"NO WRONG DOOR" POLICY

"NO WRONG DOOR" POLICY:

(Publicity): 13.

Ms Lee Bee Wah asked the Prime Minister and Minister for Finance (a) since the introduction of the "No Wrong Door" policy in 2004, whether there has been any feedback on how this scheme has worked out; and (b) will his Ministry look at ways to give more publicity to this scheme as it may not be widely known by the public.

The Minister for Defence (Mr Teo Chee Hean) (for the Prime Minister and Minister for Finance): Mr Speaker, the Public Service is a large organisation and it does have many agencies and departments, each with different responsibilities. Fortunately, most members of the public do know which are the appropriate agencies to approach if they do have a particular issue. And we have facilities like the eCitizen portal which all different Government departments can be accessed. So we do assist members of the public to approach the appropriate agencies. However, it is possible that, in spite of this, there will be particular issues which members of the public are not sure which agency to approach to have the issues resolved. So in 2004, the Public Service introduced the 'No Wrong Door' policy so that members of the public do not get referred from one agency to another when they have an issue for the Government to resolve.

Under this policy, when a public agency receives a query or feedback on an issue that does not fall under its purview, it should identify the agency responsible for the issue and put it in touch with the person who submitted the query or feedback. If the issue involves

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multiple agencies, then the agency who receives the query is to coordinate and put up an integrated response. Hence, the name 'No Wrong Door'.

The key to the implementation of the policy lies in public officers being helpful and being able to make the connection and do the necessary coordination behind the scene. So when the policy works smoothly, the member of the public need not even know that such a policy exists.

For this reason, the Public Service has focused its efforts on emphasising the importance of the policy to public officers through induction and training programmes, and urging public agencies to put in place processes to implement the policy smoothly.

We have observed that most public agencies have actively implemented the 'No Wrong Door' policy although we still do get lapses. While we have not officially solicited feedback from the public on this policy, we are aware that some public officers have been commended by the public for helping to put them in touch with the relevant agencies to solve their problems. We will continue to remind all public agencies and officers to practise the policy consistently.

Then, when the policy does not work properly, we also get to hear about it pretty quickly. Of course, there are some complex issues and sometimes not clear where the issue falls under, and the 'No Wrong Door' policy may not work well. But overall, the policy has brought convenience to members of the public and the Public Service will continue to try and improve and do better all the time.

Ms Lee Bee Wah: Sir, I have three supplementary questions. First, does this 'No Wrong Door' policy also extend to those residents in the private estates who need help for their environmental

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problems, such as mosquito breeding, no one cleans the road, drain or prunes the trees?

Question 2: what can the residents do if they call the Government agency and were told off very rudely by the person who picked up the call just because he had called the wrong number or department?

And question 3: will the Ministry take into consideration the effectiveness of the civil servants when it comes to salary increments, that is, for those who are not service-oriented or those who introduced policies that incurred cost for no good reason will not have any pay increment, and vice versa?

Mr Teo Chee Hean: Mr Speaker, Sir, supplementary question 1, does it apply to residents of private estates? Certainly, it does. It applies to all members of the public, including those who live in private estates. Secondly, what can they do? If they do encounter rude civil servants, I think there are hotline numbers which they can call to complain, or they can go and see their Member of Parliament and complain; sometimes, they came to see me too. These are avenues which are possible, which are open. And certainly, the approach that the officers take towards members of the public and how they deal with members of the public is one factor which is taken into account in their overall assessment.

If an officer, whose duty is to interact with the public and serve members of the public, is unable to do so properly, obviously the officer will not be assessed very highly.

Dr Teo Ho Pin: Sir, may I ask the Minister whether the Government can consider setting up a national hotline on Government services, so that all Singaporeans and people in Singapore can call if they want to enquire on Government

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services, ie, a phone line, not E-Citizen Portal.

Mr Teo Chee Hean: As I said, Mr Speaker, most members of the public do know where to approach. For example, the previous question from the Member, even if we have a mosquito problem, I think most Singaporeans know that if you call the NEA, these are issues that will be addressed. So if you have one hotline for which all the calls go to, it will create an enormous bottleneck, which may not achieve the purpose which the Member is after, which is improved service.