Public services ombudsman denies compromising his role

Nick Bennett: "Sometimes I upset the opposition parties, sometimes I upset the government."

A public services watchdog has denied compromising his role by talking to government officials about whether he should investigate complaints about Welsh language services.

Plaid Cymru has called discussions between civil servants and Nick Bennett "completely inappropriate" .

Mr Bennett wants such complaints to be handled by his office when the Welsh language commissioner is scrapped.

Ministers have said they are open-minded about his proposal.

Responding to a government consultation in October, Public Services Ombudsman for Wales Mr Bennett said he could resolve complaints quickly and that the current system was "over-bureaucratic and complicated".

The previous month, he and his panel of independent advisers discussed his proposal with civil servants at his offices in Pencoed, near Bridgend.

Minutes show a government official outlined possible obstacles and that the ombudsman then explained how they could be overcome.

Plaid Cymru AM Adam Price argued it provided "useful feedback" for the ombudsman and that he "put himself in a position where he allowed representatives of the Welsh Government, that he is responsible for supervising, to influence the contents of his response to a consultation and his decision on this occasions".

Adam Price has written to the chairman that scrutinises Mr Bennett

Given the importance of his independence, the "close contact" between the ombudsman and officials responsible for developing the Welsh Government's policy was "completely inappropriate", Mr Price said.

The Plaid AM has written to the chairman of the assembly's equality committee, which scrutinises the ombudsman, asking for its opinion on Mr Bennett's actions.

Giving evidence to the committee on Wednesday, Mr Bennett denied he had "compromised" his independence at the September meeting.

"Wales is a small place," he said.

"I discuss with civil servants quite often. Sometimes I argue with civil servants."

He added: "Sometimes I upset the opposition parties, sometimes I upset the government."

Civil servants and ministers once tried to put him under pressure not to publish a report into the quality of out-of-hours health care, he said.

Mr Bennett said he did not want to be the language commissioner, but said ombudsmen in other countries had shown they can deal with complaints about language services quicker.

A Welsh Government spokeswoman said: "The meeting was held as part of the consultation on the White Paper [on the Welsh language bill].

"It is entirely proper that we listen to ideas and opinions from all sides and that we consider each contribution carefully before reaching a conclusion."