you, or any other recipient of this minute, may have. If it is decided to issue a circular to the Dependent Territories it will of course first be necessary for us to seek the agreement of the Parliamentary Commissioner.

ANG

.3.

30

1

(C.A. Lovitt)

29 October, 1968