CONSTITUTION AND ADMINISTRATION
There are 15 policy bureaux, and two resource bureaux concerned with finance and the Public Service.
There are 71 departments and agencies whose heads are, with some exceptions, responsible to the bureaux secretaries for the direction of their departments and the efficient implementation of approved policy. The exceptions are the Audit Commission, the independence of which is safeguarded by the Director's reporting directly to the Legislative Council; the Independent Commission Against Corruption and the Office of the Ombudsman, whose independence is safeguarded by having the Commissioner and the Ombudsman report directly to the Chief Executive; and the Department of Justice, which is the responsibility of the Secretary for Justice.
Office of The Ombudsman
The Ombudsman is an independent authority operating in accordance with The Ombudsman Ordinance. The office was set up to provide citizens a means through which an independent person outside the Public Service can investigate and report on grievances arising from administrative decisions, acts, recommendations or omissions. The Ombudsman is directly responsible to the Chief Executive of the HKSAR and performs important roles in redressing individual grievances against maladministration in the public sector; making bureaucracy more humane; lessening the gap between the government and the public; preventing abuses; acting as the people's watchdog; righting individual wrongs; indicating the facts when public officers are unjustly accused; improving the efficiency and quality of service in the public sector; and protecting human rights. The Ombudsman has jurisdiction over practically all government departments, except the Hong Kong Police Force and the Independent Commission Against Corruption, which have their own separate bodies to deal with complaints from the public.
The Ombudsman can initiate investigations and may publish investigation reports of public interest. Direct investigations conducted by The Ombudsman included unauthorised building works in private buildings and in exempted houses in the New Territories, overcrowding relief in public housing, accommodation for foreign domestic helpers, emergency vehicular access in public and private building developments, bursting of water mains, applications for housing transfer on social grounds, general outpatient services, government telephone enquiry hotline services, a student's application to attend a hearing-impaired class, the Fisheries Development Loan Fund, arrangements for the closure of schools due to heavy persistent rain, the issue and sale of special stamps and philatelic products, and the taxi licensing system.
The Ombudsman Ordinance also empowers The Ombudsman to investigate complaints of non-compliance with the Code on Access to Information against departments/organisations in the government. The code was introduced in March 1995 and gradually extended to all government departments/organisations by December 1996 with The Ombudsman as the common independent review body for alleged breaches.
The office received 6 887 enquiries and 2 729 complaints in 1997, compared with 6 129 enquiries and 2 870 complaints in 1996. The areas which attracted substantial numbers of complaints were related to errors or wrong advice/decisions; disparity in treatment or unfairness; delays; abuse of power; staff attitude; lack of response to
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