The Office of The Ombudsman is an independent statutory authority, set up in 1989 under The Ombudsman Ordinance, to provide an avenue for reports and investigation of grievances arising from administrative acts or omissions, decisions and recommendations.

    Since December 2001, the Office has been established as a corporation sole, thus severing linkage with the Administration. The Office has set up its administrative systems and recruits contract staff on its own remuneration packages. For longer-term economy, it has purchased and moved into permanent office accommodation in Sheung Wan.

    Directly responsible to the Chief Executive, The Ombudsman serves as the community's monitor on government departments and public bodies specified in the schedule to the ordinance. The aim is 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 its quality, transparency and efficiency.

    Two exceptions to the monitoring system are the Hong Kong Police Force and the Independent Commission Against Corruption, both of which have their own separate body for dealing with public complaints.

    The 17 major public organisations in the schedule are: the Airport Authority, Employees Retraining Board, Equal Opportunities Commission, Hong Kong Arts Development Council, Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment 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 may initiate direct investigations of her own volition into matters of public interest and widespread concern, and publish the reports. This proactive and preventive approach aims at addressing problems affecting a broad spectrum of the community. The direct investigations are particularly useful in redressing administrative flaws of a systemic nature and addressing fundamental problems or underlying causes for complaint.

    Since 1994, when The Ombudsman was empowered to undertake direct investigations, 39 such investigations have been completed — seven of them in 2002. These seven concerned the following subjects: the management of construction projects by the Housing Authority and the Housing Department; the administration of public examinations; the anti-smoking enforcement mechanism; the secondary school places allocation and relief mechanism; funding of sports programmes and activities by the Hong Kong Sports Development Board; the administration of auctions of vehicle registration marks; and the mechanism for handling missing patients in Hospital Authority hospitals. The reports of all direct investigations have been published and 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 acts as an independent review body for any alleged breach of the code.

    The Office received 15 207 enquiries and 4 662 complaints in 2002, compared with 13 138 enquiries and 4 024 complaints in 2001. The areas attracting substantial numbers of complaints were related to error, wrong advice or decision, disparity in treatment, negligence or omission, lack of response or unhelpfulness concerning complaints and ineffective control. The departments or organisations receiving the most complaints were: Housing Department, Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, Correctional Services Department, Transport Department, Home Affairs Department, Lands Department, Buildings Department, Leisure and Cultural Services Department, Social Welfare Department and the Hospital Authority. The very nature of their services has a closer impact on the community and they have more direct, frequent and extensive contact with members of the public.

    Although The Ombudsman has no authority to enforce her recommendations, over 95 per cent of the recommendations made have been accepted by the organisations concerned.