Office of The Ombudsman
The Office of The Ombudsman is an independent statutory authority, set up in 1989, operating in accordance with The Ombudsman Ordinance. It provides an avenue for reports and investigation of grievances arising from administrative decisions, acts, recommendations or omissions.
   On November 28, The Ombudsman (Amendment) Ordinance was enacted to enhance the operational efficiency of the Office and to reinforce public confidence in its independence. The Office has established independent administrative systems and planned to recruit its own contract staff to replace by 2002-03 all the civil servants hitherto on loan from the Administration. For longer-term economy, it will purchase permanent office accommodation and will move out of the current leased premises in 2002.
   The Ombudsman is directly responsible to the Chief Executive. She serves as the community's watchdog to ensure that bureaucratic constraints do not interfere with administrative fairness; public authorities are readily accessible to the public; abuse of power is prevented; wrongs are righted; facts are pointed out when public officers are unjustly accused; human rights are protected; and the public sector continues to improve quality, transparency and efficiency. The Ombudsman has jurisdiction over practically all government departments except the Hong Kong Police Force with its own separate body to deal with complaints from the public. For similar reasons, the Independent Commission Against Corruption does not come within The Ombudsman's purview. However, 17 other major public organisations do; they are: the Airport Authority, Employees Retraining Board, Equal Opportunities Commission, Hong Kong Arts Development Council, Hong Kong Examinations Authority, Hong Kong Housing Authority, Hong Kong Housing Society, Hong Kong Monetary Authority, Hong Kong Sports Development Board, Hospital Authority, Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation, Legislative Council Secretariat, Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority, Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data, Securities and Futures Commission, Urban Renewal Authority and the Vocational Training Council.
   Apart from investigating complaints, The Ombudsman can initiate direct investigations of her own volition and may publish investigation reports of public interest. By adopting a proactive and preventive approach, these direct investigations aim at addressing problems that may affect a wide cross-section of the community. They are useful in redressing administrative flaws of a systemic nature and preventing future similar complaints by addressing fundamental problems or other underlying causes for complaint. Since 1994, a total of 32 direct investigations have been completed — three of them in 2001. These three direct investigations concerned the following subjects: the management of government crematoria; the procedures for immigration control of persons who are found at, or returned to, immigration check points without proof of identity; and the procedures for handling travellers suspected of using false or otherwise suspect travel documents.
   Six direct investigations were under way: the management of construction projects by the Housing Authority and the Housing Department; the administrative arrangements for Hong Kong Certificate of Education and A-level Examinations; the anti-smoking enforcement mechanism; the Secondary School Places Allocation and Relief mechanism; the Hospital Authority's practices for dealing with missing patients; and the funding of sports programmes and activities by the Hong Kong Sports Development Board.
   The reports of all direct investigations completed are available for public scrutiny at the Office's Resource Centre.
   The Ombudsman Ordinance also empowers The Ombudsman to investigate complaints of non-compliance with the Code on Access to Information against government departments, including the Hong Kong Police Force and the Independent Commission Against Corruption. The Ombudsman serves as a common independent review body for alleged breaches of the code.
   The
Office received 13 138 enquiries and 4
024 complaints in 2001, compared with 10 819
enquiries and 3 346 complaints in 2000. The
areas that attracted substantial numbers of complaints were related to
error, wrong advice/decision, disparity in treatment, negligence or omission,
delay lack of response to complaints/unhelpfulness and inefficient control.
   The arms of government receiving
the most complaints were: Housing Department, Correctional Services Department,
Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, Government Secretariat, Lands
Department, Education Department, Social Welfare Department, Immigration
Department, Transport Department, and the Hospital Authority. Most of
these have more frequent and extensive contact with members of the public
and the nature of their services has a closer impact on the community.
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