128 ANNUAL REPORT 2014 J. MINISTRY OF HOUSING, URBAN AND RURAL AFFAIRS No statements on cases concluded in 2014 have been published. K. MINISTRY OF CHILDREN, GENDER EQUALITY, INTEGRATION AND SOCIAL AFFAIRS The following statement on a case concluded in 2014 has been published: 2014-18. NO GROUNDS FOR EXEMPTING INFORMATION ABOUT NAMES AND INITIALS OF EMPLOYEES FROM ACCESS A journalist complained to the Ombudsman because the Ministry of Children, Gender Equality, Integration and Social Affairs had exempted information about names and initials of Ministry employees from access. The Ombudsman said that the journalist’s reason for wanting access – which was to investigate possible conflict of interest issues in connection with the Ministry’s allocation of subsidies – could be seen as the core of the Access to Public Administration Files Act’s basic intent, namely to permit ‘the public’s control of the public administration’. The Ombudsman stated that it is the Access to Public Administration Files Act’s clear and fundamental basis that there is access to names of employees in the public administration, and that exemption from this can only take place under special circumstances and according to a specific assessment. As far as the Ombudsman was concerned, the Ministry’s assessment of the case was without a safe basis in the Access to Public Administration Files Act, and it was more suited to appear as an expression of personnel policy considerations in the light of a single case than as a factually correct administration of the Act. The Ombudsman recommended that the Ministry reopen the case and make a new decision about access to the information in question. The Ministry reopened the case processing and gave access to the requested information.