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Social work complaints procedures are to be examined by the Scottish executive, according to the Scottish public service ombudsman Alice Brown.

While the ombudsman deals with complaints from health, housing, parliament and other aspects of local government, complaints about social work are handled "in house" and can only be dealt with by the ombudsman when this process has been exhausted.

This procedure is now considered outdated. Brown said the key issue was whether or not there should be a direct complaints procedure to the ombudsman in line with other public services.