Inclusion of Specific Category of "Second-hand Smoke from Neighbour" on NEA's Online Feedback Form
Ministry of Sustainability and the EnvironmentSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang's inquiry on adding a "second-hand smoke from neighbour" category to the National Environment Agency (NEA) online feedback form. Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Ms Grace Fu Hai Yien stated that the form focuses on common issues to remain user-friendly, noting that neighborly smoke feedback currently accounts for only 1.2% of total submissions. She explained that NEA backend systems already tag and monitor these trends specifically, and the Ministry will evaluate if future volumes warrant a dedicated category. Furthermore, other agencies like the Housing Development Board and Town Councils also manage such feedback and collaborate with NEA on joint-solutioning. The Minister assured that all feedback is promptly addressed regardless of the channel or category used for submission.
Transcript
63 Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang asked the Minister for Sustainability and the Environment whether the Ministry can include a specific category of "second-hand smoke from neighbour" on NEA's online feedback form to accurately capture the amount of concerns on this issue.
Ms Grace Fu Hai Yien: The National Environment Agency’s (NEA) online feedback form is designed for the public to provide information on issues regulated by NEA. Currently, the feedback form lists 13 categories which cover the most common types of feedback received by NEA, such as smoking at prohibited places, littering and mosquito breeding. In addition, there is a general category for the submission of feedback on other issues, including secondhand tobacco smoke from neighbours. Feedback providers can select one of these 13 categories when submitting their feedback.
The form is designed to be user-friendly and hence, care has been taken to list the more common feedback issues. Having too finely cut categories covering the broad range of issues under NEA may make the feedback process cumbersome and even increase the chances of erroneous tagging by feedback providers.
Feedback on secondhand tobacco smoke from neighbours submitted through the form remain small. Secondhand tobacco smoke from neighbours in homes constitutes just 1.2% of total feedback submitted through the form this year. This is much lower than some of the most common feedback areas such as mosquito breeding, which accounted for 16% of the total feedback. Nonetheless, we will continue to monitor the feedback on secondhand tobacco smoke from neighbours to see if this category warrants inclusion in the form.
In addition, every feedback item recorded in NEA's system is promptly looked into and tagged appropriately. In the backend, NEA will sieve out the feedback on specific issues and monitor the trends accordingly.
Besides NEA, there are other accessible channels for the public to provide their feedback on smoking-related matters. The Municipal Services Office, Housing Development Board, Health Promotion Board and Town Councils also receive such feedback and will respond accordingly. All these agencies work closely together on joint-solutioning to address feedback on smoking.