98 | Annual Report 2018 1 9 January Ombudsman asks further questions in ‘Ry case’ After going through comprehensive material in the socalled ‘Ry case’, the Parliamentary Ombudsman has now sent a number of questions to the municipality and the school of the boys involved in the case. The questions concern, among other things, the practices of the municipality and the school in relation to docu­mentation of relevant information, in relation to notifications of the municipality under the Social Services Act that a child or a young person is or may be in need of special support and in relation to temporary exclusions of pupils from lessons and considerations whether to transfer pupils to another school. In a recent statement, the Ombudsman concludes that it is the Fund’s responsibility to ensure that the IT solutions which it uses function. 6 March Ombudsman to focus on children with asylum background This year, staff of the Ombudsman’s Children’s Division are going to visit a number of children’s asylum centres and private accommodation facilities for, among others, children and young people with an asylum background – as the theme chosen for the monitoring visits by the Ombudsman’s Children’s Division in 2018 is children with an asylum background. 9 March The case emanates from the incident which took place on 6 February 2017 in the town of Ry where a 16-year-old boy suffered serious burns when he was hit by a bottle of burning petrol. Four boys of his age have subsequently been convicted as the perpetrators in the case. Ombudsman takes up case about primary and lower secondary school demanding that pupils bring their own laptop to school 24 January This was the message which the parents of pupils in their third year at a primary and lower secondary school in Sønderborg received in the summer of 2017. One of the parents subsequently complained to the Parliamentary Ombudsman about the message. Ombudsman to focus on exclusion of inmates from association with other inmates In 2018 the Ombudsman’s Monitoring Department will have special focus on the form of solitary confinement which is called exclusion from association. 1 February Digital communication with citizens is the Labour Market’s Holiday Fund’s own responsibility The Labour Market’s Holiday Fund has developed its own IT solution in order to be able to communicate with citizens and businesses via Digital Post from public senders1. ‘In future, pupils will (...) be expected to bring their own IT equipment, i.e. a laptop, to school.’ The Ombudsman has now taken up an investigation of whether the school and the municipality have gone too far in the light of the statutory principle that educational materials are to be provided free of charge in primary and lower secondary schools. (...) 13 March Authorities should explain and apologise for significant errors to the citizens involved If an authority has made a significant error in relation to a citizen, it is not enough simply to remedy the error. Often the authority should also give the citizen involved 1) A digital letterbox service by which citizens and businesses can communicate with public authorities