Information Commissioner proposed for Ombudsman role

Rosemary Agnew, the Scottish Information Commissioner, is to be nominated for appointment as the next Scottish Public Services Ombudsman.

The Scottish Parliament will next week be invited to put Ms Agnew forward for appointment by the Queen to the role, which involves investigating complaints about organisations providing public services in Scotland, where a member of the public claims to have suffered injustice or hardship as a result of maladministration or service failure.

Ms Agnew was appointed to her present post from May 2012 for a fixed term of six years. If approved, she would take up post on 1 May this year, succeeding the current Ombudsman Jim Martin, who stands down on 30 April.

The Ombudsman position is a full time, fixed term appointment for eight years and attracts a salary of £83,000.

Ms Agnew was previously chief executive of the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission, and immediately before that worked as an assistant ombudsman for the UK Local Government Ombudsman.