The Ombudsman warned yesterday that a government hotline which provides a one-stop service to deal with public inquiries for 12 departments might lead to an increase in complaints about accountability and personal privacy.
Assistant Ombudsman Wan Suet-ming said the office had launched an investigation into the government call centre after receiving 30 complaints since it was set up in July 2001.
The complaints included delayed responses, a lack of response, misinterpretation of information and mismanagement of complaints.
The call centre consolidated the operation of more than 60 telephone, fax and e-mail hotlines which were previously run by 12 government departments. Mr Wan said while his office supported the concept of an integrated call centre to streamline services, the public might sometimes be confused about how the centre operated.
He said that when people called the hotline of a particular department, centre staff would answer in the name of that department.
Mr Wan said this arrangement was undesirable as the callers did not know that they were not communicating with the people they expected.
