ANNUAL REPORT OF 2019 ON THE ACTIVITIES OF THE SEIMAS OMBUDSMEN’S OFFICE OF THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA do not use hostel services for various reasons (lifestyle, addictions, etc.). The MSSL informed the Seimas Ombudsman that the country’s strategic documents do not state that providing housing to the homeless is the most effective measure, but emphasise the importance of complex assistance (provision of public services, access to housing, etc.) for every person in difficulty (including the homeless). According to the Law on Social Services, a municipality is responsible for providing social services to residents of its territory, planning and organizing social services because it is best aware of the needs of local residents. The municipality shall organise social work with beggars and persons without permanent residence. Persons (the homeless) who wish to rent social housing are entered on the list of persons waiting to rent social housing. The period of waiting for social housing should be from 3 to 12 years depending on the municipality in which the person wants to rent social housing. According to the data of the Association of Local Authorities in Lithuania, the problem of homelessness is most acute in urban municipalities. Municipal social employees and non-governmental organisations work with homeless people in municipalities. With their help, the homeless are provided with temporary accommodation services in hostels, crisis centres. Municipal strategic action plans and the annual social services plan are used in addressing the problem of homelessness. Investigation into access of employees of adult social care institutions (social employees, nurses and their assistants) to vocational training and professional competence improvement in human rights issues The Seimas Ombudsman investigated the access of employees in adult social care institutions (social employees, nurses and their assistants) to vocational training and professional competence improvement EVERYONE COUNTS 17 in human rights issues7, during which the Seimas Ombudsman assessed the number of subjects (topics) related to the concept of human rights, various aspects of the implementation of human rights and the mechanism of ensuring them covered by vocational training and professional competence improvement programmes for employees of adult social care institutions (social workers, nurses and their assistants) and whether the above training programmes included relevant topics related to the highest standards of protection of human rights. The investigation showed that the Description of the field of nursing studies on which higher education institutions rely when designing new or improving the existing programmes in the field of nursing studies does not require graduates who have completed nursing studies to have knowledge and competences in the field of ensuring of human rights, nor does this requirement apply to all persons who have completed vocational training programmes in the social services and health care sectors. According to the Description of the procedure for improvement of professional competence, the knowledge and competence in the field of ensuring human rights are not included in the list of criteria for self-assessment of the needs for improvement of professional competence of a social worker. Accordingly, although more than 170 programmes for improving the professional competence of workers of the social services area approved by order of the Director of the Department of Supervision of Social Services are currently in force and ongoing, training on the subject of ensuring of human rights is carried out only under a few programmes. Most of the educational institutions, which provide the social work study programme pay due attention 7 The Seimas Ombudsman’s Report on access of employees in adult social care institutions (social employees, nurses and their assistants) to vocational training and professional competence improvement in human rights issues, 30 September 2019, No PRJ2018/1-3.