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Lo Hoi-ying

A top official will determine where responsibility lies when a public complaint spans multiple departments under a new handling mechanism for the 1823 hotline, set to be implemented early next year.
Deputy Chief Secretary for Administration Warner Cheuk Wing-hing said on Monday that he would ensure a “very fair” distribution of responsibility when assigning complaints that involved more than one government department.
The reform, which will take effect in the first quarter of next year, will see Cheuk make the final call on which bureau or department should handle complaints with ambiguous or overlapping responsibilities.
“If every department has a similar share of the responsibility, we will operate a roster system like the chief executive mentioned. We will make sure everyone has a turn,” he said during a press briefing.
“If one department acts as the leading department this time, the next time other departments will take the lead in coordinating, so this is a fair system.”
If the designated lead department disagrees with the assignment, it must appeal to 1823 within a few days, and Cheuk will then make a final decision.
Cheuk was responding to a question about how responsibilities would be assigned if residents of a building undergoing renovation suspected that repair materials did not meet fire safety requirements.
Before the Wang Fuk Court fire, which claimed 168 lives, residents had repeatedly complained to the government about issues including the use of styrofoam to seal windows, openings in fire escape stairwells and workers smoking on site.
Hearings by a judge-led independent committee found that departments told residents they were contacting the wrong offices and effectively turned a deaf ear to the fire risks.
Cheuk said that under the new mechanism, the lead department, on behalf of all teams involved, would give the complainant a preliminary response within 10 calendar days and a substantive response within 30 calendar days.

He clarified that his decision-making would depend on the nature of the complaint and which department could “most effectively” respond to residents’ needs.
Of the 750,000 complaints received last year, about 30 per cent involved multiple departments, he said.
Cheuk said his new role would reduce finger-pointing by departments claiming others had similar capacity to handle cases.
“Under the new mechanism, situations where departments say they do not have the authority, knowledge or money to handle the complaint will no longer exist,” he said.
He emphasised that such cases made up only a minority of all complaints, as the 1823 service was able to efficiently allocate cross-departmental complaints to the relevant authorities “99 per cent” of the time.
Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said in his annual policy address last week that a lead department would be designated to coordinate the handling of interdepartmental service requests and complaints to resolve them more efficiently.
Departments will handle cases within their respective purview under the coordination of the lead department and report on case progress.
Each department will assign a directorate officer to monitor its efficiency and effectiveness in handling service requests and complaints lodged by members of the public.


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Top official to determine responsible department in complex 1823 cases

A new handling mechanism for the 1823 hotline is set to be implemented early next year. Photo: ISD

Warner Cheuk says he will ensure a “very fair” distribution of responsibility when assigning complaints. Photo: Sun Yeung

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When assigning complaints that involve more than one government department, responsibility will be fairly distributed, Warner Cheuk says


When assigning complaints that involve more than one government department, responsibility will be fairly distributed, Warner Cheuk says.


Hong Kong’s Tai Po fire tragedy

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Hong Kong fires and safety

Top official to determine responsible department in complex 1823 cases

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}When assigning complaints that involve more than one government department, responsibility will be fairly distributed, Warner Cheuk says

When assigning complaints that involve more than one government department, responsibility will be fairly distributed, Warner Cheuk says