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Financial ombudsman rebuked by MPs over handling of ex-chief's ‘dismissal'
Financial ombudsman rebuked by MPs over handling of ex-chief's ‘dismissal'

The Independent

time16 hours ago

  • Business
  • The Independent

Financial ombudsman rebuked by MPs over handling of ex-chief's ‘dismissal'

The departing chairwoman of Britain's financial ombudsman has been accused by MPs of a 'disrespectful' refusal to face scrutiny over the dismissal of its former chief executive. In a report published on Monday, the Commons Treasury Committee criticised Baroness Manzoor for declining to answer its questions about the ousting of Abby Thomas from her role in February. The peer and chairwoman had been asked by MPs to explain why Ms Thomas had stepped down from her role as chief executive of the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) and whether any severance package was agreed. She declined to do so, saying only that the move had been a 'mutual agreement' and citing her 'duties to safeguard the wellbeing of our employees' and 'protect the interests' of the ombudsman service. In a letter to the committee on February 19, Baroness Manzoor claimed that 'as a member of the House of Lords, I cannot be required either to attend before the committee, or or to answer its questions,' the report says. In Monday's report, MPs said that 'although this argument was strictly true' because Commons committees have no power to compel the Lords, 'it was unnecessary and disrespectful'. Following Baroness Manzoor's letter, the committee ordered the FOS to submit details of any severance deal or financial package and any confidentiality or non-disclosure agreement negotiated between the service and Ms Thomas. Although the FOS complied with the order, the committee has not published the details, claiming its decision not to do so reflects 'our awareness of the need to balance transparency against fairness to individuals.' In its report, the committee sums up the reason for Ms Thomas' dismissal as a 'collapse in confidence' driven by 'fundamental disagreements' over strategy and operations between the board and the former chief executive. 'This collapse in confidence covered a broad range of issues and was not driven by a single event or topic,' it says. 'The mutual collapse in confidence led the FOS Board to dismiss Abby Thomas.' Treasury Committee chairwoman Dame Meg Hillier said the service's failure to block Commons scrutiny should send a 'clear message' to others seeking to frustrate the process. 'I'm afraid that the handling of this situation by the senior leadership of the Financial Ombudsman Service has been deeply disappointing,' she said. 'The attempt to frustrate a House of Commons Committee from scrutinising the actions of a publicly accountable organisation ultimately proved unsuccessful. 'I hope this sends a clear message to any organisation considering similar action in future that Members of the House of Commons will have answers to the questions they ask on behalf of the British public, whether senior officials attempt to block them or not.' Baroness Manzoor said: 'I highly value the Treasury Select Committee and the important role it plays in holding the financial sector to account. 'I am committed to providing open and transparent evidence to the committee, but there are rare instances when that can be difficult – particularly when it relates to employment matters. 'I have always treated the committee with the utmost seriousness and respect, and I know the Financial Ombudsman Service will continue to work closely with them in the future.'

The UK Is Struggling to Shake Off the Bond Vigilantes
The UK Is Struggling to Shake Off the Bond Vigilantes

Bloomberg

time4 days ago

  • Business
  • Bloomberg

The UK Is Struggling to Shake Off the Bond Vigilantes

I'm Craig Stirling, a senior editor in Frankfurt. Today we're looking at how the UK faces more financial-market scrutiny than its peers on public finances. Send us feedback and tips to ecodaily@ And if you aren't yet signed up to receive this newsletter, you can do so here. 'High levels of public debt are a significant vulnerability that governments can no longer ignore,' was what Bank for International Settlements chief Agustin Carstens warned in his final speech in June. That echoed a cacophony of alarm bells from global monetary officials over the past months and years.

Scrutiny Week Q&A with Green MP Lawrence Xu-Nan
Scrutiny Week Q&A with Green MP Lawrence Xu-Nan

