CONSTITUTION AND ADMINISTRATION
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at the departmental level. A Civil Service Newsletter is published quarterly to provide an added link with serving and retired civil servants.
Staff commitment and contributions are recognised in various forms including appreciation letters, commendations and honours or awards. Long Service Travel Awards, Long and Meritorious Service Awards and retirement souvenirs are given to long-serving staff.
The government has initiated changes to streamline the structures of the 28 000 strong clerical and secretarial grades which make up 16 per cent of the Civil Service workforce. The development of a multi-skilled general support service implemented in 1998 has provided a more versatile service, enabling more effective and flexible deployment of staffing resources. Progress to date is encouraging. It is hoped that the successful development of multi-skilling and further measures to rationalise the provision of clerical support service will lead to a leaner and more effective workforce.
Civil Service Training and Development
Preparing civil servants to provide quality service to the public and to meet new challenges is the primary goal of training and development in the Civil Service. To achieve this goal, the Civil Service Training and Development Institute, the government's central training agency, offers a wide range of training courses and self- learning packages on management, languages, China Studies and information technology. It also provides training and development services to departments to support central policy initiatives.
Management training programmes for senior staff include overseas executive development programmes, local directorate seminars and the Senior Staff Development Programme. In 1998, a five-day local residential Leadership Enhancement And Development Programme was introduced to enhance the leadership, strategic management and policy making skills of the top echelons of the government.
The emphasis on China Studies is to increase civil servants' knowledge of the social, economic and administrative systems in the Mainland through courses and visits. Training programmes include a four-week course at Tsinghua University in Beijing, a two-week course at Zhongshan University in Guangdong, familiarisation visits to Mainland cities and local China Studies seminars.
Training on the Basic Law is accorded high priority. Apart from training programmes, the second self-learning package on the Basic Law was produced in June and a multi-media interactive self-learning package on the subject was produced in October.
Putonghua and Chinese writing courses are offered to a large number of officers while tailor-made courses are also provided to departments and grades. Training on Chinese word processing is offered to secretarial, clerical, executive and departmental grade officers to meet increasing demands for such skills. Cantonese courses are provided for non-native-speakers of Chinese to help them work more effectively in the service.
Human Resource Management courses are organised to provide support to the initiative launched by the Civil Service Bureau. Consultancy services are offered to