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Following is the speech by the Secretary for the Civil Service, Mr Joseph W P Wong, at the Scholarship Presentation Ceremony cum Graduation Ceremony of Disciplinary Forces & Security Programmes, the School of Continuing Studies, the Chinese University of Hong Kong today (November 30):

Professor Liu, Mr Lee, Teachers, Graduates, Awardees, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is my honour to be present at this special ceremony today to share the joy of the course graduates and scholarship awardees. I am particularly delighted to note that over 90 per cent of the course graduates are from various disciplined services of the Government. It is highly commendable that they spent their time after work to take up studies actively to pursue professional enhancement. May I extend my warmest congratulations to all of you.

Thanks to the staff of the School of Continuing Studies of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, a number of certificate, diploma and degree programmes relating to disciplinary forces and security are offered. These courses are very practical, covering a wide range of areas such as law enforcement, information technology, security management and technology, etc. They not only help promote a culture of continuous learning in line with the practice of the Government, but also provide good opportunities for both disciplined staff and security personnel to better equip themselves, in this era of fast changing information technology, to meet new job requirements and the rising expectations of the public. I am sure that all the graduates have found these courses useful and have benefited a great deal from them.

In early October this year, the Civil Service Bureau commissioned the Hong Kong Polytechnic University to conduct a comprehensive and professional opinion poll on the civil service of Hong Kong. The survey findings reveal that over 70 per cent of the respondents were satisfied with the performance of civil servants and their attitude in serving the public. Nearly 40 per cent considered civil servants' performance had improved over the pre-1997 standard while only 11 per cent considered otherwise. These encouraging findings are in part due to civil servants' unwavering efforts to upgrade themselves and to seek continuous improvement in public services.

With the growing choices of higher education, the academic qualification of newly recruited civil servants keeps rising. Take the Police Force for example. Over 90 per cent of the Police Inspectors recruited in 1997/98 were first degree holders; by 2001/02, all the recruits at this rank were graduates, with 11 per cent having also acquired a master degree. In respect of Police Constables, the proportion of new appointees possessing diploma qualification increased from 3 per cent in 1997/98 to nearly 5 per cent in 2001/02 while 13 per cent held a degree. This phenomenon has also been witnessed in other discipline services.

To build on the higher academic qualification of our new appointees, the Government is also committed to improving staff performance through in-service training. In 2001, 65 000 officers enrolled in courses organised by the Civil Service Training and Development Institute. To further promote self-enhancement, we have set up this year the Cyber Learning Centre Plus, a multi-functional e-learning centre, through which civil servants can acquire knowledge at their fingertips according to their own schedule, needs and interest.

The keen desire to develop constantly and to be able to overcome challenges has been the driving force behind our colleagues' quest for continuous improvement. Hong Kong is proud to own a civil service of top quality. Take our disciplined services for instance. In 2000, the overall crime rate in Hong Kong was 1 159 per 100 000 people, or half of the rate in Tokyo and one-third of that in New York. This is a manifestation of the excellent job our Police Force have done. There has also been on-going improvement in the services delivered by the Immigration Department. Over the past four years, the number of visitors to Hong Kong has increased by more than 10 per cent, but still the Department has been able to pledge to clear 92 per cent of the passengers at the airport control point within 15 minutes, which is half the time the Department did in 1998. Meanwhile, the Fire Services Department has laid down the target of arriving at the scene in response to fire emergency calls within six minutes for urban area and between nine to 23 minutes in remote area. All this has been made possible because of the disciplined services' determination to move with the times.

The Hong Kong civil service's vision has always been to serve the community. As we are faced with a severe fiscal deficit, our present challenge is to maintain quality services through reduced manpower and more flexible and innovative modes of operation. You can rest assured that each and every civil servant will continue to do his utmost to tide over the challenge, and I am sure the School of Continuing Studies will provide suitable courses in the process.

Once again, I wish to congratulate all the awardees and graduates. For the awardees, I wish you further success in your studies; for the graduates, I hope that you will apply what you have learned to the cause of serving the public. Thank you.

End/Saturday, November 30, 2002

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