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Office of the Ombudsman, Hong Kong
The Ombudsman of Hong Kong, Ms Connie Lau, published the Office of The Ombudsman’s Brief Report 2018 on 31 January. The Office received a total of 10,130 enquiries and 4,870 complaints in 2018. The figures were at similar levels to those in the past few years, with an average of 850 enquiries and 400 complaints per month.
The Ombudsman, Ms Connie Lau, today (31 January) published the Office of The Ombudsman’s Brief Report 2018.
The Office received a total of 10,130 enquiries and 4,870 complaints in 2018. The figures were at similar levels to those in the past few years, with an average of 850 enquiries and 400 complaints per month.
Based on the allegations made by complainants, the top three causes for public complaints against government departments/public organisations were errors and wrong advice/decision (34.2 per cent), ineffective control (13.6 per cent) and delay/inaction (12.6 per cent). The top three causes above were the same as those in 2017, only that the second and third had swapped places.
For complaints received and screened in, the Office will pursue by inquiry, mediation or full investigation, depending on the nature and complexity of the cases. Of the 2,785 cases pursued and concluded, 84.7 per cent were concluded by inquiry, 7.9 per cent by full investigation, and 7.4 per cent by mediation. These figures were similar to those of last year.
In 2018, the Office completed and announced the following 11 direct investigation reports:
- (1) Government’s Control over Fly-tipping of Construction Waste and Landfilling Activities on Private Land
- (2) The Mechanism of Food and Health Bureau and Department of Health for Handling Smoking Offences
- (3) Water Supplies Department’s Maintenance of Government Water Mains and Risk Management
- (4) Government Departments’ Handling of the Problem of Air-conditioner Dripping
- (5) Immigration Department’s Mechanism for Following up Cases of Unregistered Birth
- (6) Food and Environmental Hygiene Department’s Regulation of Market Stalls
- (7) Food and Environmental Hygiene Department’s Rental Management of Market Stalls
- (8) Housing Department’s Arrangement for Using Idle Spaces in Public Housing Estates
- (9) Regulation of Illegal Burials Outside Permitted Burial Grounds by the Home Affairs Department and the Lands Department
- (10) Government’s Regulation of Proprietary Chinese Medicine
- (11) Social Welfare Department’s Monitoring of Services of Residential Care Homes for the Elderly
As always, the Office will publish the direct investigation reports on its website, and select those direct investigation reports of wide community concern for announcement at press conferences. The Office will keep an eye on issues that warrant its attention in order to decide on the direction of investigation.
Source: Office of The Ombudsman, China
