TNAG-2989-FCO40-3575-Future-of-Hong-Kong-constitutional-development-talks-betwee-1992 — Page 123

-training courses will be run to help the Civil Service establish new

standards of courtesy and helpfulness.

94. These performance pledges will be the first stage in a programme which I intend to make a permanent feature of the public sector. But I also want the public to have a greater say in the running of services provided in their name and to make sure that the public can be confident that their views are fully represented. I intend that members of the public should be involved in overseeing performance pledges through "Users' Committees" where these would help to ensure effective monitoring.

95. I have asked the Chief Secretary to take direct charge of the performance pledge programme, and to keep me closely in touch with its progress. He will ensure that the success of this initiative is a top priority for the Civil Service Branch and for the Efficiency Unit we established earlier this year. I am impressed by the way in which the Civil Service, especially its managers, have responded to the call for a new approach. For our public servants, this is an opportunity to achieve their major professional goal-to serve the public whether as their patients in hospitals and clinics, their social work clients, their school students or their constituents in general. I believe that the community can have every confidence in the Civil Service's capacity to achieve a new style as well as new standards of service to our people.

96. The professionalism, integrity and commitment of the Civil Service will be vital for the success of the programme I have set out for the next five years. These qualities will also be vital for Hong Kong's continued success after 1997. As the Civil Service prepares for the transition, we shall have to develop the momentum of our localisation programme, not least to comply with the provisions of the Joint Declaration and the Basic Law. In doing so, we will not, of course, lose sight of the important contribution which overseas officers will continue to make to Hong Kong's public service.

Freedom of the Press

97. I would now like to talk about one aspect of Hong Kong's way of life which I think deserves our particular attention. I refer to the freedom of the press, an issue which was debated in this Council earlier this year.

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