Idwal Pugh

Pugh died in April 2010. He was predeceased by his wife, Mair Lewis, who died in 1985. Idwal's ashes were scattered in the waters of the Afon Mawddach at Penmaenpool, Gwynedd, in a private ceremony. A permanent memorial to Idwal and Mair was added to the prominent Vaughan family tomb of Mary and Thomas Vaughan in Treorchy Cemetery, Rhondda, in accordance with his wishes.

Pugh also assumed academic posts, serving as Chairman of the Royal Northern College of Music from 1988 to 1992 and President of Coleg Harlech between 1990 and 1998. To his delight, he was made an honorary Fellow of St John's College and he moved from Cardiff to Oxford, taking a university course in composition. Pugh indulged in his love of music, particularly playing his Steinway piano and listening to Bach. He was still taking lessons in composition and the piano in 2010. Pugh also spent time reading and walking and became an accomplished cook.

In March 1978, Pugh permitted complaints to be made directly to the Office. If the complaint was investigable, it would be sent to the relevant MP who would be asked if a full investigation was wanted. Pugh achieved greater publicity for his role and functions through public appearances, posters and the use of the colloquial term Ombudsman, a word more readily understood by the public. He was rewarded with a record number of referrals: 1,259 in 1978 from 461 MPs.

After stepping down from the post of Ombudsman in 1978, Pugh worked in the City as a director of Standard Chartered Bank and the Halifax Building Society. Pugh also became Chairman of the Hodge Group and Hodge Finance, founded by his friend Julian Hodge. He was chairman of the Development Corporation for Wales between 1980 and 1983 and the President of the Cardiff Business Club between 1991 and 1998.

In 1976, Pugh was appointed Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman. He would shape the role and demonstrated characteristics of toughness, rigid fairness, accuracy and independence. For his acceptance of the post, he was shunned by his former colleagues in government departments.

In 1969, Pugh became Permanent Secretary of the Welsh Office before moving to the much enlarged Department of the Environment in 1971 to serve with the Secretary of State for the Environment, Peter Walker as Second Permanent Secretary. At the Department, Pugh acquired a dislike of the Treasury but nevertheless acquitted himself well during a challenging time.

In this role, Pugh dealt with angry road hauliers during the fuel shortages caused by the Suez crisis. He also spent two years as civil air attaché in Washington, D.C. before he was promoted in 1959 to Under-Secretary. Pugh moved to the Ministry of Housing and Local Government in 1961, where he became Deputy Secretary. During his time there, he chaired an inter-departmental inquiry into ways of modernising the planning system and his proposals for fewer and more independent planning authorities were broadly accepted by the government.

A woman was found to have been wrongfully admitted to a hospital under the Mental Health Act 1959 and detained for 29 days longer than she should have been. When Pugh reported, the health authority offered just £150 in compensation, a figure the Select Committee increased to £1,000. The volume of health complaint cases grew rapidly during Pugh's time at the Office: from 582 in 1976-7 to 712 in 1978-9. Notably, there was a high uphold rate in the cases fully investigated. It was also pointed out that it was rare for the Health Ombudsman's recommendations not to be accepted.

Pugh served in the Royal Army Service Corps before transferring to the 7th Armoured Division (desert rats), with which he served in North Africa, Sicily and Italy. He served on the staff of Field Marshal Alexander in Caserta. Pugh had reached the rank of Major when he was demobilised in 1946.

Pugh joined the Ministry of Civil Aviation as an Assistant Principal in 1946, where he organised supplies and chartered aircraft for the Berlin Airlift. He was also a delegate to the International Civil Aviation Organisation in Montreal. Pugh moved to the Ministry of Transport as Assistant Secretary, where he was put in charge of the Road Transport Division in 1956.

Sir Idwal Vaughan Pugh KCB (10 February 1918 – 21 April 2010) was a civil servant who was Permanent Secretary at the Welsh Office and distinguished himself as Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration and Health Service Commissioner for England, Scotland and Wales (Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman).

Pugh was born in 1918 in Blaenau Ffestiniog, Gwynedd to Rhys, a quarryman and later bus conductor, and Elizabeth, a schoolteacher. He was raised by relatives Thomas and Mary Vaughan in Ton Pentre in the Rhondda Valley and educated at Cowbridge Grammar School. He won an Open Scholarship to study Mods and Greats at St John's College, Oxford and graduated in 1940 whereupon he joined the Army.