Office of The Ombudsman announces results of direct investigation operation into allocation of public niches (with photos)
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The Ombudsman, Mr Jack Chan, today (August 25) announced the completion of a direct investigation operation into the allocation of public niches, with 19 improvement recommendations made to the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD). The FEHD has accepted all the recommendations.
Over the past few years, more than 90 per cent of deaths in Hong Kong were cremated. In general, the families are inclined to place the ashes of the deceased in columbaria after cremation, or to scatter the ashes in the form of green burials. Since 2019, the public niches managed by the FEHD adopted an extendable lease with a comprehensive allocation exercise conducted once a year. Since the completion of the Tsang Tsui Columbarium in 2020, a pilot scheme has been introduced for monthly allocation of niches there. The Office of The Ombudsman has noted that if applicants for niches in a columbarium other than the Tsang Tsui Columbarium happened to miss the annual application period, they might have to wait nearly a year for the next allocation exercise. Against this background, the Office initiated an inquiry last year and recommended that the FEHD conduct allocation exercises on a monthly or at least quarterly basis rather than once a year. After carefully considering the Office's recommendation, the FEHD has standardised the allocation of available public niches to a monthly basis with effect from August 2026.
Mr Chan said, "Grieving families share the wish to make after-death arrangements for their loved ones respectfully without delay, so that the departed may rest in peace and the living may begin to heal. The Office commends the FEHD for its pragmatic and responsive attitude in adopting our recommendation to conduct allocation exercises monthly rather than yearly. However, the pilot scheme for monthly allocation of niches in the Tsang Tsui Columbarium was introduced as early as 2020, but the FEHD did not extend it to other public columbaria until we made this recommendation in 2025. The Office understands that the FEHD has other considerations. However, with hindsight, if the FEHD would have extended the pilot scheme to other columbaria earlier by, for instance, progressively increasing the frequency of allocations, the inconvenience caused to the public by waiting for the annual allocation could have been avoided, and allocations of the precious public niches could have been expedited. The Office recommends that the FEHD conduct timely reviews with a comprehensive consideration from the perspective of the effective use of public resources as far as practicable and the fulfilment of public demands when introducing pilot schemes for other public services in future."
The Office's investigation also revealed that upon fulfilling specific criteria (one of the criteria is that the application for the cremation of the deceased and the application for a niche are made by the same person), the FEHD's system can generally process applications for public niches made via an online platform and forms by "automatic approval" within one day. On the contrary, it takes an average of 50 days to process applications made by paper forms or email. The Office believes that there are a considerable number of applicants meeting the above specific criteria, but they might not be aware that "automatic approval" would be given to online applications, or the service of the "2 in 1 integrated Cremation and Ashes Handling Application" is available online. In this regard, the Office urges the FEHD to step up its explanations to the public and the funeral industry about the benefits of online applications and the service of the "2 in 1 integrated Cremation and Ashes Handling Application". Meanwhile, the FEHD should review and explore any scope to further streamline the manual administrative procedures of data entry and verification, with a view to enhancing the efficiency of application processing.
Moreover, the FEHD's "After-death Arrangements" thematic website launched in response to recommendations made in the Office's direct investigation operation report on public services relating to after-death arrangements, has consolidated key information from various departments in the form of a simple and easy-to-understand roadmap, guiding bereaved families through the funeral planning process. It is a significant step forward from the perspective of facilitating public access to information, and is worthy of recognition. However, the FEHD's website and the "After-death Arrangements" thematic website both contain information relating to public niches. While some of the information overlaps, the content and wording are not entirely consistent; the FEHD's website provides relatively more information, but the presentation of the content is comparatively disorganised. In this light, the FEHD should consider aligning and consolidating the content of the two websites in accordance with its original objectives in designing them to maintain consistency and improve clarity of the information contained therein.
Mr Chan said, "The Office notes that under the co-ordination of the Digital Policy Office, the FEHD is currently working with the Department of Health, the Immigration Department and the Hospital Authority to develop a one-stop e-service platform covering death registrations, applications for cremation permits and related services. It is a good example of interdepartmental collaboration. The Office highly commends the collaboration and believes that the one-stop function on the platform can achieve a synergistic effect in combination with the information on the 'After-death Arrangements' thematic website. The Office urges the departments concerned to continuously deepen collaboration and press ahead at full steam with this initiative for the benefit of the public."
In the long run, apart from the new public columbarium projects on Lantau Island, in Kwai Chung and Fanling, the FEHD also promotes green burials by providing free ferry services for the scattering of ashes at sea and gardens of remembrance for the scattering of ashes. In recent years, the percentage of ash disposals in the form of green burials has recorded a steady rise. While recognising the FEHD's efforts, the Office encourages the Department to continuously enhance its public burial services and ancillary facilities, make effective use of public resources, and provide the public with efficient, high-quality and sustainable services.
The Office notes that the National 15th Five-Year Plan has proposed to enhance community care services, including the establishment of a comprehensive system for basic burial services. Burial services, touching the lives of countless families, are integral to public welfare. Optimising burial services and ensuring that the deceased are laid to rest with dignity are important measures in alignment with the National 15th Five-Year Plan.
Overall, the Office made 19 recommendations to the FEHD regarding the allocation arrangements for public niches, application and allocation procedures, interdepartmental collaboration, information dissemination and future planning of niches. In addition to the recommendation on shortening the yearly allocation exercise to a monthly or at least quarterly basis has already been implemented as mentioned above. The Office's major recommendations for improvement to the FEHD include:
- step up explaining to the public and the funeral industry about the benefits of making applications for niches via the FEHD's online platform and forms, in parallel with intensified promotion of the "2 in 1 integrated Cremation and Ashes Handling Application", to increase the usage rate of these electronic services;
- regarding the manual procedures of data entry and verification for processing applications made by paper forms and email, proactively streamline administrative procedures, such as exploring the feasibility of introducing AI and promoting the use of optical character recognition technology, with a view to enhancing the efficiency of application processing;
- on the basis of exchanging data among departments as an essential component of the one-stop e-service platform, explore the further streamlining of the procedures for public niche applications and cross-departmental verification of eligibility, with a view to expediting and improving the efficiency of application processing;
- consider aligning the content of the FEHD's website and the "After-death Arrangement" thematic website in accordance with its original objectives in designing them; overlapping content should be organised or consolidated to maintain consistency and improve the clarity of the information disseminated; and
- keep tabs on the demographic trends and projections in Hong Kong, and take corresponding measures at an early stage if adjustments to existing planning of niches are deemed necessary.
The direct investigation operation report is available on the website of the Office of The Ombudsman at www.ombudsman.hk for public information.
Ends/Tuesday, August 25, 2026
Issued at HKT 15:00
Issued at HKT 15:00
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