The Grievance Ombudsman has warned about the consolidation of two levels regarding the fulfillment of the obligations in terms of active advertising: the largest administrations follow them "almost completely", while the local ones do so to a more limited extent. "We could say that overcoming this division is the main challenge of the transparency system in Catalonia", they say from the Ombudsman.
This is one of the main conclusions of theAnnual report on transparency, access to public information and good governance, corresponding to the year 2022, that the complaints union of Catalonia, Esther Giménez-Salinas, has presented to Parliament.
Regarding public information, the report notes that nearly 20% of requests for access to public information go unanswered by the administrations. According to the test as a hidden citizen carried out by us during 2022, 80,6% of the requests obtained a response, a slightly higher increase than in the previous year, in which the percentage was 79,9%.
Individual reports
Last year the institution did a pilot test of individual evaluation of 188 administrations. This process made it possible to obtain a series of results and compare them with those of other administrations at the same level, which served as a stimulus to introduce improvements. These good results have led to a repeat of the experience and a 73,9% increase in the subjects evaluated, which have already been 327.
The Ombudsman points out that based on his reports, the Open Administration of Catalonia (AOC) has improved its services. This is the case of the electronic request form for access to public information (SAIP) used by many administrations: in a first version of this form, the “reason for the request” was not an optional field, an aspect that was corrected at the end of 2021. Another recommendation of the Ombudsman that has been taken care of by the AOC in the same form is the possibility of distinguishing between the form or medium of delivery of the information.
Analysis methodology
From a methodological point of view, the previous model has been followed. For'evaluation of active advertising all the transparency portals of the set of administrations have been analyzed and we have been forced to publish information.
Regarding the evaluation of theaccess to public information, the data provided by the administrations and those of the hidden applicant test (TSO), an anonymous request made by the institution to find out how the processing is done and if it complies with the law, have been used.
You can consult all the data of the Annual Report on transparency, access to public information and good governance in the infographic
