92 How much did the Ministry of Children and Education demand for the sale of two buildings in the town of Rønne? This was the question asked by a journalist. However, the Ministry refused his request for access to the information, as negotiations about the sale of the buildings were still ongoing. The journalist then lodged a complaint with the Ombudsman, who agreed with the Ministry that the public authorities would not be able to negotiate as an equal contract party if access to the relevant documents was granted during the negotiations. The Ombudsman’s task is to investigate whether the authorities comply with statutory rules and regulations, but that does not mean that he ‘supports’ the complainant. He must assess all cases on a purely legal basis. The Danish Committees on Scientific Dishonesty (UVVU) refused a request of access to the files of a case concerning a scientist on the grounds that the case was still pending. The Ombudsman had recently stated in a similar case that the UVVU’s practice did not comply with the Act on Public Access to Documents on Public Files and had consequently asked the UVVU to review its practice in this respect. The Ombudsman therefore forwarded the new case to the UVVU to give it the opportunity to consider it in the light of his recent statement. Even if the Ombudsman is able to consider a case, he may choose to forward it to the authority involved, for instance because he believes the complainant’s problem will be resolved most quickly in this way. When a private shared road requires main­ tenance, the local authority splits the cost between the residents along the road. However, a married couple disagreed with the cost allocation and lodged a complaint with the Ombudsman. The local authority had followed the criteria laid down in the Highway Contribution Act. The Ombudsman therefore did not find that there were grounds for criticising the local authority’s allocation of costs. As he was unable to help the couple with regard to the cost allocation, which was the core of their complaint, he decided to take no further action on the other aspects of their complaint. If the Ombudsman is unable to help with the key issue of a complaint, he often chooses to reject the other aspects of the complaint as well.