Dear Food and Environmental Hygiene Department,

I've been doing research on your team's rodent control measures. Here are the questions for the department to answer under the Code on Access to Information.

Q1 — Machine-readable data and 2024+ results
Background: FEHD publishes annual Rodent Infestation Rate data from 2013-2023 as PDFs, broken down by district, survey location, and area type (residential, industrial, recreational, rear lanes). This is excellent data but is only available as scanned/non-machine-readable PDFs. The 2024 Rodent Activity Survey is available as a single PDF without the detailed breakdowns of the 2023 format.

Request: (a) Can the RIR data for 2013-2023 be provided in machine-readable format (CSV or XLSX) with columns for year, district, survey location, area type, phase, number of infested points, and total survey points? (b) Will the 2024 and 2025 RIR data be published in the same detailed format as 2023 (Phase 1/Phase 2, per area type)? (c) Is there a schedule for transitioning from PDF-only publication to machine-readable open data?

Why this matters: FEHD clearly invests in systematic data collection. Making this data machine-readable would allow citizens, District Councils, and researchers to conduct independent analysis without manual data entry from PDFs. The data exists — the format is the barrier.

Q2 — Complaint data linkage
Background: FEHD’s public guidance directs citizens to 1823 and the FEHD hotline (2868 0000) for rodent issues including collection of live trapped rodents. The RIR survey captures infestation at designated survey points, but it is unclear whether citizen complaints correlate with survey findings.

Request: (a) Are rodent-related complaints (via 1823 and FEHD hotline) tracked by district and linked to RIR survey locations? (b) For 2020-2025, what is the annual number of rodent complaints by district? (c) Does FEHD use complaint data to identify emerging hotspots between survey cycles, or to adjust survey locations?

Why this matters: The RIR survey provides periodic snapshots. Complaint data could provide continuous monitoring. If these datasets are linked, the public health response could be more responsive. If they are NOT linked, that is a significant data governance gap.

Q3 — Species-level data
Background: FEHD’s rodent information page identifies three species (sewer rat, roof rat, house mouse) with different behaviours, food preferences, and control strategies. FEHD even provides species-specific baiting recommendations. This implies species-level identification during surveys.

Request: (a) Does the RIR survey record which rodent species are found at each survey location? (b) If so, can species-level data be provided by district and year alongside the infestation rates? (c) Are control strategies (baiting, trapping) tailored based on which species is dominant in a given area?

Why this matters: FEHD’s own guidance demonstrates that species identification matters for effective control. If species data is collected during surveys but not published, a key dimension of the public health picture is missing.

Yours faithfully,

Simon Wang