ENG-2004 — Page 52

26 Constitution and Administration

The Office received 12 115 enquiries and 4 822 complaints in 2004, compared with 12 320 enquiries and 4 352 complaints in 2003. The areas attracting substantial numbers of complaints were related to error, wrong advice or decision, failure to follow procedures or delay, negligence or omission, disparity in treatment, lack of response to complaints, staff attitude and ineffective control. Some of the departments or organisations receiving the most complaints were: Housing Department, Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, Lands department and Transport Department. 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.

Office of the Director of Audit

The Audit Commission is established under the Basic Law, which provides that the Audit Commission shall function independently and be accountable to the Chief Executive of the HKSAR. The Audit Commission is one of Hong Kong's oldest departments. The first Auditor-General was appointed in 1844.

The Audit Ordinance, enacted in 1971, provides for the audit of the Government's accounts by the Director of Audit and for the submission of his 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 statutory and non-statutory funds and other public bodies. Furthermore, the Director reviews the financial aspects of the operations of the multifarious government-subvented organisations.

The Director of Audit 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 Audit Ordinance gives the Director statutory authority 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 bureau of the Government Secretariat, department, agency, other public body, public office or audited organisation has discharged its functions. Except for some public organisations where the Director of Audit has obtained statutory authority to conduct value-for-money audits in the respective ordinances, value-for-money audits are carried out according to a set of guidelines tabled in the Provisional Legislative Council by the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee in 1998.

After the Director of Audit's report has been submitted to the President of the Legislative Council and laid before the council, it is considered by the Public Accounts Committee.