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An Order seeking to make some technical amendments and bring the Schedule 1 to the Ombudsman Ordinance (Cap.397) up-to-date will be gazetted tomorrow (July 7).
The Ombudsman Ordinance empowers the Ombudsman to investigate any action taken by or on behalf of an organisation specified in Part I of Schedule 1 in the exercise of its administrative functions.
A spokesman for the Administration Wing said that owing to organisational changes, seven government departments no longer existed. "The references to these departments and agencies should therefore be removed from Schedule 1," he said.
These departments/agencies are:
(a) Civil Service Training and Development Institute;
(b) Hospital Services Department;
(c) Information Technology Services Department;
(d) Management Services Agency;
(e) Official Languages Agency;
(f) Registry of Trade Unions; and
(g) Technical Education and Industrial Training Department.
The Administration has been checking the Schedule from time to time to see if any disbanded organisations still remained in the Schedule. Should any such organisations be identified, they will be deleted from the Schedule by legislative amendments in one go rather than in a piecemeal fashion.
The Ombudsman Ordinance (Amendment to Schedule 1) Order 2006 also adds a reference to "Student Financial Assistance Agency" (SFAA) in Schedule 1.
The spokesman added, "The SFAA is currently not included in Schedule 1 as it was considered that SFAA was part of the Education and Manpower Bureau (i.e. Government Secretariat), thereby already covered by the Ombudsman's jurisdiction.
"As legal advice reveals that SFAA must be expressly included in Part I of Schedule 1 to the Ordinance before the Ombudsman can investigate a complaint made against it, SFAA is proposed to be added to Schedule 1.
"Notwithstanding the omission of SFAA under the Ombudsman Ordinance, SFAA has been maintaining a good working relationship with the Ombudsman and has been responding to her referrals in a most proactive manner. Basically all referral cases had been dealt with satisfactorily."
Some other technical amendments have also been made to Schedule 1. The Order will be tabled at the Legislative Council on July 12.
Ends/Thursday, July 6, 2006
Issued at HKT 18:59
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