Paragraph 17 General
270.Paragraph 17 specifies what is meant by financial year, the first of which will begin when the Commission is established and end the following 31 March. The Ombudsman will be barred from election to the House of Commons by inserting a reference to the post into Part 3 of Schedule 1 to the House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975; and the Ombudsman will be listed as a public authority for the purposes of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 by inserting a reference to the post into Part 6 of Schedule 1 to that Act.