News
Ombudsman’s case work doubles in 2019
The Office of the Ombudsman’s annual report for 2019 was tabled in the Legislative Assembly Wednesday, 29 July, showing a year of significant growth and accomplishment.
The office added significant capacity during the year, enabling it to respond more robustly to data protection and maladministration complaints, both of which increased during 2019. The office has also managed to work through a daunting number of backlogged public complaints against the RCIPS, where a total of 144 historical matters initially brought to the RCIPS under a previous version of the Police Law have been resolved.
The Office of the Ombudsman was formed in September 2017 via an amalgamation of the previous Office of the Complaints Commissioner, which dealt with maladministration issues, and the Information Commissioner’s Office, which handled Freedom of Information appeals. The new office was given the added responsibilities of investigating citizen complaints against police, data protection complaints and whistleblower complaints.
“Although it has taken a little more than two years to bring all these responsibilities under one roof, with the appropriate legislation in place, the Office of the Ombudsman is now firing on all cylinders and is truly the one-stop-shop that was envisioned by the legislature,” said Sandy Hermiston, Ombudsman.
Cayman’s Data Protection Law took effect on September 30th, 2019 – an important step in the development of privacy protection and international business in the Cayman Islands. Data protection was the busiest section for the Ombudsman’s office in 2019, receiving 192 enquiries, as well as 12 complaints from members of the public and 25 complaints from organisations during the year. The Ombudsman’s office spent a significant amount of time during 2019 in public consultation meetings seeking to educate both the public and private sector about this new legislation and that effort continues in 2020.
“Overall, the number of enquiries handled by the Office of the Ombudsman in 2019 increased by almost 60 per cent and data protection is a big reason for that increase,” Ms. Hermiston said.
