1992 — Page 77

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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

MAIN FINDINGS OF SURVEY

The main findings of the survey are as follows:-

Public impression of the Council is better than two years ago. -Public awareness of UC services is 10% points higher than two years ago. Moreover, the public finds that there are improvements in the quality of the Council's services and facilities.

-There is an increase in the usage of most of the municipal services which the Council provides compared with two years ago particularly in outdoor and indoor sports venues and library services. However, there is a slight decrease in patronage in cultural presentations, museums, as well as markets.

---The slogan 'Enriching City Life' is known by one in two persons and, more

importantly, agreed by all.

-The Council continues to enjoy good image rating from the public who acknowledge that the Council contributes significantly to the development of Hong Kong and is active in providing various municipal services. -The public continues to have a high expectation of the Council's public

hygiene services, public parks and public beaches.

---More than one third of the people are aware of the Council's Duty Roster Scheme and that all the Council and Committee meetings are now opened to the public and consider these to be positive developments. However, there is an increased misunderstanding of UC's areas of jurisdiction with some people still thinking that country parks and pollution control are within the Council's responsibility.

These key results are encouraging and particularly so when compared with the objectives of the public relations programme conducted during the period. They were:-

(i) To raise the general image of the Council,

(ii) To create greater awareness of the Council's services especially those

perceived to be underperforming,

(iii) To improve the Council's communication with an accountability to the

public.

It is gratifying that the objectives and the survey findings match up in good

measure.

Let me now elaborate a little on three specific findings, namely: Assessment of UC Services, Assessment of Performance of Urban Councillors and of the USD Staff and the Image of the Urban Council.

ASSESSMENT OF UC SERVICES

Firstly, assessment of Urban Council services. The assessment of all Urban Council services is higher than that of the last survey in terms of both actual performances and adequacy of services. Of particular note is that people are generally more satisfied with the different public hygiene services than before where on the whole, the assessment is 8%-9% points higher than the last Page 77 of 126

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survey. However, it should be pointed out that despite these improvements, the performance of public hygiene is still below public expectations because people have, rightly, high expectations, especially in the more environmentally- conscious decade that we now live in. This is especially so in the areas of public toilets management, pest control, markets/hawkers management and collection/disposal of refuse. It is noticeable that these were also the principal areas of disappointment two years ago and underscore the need for this Council to continue to give top priority to these concerns. The refurbishment of all our public toilets, mentioned earlier by the CUC, will hopefully go some way towards rectifying some of the shortcomings experienced with this facility.

Turning to the other two main areas of sports and recreation as well as culture and entertainment, the satisfaction ratings are, by and large, higher than those in the last survey. Additionally the performance meets with the public expectation as they were two years ago-though there are minor areas for further improvement.

Overall, it is worth noting out that without exception all new UC services and activities e.g. various contests to raise public concern towards hygiene, initiatives to upgrade public toilets, the UC Hot-Line Service, Hong Kong Park are found to be important to our community. This is a welcomed confirmation that new facilities offered are indeed desired.

PERFORMANCE OF URBAN COUNCILLORS AND USD STAFF

Turning to the performance of Urban Councillors and USD staff, it is interesting that there are more people (27% in 1992 vs 7% in 1990) who consider the performance of the Urban Councillors as 'excellent or good', and fewer people (3%) who find their performance not up to standard. Added together with those who give an 'average' rating, the total comes to an impressive 96% versus 72% two years ago. Similar ratings were awarded to the performance of USD staff.

Perhaps of greater significance is a conspicuous absence of respondents who 'don't know' about the performance of Councillors and USD staff, indicating that the public is now much more aware of the work of the Council. As a comparison, two years ago about one person in five indicated 'no opinion' on this issue.

IMAGE OF THE URBAN COUNCIL

Lastly, the image of the Urban Council, if I have to quote only one finding or statistic which is most encouraging from the survey, I would say that it is the fact that the majority (about 78%) of the people find that their impressions towards the UC are better than two years ago!

However, despite the improvements in municipal services and a good recognition of Urban Councillors' performance mentioned earlier, the public becomes more stringent in rating some other aspects such as the management capability, the Council's dedication to improving the quality of life and in meeting the public's needs and aspirations.

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