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Following is the speech by the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Rafael Hui, in tabling ˇ§The Government Minute in response to the Seventeenth Annual Report of the Ombudsmanˇ¨in the Legislative Council today (November 2):
Madam President,
In response to the 17th Annual Report of the Ombudsman tabled at this Council on 22 June this year, I now present the Government Minute setting out the Administrationˇ¦s response to the recommendations made in the Report.
The Government Minute covers all the investigations which the Ombudsman dealt with in her 17th Annual Report. With only a few exceptions, Government bureaux, departments and public bodies generally accepted the Ombudsmanˇ¦s recommendations and have taken steps to implement them. In the few cases where the responsible departments have not been able to adopt the original recommendations in full, they have explained the reasons and their alternative measures in the Government Minute.
The Government Minute also includes responses by relevant public bodies such as the Hospital Authority and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data. Although these public bodies are not Government departments, they hold themselves accountable to the public by publishing their full responses to the Ombudsmanˇ¦s recommendations in the Government Minute.
The community widely recognizes the statutory role and performance of the Ombudsman in handling public complaints against maladministration. It is the common objective of the Legislature and the Government to upgrade the quality of public service, the effectiveness of administration as well as the transparency and accountability in governance. In fulfilling the objective, the Administration will continue to pledge full support for the work of the Ombudsman. I hope the positive responses and undertakings by bureaux and departments recorded in the Government Minute speak volumes of this pledge.
Thank you.
Ends/Wednesday, November 2, 2005
Issued at HKT 18:27
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