EDUCATION was not given enough time to reply to Scrutiny Committee enquiries about complaints procedures. Education minister Martin Ozanne said his department would have been happy to take part in the review but had not been able to respond in time.
‘We would at all times want to cooperate with either the Scrutiny Committee or the Public Accounts Committee and I value their input, but we need sufficient time to be able to respond.
‘The Scrutiny Committee letter arrived on Friday 12 ‘October’ and wasn’t opened until Monday 15 with a request to respond by Friday 26.
‘We were presenting the higher education proposals to the States and the public on Wednesday and Thursday. I had an inspection of La Mare de Carteret on Thursday morning and we had a meeting with the Environment Department about the site for Les Beaucamps and we had a lot of other pressing work during that half-term period and also had staff involved in Dr Robinson’s review of the department.
‘They gave us 10 days,’ he said, ‘but it was the wrong 10 days.’
The committee reported that progress in handling ‘customer’ feedback had been ‘frustratingly slow’.
The report found that seven of the 10 departments had shown positive commitment since the last review of complaints procedures in August 2005.
Deputy Ozanne said Education already had a system to deal with complaints and appeals and believed that it was one of which Scrutiny would approve.
‘If we had had the time to send a response it would have shown we have already carried out a preliminary review of our complaints procedure and policies are well established.
‘We have a system that is in place and constantly updated for parents and staff.
‘We will be in discussion with the Scrutiny Committee about any further information they might need.’
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