CONSTITUTION AND ADMINISTRATION
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to assist departments and grades in deriving full benefits from the annually rolled forward training and development planning process.
The CSTDI continued to accord priority to leadership development in 2003. A 'Directorate Leadership Scheme' to strengthen the leadership capacity of senior officers and a 'Leadership In Action' Programme designed to groom senior officers. with high potential for further career development were launched. Also, a series of seminars was held jointly with three private sector organisations to facilitate the exchange of ideas and best practices in corporate leadership. A forum on 'Continuous Improvement Through People' was held for about 300 professional officers from different bureaux and departments to facilitate the sharing of experience in implementing continuous improvement and service enhancement initiatives.
Building on the cyber-learning infrastructure put in place since 2000, the institute has made sustained efforts to enrich the content and to upgrade the functions of the Government's e-learning portal, the Cyber Learning Centre Plus (CLC Plus). The portal provides a one-stop access to a wide spectrum of training and development information and learning resources for staff at different levels. The number of registered users grew to over 35 000 in 2003.
Continuous emphasis has been placed on national studies programmes, including staff exchange programmes with Mainland institutions. Besides the programmes offered by the Tsinghua University and the National School of Administration, the Peking University has been commissioned to organise programmes on national affairs for senior civil servants, starting from 2004. During the year, the CSTDI also arranged a series of seminars to help civil servants better understand the opportunities and challenges that the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement with the Mainland provides for Hong Kong. Updated and more comprehensive job-related reference materials were added to the CLC Plus to help keep civil servants abreast of latest developments in the Greater Pearl River Delta region. A variety of courses and promotional activities were organised on a continuing basis to enhance civil servants' knowledge of the Basic Law.
During the year, the Administration completed a review of the CSTDI's operations with a view to rationalising service delivery. Starting from April 2004, the institute will be subsumed under the Civil Service Bureau, in the interests of achieving greater efficiency and economy in operation. The institute will continue to focus on its core business of delivering cost-effective training and development and consulting services to its clients.
Official Languages
Chinese and English are the official languages of Hong Kong. It is the Government's policy to develop and maintain a Civil Service that is proficient in both written Chinese and English and conversant in Cantonese, Putonghua and spoken English. While reports and publications of public interest issued by the Government are available in both languages, correspondence with the public is in the language appropriate to the recipients. The Official Languages Division of the Civil Service Bureau implements the Government's language policy in the Civil Service. It provides language-related services to all government bureaux and departments. In addition to providing translation and interpretation services, its Official Languages Officers also draft speeches and edit important documents in Chinese for senior officers.