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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
staff. Has the Department always adopted a tolerant attitude towards such officers? This is my first question.
The second question concerns the street cleansers. I want to know the way they operate. Are they assigned a certain area for cleaning and after sweeping that particular area, say in 3 hours, can they leave? Or are they required to stay in that area within a certain period of time? I want to know the way they operate as it may give rise to occasions where the street cleansers can slack off, take up part time work or go off duty early.
MR. SUEN KAI-CHEONG (in Cantonese):-Mr. LI asked whether the Department would tolerate our staff's absence from work without authority. Of course the answer is in the negative. As to whether we can ensure that there will not be a single case of absence from duty without authority during the entire process of operation, the answer is also in the negative. Disciplinary action is taken against the officer concerned this time, which reflects that the Department will take disciplinary action as situation warrants. Of course, as to the extent of punishment, we have to look at various factors, i.e. the legal, ethical as well as human factor. We must balance these factors. If Councillors have comments to make in this respect, the Department will certainly be happy to consider. For this kind of cases, should we be more radical? If Councillors agree that more stringent action should be taken, the Department will be happy to comply with Councillors' request.
Secondly, with regard to street cleansers' work on the street level, as I understand it, the street cleansers are assigned certain areas for cleaning, but it does not mean that they can leave after cleaning up the streets. During a given period of time, they must sweep the streets for a fixed number of times. It is not that they only need to sweep the streets for one time or take care of a few streets and then they can knock off. Of course, to have good results, Departmental staff will have to monitor the situation and carry out inspections to see whether the requirements of the Department are complied with. We will step up actions on this front.
MR. LAI CHI-KEONG (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, I would like to refer to paragraph 3 of the reply which concerns the month-to-month employment terms. I would like to ask the Department about this kind of contract. Does the Department sign a contract with each cleanser or does it sign contracts with the cleaning contractors who employ staff of their own? Secondly, are the cleansers employed on month-to-month terms under one year or two year contracts? Or are the contracts signed on an annual basis? And more importantly, with regard to employment terms, do we have a set of standards on the appraisal of the staff's performance, and also do we tell the staff of the yardstick used in staff appraisal, and the possible reasons leading to and procedures of dismissal and disciplinary actions? If we adopt the necessary preventive measures, we can surely avoid such cases happening again in the future. For daily monitoring and inspection work, I
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