A/HRC/43/41/Add.3 disabilities, either directly or indirectly through third-party providers. Such benefits and services, which include housing, loan schemes, residential support, in-home support, personal assistance and other community services to support independent living, are regulated in the Health and Care Service Act, the Labour and Welfare Administration Act and the Patients’ and Users’ Rights Act. The latter grants persons aged less than 67 who have a substantial, long-term need for assistance the right to receive user-controlled personal assistance. That right also includes respite care for parents of children with severe disabilities living at home. 56. While welcoming these positive initiatives, the Special Rapporteur noted significant gaps in the provision of such services, whereby municipalities have discretionary power in deciding the types and amount of services and benefits to be provided. For instance, persons with disabilities expressed concern that some municipalities granted an insufficient number of hours of user-controlled personal assistance and limited the scope of its use to basic needs. Because some municipalities provide very few options to those in need of support, often coupled with long waiting times to access services, some persons with disabilities decide to move another jurisdiction to gain access to better quality support. Others opt to file a complaint to access the rights and benefits they are entitled to, which could take a long time, even years, before the final decision is taken, while others take no action for fear of losing other entitlements. In its 2018 report, the Health and Social Services Ombudsman notes a 14 per cent increase in complaints concerning user-controlled personal assistance between 2017 and 2018, which includes both applications that were denied and the allocation of fewer hours than the person in question believed were warranted.14 57. The fragmentation of support services also makes it very difficult for persons with disabilities with lower levels of education and economic resources to navigate the system, understand their entitlements and how to access them, and claim their rights; while those who are more educated and better off financially face fewer challenges in that regard. 58. According to data provided by the Ministry of Health, in 2018 there were 66,046 persons living in institutions where health-care services were provided. There were 41,791 persons living in nursing homes (mostly older persons with dementia) and 24,255 in residential care homes, including persons with intellectual, psychosocial and severe physical disabilities. The Special Rapporteur is particularly concerned that an increasing number of persons with intellectual disabilities live in compounds or group homes exclusively for persons with disabilities, with common areas and facilities for daily activities. Often these are former institutions of varying sizes converted into single apartments, or new buildings especially designed to host persons with disabilities with high-support needs, with staff on duty 24 hours a day seven days a week. In other municipalities, the reception of services is conditional on living in a specific setting or facility, thus denying persons with disabilities the right to choose where to live. 59. The Child Welfare Act states that children and youth who live in conditions that may be detrimental to their health and development should receive the necessary assistance, care and protection in a timely way. As a measure of last resort, that can include the placement of a child in institutional care. In January 2019, there were 419 child welfare facilities in Norway (excluding Oslo) hosting some 1,154 children. The number of children with disabilities among them is unknown. The Directorate for Children, Youth and Family Affairs stated that two new childcare institutions with a total capacity of 12 children were being built to meet the needs of children with disabilities in need of health-care services and long-term out-of-home care. 60. The Special Rapporteur urges the Government to take immediate measures to address this trend that could lead to the reinstitutionalization of persons with disabilities and, in coordination with all municipalities and county governors, implement supported housing programmes that ensure the right of all persons with disabilities to live independently in the community with choices equal to others. In relation to children with disabilities, efforts 14 12 The Health and Social Services Ombudsmen, annual report 2018, p. 10.