11 Jørgen Steen Sørensen Parliamentary Ombudsman 1. Introduction On 1 February 2012, I took up the position of Parliamentary Ombudsman. This Annual Report is therefore the first report covering my time in the post. The change of Ombudsman has provided the impetus for considering various issues with a view to carrying the institution into a new era, i.e. adapting its basic values to today’s conditions. In my view, the Ombudsman’s mission can be expressed as follows: –– The Ombudsman must help the citizen who has become caught in the public administration system. –– The Ombudsman must identify and clarify general issues of administrative law and issues relating to good administrative practice. –– The Ombudsman must influence the public administration to make it (even) better. In 2012, we worked hard to establish how to best support this mission. 2. Initiatives to support the Ombudsman’s mission Focus on the right cases Pursuant to section 16(1) of the Ombudsman Act, the Ombudsman determines himself whether a complaint offers sufficient grounds for investigation – i.e. whether to take it up. Citizens therefore do not have a legal right to have their cases considered by the Ombudsman. The intention is to enable the Ombudsman to focus his resources on the cases which it is most sensible to address.