RNZ News

time18-06-2025

  • Politics
  • RNZ News

Scrutiny Week Q&A with Green MP Lawrence Xu-Nan

Green MP Lawrence Xu-Nan. Photo: VNP / Phil Smith This week at Parliament is Estimates Scrutiny Week, when government ministers face select committees to defend their budget plans. For an insight into the preparation necessary to properly hold a government to account on their budget estimates, The House chatted with a star performer from last year's scrutiny weeks. Lawrence Xu-Nan is one of a number of MPs in this Parliament who have doctoral-level qualifications. That suggests he holds some brutal research experience that might prove useful in digging into something as labyrinthine and esoteric as the budget. Xu-Nan's background is in Egyptology. If you can translate and analyse ancient fragmentary texts in dead languages, surely the budget is decipherable. "One of the major roles of being an MP and part of the legislature is to scrutinise the Executive. "How they make law is one part of it, and the other part is how they put together their budget and how they're going to spend that budget. So that is what we're going to be seeing this week as one of two scrutiny weeks, [the other being the Annual Reviews in December]. "We will have hearings with both the minister and the ministry or agency, on how they are going to spend the money that they set out in the budget." "I like to take a very methodological approach. "The first thing I always look at is the Summary of Initiatives. So within that, what's new? What has the government introduced that's new? What has the government taken away? That's formed the basis of a number of my questions. "Then you go to the actual Votes. [Note: The sections of a budget are called votes]. Within my portfolio, the two biggest ones are Vote Education and Vote Justice. Getting into the minutia and going through it line-by-line, looking at how the budget is being put together, what money is being spent, what money hasn't been spent." "I've normally put together a massive spreadsheet of all of the different questions. …I then prioritise it, based on the questions I would like to ask, put into different themes. And anything I don't get to ask is put aside as post-hearing questions." "Yeah, I think on one hand I take my role as an MP and as a member of the legislature extremely seriously, particularly around how we hold those checks and balances against the Executive. "And I think …opposition MPs have a particularly important role in that. …Because of my research background, I'm particularly aware that I need to be able to justify the questions I ask and be able to find very quickly where that source is from. So I'll have it with me all the time." "To be fair, in most cases when it comes to select committee, let's say Education and Workforce for example, regardless of which political party you are from, most people are pretty collegial when it comes to asking questions; and the Chair is usually pretty good about allocating the time based on requirement, so often the [Opposition MPs] do get a little bit more time [than their strict proportion]. "I think, if we're looking at maybe roughly 15 minutes or 20 minutes for a really long sustained line of questions [from an initial primary question], within an hour [the hearing] might be able to get four or five main questions [or topics], but everyone has the ability to [ask supplementaries] off each other's questions." Being able to support each other, and bounce off each other, is a really good way of scrutinising the Executive, Lawrence Xu Nan says. Photo: RNZ/ Blessen Tom "It's MP dependent, and it's portfolio dependent. "For example, last year I did a lot of coordination with [Labour MP] Jan Tinetti, as education spokesperson, and I and [the current Labour education Spokesperson] Willow Jean [Prime] have also had conversations around what questions and themes we're going to be looking at this year. "Being able to support each other, and bounce off each other, is also a really good way of scrutinising the Executive, because I think at its core, the intention here is to hold the Executive to account on their budget, as opposed to finding moments where it's less about a "gotcha" moment and more about everyone and the legislature in general working together to scrutinise." "Before the budget is announced, we can put in some pre-hearing questions. And those are a fairly standard list of questions that people may submit. They come from the committee itself to the ministry. So the really important thing about Scrutiny Week (both this week, but also the one in December), is this is one of the few opportunities that we have to be able to not only ask a minister questions (which we can do normally through Written Questions), but to put some questions together to the Ministry. "When the budget is launched, we are then also able to put in some post-budget questions, …on the basis of what is in the budget, and [answers to those] will be available before the hearing; so [you can] prepare more detailed questions based on those responses. "The hearing itself is kind of like [Question Time], and that's when we get to ask some very specific questions, but also, I guess in some ways, the more spicy questions. "After the hearing, depending on whether you have any questions you weren't able to ask, or if new information came about as a result of the public hearing with the minister or with the ministry (or agency), you can put together post-hearing questions. "[Those] can be fairly substantial, and it also allows the ministry time to digest your questions and be able to give you a more fulsome answer." Note - Sometimes questions in a hearing can't be answered immediately and Ministers or officials commit to finding answers for the committee afterwards. "Although I spend a great deal of time and care in putting together my questions… I acknowledge and recognise the fact that not everyone could know every line off by heart - it's just not feasible. "And sometimes you do need to [let people] come back with some of those answers. And we do see that happen quite often during hearings." RNZ's The House, with insights into Parliament, legislation and issues, is made with funding from Parliament's Office of the Clerk. Enjoy our articles or podcast at RNZ.

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