TNAG-0106-FCO40-142-Proposals-to-appoint-an-Ombudsman-1969 — Page 244

correspondence. Otherwise, the P.C.A's officers may visit the

person concerned or ask the person concerned to attend for interview.

Expenses of Persons concerned in P.C.A's Investigations. If the

P.C.A. requires a person concerned in an investigation to incur exp ses (for example, by asking him to attend for an interview), the P.C.A. may make payment to such persons for their expenses properly incurred, including compensation for loss of time.

As regards legal costs, the Act lays it upon the P.C.A. to letermine whether any persons may be represented by Counsel, Solicitor,

or otherwise. If the P.C.A. does so determine, he may consider a

payment towards the legal costs in that case. It is expected, however,

that such cases will be very exceptional, and that the informal

nature of a normal investization need not involve the persons

concerned in legal or other representation.

The Commissioner's Relations with the Public

The F.C.A. will not accept ennuiries from the Press or public about particular cases. There are provisions in the Act prohibiting him for divulging information obtained in the course of his investigations, except for the purpose of his reports to M.Ps. and

to Parliament.

The P.C.A. will answer general enquiries from the public,

including enquiries about his prima facie jurisdiction, e.g.

whether a particular Government Department or a particular type of

action by a Government Department is within his scope. But other

enquiries about jurisdiction, especially enouiries about the exercise of the Commissioner's discretion, cannot be answered without some

measure of investigation into the circumstances of particular cases.

Members of the public must therefore expect to be told by the Commissioner's Office, in reply to such enquiries, that the point can only be dealt with on the basis of a specific complaint referred

to the Commissioner by a Member of Parliament.

The P.C.A. and his staff may be in contact with complainants

whose cases have been referred to the Commissioner by Members of Parliament, and with other persons concerned in such cases, when

further information or evidence is required from such persons

in the course of investigations.

Otherwise, the dealings of the P.C.A. and his staff will normally be with (a) individual M.Ps. in connection with individual cases, (b) Parliament when the Commissioner makes his annual, interim, or special reports to Parliament, and (c) Government Departments and their officers in the course of his investigations.

3.