Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1967
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| Long title | An Act to make provision for the appointment and functions of a Parliamentary Commissioner for the investigation of administrative action take on behalf of the Crown, and for purposes connected therewith. |
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| Citation | 1967 c. 13 |
| Introduced by | Richard Crossman |
| Territorial extent | United Kingdom |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 22 March 1967 |
| Commencement | 1 April 1967 |
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Status: Amended
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| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
| Text of the Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1967 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk | |
| Revised text of statute as amended | |
The Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1967 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
It established the office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration (Parliamentary Ombudsman). The Ombudsman is responsible for investigating the administrative actions of central government departments and public authorities. The office is independent of the Government and the civil service.
Under s5(1) the Ombudsman may, on a reference being made to him, investigate actions (including a failure to act) taken on or behalf of a specified public authority which are in the exercise of administrative functions.
The Ombudsman may investigate if a written complaint has been made to a Member of Parliament, the member of public claims to have sustained injustice in consequence of maladministration in connection with administrative action and the complaint has been referred to the Ombudsman with the consent of the complainant.
The term 'maladministration' is not defined in the Act. During the debate over the Bill, the Leader of the House of Commons Richard Crossman made it clear that it did not extend to policy, which was a matter for Parliament or discretionary decisions. He speculated on what might constitute maladministration in what became called the 'Crossman catalogue':
'A positive definition of maladministration is far more difficult to achieve. We might have made an attempt in this Clause to define, by catalogue, all of the qualities which make up maladministration, which might count for maladministration by a civil servant. It would be a wonderful exercise - bias, neglect, inattention, delay, incompetence, inaptitude, perversity, turpitude, arbitrariness and so on. It would be a long and interesting list'.
The list is an open-ended one. Crossman also explained that the meaning of 'maladministration' should be filled out by the experience of case work.
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