1. Press Release - Positive complaint handling recognised by The Ombudsman's Awards

              The Office of The Ombudsman hosted the 15th Ombudsman's Awards Presentation Ceremony today (17 November 2011).  The Housing Department won the Grand Award while the Education Bureau and the Labour Department were runners-up.  The Ombudsman, Mr Alan Lai, presented the Awards to winning organisations and 32 public officers.  Over 200 representatives from Government departments and public organisations took part in the ceremony to share the joy and experience.

                "For the past two decades, this Office has dedicated itself to promoting a positive complaint culture and improving the quality of public administration in society.  To achieve this mission, we believe that giving recognition to the efforts of the public sector is important.  That's why we introduced The Ombudsman's Awards in 1997.  I am truly grateful for the continuous support from Government departments and public organisations to this annual presentation ceremony," said Mr Lai at the ceremony.

                Mr Lai highlights that the Awards is not set up to commend public bodies who make no mistakes or get no complaints, but to encourage a positive approach in handling complaint and a readiness to learn and improve from mistakes. 

                The winner of this year's Grand Award is the Housing Department.  Being in close touch with the public and dealing with an enormous clientele, the Department has been a major organisation under complaint.  Nonetheless, The Ombudsman considers that the Housing Department assumes a positive attitude towards complaints and makes the best use of them to enrich staff's knowledge and skills.  They are forthcoming, cooperative and comprehensive in responding to inquiries from The Ombudsman.  They also take the initiative to resolve complaints expeditiously through constructive dialogue with complainants.  Where deficiencies are identified, Housing Department initiates improvement measures and always welcomes the views from The Ombudsman. 

                The other two award winners are the Education Bureau and the Labour Department.  The Ombudsman is impressed by their professionalism in complaint handling.  Their replies to The Ombudsman's inquiries have always been thorough and comprehensive.  The Ombudsman's inquiries often reveal that both organisations have fully dealt with the subject matters under complaint with utmost efficiency and effectiveness.  In response to recommendations for improvement, they adopt a positive attitude and are often prepared to remedy inadequacies.

              The Ombudsman's Awards Scheme was launched in 1997.  Since 1999, the Scheme has been extended to honour individual public officers for their significant contribution in improving public service, particularly through handling complaints and redressing grievances.  In 2011, the scope of the Awards is extended to recognise public officer's efforts in handing enquiries and complaints relating to the Code on Access to Information.  This year, there are a total of 32 individual award recipients.  

                A full list of the awardees this year is in the Appendix.

For press enquiries, please contact:

Ms Kathleen CHAN, Senior Manager (External Relations) (Tel: 2629 0565)

Appendix

List of the Awardees 

Office of The Ombudsman
17 November 2011

2. PRESS RELEASE

The Office of The Ombudsman held a press conference at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, 15 September 2011 to announce the OmbudsNews Issue No. 2 of the Reporting Year 2011/12, which includes the result of two direct investigations reports. 

For details, please visit the "OmbudsNews" page in this site.

Office of The Ombudsman
15 September 2011

3. PRESS RELEASE - Ombudsman Probes Effectiveness of Administration of Temporary Closure of Metered Car Parking Spaces during Road Works Carried Out by Public Utilities

        The Ombudsman, Mr Alan Lai, is initiating a direct investigation into the effectiveness of Government's administration of temporary closure of metered car parking spaces during road excavation works carried out by public utilities, pursuant to section 7(1) (a) (ii) of The Ombudsman Ordinance, Cap. 397.

        Through complaint handling, the Office of The Ombudsman noted that some metered car parking spaces have been unnecessarily closed for periods much longer than the actual time required for carrying out road excavation works by public utilities. "In view of the limited number of metered car parking spaces and the high demand for such facilities, we consider that the closure of such car parking spaces should be kept to the minimum," Mr Lai said.

         Besides, under the Excavation Permit Management system, public utilities which need to carry out road works have to apply to the Highways Department ("HyD") for excavation permits and, where applicable, also to other relevant authorities/departments for the necessary assessments and approvals, such as approvals from the Transport Department ("TD") and the Police for temporary traffic management proposals. If temporary closure of metered car parking spaces is required due to road works, the public utility concerned has to apply direct to TD for approval under the Road Traffic (Parking) Regulations, Cap 374C. Upon completion of the above processes, HyD will issue an excavation permit to the public utility concerned with appropriate conditions.

          In exercising control on excavation works in streets, HyD undertakes audit inspections on active excavation permit sites and, on identifying any non-compliance with the permit conditions such as improper temporary pedestrian arrangement, notifies the excavation permit holders concerned for swift rectification. However, it does not check on any mismatch between utilities' works progress and the temporary parking spaces closure period, as this falls beyond the jurisdiction of its excavation permit control mechanism. TD all along did not monitor actual occupation of the suspended metered car parking spaces by public utilities for scheduled excavation works and only requested them verbally or through e-mail to report changes of commencement or completion of the works. The situation appears very unsatisfactory, as it may result in wasted public resources and unjustified inconvenience to drivers.

