COMMUNICATIONS, THE MEDIA AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
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make use of e-services and it will serve as a population-wide platform for the further development of E-government and e-commerce in Hong Kong.
(c) Other Joined-up and Government-wide Projects
The Government is proceeding with a number of other joined-up projects. For example, the Business Entry Portal will assist existing and prospective businesses by providing a single entry point for coordinated business information from over 100 government bureaux, departments, public bodies, trade associations and other organisations. The Property Information Hub will provide one-stop access to property-related information held by the Rating and Valuation Department, Land Registry, Lands Department and Buildings Department. The Integrated Criminal Justice Processes will enhance efficiency and accuracy in transferring information among a number of departments and agencies involved in the criminal justice.
process.
(d) Common Look and Feel
In March, a 'Common Look and Feel' website design initiative was introduced to all bureaux and departments. By year-end, over 50 government websites had been revamped. By providing a more consistent navigation experience to surfers, it is aimed to enhance the online brand image and improve the public's accessibility to information as well as improve the user-friendliness of browsing through government websites.
With the solid foundation laid by the first wave of E-government, the E-government programme is being deepened with the intention of focusing more sharply on service quality and effectiveness. The next wave will bring greater value to customers as well as to the Government, by increasing utilisation through a better understanding of what customers need, encouraging customer relations management, and promoting service transformation towards customer-centric and quality-oriented service delivery with more effective business process re-engineering.
IT Manpower
The Government is committed to providing adequate and quality IT manpower to meet the demand in the community. Apart from implementing the measures recommended by the Task Force on IT Manpower set up under the Information Infrastructure Advisory Committee, the Government has implemented new initiatives in collaboration with the IT industry and academia during the year. Specific projects include a Secondary Schools IT Training Scheme and Exhibition to provide opportunities for students to demonstrate their IT and multimedia capability in web page design, video production, image display, and Flash demonstration, and a Young IT Leader Awards Scheme to recognise young people's achievements in learning and applying IT in their studies and daily life. (Other educational and training measures are mentioned in Chapter 7: Education)
The Government will continue to work with the academic sector and the IT industry on other longer term measures to ensure that the IT workforce meets the local manpower needs and enhance Hong Kong competitiveness in the globalised market. Where necessary, talented persons and professionals in IT from elsewhere, including the Mainland, may be admitted to Hong Kong to fill gaps or shortages in specific areas.