Dear Susan,
Thank you for the letter that you wrote to me. I think I need
to take some time to clarify things to you because you refer only to
the decision made by the Independent Case Examiner. The original reason
that I contacted the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman was to
address the issue of Pertemps People Development Group Ltd. and
Jobcentreplus, with regard to the delivery of the New Deal programme in
Kidderminster. I haven't complained to you about the Independent Case
Examiner and the decision to involve them yet again, even though they
made it very clear that they were never going to address the subject,
was one made entirely by The Parliamentary and Health Service
Ombudsman. Anything that the Independent Case Examiner does remains
irrelevant as long as they don't address the subject, so I politely
suggest that you forget about them and get on with the task in hand,
which is the reason that I asked for your assistance in the first
place. I was forced to involve the Parliamentary and Health Service
Ombudsman because Pertemps and Jobcentreplus refuse to openly discuss
the subject with me. They seem to be under the impression that business
conducted between them is a private matter and that while they are free
to spend the public's money, they are in now way answerable to them.
If you are unable to do so please give me an explanation as to why and
direct me to the relevant body that has the role of ensuring that
private contractors to government bodies operate in a way that is
totally in accordance with all guidelines and contracts, for example
the contract between Pertemps and Jobcentreplus to provide New Deal in
the Marches District and the Provider Terms and Conditions. If there is
no body that has this power I would like confirmation in writing that
private contractors to government bodies are in actual fact not subject
to any such conditions regardless of what contracts or any other
seemingly statutory documents appear to say.