           Upon our inquiry, TD and HyD have recently initiated some enhancement measures, including:

• conducting audit inspections by HyD to identify and notify TD of any anomalies such as unreported delayed commencement/early completion of excavation works resulting in unnecessary closure of the metered car parking spaces; and
• imposing new "approval conditions" by TD and a new excavation permit condition by HyD.

           However, there are still many cases of non-compliance. In view of this, we consider it necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of these enhancement measures, hence this investigation, which will examine:

          The Ombudsman welcomes public views on this matter. Comments should reach the Office of The Ombudsman by 18 August 2011:

For press enquiries, please contact:
Ms Kathleen Chan, Senior Manager (External Relations) (Tel: 2629 0565)
 

Office of The Ombudsman
21 July 2011

4. PRESS RELEASE - Ombudsman Probes Booking and Use of Sports Facilities Managed by Leisure and Cultural Services Department

                  The Ombudsman, Mr Alan Lai, is initiating a direct investigation into the booking and utilisation of sports facilities managed by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department ("LCSD") in order to ensure the proper use of facilities heavily subsidised by public funds.

                   The Office of The Ombudsman often receives complaints or enquiries about LCSD sports facilities, mostly involving the booking and use of venues.  Over the past two years, for instance, the Office has handled more than 50 such complaint cases.

                   Currently, for LCSD's land-based facilities, there are totally around 62,000 fee-charging (mostly on one-hour basis) and 12,000 non-fee charging sessions available each day for use by the public.  These facilities are provided for a wide variety of sports activities.

                   "About 80% of the general costs of LCSD sports facilities, programmes and related activities are subsidised by public funds.  Users come from different age groups and all walks of life in the territory.  It is, therefore, of utmost importance to ensure that members of the public have a fair chance to use those facilities and that abuse and wastages are stopped as far as possible," Mr Lai said today (5 July 2011).

                   "The complaints we received and media reports in recent years also showed that touting of reserved sessions in sports facilities has aroused much public concern.  Online touting is particularly rampant.  The Administration’s measures to crack down on such unauthorised activities appear to be less than effective," Mr Lai continued.

                   To foster sports development in Hong Kong, LCSD's current policy allows block-booking of sports venues by certain organisations (such as national sports associations, district or community sports clubs, schools, Government departments, charitable organisations, bona fide associations and corporations, etc) for sports competitions, events and training courses.  Priority booking can be made three to 12 months in advance, depending on the nature of the applicant organisation and the event to be held.  Individuals can only make advance booking of sessions not taken up by block-booking within 30 days.

                  To balance the rights and needs between organisations and individuals regarding the use of sports venues, the Administration has set restrictions on block-booking and put in place a penalty system to prevent abuse of priority booking by organisations.  At present, block-booking is subject to quota control which mainly covers: (1) during peak hours (for urban venues, it means the whole day of Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, as well as 5 pm to 11 pm on weekdays), not more than one-third of the total available hours of the month; and (2) not more than half of the total number of facilities at each venue at any one time.

                   Our preliminary inquiries have identified room for improvement in the LCSD booking and allocation mechanism of sports facilities.  Take the fee-charging and non-fee charging land-based sports facilities as an illustration.  In the year 2009/10, LCSD recorded more than 700 cases of breach of the conditions of use by priority user organisations which, having confirmed the booking of a venue, subsequently did not turn up and failed to cancel the booking at least 40 days prior to the date of use as required.  Each time, however, LCSD just issued a verbal or written advice/warning, even to repeated offenders.  Without any substantial penalty, the deterrent effect is questionable.

                   'If the Administration is to successfully promote 'Sports for All', it is essential that there should be a better mechanism for booking and using sports facilities by the general public.  We hope the direct investigation can help achieve this objective," Mr Lai added.

                     The direct investigation will examine:

                      (a) the booking and allocation mechanism of LCSD sports facilities;

                      (b) measures to prevent abuse and wastage of reserved facilities;

                      (c) measures against touting or unauthorised transfer of reserved
                           sessions; and

                      (d) any areas for improvement.

         The Ombudsman welcomes public views on this matter.  Comments and views should reach the Office of The Ombudsman by 6 August 2011:

                   Address  :     30/F, China Merchants Tower, Shun Tak Centre

                                      168-200 Connaught Road Central, Hong Kong

                   Fax        :     2882 8149

                   Email      :     complaints@omb.gov.hk

For press enquiries, please contact:

Ms Kathleen Chan, Senior Manager (External Relations) (Tel: 2629 0565)

Office of The Ombudsman
5 July 2011

5. PRESS RELEASE
 

The Office of The Ombudsman held a press conference on Tuesday, 19 April 2011 at 10:00 a.m. to announce the OmbudsNews Issue No. 1 of the Reporting Year 2011/12, which includes the result of one direct investigation and two anonymised investigation reports.  

