3.3 million calls made to 1823 last year, including 620,000 complaints

Figures from 2023 show that over 3.3 million calls were made to the government's 1823 one-stop hotline, with 620,000 of them being complaints.

The hotline, managed by the Efficiency Office, was set up in 2001 to answer enquiries for 23 participating departments and receives complaints, suggestions and compliments about all government services. Apart from telephoning, members of the public can contact 1823 via other channels, such as web form, email, mobile app, SMS and fax.

According to official data, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department received the highest number of complaints, totaling 160,000 cases, followed by the 96,000 complaints received by the Housing Authority and Housing Department respectively.

Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry Sun Dong said on Wednesday that 1823 is one of the channels for government departments to receive enquiries and complaints, while each department also has its own channels for receiving enquiries and complaints. 

“Currently, 1823 provides relevant case data to departments and submits various case statistics and analysis reports to participating departments to facilitate the departments in conducting further data analysis by integrating with their own operation data as well as enquiry and complaint data received from other channels, so as to enhance their services and improve district governance,” said Sun.