Martin handed chairmanship of reshaped Commission for Local Administration

The Acting Chairman of the Commission for Local Administration in England, Dr Jane Martin, has been handed the role on a permanent basis, ministers have announced.

Dr Martin has been Acting Chair of the Commission since the retirement of Sir Tony Redmond in November 2010. She was appointed a Local Government Ombudsman in January 2010.

The Department for Communities and Local Government also revealed that another Local Government Ombudsman, Anne Seex, has been appointed Vice Chairman.

The DCLG said the Commission was to become “more customer-focused”. It added: “Creating a more streamlined Local Government Ombudsman will deliver a more cost effective organisation and make sure that the Ombudsman is well placed to provide services that support citizens' needs with a particular emphasis on consumer champions as envisaged in the Open Public Services White Paper.”

In an update to the White Paper published last month, ministers said the Government would work with ombudsmen to examine ways in which they could play an effective role in promoting open public services and the 'right to choose'. 

This included ways in which they could:

• improve awareness and understanding of the role of ombudsmen in ensuring effective redress as the final resort when people do not receive their right to choose;
• use their ‘name and shame’ power more effectively; and
• communicate unresolved issues to the relevant elected body, “for instance to local councils in the case of the Local Government Ombudsman.

Minister for Local Government Grant Shapps said: “I am delighted that Jane Martin and Ann Seex have taken up the task of leading the Local Government Ombudsman. I know they are determined to champion the rights of local residents.

"The Local Government Ombudsman has a vital role to play in the community making sure people get swift and fair redress if things go wrong in the delivery of their local services."

The LGO has been given permission by ministers to recruit a chief operating officer, who will assume the functions of chief executive and accounting officer "as part of a more streamlined senior management".

In February the Communities and Local Government Committee announced plans to hold an inquiry into the Local Government Ombudsman. 

Philip Hoult