Northern Ireland

Police Ombudsman spends over £3,000 on bigger office

The Police Ombudsman's office in central Belfast
The Police Ombudsman's office in central Belfast The Police Ombudsman's office in central Belfast

THE Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland has spent more than £3,000 moving into a bigger office.

Marie Anderson's new personal office had previously been occupied by six staff members but now "provides a space in which she can meet with families and other people, including larger groups, who she engages with as part of her role".

It is almost a third larger than the ombudsman's previous workspace and an estimated £3,125 has been spent on refurbishments.

These consisted of £1,600 on repainting, £547 on replacement blinds, £460 on access controls, £348 on a locking package and £170 on a "deep clean" of the room and carpet.

A further £840 has been spent repainting the previous office used by the ombudsman.

The Police Ombudsman is based at Writers' Square opposite St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast city centre.

Ms Anderson became Police Ombudsman in July after previously working as the north's Public Services Ombudsman.

At 51.9m sq (around 558 square feet), her new private office is over 28 per cent larger than the office occupied by her predecessor Michael Maguire.

The details were revealed to The Irish News through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request.

A spokesman for the Police Ombudsman defended the office switch and subsequent spending.

He said the office Ms Anderson now occupies was the room "which had originally been designed for this purpose when our premises first opened and had been used by two of the three previous Police Ombudsmen".

"The room had not been redecorated since it was first used 19 years ago," the spokesman added in the FOI response.

In a further statement a spokesman said: "The ombudsman's former office is now occupied by the chief executive. This is the way the rooms were used when the office first opened in 2000.

"The staff who were previously in the Police Ombudsman's current office are now in another room on the same floor.

"The Police Ombudsman's private office provides a space in which she can meet with families and other people, including larger groups, who she engages with as part of her role. It had not been redecorated in 19 years."

The ombudsman investigates complaints against the police. The office has more than 150 staff and had a budget of £9.3 million in the last financial year.

The ombudsman role has previously been occupied by Nuala O'Loan, Al Hutchinson and Michael Maguire.