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The Government received a total of 683 requests for information under the Code on Access to Information in the first quarter of 2012, a spokesman for the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau said today (May 28).
The total number of requests received since the introduction of the Code in March 1995 and up to the end of March 2012 amounted to 33,383. Of these, 1,901 requests were subsequently withdrawn by the requestors and 1,397 requests covered cases in which the bureaux/departments concerned did not hold the requested information. As at March 31, 2012, 91 requests were still being processed by bureaux and departments.
Among the 29,994 requests which covered information held by bureaux/departments and which the bureaux/departments had responded to, 29,277 requests (98 per cent) were met, either in full (28,600 requests) or in part (677 requests), and 717 requests (2 per cent) were refused.
Any member of the public who is dissatisfied with the response of a bureau/department under the Code may request that the matter be reviewed. He or she may also lodge a complaint with the Ombudsman.
In the first quarter of 2012, the Ombudsman received 10 complaints relating to requests for information.
The Ombudsman completed work on nine complaint cases in this quarter. Of these nine completed cases, one was substantiated, five were concluded and settled after inquiries by the Ombudsman and one was withdrawn by the applicant. The Ombudsman did not undertake investigation into two other cases having considered the circumstances of the cases. As at March 31, 2012, the Ombudsman was still handling three complaint cases.
"The statistics show that Government bureaux and departments have been complying with the Code to the general satisfaction of members of the public," the spokesman said.
Ends/Monday, May 28, 2012
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