THE OMBUDSMAN OF SPAIN SUMMARY OF THE REPORT TO PARLIAMENT YEAR 2008 Translation of El Defensor del Pueblo. Resumen del Informe a las Cortes Generales año 2008 All or parts of the text of this publication may be reproduced providing the source is credited. Under no circumstances may reproductions of this document be used for profit. Defensor del Pueblo Pº Eduardo Dato, 31 – 28010 Madrid – Spain http://www.defensordelpueblo.es [email protected] Depósito Legal: Summary The Ombudsman assumed 23,899 complaint SUPERVISION OF PUBLIC cases last year, representing a 37.56% increase ADMINISTRATION Page 5 Justice STATISTICS Several proposals by the Ombudsman to improve the In 2008, the number of citizens who presented a functioning of the Ministry of Justice in a particularly complaint to the Ombudsman increased by more complicated year for this Administration than 50,000 people Page 64 Page 14 Prisons Status of complaint processing at the end of 2008 The prison population grew by double the percentage Page 24 rate in 2008 than in 2007, reaching a total of 73,589 inmates 7,842 collective complaints Page 69 Page 30 Citizenship and Public Safety 253 ex officio complaints Security Forces and Corps: Zero tolerance for abuse Page 33 Page 71 58 recommendations and 74 suggestions admitted Alien Affairs and Immigration Page 37 The protection of victims of human trafficking must have priority over measures intended to restrict the 125 recommendations, 190 suggestions entry of undocumented aliens Page 39 Page 76 Suggestions accepted Educational Administration Page 41 The Ombudsman calls for ways to achieve full effectiveness of the basic right to education and to Reminders of legal duties improve policy with regard to study scholarships and Page 44 grants Page 83 Warnings Page 53 Health Care The bureaucratization of the primary health care Appeals of Unconstitutionality system and the new methods for managing centers Page 54 and services have given rise to complaints Page 87 Administrations that failed to comply or have shown noteworthy delays in responding to the Social Affairs Ombudsman’s investigation requirements The ex officio inquiry continues regarding enforcement Page 56 of the Dependency Law, which also raised numerous individual complaints Complaints for which no reply has been received Page 90 in 2008, after the third request Page 56 Taxes and Duties Ex officio Investigation into errors in the Inland MANAGEMENT SUMMARY Revenue Office’s Initial Drafts An increase in complaints lodged through the Page 95 Institution’s website, which also provides educational material for high school teachers and students Page 60 Economic Activity Civil Servants Elimination of night rates and acquisition of the “baby The ex officio enquiry into violence against health care cheque” continue to generate complaints professionals with the Ministry of Health and several Page 97 autonomous communities remains open Page 108 Environment The lack of coordination between administrations and INSTITUTIONAL RELATIONS the excessive formalities involved in preventing Page 114 and reducing environmental impact represent the main deficiencies found in environmental affairs Page 100 Housing and Urban Planning The Ombudsman believes regaining public trust in urban management is urgent Page 105 The Ombudsman assumed 23,899 complaint cases last year, representing a 37.56% increase A large number of collective complaints were lodged in 2008 regarding income tax matters as well as individual complaints regarding telecommunications. Additionally, a large number of civil ser­ vants and state employees approached the Ombudsman to fight for issues affecting their status and working conditions. Of the total amount of complaints received, the Ombudsman approved 53.38% for follow up, with 432 resolutions drafted. Most noteworthy among the data referring to activities conducted in 2008 was the rising number of citizens who approached the Ombudsman as well as the number of complaints lodged by both individuals and groups. In this regard, 23,899 enquiries were initiated last year, including ex officio investigations undertaken by the office of the Ombudsman. This amount represents an increase since 2007, although somewhat less than what was seen in 2006. The number of ex officio actions initiated in 2008 was quite similar to the number for 2007, which only had nine fewer. This reflects the Institution’s constant com­ mitment to use the resources and time at its disposal to proactively address any failures and purported break­ downs of which it becomes aware, in addition to the The President of Congress, José Bono, speaking with the ongoing attention it pays to the numerous requests and Ombudsman, Enrique Múgica Herzog, and his Deputies, Mª Luisa complaints submitted