The Ombudsman once again called on the MDDSZ to consistently follow the principle of good governance in the future and to ensure that individuals who contact the MDDSZ with questions, even without the Ombudsman's intervention, receive appropriate answers within a reasonable time.

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A complainant turned to the Human Rights Ombudsman of the Republic of Slovenia (Ombudsman) complaining about the non-responsiveness of the MDDSZ to his letter. Pursuant to Paragraph 1 of Article 17 of the Decree on Administrative Operations, the authority is obliged to respond to all letters from which it is possible to understand the expectation of the authority's response and the identity of the sender, unless the content of the letter refers to a procedure that is still being conducted by the authority, if the letter is sent with the intention to cause inconvenience or if the authority has already answered a substantially similar question from the sender. Furthermore, Paragraph 2 of the same Article stipulates that the authority shall respond no later than 15 days after receiving the document. The reply is sent to the sender at the address indicated in the letter. On the basis of an inquiry made at the MDDSZ, the Ombudsman found that the complainant received appropriate responses from the MDDSZ to the letter he had sent only after the intervention of the Ombudsman, i.e. more than one and a half months after the letter had been sent to the MDDSZ.

Regarding the reasons for not responding to the complainant's letter, the MDDSZ explained that due to the large volume of tasks in the field of rights from public funds, the timely execution of all tasks is a significant challenge. As a priority, they therefore try to resolve complaints related to the enforcement of rights from public funds intended for materially endangered individuals (rights to monetary social assistance and welfare allowance) within the statutory deadline. Despite the large volume of many tasks, the ministry is aware of the importance of each task and always tries to carry out tasks professionally and respond to customers in the shortest possible time.

From the MDDSZ's explanations, the Ombudsman understood that the MDDSZ's non-responsiveness to the complainant's letter is (also) justified by the large volume of numerous tasks in the field of rights from public funds.

Possible staffing problems, the large number of complaints and other reasons for the long-term decision-making of the MDDSZ are known to the Ombudsman and, after such a long period of warning, he can no longer accept them. The Ombudsman has repeatedly pointed out to the MDDSZ the necessity of a more appropriate resolution of the existing situation and demanded changes. In view of the above, the Ombudsman once again warned the MDDSZ that the Ombudsman does not deviate from his principled position that due to such reasons the procedures may take longer for some time, but they can no longer be cited when the time necessary for organisational and/or personnel adjustment of the body has passed. As the Ombudsman is aware, these are expected to last for a long time, which is why the Ombudsman cannot fully accept the explanations of the MDDSZ that the large volume of many tasks in the field of rights from public funds is an excuse for the body not being responsible in accordance with the provisions of the Decree on Administrative Operations.

Thus, the Ombudsman again called on the MDDSZ to consistently follow the principle of good management in the future and to ensure that individuals who contact the MDDSZ with questions, even without the Ombudsman's intervention, receive appropriate answers within a reasonable time. We expect that the MDDSZ will follow the Ombudsman's call. 9.5-35/2023