Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether complaints to the Independent Case Examiner that have been considered under the early resolution process can be referred directly to the Parliamentary Ombudsman.

The Independent Case Examiner’s Office routinely considers whether the complaints it accepts for examination can be resolved, to the complainant’s satisfaction, without the need for a full examination of the case. The resolution process will only succeed if the complainant is satisfied that their complaint has been addressed. Decisions on whether to refer a complaint to the Parliamentary Ombudsman’s Office, regardless of the stage at which it was concluded by the Independent Case Examiner’s Office, rest with individual Members of Parliament.