The Office of the Ombudsman cut down average times taken to respond to members of the public and authorities and reformed its web page www.defensordelpueblo.es in order to enhance transparency and give members of the public a better service.
It took on average 29.25 days to reply to members of the public, as opposed to 64 days in 2012.
On the new web page, members of the public can find out at any time what actions have been taken and what resolutions have been made. Members of the public can also lodge their complaints online and keep track of them whenever they like. The web page gets over 1,000 visits a day, on average.
The Ombudsman (Defensora del Pueblo), Soledad Becerril, appeared before the Spanish Parliament on five occasions: the first was in February, tp present the Annual Report 2014. Added to that, she presented the 2014 Annual Report of the National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture (MNP in its acronym in Spanish) and five case studies.
1,498 resolutions were made to government agencies and 522 own-initiative inquiries were launched.
HIGHLIGHTS
School meals in non-term time
The need was stressed to ensure that under-age children who have school meals in term time are not deprived of a proper diet in the summer, at the weekends and at other holiday periods such as Christmas or Easter. Most autonomous regions have arbitrated procedures to ensure that children get meals in those periods.
Co-payment for social services
The Regional Department of Social Welfare of the Valencian Autonomous Government accepted three recommendations to prevent co-payment in social services from creating situations that were a burden to users of social welfare services and to the members of their family.
Financial risk semaphore
A request was made to create a simple system for classifying financial products according to the risk. The ministerial order published in the Official State Gazette in November makes it binding for financial institutions to advise their customers of the risk of the financial products that they are offering, by means of a system of colours or numbers.
Real valuation of undeveloped land
A recommendation was made for land on which there is no kind of building development not to be valued as building land, despite the fact that provision may have been made in Town Planning Plans for future development. It was recommended that plots of land classified as building land but that do not have the characteristics of urban plots of land (access to water, light, pavements…) should be taxed as rural land. As a consequence of this recommendation, the Consolidated Text of the Real-Estate Registry Act and of the Land Act has been altered and urbanised property status has been confined to pieces of land that have the services specific to the urban fabric.
Fight against trafficking
The Comprehensive plan for combatting the trafficking of women and girls for the purpose of sexual exploitation (2015-2018) has taken into account recommendations made by the Institution. The plan reinforces the prevention and detection of trafficking, reviews procedures for identifying and protecting the victims and providing them with assistance, and work is underway on the specialisation of professionals devoted to the research and prosecution of these cases, as this Institution recommended.
The Police Directorate General has also accepted a recommendation to share details with foreign police authorities of under-age young people who may be victims of trafficking, in order to locate them and avoid the situations of risk and exploitation that they may be in.
Second Opportunity Act
The Second Opportunity Act passed in 2015 reflected the opinion of the Office of the Ombudsman as regards the need to establish an independent insolvency procedure for private individuals and over-indebted bona fide consumers.
The new legislation introduces for the first time the legal concept of a bona fide debtor, a concept covered by legal systems in our environment whereby debtors affected by unforeseeable circumstances beyond their control may have access to a reasonable solution, provided that certain requirements are met.
Royal Decree-Law 1/2015 also governs a personal insolvency procedure, via an out-of-court agreement regarding payments, which business entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneur natural persons may invoke, before having to resort to a bankruptcy proceeding.
Housing Social Fund
Steps continued to be taken for the Housing Social Fund (FSV in its acronym in Spanish) to become part of the Banking Sector Asset Restructuring Company (SAREB in its acronym in Spanish).
The FSV, created in 2013 to provide a housing solution for families in a particularly vulnerable situation, has hastened the pace of allocating its flats after putting in practice the suggestion of the Office of the Ombudsman to give greater dissemination to the offering and possibilities of the fund.
Indemnifying victims of terrorism
A recommendation was made to the Ministry of the Interior for it to place, completely or progressively, personal injury compensation payments to victims of terrorism who do not have a ruling convicting the perpetrator or perpetrators on a par with those that do have that ruling.
Children with acquired brain injury
The Institution is preparing a case study on the quality of the care that young people under the age of 16 with acquired brain injury receive on the part of the health and education authorities. The aim is to establish what specialised primary care, early rehabilitation and educational support and social inclusion measures these minors have within their reach. It also aims to identify the main difficulties that they face in terms of rules and regulations, organisation and resources.
Code of good banking practices
After receiving complaints about the failure by some financial institutions to apply the Code of Good Banking Practices, a recommendation was made to the Bank of Spain, which has been accepted, to remind banks that it must unavoidably be applied, following the favourable decision by the Bank to the claim submitted by the party concerned. And in the event of failure to comply with the decision, to use the penalty system provided for in the regulations.
Reservation of places for students with disability
The Ministry of Education accepted a recommendation to increase the number of places being offered to official university Bachelor’s Degree course students, at each centre and for each degree qualification, to make up the five-per-cent reserved for people with disability in the entrance exam resit.
REPORTS PRESENTED
“Las urgencias hospitalarias en el Sistema Nacional de Salud: derechos y garantías de los pacientes” “Hospital emergency departments services in the National Health System: rights of and guarantees for patients”
“La escucha del menor, víctima o testigo” “Listening to under-age young people minors, victims or witnesses”
“La situación de los presos españoles en el extranjero” “The situation of Spanish prisoners abroad”
“Seguridad y accesibilidad de las áreas de juego infantil” “The safety and accessibility of children’s play areas”
“Tramitación de licencias urbanísticas: procedimientos y duración de los trámites” “Processing urban development licences: procedures and the time they take”
