MSO Factsheet: Effective Service Delivery

Whole-of-Government Service Delivery Improvements

MSO’s efforts to improve service delivery has led to improvements in inter-agency processes. 90% of complex feedback that require multiple agencies to work together has reduced from 16 working days in Q4 2015, to 11 days in Q4 2017.

Transforming OneService Channels

MSO has been enhancing the OneService App (OS App) to make it a convenient platform for residents to provide feedback on municipal matters without the need to search for the right agency (see Annex A for screenshots). The scope of issues covered within the OS App has expanded from six categories in 2015 when the app was launched, to 11[1] by end 2017. Besides issues handled by government agencies, the OS App now covers municipal issues handled by the Town Councils (TCs) (i.e. Facilities in HDB Estates), and private companies (i.e. supermarkets for Abandoned Trolleys, and Bike Share Operators for Shared Bicycles). In 2017, the number of registered users and cases submitted grew by 43% and 100% respectively, reaching 114,000 registered users and 153,000 cases submitted.

MSO has also introduced the OneService Portal (OS Portal) in Sep 2016 which aggregates municipal information across agencies and TCs for our residents’ easy reference as well as allows residents to submit feedback. This includes useful information for residents’ daily living, including HDB block washing schedules, locations of e-waste recycling points, and schedules for community events such as HDB’s Welcome Parties. The OS Portal has garnered over 320,000 views since its launch.

To make OS channels a one-stop platform for residents on all municipal matters, MSO will further enhance the OS channels in 2018 to enable residents to perform essential transactions with government agencies, and give their feedback and comments on local improvement programmes to help co-create their living environment. The long term vision is for the OS channels to cover all essential municipal needs of residents, so that they will only need a single platform for all their municipal needs instead of having to juggle between multiple apps for different purposes.

Improving Inter-Agency Processes

MSO continues to work with government agencies and TCs to improve coordination and management of complex issues that involves multiple parties and are difficult to resolve. This includes issues such as pigeon nuisance, animal hoarding, and Outdoor Display Area (ODA) violations.

Specifically, for pigeon-related nuisances, government agencies and TCs receive some 600 feedback monthly from residents. TCs oversee the cleaning of common areas, AVA takes enforcement action against pigeon feeders, and NEA takes enforcement action against those caught committing high-rise littering arising from pigeon feeding. To resolve the issue effectively for residents, AVA, NEA and TCs need to work together in a coordinated fashion.

For animal hoarding, MSO has worked with AVA, HDB, and NEA to clarify the role of the agencies for cases, depending on whether the case involves animal welfare issues, poses public health risk, or causes general disamenities to other residents. As residents’ hoarding behaviour could be due to different root causes, the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) and social welfare agencies will also be roped in to address mental health or better care for the socio-emotional needs of the resident. With greater clarity on how different types of cases should be handled and escalated, this will lead to a more effective solution for the affected residents.

For ODA violations, MSO has worked with TCs and SCDF on an escalation mechanism to better tackle the recalcitrant shop owners. ODA violations causes obstruction and thus endanger the safety of residents, shop occupants and neighbouring properties in the event of a fire. Under the new framework, a joint TC-SCDF escalation mechanism was developed to deal with violations. For instance, SCDF will conduct joint enforcement blitzes with TCs against recalcitrant shop owners that ignored the warning letters and composition fines of TCs, to remove the obstruction. Such coordinated efforts will yield better enforcement outcomes for violations.

Through better inter-agency coordination and processes, MSO hopes to improve municipal service delivery for our residents.

[1] The 11 categories are (a) cleanliness; (b) pests; (c) roads & footpaths; (d) animals & birds; (e) facilities in HDB estates; (f) drinking water; (g) drains & sewers; (h) parks & greenery; (i) construction sites; (j) abandoned trolleys; and (k) shared bicycles.