This week (June 20th, 2023), the Knesset marked Ombudsman Day. At a special conference held at the Knesset, the State Comptroller and Ombudsman, Matanyahu Englman, announced a new initiative – the "Public Service Index" – and declared that his office would conduct surprise inspections of public bodies so as to examine the service they provide.
The purpose of Ombudsman Day, which was established by the Israeli Knesset in 2020, is twofold – to raise public awareness to the possibility of contacting the ombudsmen and public complaints commissioners for assistance – as well as to highlight the important and challenging work of the ombudsmen and public complaints commissioners and to thank them for the important work.
The Knesset marked this day following the publication of the Ombudsman's annual report the day before (June 19th, 2023), which revealed a new record in the number of complaints received by the Office of the Ombudsman concerning public bodies.
The festive day began with a special session of the Knesset State Audit Committee, chaired by MK Miki Levy. "This year we investigated approximately 21,000 complaints, an increase of almost 50% from three years ago", said Comptroller Englman at the beginning of the session. "One of my primary goals as Comptroller is to make the Office of the Ombudsman accessible to the public as a whole, and in particular to groups whose voices are not always heard in Israeli society. In this respect, we welcome the growing awareness and the increase in complaints. However, about 44% of the complaints proved to be justified or were resolved – and this is an extremely high figure that requires rectifying among the public bodies."
"In 2022, over a third of the complaints handled by the Office of the Ombudsman pertained to public service, and 54.6% of them proved to be justified or were resolved. The large number of complaints concerning public service shows its centrality and importance in the public's eyes. I call on the Prime Minister and on the ministers to address the issue of public service. It is important that they monitor the service to the public and learn from the complaints received in our office."
The Director of the Office of the Ombudsman, Dr. Esther Ben-Haim, reviewed in detail before the Committee the Office of the Ombudsman's activities and the findings of the 2022 report: "The increase in complaints shows the public's trust in us. When we examine the data in depth, one can see that we are really reaching the populations we wish to reach, those whose voice we need to be. For example, about 20.5% of the complainants are persons with disabilities and about 11% of the complainants are welfare recipients – almost twice their percentage in the population."
Along with Ben-Haim, Vice Director of the Office of the Ombudsman Ronit Zandberg, Director of Division D Michal Ronen, Director of Division A Tidhar Ophir, and Senior Assistant to Director of the Office of the Ombudsman Ofer Gelbart also participated in the meeting.
Another discussion of the Office of the Ombudsman's activities was held in the Knesset's Special Committee for Public Inquiries, chaired by MK Yitzhak Pindrus. The Vice Director of the Office of the Ombudsman Ido Don Yechiya, and Senior Assistant to Director of the Office of the Ombudsman Aharon Iluz, spoke in the meeting about the service concept of the Office of the Ombudsman – which considers the complainants reaching out to it as customers who are entitled to optimal service. The Office of the Ombudsman representatives emphasized the importance of adapting the public service to populations that have difficulty using the digital and online services in the government service.
At the end of the committees' deliberations, a festive event was held in the Knesset Auditorium attended by Comptroller Englman, the chairmen of the committees MKs Miki Levy and Yitzhak Pindrus, Director General of the Office of the State Comptroller and Ombudsman Yishai Vaknin, and the Director of the Office of the Ombudsman Dr. Advocate Esther Ben-Haim. The conference was moderated by the Director of Division C at the Office of the Ombudsman, Ronen Karavani.
Comptroller Englman presented to the attendees, including the employees of the Office of the Ombudsman and representatives of various organizations, the new index that will examine the service to the public:
"I wish to update you that we have completed the formulation of a public service index among the key public bodies that will rate public service according to clear criteria. Receiving service from the state should not be accompanied by heartache and inflexibility. We will empirically measure the service in key public bodies, so that it will be efficient and welcoming, no less than in the private sector. The index will refer to aspects of frontal, online and phone service, including office hours, signage and accessibility. In the inspections we will incorporate visits in the field and even 'mystery shoppers' from among the Office of the Ombudsman's employees."
The Comptroller added that "I intend to publish a special report on the topic of public service, the purpose of which is to present the issues troubling the public on this subject, as indicated by their complaints to the Office of the Ombudsman. Furthermore, the report will reflect the standards for appropriate and equitable public service as set by the Office of the Ombudsman for the public bodies when inquiring into the complaints that reach it."
After a review of the Office of the Ombudsman's report by Dr. Advocate Esther Ben-Haim, a peer study was held on the topic of addressing public complaints as a tool to leverage the organization. The participants listened to lightning talks by the Director of Public Inquiries in the National Insurance Institute, Attorney Nurit Yitzhak; The Director of Public Inquiries at the Government Water and Sewage Authority, Himmat Abed-Zoabi; And the Internal Auditor and Public Complaints Commissioner at the Beitar Ilit Municipality, Gershon Weingort.
In a discussion that focused on "The people behind the complaint", a complainant spoke about the complaint she submitted to the Office of the Ombudsman. The complaint investigator, Ramit Levin, described how she helped her. Attorneys Nili Hayun Dikman and Michal Dalin Frimerman presented different points of view in the investigation work of complaints.