ENG-1980 — Page 328

CONSTITUTION AND ADMINISTRATION

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The department runs the City District Office Scheme which was introduced in 1968 to improve communications between the government and the people. There are 10 city district offices and 16 sub-offices in the crowded urban areas of Kowloon and Hong Kong Island. A variety of services are offered, the best known being the public enquiry service which dealt with more than 5.2 million enquiries in 1980. This counter service can advise a citizen on almost any aspect of government policy and procedure, provide him with any forms he might need and help him fill them in. It also operates a 24-hour weather information service during typhoons and heavy rainstorms when the city district offices are kept open for those who may be in need.

Through the liaison work carried out by city district officers, people have become involved in community-orientated projects such as campaigns for fighting crime, keeping Hong Kong clean, and recreation and culture, particularly for young people. People are also able to discuss local problems and public affairs through the medium of area committees and city district committees, which are serviced by city district officers and their staff.

Much of the community work undertaken by the city district offices is done through mutual aid committees. These were first formed in 1973 to encourage residents of multi- storey buildings to co-operate in tackling the problems of security and cleanliness. At the end of 1980 there were 3,291 of these committees in the urban areas, an increase of 239 over 1979. The Mutual Aid Committees Scheme has provided many people with an addi- tional channel of communication with the government.

The role of the department as monitor and co-ordinator of government services at district level has taken on new emphasis with the success of a pilot District Management Com- mittee in Kwun Tong and the decision to extend the scheme throughout the urban area.

Use of the Chinese Language

The year saw further expansion in the use of Chinese by government departments in com- municating with members of the public, and in other official business. The appointment of non-English-speaking people to serve on advisory boards and committees, the greater number of publications in Chinese, and the increasing amount of correspondence in Chinese have increased the demand for high quality interpretation and translation. To meet this demand, the Home Affairs Department has intensified its training programme for Chinese language officers.

The government's policy is to accord Chinese equal status with English in government communications with the public, and to promote the wider use of Chinese in government departments in this context. To ensure conformity with the policy, regular visits to govern- ment departments were made during the year by staff of the Chinese Language Division of the Home Affairs Department to monitor performance and evaluate the quality of the services provided. Where appropriate, recommendations for the improvement of services were made to the departments.

Throughout the year, the Chinese Language Division of the Home Affairs Department continued to undertake the translation of documents of major significance. Assignments included the Governor's policy address at the opening of the Legislative Council; the Financial Secretary's Budget Speech; the 1980-1 Budget: Economic Background; the Green Papers on primary education and pre-primary services, and on district administra- tion in Hong Kong; the Hong Kong Annual Report (Hong Kong 1981); the Royal Hong Kong Police Force 1979 Annual Review; the Annual Summary by the Director of Educa- tion 1978-9; the Report of the Public Services Commission, Hong Kong, for 1979;