ENG-1999 — Page 56

CONSTITUTION AND ADMINISTRATION

The bulk of the archival holding is held at the Hong Kong Public Records Building in Kwun Tong, Kowloon. The building, opened in June 1997, is the territory's first purpose-built archival facility, and has been designed to the latest international standards required for the preservation of various types of records. Since September 1997, an automated system for the management of archival records has been installed in the building to enhance services to the public in searching, identifying and accessing records held by the Public Records Office.

Good progress was made during 1999 in taking forward a Public Education and Publicity Programme, which aims to promote a wider public interest in the local historical heritage. A series of seminars was organised especially for secondary school teachers to help them use the rich and varied resources of the archives as teaching aids in the classroom. Other well-attended outreach activities included lectures, presentations at professional meetings, thematic exhibitions, visits and tours.

Language

Hong Kong's official languages are Chinese and English. Reports and publications of public interest issued by the Government are available in both languages. Simultaneous interpretation services are provided at official meetings where necessary and appropriate. Correspondence from the public in Chinese is replied to in Chinese. It is the Government's policy on official languages to develop a Civil Service which is proficient in both written Chinese and English, and conversant in Cantonese, Putonghua and English. To this end, the Official Languages Agency continues to step up efforts to promote wider use of Chinese in the Civil Service. So far, the agency has visited more than 71 bureaux and departments to evaluate the progress made on the use of Chinese in official business. The outreach programme led by Chinese Languages Officers has also helped 11 bureaux and departments to draw up specific plans and programmes on the use of Chinese in their daily business. In May, the agency completed a three-year project, expending $91 million to equip executive, secretarial and clerical grades with computers and training in Chinese word processing. Assistance was also given to bureaux and departments for organising activities to promote wider use of Chinese.

Besides producing guidebooks and reference materials on official Chinese writing to facilitate drafting in Chinese, the Official Languages agency has compiled glossaries of terms commonly used in the Government. During the year, the agency had been working closely with the Information Technology Services Department in compiling the Hong Kong Supplementary Character Set and developing ISO 10646, the latter being an international effort to unify the internal codes of Chinese characters.

The Civil Service Regulations, which govern the conduct, terms of appointment and conditions of service of government officers, have been translated into Chinese to enable civil servants at all ranks to have a good understanding of them.