Speech by Minister Grace Fu at the OneService Appreciation Tea
Sep 29, 2015
A very good afternoon to all of you. Thank you for joining us at the OneService Appreciation Tea here at the Hort Park. Today, we recognise partner agencies and officers who have done well to enhance municipal service delivery, and improve the lives of Singaporeans.
Working together as one
It has been almost a year since MSO was set up. We aim to be “citizen-focused” in all the work that we do. Our role is to help our agencies do their work better and facilitate the development of systemic solutions so that similar issues in future can be addressed faster and more effectively. MSO also plays the role of a facilitator to help coordinate and resolve cases which are complex and involve multiple agencies.
Our 11 partner agencies, which are here today, have been with us every step of the way, working seamlessly with one another, across agency boundaries to improve service delivery and resolve municipal issues for our residents.
Together with all of you, we have made good progress over the past months. We have introduced various initiatives to make it easier for residents to give feedback on municipal issues, and help to improve coordination and processes among our partner agencies.
Lead agencies for more responsive service
Firstly, dedicated agencies have taken the lead on specific municipal issues where multiple agencies could be involved. NParks has taken on the role of maintaining all public greenery, starting with grass cutting since June 2015. Residents may contact NParks for all greenery-related issues. NEA continues to be in charge of all cleanliness issues in public areas not managed by Town Councils, while AVA is the first responder for all animal-related feedback.
OneService mobile app – Making it easier to provide feedback
Secondly, we launched the OneService mobile app in January this year. The app makes it even more convenient for residents to provide feedback on common municipal issues. It automatically channels the feedback to the agency in charge. More than 35,000 residents have registered to use the OneService app, and more than 15,000 cases have been submitted as of end August this year.
Many of our partner agencies have told us that the photo-attachment and geo-tagging functions in the app make it easier for their officers to pinpoint the exact location of the feedback, and help them deliver better and faster responses to residents. I thank all of you for supporting the initiative.
Timely response to requests for municipal infrastructure
Thirdly, MSO has facilitated public requests for local infrastructure such as footpaths and lightings, that straddle agencies’ boundaries. Between last October and August this year, we have facilitated 24 such requests, and come up with procedures to guide future cases. Residents can look forward to a more timely response to their requests.
Linking up with Town Councils for better service
In addition, MSO has piloted working arrangements with Jurong Town Council and Holland-Bukit Panjang Town Council since March 2015 for better and timelier service delivery. We aim to forge closer working relationships with the new Town Councils when they are formed for the benefit of residents living in public housing estates.
Ensuring proper closure of all feedback
We’ve also worked closely with you, our partner agencies, to put in place an integrated municipal feedback management system which ensures all feedback cases are attended to early, and closed properly. We hope this has helped improve your own work processes and made it easier for you to follow up on cases.
All of you have contributed greatly to these initiatives, which in turn benefitted our residents and improved their living environment. We would not have achieved these without your support.
Serving with heart
Today, we salute your officers who are passionate about improving municipal services for the public, and who have demonstrated high standards of service excellence.
We will be giving out the Municipal Services Awards to 10 officers and 6 teams who have served with their hearts and exhibited the “can-do” attitude. The awards aim to recognise good citizen-centric delivery of municipal service and inter-agency efforts to achieve effective solutions. My heartiest congratulations to all the award winners today. Many have gone the extra mile, taking the initiative to collaborate with other agencies to resolve municipal issues. It is noteworthy that one of the criteria of this award is that the nomination has to come from an external organisation. So this is not one where you can nominate your own staff, it’s actually a sign of appreciation of an external agency and the contribution of the staff. It is a recognition and an endorsement of the service excellence that other agencies have. So I think this is really quite different from other awards.
Ms Josephine Pang from NParks is one such example. She had gone beyond the call of duty to assist PUB with the installation of streetlights along a footpath. A resident had requested for streetlights along the footpath linking Toa Payoh Lor 8 and the Kallang Park Connector as he was worried for pedestrians’ safety when it gets dark. The footpath is a maintenance access managed by PUB for drainage maintenance work. As NParks was carrying out lighting upgrading works nearby, Ms Pang stepped in and coordinated with PUB to install the required lightings under the NParks contract. By taking the initiative to work with PUB, Ms Pang was able to swiftly resolve the lighting issue along the footpath.
Many of our officers have also demonstrated personal commitment in the handling of public feedback, and had taken the extra effort to resolve municipal issues for residents. Take Mr Sam Wong from LTA for example. He received feedback about faulty lighting behind a row of houses at Cairnhill Road via the OneService mobile app. Mr Wong took the initiative to check with various agencies and eventually found that the lights were managed by the managing agent of a nearby condominium. So strictly it is not part of the work of a public agency, but nevertheless, he traced it down to the person in charge. Instead of just informing the feedback provider that the lights were on private land, he went one step further to coordinate with the managing agent to have the lights repaired.
Our officers have showed us the importance of serving with heart, breaking down silos, and working hand in hand with other agencies to meet the needs of our residents. If they had only looked at their own areas and worked within boundaries, many of these issues would not have been resolved so quickly.
Next Steps
There are many success stories today. Each story is an inspiration, an encouragement, and a motivation for us to continue to improve municipal service delivery for our residents.
Managing feedback and complaints is not an easy task. That is why I am particularly thankful to the frontline and operations staff from all our partner agencies for their dedication and hard work. They have displayed great teamwork and service excellence in supporting our common goals. I urge all of you to continue to be alert to the needs of residents, surface any issues on the ground, and strive to improve our neighbourhood.
Going forward, MSO will continue to build the OneService Network of partner agencies and recognise good municipal services and cross-agency collaborations. To enable our partner agencies to better plan their operations, we will also systematically analyse municipal cases data to identify trends and emerging needs. We will also continue to improve the OneService mobile app to make it more relevant and user-friendly for residents.
Together, let us work towards our vision of ‘One Service, and an Engaged Community, for a Better Living Environment’.