Ombudsman Arlene Brock is to help to come up with a code of ethics for fellow members of her profession in the Caribbean.

She was appointed to a committee of experts to develop the code for the Caribbean Ombudsman Association (CAROA) at its sixth biennial conference, held earlier this month in Curaçao.

Ms Brock said: "The work of this committee will be an opportunity to survey the international landscape of responsibilities and standards of the Ombudsman institution.

"At CAROA's fifth biennial, held in Bermuda in 2008, a constitutional scholar stated that there is an evolving concept that oversight institutions such as the Ombudsman and Auditor General constitute the integrity or accountability branch of government. As such, it is important to establish common guidelines, standards and benchmarks for our work."

The Ombudsman also reacted to the Government's Throne Speech pledge to "strengthen the independent oversight agencies integral to Bermuda's system of governance".

The speech stated: "To ensure impartial legal advice, the Office of the Auditor General will be provided with funding for an independent counsel and amendments to the Audit Act 1990 will be made to this effect. Similarly, the Ombudsman will be afforded a like opportunity."

Ms Brock said: "This is an excellent recognition by the Government of the need to protect the independence of oversight institutions with appropriate resources."

Her office already uses independent legal advisers, as does the Office of the Auditor General. The Premier's press secretary has been unable to provide further information to The Royal Gazette on what the Throne Speech pledge means.

Ms Brock said: "From an oversight point of view, this is still a very useful recognition by Government. At the Caribbean Ombudsman conference that I just attended and presented at, the issue of independent legal advice came up. It is good to have this recognised as a right by governments."