The Defensora del Pueblo of Spain, Soledad Becerril, appeared before the Joint Committee for Relations with the Office of the Ombudsman to take stock of the work done in the first nine months of the year and to present the case studies “Tramitación de licencias urbanísticas: procedimientos y duración de los trámites” (Applying for planning permission: procedures and length of the process); “Seguridad y accesibilidad de las áreas de juego infantil” (Safety and accessibility of children’s play areas); and “Las urgencias hospitalarias en el Sistema Nacional de Salud: derechos y garantías de los pacientes” (Hospital emergency services in the National Health System: patients’ rights and guarantees), a case study drawn up in conjunction with all the autonomous regional ombudsman offices.
Outcome
In the first nine months of the year, the Office of the Ombudsman made 1,070 recommendations and suggestions. The Institution began 381 own-initiative inquiries and dealt with 11,804 cases. Among the recommendations made, the Ombudsman emphasized:
-
- The recommendation to put in place programmes that guarantee food for children during school holidays.
- The recommendation for non-developed land with planning permission to pay taxes at agricultural/rural land rates.
- The recommendation for autonomous regional governments to bring into line with market reality the ratios and rateable values used to assess the value of real estate property liable for Transfer Tax.
- The recommendation for the authorities to award equal compensation to all victims of terrorism.
- The recommendations on the Public Safety Act.
The Institution has endeavoured to reduce its average response times. The Office of the Ombudsman now takes 31 days on average to respond to members of the public, less than half the time taken in 2012 which was, on average, 64 days.
