BackThe number of complaints received by the Parliamentary Ombudsman of Finland no longer increased last year as the Ombudsman received slightly more than 4,600 complaints. The number is still the second largest in history. The Ombudsman issued approximately 4,750 decisions, which is 150 more than complaints received. The number of complaints received has steadily increased for years. The number was record high in 2013, when the Ombudsman received 5,043 complaints.
For the first time, social welfare was the most common subject of complaints. In the category, the Ombudsman received complaints and issued decisions in approximately 700 cases. In previous years, the largest category of complaints has concerned the police, but now the figure was slightly smaller.
Once again, other major categories included health care (over 500 complaints), criminal sanctions and social insurance (over 300 complaints in both categories).
Cases dealt with within the target time of one year
As in the previous year, the maximum processing time of complaints did not exceed one year, which has been the Ombudsman's long-term target. At the turn of the year, no pending complaints dated back to more than a year. The average time taken to deal with complaints was only 3.4 months, whereas a year before it was 4.2 months.
Nearly 800 complaints and own-initiative investigations, a total of 16 per cent of all complaints, led to measures taken by the Ombudsman. Like in the previous years, measures were more frequent than average in cases concerning social welfare and health care.
Number of inspections increased
Last year, the Office of the Ombudsman carried out 111 inspections, whereas the corresponding figure for the previous year was 89. The objective of the Ombudsman is to conduct approximately 100 inspections a year.
Source: Parliamentary Ombudsman, FINLAND
