Embedets almindelige forhold By Jens Møller Director General General state of the office On 3 June 2011, the Parliamentary Ombudsman, Hans Gammeltoft-Hansen, asked the Legal Affairs Committee of the Danish Parliament for permission to step down from the position of Ombudsman from the end of January 2012. A general election was held on Thursday 15 September 2011, and pursuant to section 1(1) of the Ombudsman Act, Parliament must elect an ­Ombudsman after every general election. At its first meeting after the election, the Legal Affairs Committee set up a sub-committee with a representative of each of the ­parties Denmark’s Liberal Party, the Social Democratic Party, the Danish People’s Party, the Social Liberal Party, the Socialist People’s Party, the Unity List, the Liberal Alliance and the Conservative Party. The sub-committee had two tasks: to present a proposal to the Legal Affairs Committee for a nomination for the ­Ombudsman election and to consider the need for an amendment to the ­Ombudsman Act on the basis of the report on the previous Legal Affairs Committee’s Motion No. B 99 concerning amendment of the Ombudsman Act (Report of Parliamentary Proceedings 2010-11, 1st session). With regard to the follow-up of the report on Motion No. B 99, Mogens Lykketoft (Social Democrat), Bertel Haarder (Liberal), Søren Espersen (Danish People’s Party), Marianne Jelved (Social Liberal) and Holger K. Nielsen (­ Socialist ­People’s Party) introduced Bill No. L 188 to amend the Parliamentary Ombudsman Act (Report of Parliamentary Proceedings 2011-12) on 11 May 2012. The Bill was passed on 13 June 2012. We will of course follow up on the Act in the Annual Report of the Parliamentary Ombudsman for 2012. As appears from motion No. B 23 concerning election of the Parliamentary Ombudsman (Report of Parliamentary Proceedings 2011-12), Jørgen Steen Sørensen, then Director of Public Prosecutions, was nominated. Jørgen Steen Sørensen was elected Parliamentary Ombudsman from 1 February 2012. 19