XN000022-1995-03-29 — Page 32

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The civil service's strength rests on the fact that we have a body of highly motivated and loyal men and women who are committed to serving the community. We work as a team and important decisions are taken, in many instances, collectively in the interest of the community. I believe we have a first class team and I value the contribution that each individual officer makes. In developing our policies and programmes, we do our best to respond positively to the views of this Council and of the wider public. But it is not always possible to satisfy the interest of each and every sector, particularly in some of the more controversial policy areas. In such instances, it is incumbent upon us to explain why. The transition years place a particularly heavy burden on the Civil Service and create uncertainties which perhaps prey more heavily on the minds of civil servants than on other sectors of the community. More than ever it is crucial to maintain morale and stability within all ranks of the Civil Service if we are to continue to serve Hong Kong well. In this task, I hope we can count on the support and fair-mindeness of this Council and of the wider public including the media.

The Hon Cheung Man-kwong spoke of the future challenges facing civil servants. I can assure him that we are facing up squarely to the future. Localisation continues to be a firm policy of this administration. We are improving our capacity and ability to work in Chinese at all levels - but it is also important that we maintain and indeed strengthen our ability in English, in keeping with Hong Kong's position as an international city. Training in all areas of Chinese is being considerably stepped up and opportunities taken to make us more user friendly to the public. Where legislation may state that English must be used, we are seeking to change this. The Secretary for the Civil Service has just set up a Working Group to see what more can be done in this general area. He will be looking into the suggestions made by the Honourable

Member.

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I can also assure the Hon Tang Siu-tong that growth in the civil service is kept on a very tight rein and is targeted at those areas where the community wants to see more done for example, more policemen on the beat, better social services and a cleaner environment. To meet the community's expectations we have had to become more productive and efficient, and we continue to explore ways to achieve this. Through our human resources management initiatives, we have delegated more power to Heads of Departments to enable them both to better manage and to bring the best out of their staff. This includes simplifying disciplinary procedures for all levels of staff - in clear cut cases. Proper safeguards will of course continue to be in place.

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