For details, please visit the "OmbudsNews" page in this site.

Office of The Ombudsman
19 April 2011

6. PRESS RELEASE - The Ombudsman Acknowledges Outstanding Public Service Immigration Department receives Grand Award

             The Office of The Ombudsman hosted the 14th Ombudsman's Awards Presentation Ceremony today (16 November 2010).  The Immigration Department won the Grand Award, with the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority and the Student Financial Assistance Agency as runners-up.  Twenty-one public officers received individual awards for their good performance in delivering quality customer services. The ceremony was attended by over 140 representatives from Government departments and public organisations.

               "In a fast-growing city like Hong Kong, expectations from our citizens are ever-changing and rising.  Solutions that used to 'work' in the past may be outdated and no longer be acceptable nowadays.  It is, therefore, important for Government departments and public organisations to regularly review and adjust their policies and working procedures so as to keep pace with the public expectations on their service quality," said Mr Alan Lai, The Ombudsman, at the ceremony. 

                For the past two decades, the Office of The Ombudsman has dedicated itself to promoting a positive complaint culture and improving the quality of public administration in the society.   As the community's watchdog on public service, The Ombudsman is delighted to witness the fine efforts of many public service providers in enhancing their service standard.

                 The winner of this year's Grand Award, the Immigration Department, won the same Award in 2008.  The Department is an exemplar of positive culture in complaint management.  In response to inquiries from The Ombudsman, the Department often answers speedily and precisely with valid grounds and solid documentary evidence.  When further information is required, the Department always offers clarification and assistance readily.  The Department accepts our recommendations and also proactively makes enhancement when a complaint is justified.

                The other two winning organisations, the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority and the Student Financial Assistance Agency, both demonstrated a high degree of professionalism in complaint handling.  They have been responsive and helpful in response to The Ombudsman's investigations.  The Ombudsman’s inquiries often reveal that both organisations have duly dealt with the subject matters under complaint.  When inadequacies are found, they are positive in accepting our recommendations for remedy.

                The Ombudsman's Awards Scheme was launched in 1997.  Since 1999, the Scheme has been extended to individual public officers who have made significant contribution towards a fair, open, accountable and efficient public administration when performing their duties.  Nominations are made by heads of departments and organisations on the Schedule to The Ombudsman Ordinance and assessed by a selection panel chaired by the Deputy Ombudsman.

                A full list of the awardees this year is in the Appendix.

For press enquiries, please contact:

Ms Kathleen CHAN, Senior Manager (External Relations) (Tel: 2629 0565)

Appendix

List of the Awardees 

Office of The Ombudsman
16 November 2010

7. PRESS RELEASE - Ombudsman Probes Management of Water Meters and Consumer Accounts

             The Ombudsman is initiating a direct investigation into Water Supplies Department’s ("WSD's) arrangements for managing water meters and consumer accounts, pursuant to section 7(1)(a)(ii) of The Ombudsman Ordinance, Cap. 397.

              WSD conducts meter reading at four-monthly intervals in most cases.  Where actual or accurate readings are unobtainable for reasons such as defective or inaccessible meters, bills will be suppressed or issued based on estimated water consumption.  Upon rectification of the irregularity, e.g. with the obstruction removed or the defective meter replaced, actual or accurate readings will become available again.  WSD will observe such readings for a period of time and, where appropriate, adjust the bills for the irregularity period.

              The Ombudsman's Office received over 100 complaints in respect of WSD every year for the past three years.  Of these complaints, quite a number concern WSD issuing consumers with adjusted bills several years after the occurrence of the irregularity.  Not satisfied with WSD's explanation for the adjustments and yet finding it difficult to contest them with sufficient evidence after such a long time, the consumers feel aggrieved that they have to pay the adjusted bills.  Other complaints concern WSD's arrangements for reading meters, replacing and testing meters, and communicating with consumers.

               "There are apparent systemic problems in the arrangements for managing water meters and consumer accounts, and a need for improvement in WSD's meter reading and billing arrangements in terms of fairness to the consumers.  We have therefore decided to conduct a direct investigation into the matter with a view to identifying the causes of the problems and recommending improvements," Mr Alan Lai, The Ombudsman, said today (10 November 2010).

               This direct investigation will examine:

·         WSD's practice and procedures in reading water meters, replacing and testing meters, and issuing and adjusting water bills; and

·          improvement measures.

                The Office of The Ombudsman welcomes views from members of the public on the matter.  Comments should reach the Office of The Ombudsman by 13 December 2010:

                 Address : 30/F, China Merchants Tower, Shun Tak Centre
                               168-200 Connaught Road Central, Hong Kong

                 Fax       : 2882 8149

                 E-mail    : complaints@omb.gov.hk

For press enquiries, please contact:

Ms Kathleen CHAN, Senior Manager (External Relations) (Tel: 2629 0565)

Office of The Ombudsman
10 November 2010