BackHans Gammeltoft-Hansen has written to inform the Danish Parliament that he wishes to retire as ombudsman at the end of January 2012.
According to the Ombudsman Act, the Ombudsman shall notify Parliament six months before he wishes to retire. Gammeltoft-Hansen has sent his letter before Parliament goes on vacation.
In the letter, Gammeltoft-Hansen states that he had long had in mind that January 2012 would be an appropriate time for him to leave. Around this time he will reach 68 years of age and will have held the office of Ombudsman for 25 years.
After the upcoming election, the newly-elected Parliament will choose a new Ombudsman. Gammeltoft-Hansen writes that if requested to do so, he will continue in office in the months after the general election until the end of January in order to finish off some tasks at the office.
Hans Gammeltoft-Hansen was appointed as the Parliamentary Ombudsman in November 1986 and took office on 1 January 1987. Since then, the Parliament has, following each parliamentary election, re-elected him eight times.
Gammeltoft-Hansen's CV is available in English at: http://en.ombudsmanden.dk/ombudsmanden/
The Parliamentary Ombudsman is a lawyer and elected by Parliament to investigate complaints against public authorities. The Ombudsman may issue criticisms and recommend that authorities change their decisions. Each year, the Ombudsman receives about 5 000 complaints from citizens who believe that an authority has made mistakes. A typical error might be that a municipality or other authority has taken too long to respond to a letter or made a wrong decision. The Ombudsman also takes up cases on his own initiative. For example, based on newspaper reports, the Ombudsman has often made inspections, including in prisons and psychiatric hospitals. Approximately 85 members of staff are employed by the Parliamentary Ombudsman.
© Danish Parliamentary Ombudsman, 2011
