DENMARK | SØRENSEN SUCCEEDS GAMMELTOFT-HANSEN

The Danish Parliament ‘The Folketing’ recently appointed Jørgen Steen Sørensen, former Director of Public Prosecutions, as successor to the long-term Parliamentary Ombudsman Hans Gammeltoft-Hansen. In the years from 1992 to 1994 Mr Sørensen was already working for the Office of the Danish Parliamentary Ombudsman as a legal officer. Mr Sørensen was born on 21 April 1965 and studied law at the University of Copenhagen and the University of Montpellier. A detailed CV is available on the institution's website.

The Danish Ombudsman can consider complaints about decisions made by administrative authorities and about their treatment of people and processing of their complaints. The Ombudsman can state criticism and recommend that authorities change their decisions. Every year the Ombudsman receives around 4,000 complaints from people who believe that authorities have committed errors. A typical error could be an authority that has taken too long to answer a letter or made a wrong decision. The Ombudsman also considers cases on his own initiative, for instance about matters that have been mentioned in the newspapers. Furthermore, he frequently inspects prisons, psychiatric hospitals, etc. Around 85 people are employed at the Parliamentary Ombudsman’s office.