R v Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration ex p. Dyer

Computer Aided Transcript of the Stenograph notes of John Larking Verbatim Reporters, Chancery House, Chancery Lane, London WC2 Telephone No: 071 404 7464 Official Shorthand Writers to the Court)

MR S RICHARDS (Instructed by the Treasury Solicitor) appeared on behalf of the Respondent. THE APPLICANT appeared in Person. ____________________

The report, let it be said at once, found the applicant's complaint to be justified. Time and again it criticised the Department for maladministration and in particular the local office for mishandling various aspects of the applicant's benefit claims. In several instances where the report identifies matters of justified complaint it notes that the Permanent Secretary offers his apologies to the applicant. The PCA says that his:

The resolution of this initial jurisdictional issue clearly depends essentially on the legislation which created the PCA's office and governs the discharge of his functions. To these provisions I now turn. They are to be found in the Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1967. Most relevant for present purposes are these:

Shortly after the Act came into force, we are told, a Select Committee was appointed specifically with regard to the PCA, to examine his reports and consider any matters in connection with them.