Por este motivo, la defensora de la ciudadanía de Barcelona ha decidido actuar de oficio e iniciar una investigación sobre esta situación.

Barcelona, 21 de febrero de 2020 - Como ya reclamó en 2016 a raíz de la queja de una familia con un hijo con diversidad funcional, la síndica de greuges de Barcelona, Maria Assumpció Vilà, ha insistido en la necesidad de promocionar y construir más zonas de juego infantil plenamente accesibles e inclusivas. 
El 2016 esta familia contactó con la Sindicatura de Greuges de Barcelona para denunciar el déficit de parques infantiles donde su hijo con diversidad funcional pudiera jugar con total normalidad. 3 años más tarde, y después de volver a contactar con la familia, expresan que a pesar de que ha pasado el tiempo, la situación de los parques infantiles inclusivos sigue igual y no ha mejorado. 
En su momento, la familia mostró su malestar con el Ayuntamiento de Barcelona, puesto que no obtuvieron ninguna respuesta a una instancia en la que pedían algún juego inclusivo y singular en el parque cercano a su casa. Piensan que de este modo no se tiene en cuenta las familias con hijos con necesidades de inclusión.
“Se debe tener en cuenta y diferenciar que no solo se trata de accesibilidad física a los espacios de juego infantil, sino que el juego en cuestión también sea inclusivo desde el punto de vista comunicativo y cognitivo”, ha explicado la síndica Vilà. 
Actualmente, la situación en Barcelona es la siguiente: de las 902 áreas de juego y espacios lúdicos que hay en la ciudad, solo 5 tienen todos los elementos de inclusión universal, 10 son plenamente accesibles y 22 tienen algún elemento de inclusión universal. “Como bien muestran las cifras, es evidente que la infraestructura lúdica de la ciudad no es bastante diversa para ofrecer propuestas inclusivas para la infancia barcelonesa”, ha lamentado la defensora de la ciudadanía. 
Durante el 2019 el Ayuntamiento anunció que está trabajando en la promoción y el impulso del juego infantil en toda la ciudad mediante el Pla del joc a l’espai públic de Barcelona amb horitzó 2030. “Estamos estudiando y analizando este plan para ver qué grado de implementación tendrán juegos infantiles inclusivos”, ha avanzado Vilà.
Ante esta situación que no mejora, la Síndica ha recordado que es necesario que los espacios de juego infantil tengan en cuenta criterios de accesibilidad (física, cognitiva, comunicativa) y que también cuenten con elementos de juego inclusivos, que permitan a los niños con diversidad funcional disfrutar, como lo hacen el resto de niños y niñas. Por este motivo, la defensora de la ciudadanía de Barcelona ha decidido actuar de oficio y emprender una investigación sobre esta situación

The Ombudsperson, Maria Lúcia Amaral, closed the seminar “The Rights of Victims: challenges and commitments for the XIV Legislature” organized by APAV - Portuguese Association for Victim Support, organized on the occasion of the European Day of Victims of Crime.

This event, to be celebrated on February 22, was instituted by Victim Support Europe, an organization that brings together 58 victim support institutions from 30 European countries, to remember the rights of those who are victims of crime.

In Portugal, the Victims Directive was transposed into the national legal system with the approval of Law No. 130/2015, which made the 23rd amendment to the Criminal Procedure Code and approved the Victim's Statute. After almost five years, the seminar, scheduled for February 18, aims to take stock of the current state of implementation of the rights of victims in our country. To consult the program click here.

2020-02-18

East Sussex County Council has been asked to review its policy for providing home to college transport for young adults with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), after the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman criticised the way it dealt with a family’s situation.

The family complained to the Ombudsman after the council refused to provide their adult son with the full five days of travel to get to the college named in his Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan.

The man, who has a moderate to severe learning disability, was 19 when he started his college placement. The council told the family it would only offer the man four days a week transport, and his parents could take him on the fifth, as they had been doing until their work patterns changed. The family appealed the decision, but the council’s position remained the same.

The Ombudsman’s investigation found problems with the council’s policy on home to school transport, as it does not accurately reflect what the law says. This means any appeal against the council’s decision by parents is being looked at by a panel using that flawed policy.

Michael King, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, said:

“Parents cannot be expected to ensure their adult children attend education, in the same way they have a legal obligation for younger children, so councils cannot insist they drive their young adults to college.

“The law gives councils a duty to provide free transport to people aged 19 or over, where they decide it is necessary. But in this case, the policy’s starting point suggested it is the family who are expected to provide transport.

“This meant the council may not have been looking at the family’s case on its own merits when making a decision about whether or not to provide full transport.

“I now call on East Sussex council to carefully consider my report and accept the recommendations I have made to improve its services for adult learners across the county.”

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman’s role is to remedy injustice and share learning from investigations to help improve public, and adult social care, services. In this case the council should apologise to the parents and pay them £300 for the uncertainty caused.

The Ombudsman has the power to make recommendations to improve processes for the wider public. In this case the council should review the cases of young adults (aged between 19 and 25) who have an EHC Plan naming a setting, and who were refused transport at appeal in 2018 and 2019. It should consider if these people have been similarly affected.

It should also revise its policy on post-16 SEND travel and ensure it properly reflects the test set out in law, and the difference between the approaches it should be taking for young people aged between 16-18, and those over 19.

On 20 February Venice Commision delegation met with Ombudsman Juris Jansons. The Ombudsman has provided two opinions regarding education issue and thesis about meeting.