by citizens. Cava de Llano and Manuel Aguilar, the day of the presentation The vast majority of complaints originated in nation­ of the Annual Report in Congress. Photo: Povedano. al territory, and the greatest number of these came from Madrid, followed by Valencia and Andalucía. Only 1.5 per­ enquiries initiated in 2008 had been resolved by the end cent of total citizens’ complaints came from abroad. Re­ of the year. garding the means of submission for these complaints, In the section on statistics, complaints received in most are still sent directly to the Ombudsman whereas previous years whose processing continued into 2008 just over 9 per cent were received indirectly via collabo­ are also reflected, representing a total of 7,697 cases.This ration with the autonomic parliamentary commissioners data provides a broader and perhaps more accurate pic­ and certain administrative bodies. ture of the activity undertaken by the institution during With respect to the classification of these complaints the calendar year, because there are more than just a few by administrative sector of activity, the high number of cases that, for various reasons—often due to delays in collective complaints in the area of income tax matters obtaining reports requested from the Administration— in 2008 is noteworthy. Also remarkable is the number require a long period of time before investigative needs of individual complaints referring to telecommunications, can be considered to have been met in order to arrive at as well as the constant stream of complaints by civil ser­ an appropriate institutional resolution to close the case. vants and state employees on matters affecting their sta­ tus and working conditions. Effective supervision In 2008 there were a total of 125 recommendations, 190 Processing status suggestions 113 reminders of legal duties and 4 warnings, In 2008, 53.38 percent of the total complaints lodged which add up to a total of 432 resolutions. Additionally, were accepted for follow up with the public Administra­ it was decided to include information about resolutions tion concerned. For their part, there were a total of made in the previous two years, i.e. regarding the status 2,446 individual complaint cases that had been closed by of their acceptance or denial over a period of time.This the end of the calendar year, representing just over 42 will likely shed more light on the effectiveness of these percent of all cases accepted for processing. In the same institutional decisions and the favourable replies given by year, the percentage of collective complaints resolved the administrations, even for cases involving certain was lower because factors involved in handling these delays. In this way, one can more readily see that over 81 types of complaints invariably produce erratic statis­ percent of the 99 recommendations made in 2006 had tical results. Moreover, 42.7 percent of the 253 ex officio been accepted by the end of 2008, and 117 of the 156 THE OMBUDSMAN OF SPAIN. SUMMARY OF THE REPORT FOR 2008 5 recommendations made in 2007, or 75 percent, had al­ understaffing, excessive staff transfers, inadequate training ready been accepted by the end of last year as well. or insufficient professional experience of temporary staff, lack of computer equipment suitable to the penal Administration of Justice process and, more importantly, the incompatibility of Although the many difficulties reported with respect to different judicial databases as well as the lack of a single the Administration of Justice seem to have become computer application to link the respective databases of chronic virtually since the beginning of the Ombudsman’s the prosecution and the courts in order to permit access activity—as reflected in its annual reports—it must also to indispensible information regarding facts and people be said that these got a great deal of publicity in 2008 involved in court affairs or enforcement procedures. due in large part to a judicial workers’ strike in certain Issues concerning staff working conditions in the Admin­ autonomous communities. After work stoppages in Ma­ istration of Justice are given special consideration in the drid, further strikes were called in communities where corresponding section of this report—the result of the corresponding transfer of powers had not yet come the numerous individual and collective complaints lodged about (Castilla y León, Castilla-La Mancha, Extremadura, in 2008 and in previous years. Murcia, La Rioja, the Illes Balears and Asturias, as well as the cities of Ceuta and Melilla). The consequences of Prison administration these strikes were duly reflected in citizens’ complaints It is customary to begin this section of the report by filed at the time and, above all, later