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Constitution and Administration
• procedures for approval of loan applications and recovery of debts under the Non-means-tested Loan Scheme;
• Education Bureau's non-disclosure of teachers' registration status; and
safety regulation of eco-friendly refrigerants.
The reports of all direct investigations are available on the website.
The Ombudsman received 12,940 enquiries and 5,339 complaints in 2014-15. Areas attracting a substantial number of complaints related to error, wrong advice/decision, ineffective control and delay/inaction.
Although the Ombudsman has no authority to enforce recommendations, 85.3 per cent of the Ombudsman's recommendations have been accepted by the organisations concerned.
Audit Commission
The Audit Commission, headed by the Director of Audit, is established under the Basic Law, which provides that it shall function independently and be accountable to the Chief Executive.
The Audit Ordinance provides for the audit of the government's accounts by the Director of Audit and for the submission of the director's report to the President of the Legislative Council. The director also audits the accounts of the Exchange Fund, the Hong Kong Housing Authority, five trading funds and more than 60 other funds. In addition, the director reviews the financial aspects of the operations of the multifarious government-subvented organisations.
The director carries out two types of audit: regularity audits and value-for-money audits. Regularity audits are intended to provide an overall assurance of the general accuracy and propriety of the financial and accounting transactions of the government and other audited bodies. The director has statutory authority under the ordinance to conduct regularity audits.
Value-for-money audits are intended to provide independent information, advice and assurance about the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which any government bureau, department, agency, other public body, public office or audited organisation has discharged its functions. Except for some public organisations where the director has statutory authority to conduct value-for-money audits, these audits are carried out according to a set of guidelines agreed by the director, the legislature's Public Accounts Committee and the government and tabled in the Provisional Legislative Council in 1998.
After the director's report has been submitted to the President of the Legislative Council and laid before the council, it is considered by the committee. In 2015, the director submitted three reports: one on the audit certification of the government's accounts for the preceding financial year and two on the results of value-for-money audits (Report No 64 of April 2015 and Report No 65 of October 2015).
The committee selected three of the eight chapters of Report No 64 for public hearing:
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