classified as places of detention under the above definition. 1.4 – PERSONNEL AND FINANCIAL RESOURCES Further to these activities, the National Agency is also tasked with issuing statements regarding both existing and draft legislation. The National Agency is made up of ten honorary members, and a Secretariat staffed with six full-time employees. Ever since the Agency was founded, there have been discussions amongst various stakeholders in the field of human rights as well as on the political level as to whether the National Agency’s available funding is sufficient for it to fulfil its legally mandated task of regularly visiting over 13,000 facilities and attending measures within its remit involving deprivation 3 of liberty, such as deportations. 1.3 – POWERS Pursuant to the rules set out in the OPCAT, the Federal Government and the Länder grant the National Agency the following rights: + + + + + Access to all information concerning the number of persons deprived of their liberty in places of detention as defined in Article 4 of the OPCAT, as well as the number of places and their location; The National Agency's budget was increased in 2015 when its staff numbers were doubled. Since then, it has an available budget of EUR 540,000. To date, the budget has not undergone regular adjustments in line with general cost developments. Due to an increase in costs in recent years, particularly in respect of rental payments and personnel, the National Agency was forced to limit its visit activities considerably in 2018. It is already foreseeable that the current budget will no longer be sufficient in 2020 for the Agency to effectively fulfil its legally mandated tasks. Access to all information referring to the treatment of those persons as well as their conditions of detention; Access to all places of detention and their installations and facilities; The opportunity to have private interviews with the persons deprived of their liberty without witnesses, either personally or with a translator if deemed necessary, as well as with any other person who the national preventive mechanism believes may supply relevant information; 1.5 – ENQUIRIES BY INDIVIDUALS In the period under review, the National Agency received individual enquiries regarding 45 separate cases that exclusively concerned facilities within the Joint Commission’s remit. Although the National Agency is not an ombudsman institute, details provided in individual enquiries are nevertheless of practical relevance for its work. They provide background information for visits, and may draw attention to specific problem areas. In addition, concrete The liberty to choose the places they want to visit and the persons they want to interview; + To maintain contact with the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture, to send it information and to meet with it. In accordance with Article 21(1) OPCAT, persons who communicate information to the National Agency are not to be sanctioned or otherwise prejudiced in any way. The members and employees of the Agency are obligated to maintain confidentiality with regard to information disclosed to them in the course of their duties. This obligation is to be maintained even beyond the term of their office. 3 CPT/Inf (2017) 13, p. 14; CAT/OP/DEU/1, (16.12013); Follmar-Otto, “Die Nationale Stelle zur Verhütung von Folter fortentwickeln! Zur völkerrechtskonformen Ausgestaltung und Ausstattung”, policy paper no. 20, 2013, URL: https://www.ssoar.info/ssoar/bitstream/handle/document/34 935/ssoar-2013-follmar-ottoDie_Nationale_Stelle_zur_Verhutung.pdf?sequence=1, (available in German only, last retrieved on 29/01/2019); Motion put forward in the Bundestag by Bündnis 90/Die Grünen (“Für den Menschenrechtsschutz in Deutschland – Die Nationale Stelle zur Verhütung von Folter reformieren und stärken”) of 30/05/2017 (Bundestag Printed Paper 18/12544) 15