42 | Annual Report 2019 Selected own-initiative investigations The freedom of expression of employees of Aabenraa Municipality The digital self-service solution of Haderslev Municipality In the autumn of 2017, the Ombudsman came across several instances of media coverage of employees of Aabenraa Municipality having been summoned to talks with their managements. The employees had in various contexts expressed critical views about the municipality in public. A woman in the town of Haderslev had tried in vain to apply for orthopaedic shoes for her mother via the municipality’s digital self-service solution. However, because of the way in which the selfservice solution had been designed, it was not possible for the woman to submit an application on behalf of her mother. There was no information about how citizens wishing to submit applications on behalf of others could do so without using the digital self-service solution. For instance, a health visitor had written a letter to the editor of an online newspaper about healthcare cuts: ‘Dear Politician How do you think I can continue to make an important difference as a health visitor to families with young children if we are not given resources to match our current situation; (...)’ The Ombudsman pooled the five cases in question into one own-initiative investigation to be able to identify any recurring errors. He concluded the case by criticising Aabenraa Municipality, stating, among other things, as follows: ‘Managements of public authorities are permitted to respond when an employee has expressed critical views in public. However, this must be done for a legitimate purpose and in a legitimate manner. The talks in this case were not conducted in a manner which respected the employees’ freedom of expression.’ (Case No. 2019-2) After receiving a complaint from the woman, the Ombudsman opened a general investigation of the municipality’s digital self-service solution for applications for technical aids, consumer durables and layout and interior design work for persons with functional impairment. The Ombudsman encountered several errors. He concluded, among other things, that it was unfortunate that it was not expressly stated that it is only compulsory to use the digital self-service solution for applications for technical aids (such as orthopaedic shoes), but not for applications for, for instance, consumer durables or layout or interior design work. However, the Ombudsman’s investigation of the self-service solution of Haderslev Municipality also revealed some more general problems with the content and coordination of the guidance on www.borger.dk, the portal which provides a single point of digital access for citizens to public sector services. The Ombudsman therefore opened another general investigation, this time with the Agency for Digitisation. The Agency stated that it would improve www.borger.dk in a number of respects.