72 | Annual Report 2019 7 June These are some of the questions which moderator Hans Engell will ask Parliament’s watchdogs at this year’s People’s Political Festival. The extent to which single parents have to wait for child support payments due to them continues to increase. Those affected are parents who are not entitled to advance child support payments from the state but have to wait until the payments due to them have been collected from the other parent. 20 June Ombudsman notifies Parliament of increasing problems with collection of child support payments Critical post on Facebook was within limits to municipal employee’s freedom of expression After investigating and following the matter over a period of time, the Ombudsman has now closed his investigation and instead notified Parliament of the problem. A critical post on Facebook by an employee of Odense Municipality about a speech held by an executive during a staff day was within the limits to public employees’ freedom of expression. So says the Ombudsman in a statement to Odense Municipality – while at the same time expressing understanding that the Municipality wanted to refute the post. 7 June 21 June Lennart Lindblom will be the new Deputy Director General of the Ombudsman institution from 1 August 2019, thereby joining the top management team of the institution, which has a total staff of approximately 115. The Judicial Appointments Council has today announced that it recommends that Parliamentary Ombudsman Jørgen Steen Sørensen be appointed as Supreme Court justice. New Deputy Director General of Ombudsman institution Ombudsman recommended for appointment as new Supreme Court justice 11 June 1 July Parliament has appointed independent watchdogs with the task of ensuring that the public administration complies with rules and regulations – and does so in an efficient manner. But why did the public administration fail to heed warnings from the Auditor General’s Office and the Public Accounts Committee about the Danish Customs and Tax Administration (SKAT) and the National Board of Social Services? Did the authorities abide by the Ombudsman’s criticism in the case about separation of young asylum-seeking couples? And is the system less responsive today than previously to criticism from the watchdogs? Many unaccompanied underage foreign nationals have major problems. However, the children’s asylum centres and private accommodation facilities for, among others, children and young people with an asylum background visited by Ombudsman staff place emphasis on ensuring that the best interests of the children and young people come first. This is a central conclusion of the investigation which the Parliamentary Ombudsman has just completed of conditions for children and young people with an asylum background. The investigation focused particularly on use of physical force and the practices of asylum centres and accommodation facilities in relation to notifying the municipality of concerns about the well-being of a child. The People’s Political Festival: Doesn’t the public administration listen to Parliament’s watchdogs? Emphasis is placed on best interests of children with asylum background