The following is issued on behalf of the Office of The Ombudsman:
 
     The Ombudsman, Ms Winnie Chiu, today (December 8) announced the launch of a direct investigation to examine the repairs and maintenance arrangements of outdoor recreational and sports facilities under the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD).
 
     In the course of handling complaint cases, The Ombudsman found that the LCSD's day-to-day inspection mechanism has failed to discover protracted obvious damage in the facilities at some LCSD venues. This has drawn her attention to the arrangements for repairs and maintenance of the recreational and sports facilities (including children’s play facilities, fitness equipment, safety mats and facilities at sports venues) in public parks and non-fee charging outdoor recreational and sports venues (including hard-surface soccer pitches, basketball courts, handball courts, volleyball courts, gateball courts, roller skating rinks, etc) under the LCSD, and has raised a question of whether there is room for improvement.
 
     As revealed in preliminary inquiries by the Office of The Ombudsman, LCSD staff inspect at least fortnightly all outdoor recreational and sports facilities under the Department. Damage found in the facilities is referred to LCSD contractors for follow-up and repair. Information shows that each year between 2016 and 2020, some 2,000 cases of repairing outdoor children's play facilities and fitness equipment were arranged by the LCSD; and each year, repairs in over 30 per cent of the cases took more than three months to complete from the day of reporting the facilities' damage. Some cases even took more than six months. In 2021, similar repair cases saw a noticeable drop in the number and a shorter overall repair time compared to the previous five years. Yet there were still some 200 cases in which repairs took more than three months to complete. 
 
     Ms Chiu said, "The LCSD has a duty to provide safe and quality recreational and sports facilities for the public. Improper repairs and maintenance of such facilities will render them useless to the public and even jeopardise user safety. This direct investigation focuses on the LCSD's outdoor recreational and sports facilities provided to the public for free (i.e. no booking or fee is required for their use). We will look at the LCSD's arrangements and procedures for the day-to-day examination, repairs and maintenance of the facilities, as well as its monitoring of the performance of the agents of facilities and outsourced repair contractors."
 
     The Ombudsman welcomes views from members of the public on this topic. Written submissions should reach the Office of The Ombudsman by January 9, 2023:
 
Address: 30/F, China Merchants Tower, Shun Tak Centre
              168-200 Connaught Road Central, Hong Kong
Fax: 2882 8149
Email: complaints@ombudsman.hk

Ends/Thursday, December 8, 2022
Issued at HKT 11:00

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