To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security 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 Department. [36826]

Complaints about projects or services carried out on behalf of the Department and its agencies and funded through the private finance initiative remain within the jurisdiction of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration, the parliamentary ombudsman. Members of the public have the same rights of complaint to the ombudsman as for complaints directly against Government Departments.