20 | Annual Report 2018 like a lot, but it corresponds to 10 per cent of the Ombudsman’s full investigations that do not go beyond this stage. In each of the 25 cases, the Ombudsman and the individual authorities save time and resources, and the citizen’s case is resolved much faster than with a full Ombudsman investigation. Because a full investigation may easily take several months. In a full investigation, the authority responds to our enquiry with a statement, followed possibly by more rounds of asking for statements from the authority, and often also for statements from the complainant as a party to the case. When all the facts in the case are clear and all necessary statements on the matter have been obtained, the case is concluded with a report or a statement from the Ombudsman. And possibly criticism. But as shown, this process may be cut short in some cases after the first enquiry for a statement, and many resources may thereby be saved. The increasing focus on asking clearly defined and precise questions early in the case can be seen when you look back at the institution’s history. The Ombudsman’s case processing seen over time The Ombudsman institution saw the light of day in 1955. In the first decades, an ombudsman investigation was normally opened as long as a complaint met the formal conditions and was not manifestly unfounded. The Ombudsman’s questions when asking authorities for statements were often open-ended and broad-spectrum, as the process of asking for statements was typically initiated on the basis of what the complainant had written. The theme of a complaint was thus not normally specified or defined in any further detail. Since then, the Ombudsman institution’s method has evolved quite a bit, not least due to the increasing case load and the consequent need to prioritise resources. It is certainly important that the Ombudsman can choose which cases and which aspects of a case he is going to investigate. Over the most recent decades, this possibility has been used to an ever greater extent. Accordingly, the complaints undergo an initial screening, and if we assess that we cannot help the complainant achieve a better legal position, the complaint is closed as quickly as possible. This may happen even if we deem that minor errors have been committed. However, sometimes such complaints where minor errors have been committed may provide the basis for a general case if something indicates a systemic error. Overall, we at the Ombudsman institution today put a lot of effort into the start-up phase of the cases in order to choose the right cases and issues for investigation and to set up these cases in the right way. But experience shows us that, in the long run, this will save resources overall which may be spent on other cases. And at the same time, this prevents a build-up of expectations in the complainants whom we have to disappoint in the end. A corresponding approach is reflected when we endeavour to resolve the cases by asking the authorities one or two precise question. Questions with built-in answers In some cases, we set out the legal basis when asking the authority for a statement and indicate that if the authority agrees with it, we will not spend more time on the case. It is phrased in another way, but the message is clear.