The Ombudsman, Soledad Becerril, highlighted, on 30 March in the Lower House of the Spanish Parliament, the high degree of acceptance of the Office’s resolutions by government departments and agencies.
In the Plenary Session, Soledad Becerril went over the Annual Report for 2016, which describes the activity of the Ombudsman’s Office in a year in which government departments and agencies accepted 82% of the Office’s recommendations and suggestions, in contrast to 75% in 2015.
She also reported an increase in the number of own-initiative inquiries, 872 having been conducted in comparison to 522 in 2015, a 66% increase on the previous year.
In 2016, the Office of the Ombudsman dealt with 554,788 people through its different citizen service channels (the website, social networks, telephone service, presence-based service, chats…)
For the first time, the Office conducted surveys and held consultations on topics of interest, with the participation of roughly 23,000 people. Members of the public were asked about the needs of coeliac disease sufferers; architectural barriers in roads and public spaces [barreras arquitectónicas en vías y espacios públicos]; whether the start of the school year had gone smoothly; and whether they had been affected by the assignment of their receivables from banks to institutions of another sort. The replies led to steps being taken with government authorities.
Added to that, changes were made to the website www.defensordelpueblo.es, which in 2016 received 456,215 visits.
