Gov’t to revamp 1823 hotline, pledging 10-day response time for public enquiries

Hong Kong’s government has announced new improvements to its 1823 hotline, pledging to respond to public enquiries and complaints within 10 days and to coordinate responses across various departments.

Deputy Chief Secretary Warner Cheuk said on RTHK on Tuesday that authorities were concerned about the problem of different departments passing the buck when a public complaint involved more than one part of government.

“It’s just like kicking a ball,” Cheuk told the public broadcaster in Cantonese. “One person says it’s not their responsibility then another one also says that and a third says it’s someone else’s responsibility.”

‘Lead department’

Launched in 2001, the 1823 Call Centre is a 24-hour hotline operated by the Digital Policy Office to handle public enquiries and complaints.

Chief Executive John Lee pledged to revamp the service in his annual Policy Address last week, saying the government will designate “a lead department” to coordinate the handling of cross‑departmental complaints.

The lead department will report to the deputy chief secretary for administration, who will instruct relevant departments to collaborate on handling and responding to complaints.

Cheuk said on Tuesday that the 1823 Call Centre received around 2 million oral and written enquiries and complaints in the first seven months of this year. Among these, 30 per cent of cases involve more than one department.

Under the planned improvements, the lead department will coordinate with the other departments involved, providing an “initial response” within 10 days and an “actual response” within 30 days.

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Irene Chan is a reporter at Hong Kong Free Press and has an interest in covering political and social change. She previously worked at Initium Media as chief editor for Hong Kong news and was a community organiser at the Society for Community Organisation serving the underprivileged. She has a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Fudan University and a master’s degree in social work from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Irene is the recipient of two Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) awards and three honourable mentions for her investigative, feature and video reporting. She also received a Human Rights Press Award for multimedia reporting and an honourable mention for feature writing.