The "12345 hotline" is a service platform for all levels of government in China. Citizens can speak with a customer service agent 24/7 to report or seek help on any issue, from sudden power outages to residential areas having fallen into disrepair, and community kindergartens having insufficient slots.
Liaoyuan city in Northeast China's Jilin province has strengthened its efforts to build a more comprehensive "12345 hotline" service. The upgraded hotline allows for all kinds of online and offline work orders to be tracked and supervised, and coordinates work orders with a controversial division of responsibilities and overlapping management functions, in a bid to better resolve the concerns of numerous enterprises and individuals and further optimize the business environment. This serves as a concrete action to serve the people.
Heightened efforts have been made to improve the business environment, for example, a special section for business issues was set up on the "12345 hotline". Specific personnel were tasked with settling matters presented by enterprises.
The Work Plan of Liaoyuan City on Further Merging and Optimizing Government Service Hotlines has indicated that, in addition to the existing 67 hotlines, another 14 service hotlines will be established, such as a hotline for civil services, a hotline for reporting illegal activities involving natural resources, and a hotline for reports, complaints and consultations in the business sector. Before the end of the year, Liaoyuan will realize a general hotline for external government services with a 24/7 manual service.
The government has also established a closed-loop workflow for call reception, classified transfers, time-limited feedback and return visits to ensure high-quality and efficient administrative services.
No matter who makes the call, after filing a complaint, someone will contact them within a few hours to enquire about the specifics. Within a few days, the complainant will also receive follow-up calls to ask if the situation has been resolved and whether they are satisfied with the service. If they feel the service has not been satisfactory, they can call another hotline to further complain.
On the other side of the phone, public officials are under considerable pressure — since not only is another department monitoring their problem-solving, but the number of complaints and resolved problems each month are publicly disclosed. If the resolution rate fails to reach 100 percent, the pressure will be even greater.