maladminister

Maladministration in UK public administration was defined by Richard Crossman, the minister responsible for legislating in 1967 for the UK parliamentary ombudsman, as ‘bias, neglect, inattention, delay, incompetence, ineptitude, perversity, turpitude, arbitrariness and so on’ leading to perceived injustice. It refers to defective administration rather than defective policy. However, in practice, administration and politics are hard to distinguish and over time possible complaints of maladministration have been interpreted with increasing flexibility. Investigation is conducted by a range of ombudsmen including those established for Parliament, the National Health Service, local government, and the parliaments/assemblies created by devolution. Evidence of the extent of complaints of maladministration provides a mixed picture. On the one hand, figures for 1999-2000 indicate that the UK parliamentary ombudsman alone received 1,646 compaints, of which 363 were accepted for investigation. Even after considerable improvements in clear-up time the average time taken for investigation was 44 weeks. On the other hand, in 2000, the same person held the post of ombudsman for the UK parliament, the NHS in England, the Scottish Parliament, and the Welsh Assembly, suggesting that the new offices were not overwhelmed with complaints. The health service ombudsman generally investigates little more than 100 complaints per year. The local commissioners for administration, nevertheless, receive rather more, the commissioner for England commonly receiving thousands rather than hundreds. The relative significance of these figures as a barometer of competence in public administration is impossible to state. However, the very investigation of maladministration has provided a legitimation for public provision made necessary by the shortcomings of other forms of accountability in central government, and by the need to reassure the public following state reform and territorial decentralization.

— Jonathan Bradbury

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