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The Education Bureau (EDB) fully accepts the recommendations made by the Ombudsman on the "Allocation and Monitoring of Government Land" and will take prompt follow-up actions.
A spokesman for the Education Bureau today (September 9) said: "We regret that we had not taken up the responsibility as the allocatee of the Site in the early stage. We have made great efforts in the search for the relevant document but in vain. We are committed to handling government lands allocated to EDB prudently in future and keep records and important documents with great care to avoid the recurrence of similar incidents.
"We attach great importance to the recommendations of the report and have initiated a comprehensive review aiming to develop internal guidelines on the monitoring of allocated sites and handling of important files for the compliance of all staff members of the bureau."
The EDB will take stringent and comprehensive measures to monitor the Association in the use of the Site. These include:
* requesting the Association to set appropriate and specific standards to ensure that services delivered are of satisfactory standard;
* requesting the Association to develop a healthy organisational structure and an appropriate and achievable working plan;
* requesting the Association to keep record of activities organised and participation statistics of students, and provide students, teachers and instructors with a variety of programmes such as training, certification courses, fun days, exchange programmes; and
* conducting regular site visits and inspections to monitor the usage of the site.
The spokesman said that in the event that the Site is under-utilised or abused, the EDB will actively consider discontinuing the use of the Site by the Association.
"We will also conduct an internal review over the usage of government lands allocated to the EDB for rent by non-government organisations for education purposes and strengthen our monitoring role to ensure that these sites or premises are put to good and effective use," the spokesman added.
Ends/Thursday, September 9, 2010
Issued at HKT 15:50
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