ANNUAL SPECIAL REPORT 2018 13 • As far as the appropriate staffing is concerned, it has to be noted that the granting of the NPM mandate to the Greek Ombudsman was not accompanied by a provision for recruiting the requisite staff that would undertake the work on a full-time basis. Hence, the Greek Ombudsman set up a working group (“OPCAT team”), under the responsibility of the Deputy Ombudsman for Human Rights, composed of 1 administrator and 15 special investigators of the Greek Ombudsman’s office, who also have parallel duties in different departments of the Independent Authority including those of Human Rights, Social Protection, Children’s Rights, Equal Treatment and Public Administration. The affiliation of the members of the NPM team with different areas of competence of the Ombudsman ensures appropriate specialisation and experience, as well as the capacity to respond adequately to the multifaceted scope of the NPM’s mission. • Concerning financial support, it was only in mid-2017 that the Mechanism was granted a subsidy by the Ministry of Administrative Reform, notwithstanding the fact that support was envisaged as early as 2014 in the law that ratified the Optional Protocol. From 2014 until mid-2017, the work of the NPM was carried out with resources redistributed from the Authority’s meagre budget. It should also be noted that, even though additional funding for the NPM mandate has been granted since 2017, this is done on an annual basis and only after the submission of a request by the Ombudsman. As a consequence, funding is normally made available sometime in the course of the fiscal year (i.e. not from January 1st), while at the same time the strategic planning and priority-setting of the Mechanism, although designed for a period of 3 years since 2017, can be confirmed only on an annual basis, as it depends on the availability of the financial resources requested. ●