statistics Certain cases must be rejected – for the time being or finally. For instance, the Ombudsman is not permitted to consider complaints concerning matters that may be appealed to another administrative authority until that authority has made a decision (section 14 of the Ombudsman Act). Therefore, complaints submitted to the Ombudsman before any appeal options available have been exhausted cannot be processed and have to be rejected – at least for the time being, until the relevant appeal authority or authorities may have processed the appeal. Pursuant to section 7(2) of the Ombudsman Act, the courts are outside the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction. Therefore, complaints concerning courts, for instance, have to be rejected, and in this case the rejection is final. We have attempted to gather the various figures and information under clear themes: How many cases did the office open? How many cases did the Ombudsman conclude? How long did it take to process the cases? These themes have been dealt with separately in the section ‘Key figures’ on pages 75-77. The following pages deal with the issues: What did the Ombudsman do in the cases concluded in 2012? What did the cases concern? Which authorities were affected? 79