El Gobierno incorpora la Dependencia entre sus prioridades a petición del Diputado del Común

Date of article: 23/06/2020

Daily News of: 23/06/2020

Country:  Spain - Canary Islands

Author:

Article language: es

El Diputado del Común, como encargado de la supervisión de las actuaciones de las administraciones públicas canarias, hizo llegar el pasado mes de febrero a la Dirección General de Modernización su preocupación por el gran número de quejas referentes a la demora en las resoluciones del reconocimiento del grado de dependencia, y este departamento autonómico lo ha recogido entre sus tres priorida...

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Report 2019: More than 51,000 requests and 9,800 new instructed processes. Social Security complaints rise again. Conditions of detention continue to worry

Date of article: 19/06/2020

Daily News of: 23/06/2020

Country:  Portugal

Author:

Article language: en

In 2019, the Ombudsman received 51,313 requests through the various channels available to citizens (6.6% more than in 2018), and 9823 complaint procedures were opened, representing an increase of 5% in relation to 2018.  Compared with 2017, the growth in new complaint procedures is 26%; taking 2016 as a reference, the increase is 42%.

In 2019, therefore, the activity indicators returned to be the highest in the history of this independent state body, created in 1975 to defend people who feel harmed by unjust or illegal acts of the administration or other public powers or who see their fundamental rights violated.

These data are included in the Report to the Assembly of the Republic - 2019, delivered today, accompanied by the annual report on the activity developed by the Ombudsman as a National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture.

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Social tariff for water: Ombudsman sends recommendation on application of consumption limits

Date of article: 19/06/2020

Daily News of: 23/06/2020

Country:  Portugal

Author:

Article language: en

The Ombudsman sent a recommendation that the social water tariff be applied to the first m3 of consumption/month legally provided for consumers who meet the requirements for its benefit, regardless of whether they may exceed this monthly consumption.

 

It is up to municipal councils to set maximum consumption limits on which discounts or exemptions are applied, but not a maximum consumption limit that, once exceeded, in no way excludes consumers from the benefit of the social water tariff.  "While it is not inappropriate that exceeding the authorised maximum limit could mean that the remaining consumption falls outside the social tariff, it is difficult to understand why, once this limit has been exceeded, someone should simply cease to be considered to be in a situation of economic deprivation", points out the Ombudsman, Maria Lúcia Amaral.

 

The recommendation comes in the wake of a complaint filed against the Intermunicipal Services (SIMAS) of Oeiras and Amadora.

To read the full text of the recommendation click here [in Portuguese only].

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