News & Resources

Direct investigation into arrangements on display of publicity materials in public housing estates

 

The Ombudsman, Ms Connie Lau, today (January 19) announced the completion of a direct investigation into the arrangements on the display of publicity materials (“PMs”) in public housing estates. The investigation report has been uploaded to the Office of The Ombudsman website at www.ombudsman.hk for public perusal and reference.

 

2. In Hong Kong, about one-third of the population are residing in public housing estates. The Housing Department (“HD”), being responsible for management of public housing estates, is duty bound to formulate proper measures for ensuring that this huge sector of residents can obtain information on related community services, while eligible persons/organisations can disseminate useful information to public housing residents in a fair and efficient way. However, this direct investigation has revealed loopholes in the Department’s existing arrangements for processing PMs and its vetting and approving mechanism, resulting in unfairness in certain situations. To address the inadequacies in three areas, namely the vetting and approval of applications for display of PMs; the criteria for vetting and approving the contents of PMs; and the monitoring mechanism, the Office has made nine recommendations for improvement.

 

3. Ms Lau said, “The HD should not underrate the importance of fair treatment of matters relating to display of PMs in public housing estates. It is essential for the Department to adopt improvement measures to remedy the inadequacies. Any improper handling by the HD could easily lead to conflicts among different organisations, or even among the residents. This would not only generate complaints and grievances, but also give the public an impression that the HD is acting unfairly and operating in a clandestine manner. The Office of The Ombudsman will continue to monitor the progress of the HD in implementing the recommendations made in the investigation report until they are fully implemented.”

 

Brief report 2016

 

4. The Office of The Ombudsman received a total of 11,454 enquiries and 4,854 complaints in 2016. The figures maintained at similar levels as in the past few years, with an average of 1,000 enquiries and 400 complaints per month.

 

Handling of complaints
5. Based on the allegations made by the complainants, the top three causes for public complaints against Government departments/public organisations were as follows:

 

• Errors, wrong advice/decision (33.3%)
• Ineffective control (14.8%)
• Delay/inaction (13.1%)

 

The top three causes above were the same as in the previous year, only that their percentages varied slightly.

 

6. For complaints received and screened in, we will pursue by inquiry, mediation or full investigation depending on the nature and complexity of the cases. Of the 2,903 cases pursued and concluded, 88.7% were concluded by inquiry, 7.1% by full investigation, and 4.2% by mediation. The figures were similar to those in the previous year.

 

Direct investigations
7. In addition, we have completed and announced the following ten direct investigation reports:

 

(1) Government’s Implementation of Strengthened Control of Exhaust Emissions from Petrol and LPG Vehicles
(2) Problems Relating to Enforcement of Fire Safety (Buildings) Ordinance
(3) Home Affairs Department’s Management of Booking and Use of Facilities of Community Halls and Community Centres
(4) Government’s Handling of Four Stonewall Trees along Bonham Road
(5) Government’s Tree Management Regime and Practices
(6) Marine Department’s Follow-up Mechanism on Recommendations Made in Marine Incident Investigation Reports
(7) Government’s Follow-up Actions Regarding Insufficient Provision of Public Columbarium Niches
(8) Temporary Closure of Public Swimming Pools/Beaches under Leisure and Cultural Services Department Due to Shortage of Lifeguards
(9) Lands Department’s System of Regularisation of Illegal Occupation of Government Land and Breach of Lease Conditions
(10) Education Bureau’s Regulation of Kindergarten Application Fees

 

greater transparency in this aspect of our work, suitable preliminary inquiries would be turned into direct investigations as far as possible, so that we can announce the investigation results for public information upon completion of the direct investigations. As before, we will publish all our direct investigation reports on the Office’s website, and select those direct investigations of wide community concerns for announcement at press conferences.

 

Office of The Ombudsman
January 19, 2017