The Ombudsman has made 11 recommendations to the Constitutional & Mainland Affairs Bureau for more effective administration of the Code on Access to Information.

Releasing its investigation report today, the Ombudsman said the bureau should enhance staff training and boost publicity and promotion of the code. Departmental guidelines should be updated and compliance monitoring stepped up.

Accepting the recommendations, the bureau said measures will be introduced to bolster promotion and training. They include:

* more timely training for Access to Information Officers, and conducting training in a small group briefing format where appropriate;

* updating frequently asked questions and beefing up precedent cases for reference by relevant officers;

* monitoring complaints lodged with the Ombudsman closely; and

* working with bureaus and departments to organise more regular training for their staff.

Publicity drive

To enhance publicity, the bureau will add a Chinese version of the Guidelines on Interpretation & Application to the Government webpage on the code. It will also require all departments' homepages to introduce the code and to be hyperlinked to the webpage on the code.

The bureau has initiated other programmes to publicise the code. It will also follow up with other public bodies within the Ombudsman's purview so they can adopt the code or a similar guide.

The bureau will continue to closely monitor the code's implementation and consider measures to enhance the promotion of and compliance with the code as appropriate.