Catalan Ombudsman Rafael Ribó submitted a report on “Child malnutrition in Catalonia”, in which he alleges that - according to the ICS diagnostic codes of June 2013 - 50,000 children have food deprivation and 750 suffer from malnutrition and poverty and calls for urgent Government action to guarantee the right of children to adequate food.

On 16 April, upon the nomination of the Speaker, the Seimas (Parliament) appointed Augustinas Normantas to investigate activities of officials of state institutions and agencies instead of investigation of activities of officials of municipal institutions and agencies that he has been responsible for since 2005.

The 13^th Conference of the Asian Ombudsman Association (AOA) will be held in Tehran, Iran from 7 to 10 October 2013. This biannual event will once again offer an opportunity to meet the heads of the Asian Ombudsman Association and their non-Asian counterparts.

The Office of The Ombudsman of Hong Kong has lately released the Annual Report for the period 1 April 2012 to 31 March 2013.  During the year, it received 5,501 complaints, 9.4% higher than last year’s.

The City of Toronto Ombudsman has received funding from the International Ombudsman Institute (IOI) to lead a research project that will look at the impact that systemic investigations have had on the service to Toronto’s residents.

Ontario Ombudsman André Marin has directed his staff to conduct a case assessment to determine whether or not an investigation is warranted in the wake of a recent Toronto Police shooting.

On 26 July 2013, the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) laid its 2012/2013 public report before the Scottish Parliament. Despite increasing numbers of complaints and significant cuts in resourcing, the office’s productivity also rose and the SPSO dealt with 9% more complaints than in the previous year.

The Edinburgh-based Queen Margaret University, which has an excellent reputation as a centre for ombudsman and complaint handling practice, published a research report on the future of ombudsmen schemes in the United Kingdom.