To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement about the rights of individual members of the public to make complaints to any of the appropriate ombudsmen about services or projects funded through the private finance initiative in his Departments. [36827]

Under the private finance initiative, Departments or relevant public bodies may contract with private organisations for the supply of services to specified standards. The rights of individual members of the public to make complaints to any of the appropriate ombudsmen are not affected assuming that the responsibility to provide services lies with the public authority concerned.