a place for everything and everything in its place of resources is due to the administrative authority not keeping the necessary records. Keeping records enables documentation Proper record keeping also gives the authority the opportunity to get an overview of the case process so far, and in cases of doubt, keeping records makes it possible to document whether incoming and outgoing post has been received and dispatched, respectively. In this respect, correct record keeping serves the same purpose as, for instance, the duty to take notes of significant case processing steps which do not appear from the case documents. A person receiving housing benefit complained to the Ombudsman about a demand for repayment of benefit (the 2001 Annual Report of the Parliamentary Ombudsman, Case No. 2001.539 – a summary in English is available in ‘Summary Annual Report 2001’, Case No. 19-1, on www.ombudsmanden.dk). He explained that he had informed the social security office by letter about the raise in income which later led to the demand for repayment. The social security office claimed that it had not received the letter. The Ombudsman stated that it was a matter for criticism that the social security office had not consistently re­ gistered incoming post and in this connection entered all letters on the case log sheet. The question itself – whether the housing benefit recipient had informed the social security office about his raise in income – was a question of evidence which was not to be resolved by the Ombudsman. Order as a prerequisite for control In another case, a journalist had asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for access to the Ministry’s documents on involvement in Danish export promotions in Iraq in the time period 2000-2003 (the 2006 Annual Report of the Parliamentary Ombudsman, Case No. 2006.556 – a summary in English is available in ‘Summary Annual Report 2006’, Case No. 17-4, on www.ombudsmanden. dk). The relevant documents were not held in one single case but in various ­cases in the Ministry, and the Ministry gave access to only some of the documents. The journalist then asked for a list of all the documents covered by his request for access. The Ministry denied this with reference to the Ministry not having such a list and to the Ministry not as such being able to generate a list like that from its file registration system. The Ombudsman stated that the Ministry must be able to produce a list of all documents covered by the access request and provide an explanation for the instances where access had been denied. 55