ENG-2011 — Page 65

Constitution and Administration | 29

To give civil servants a fuller understanding of national affairs, the institute. arranges national studies programmes for them at the Chinese Academy of Governance, Foreign Affairs University, Tsinghua University, Peking University and Sun Yat-sen University. Seminars on national affairs and the Basic Law are held in Hong Kong separately for civil servants at different levels.

The institute also advises bureaux and departments on how to improve staff performance, develop competency profiles, enhance management capabilities and prepare officers for succession.

The training resources available in the e-learning portal, Cyber Learning Centre (CLC) Plus, are enriched and updated continually to promote continuous learning among civil servants.

5. Reinforcing Performance and Good Conduct

Staff are given commendation letters and other awards for their good work and dedication to duty. A Secretary for the Civil Service's Commendation Award Scheme commends civil servants for their consistently outstanding performance. A Civil Service Outstanding Service Award Scheme recognises the efforts and achievements of bureaux and departments in their pursuit of service excellence and is an integral part of the government's effort to provide a citizen-centric service to the public. On the other hand, civil servants are liable to disciplinary action if they misconduct themselves. The Secretariat on Civil Service Discipline is the central body for processing disciplinary cases. It also reviews regularly the procedures for handling disciplinary matters to take present day needs into account.

The Civil Service Bureau and the Independent Commission Against Corruption jointly run an ethical leadership programme to instil a culture of probity in the civil. service. Each bureau and department is required to appoint a senior directorate officer to co-ordinate effort to attain that goal.

Official Languages

Chinese and English are Hong Kong's official languages. It is Government policy to have a civil service that is proficient in written Chinese and English and conversant in Cantonese, Putonghua and spoken English. While important Government documents are written in both official languages, correspondence with individual members of the public is always done in the language appropriate to the recipient.

The Civil Service Bureau's Official Languages Division oversees the Government's language policy and provides bureaux and departments with a wide range of language support services. Besides rendering translation, interpretation, drafting and editing services, the division operates telephone hotlines for language use, compiles reference materials such as guides to official writing and glossaries of terms commonly used by the Government, and organises language-related activities like thematic talks and competitions. Furthermore, a quarterly publication on language and culture, entitled Word Power, is produced for service-wide distribution. Some of the publications and reference materials produced by the division are available on the Civil Service Bureau website, www.csb.gov.hk.