The Government received a total of 1 895 requests for information under the Code on Access to Information in the first quarter of 2018, a spokesman for the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau said today (September 28).
 
     The total number of requests received since the introduction of the Code in March 1995 and up to the end of March 2018 amounted to 63 233. Of these, 3 751 requests were subsequently withdrawn by the requestors and 3 088 requests covered cases in which the bureaux/departments concerned did not hold the requested information. As at March 31, 2018, 277 requests were still being processed by bureaux/departments.

     Among the 56 117 requests which covered information held by bureaux/departments and which the bureaux/departments had responded to, 54 779 requests (97.6 per cent) were met, either in full (53 524 requests) or in part (1 255 requests), and 1 338 requests (2.4 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 2018, the Ombudsman received 20 complaints relating to requests for information. In this quarter, the Ombudsman concluded 14 complaints, among which three were partially substantiated, four were unsubstantiated, six were settled after inquiries by the Ombudsman, and one was not pursued by the Ombudsman or outside the Ombudsman's jurisdiction. As at March 31, 2018, the Ombudsman's investigations on 30 complaints were ongoing.

     "The Code has provided an effective framework for the public to seek access to information held by the Government," the spokesman said.

Ends/Friday, September 28, 2018
Issued at HKT 15:00

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