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Following is a question by Dr Hon Wu Chi-wai and a written reply by the Secretary for Home Affairs, Mr Tsang Tak-sing, in the Legislative Council today (December 18):
Question:
Some members of the public have relayed to me that at present, different policy bureaux and government departments have adopted vastly different approaches for releasing information to the public and the scope of information released varies greatly. For example, the web sites of the Planning Department and the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) provide only summaries of consultancy study reports, and members of the public wishing to access full texts of the reports need to visit the relevant departments in person, with some of those reports available in Chinese or English only. In addition, the agendas, minutes and documents of meetings of some statutory organisations whose decisions involve significant public interest, including the Town Planning Board (TPB) and the Advisory Council on the Environment (ACE), are often available in English only, causing much inconvenience to members of the public who are not proficient in English. There are comments that this is inconsistent with the Government's claim that it "recognises the need for the community to be well informed about the Government, the services it provides and the basis for policies and decisions that affect individuals and the community as a whole" in its Code on Access to Information. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the respective (i) criteria, (ii) scope, (iii) time limits and the reasons for such requirements, and (iv) formats adopted for releasing information by policy bureaux, government departments and statutory organisations set out in Table 1;
(b) of the reasons why various policy bureaux, government departments and statutory organisations have adopted different approaches and criteria in releasing information, and whether such approaches and criteria will be standardised;
(c) (i) of the titles and dates of completion, (ii) the modes of public access, (iii) the contents and languages available for public access, and (iv) whether the public are informed through departmental web sites or the Information Services Department of the availability of access, to the reports on consultancy studies completed in the past five years by the policy bureaux and government departments set out in Table 2;
(d) whether it will make a blanket request that all policy bureaux, government departments and statutory organisations (especially the Planning Department, the Transport Department, the Highways Department, EPD, TPB and ACE) must upload onto their web sites, for public inspection, the summaries as well as full texts of the reports on consultancy studies that have been commissioned and completed since the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region;
(e) whether it will draw up guidelines to require that the executive summaries and full text of the reports on all open consultancy studies must be available in both Chinese and English; whether it will request TPB and ACE to provide the agendas, minutes and information papers of their meetings in both Chinese and English for public inspection;
(f) as regards applications made under the Town Planning Ordinance (Cap. 131) and the Environmental Impact Assessment Ordinance (Cap. 499) on which deliberations have been completed, whether the Government will review the approach in storing and releasing information related to those applications, such as exploring the setting up of an online database for members of the public to download such information; and
(g) whether it has any plan to introduce a portal to enable members of the public to have an overview of information on the past and ongoing consultancy studies conducted by various departments; if it has, whether the portal will provide email registration service to enable members of the public to subscribe for regular updates on the relevant consultancy studies as well as the meetings and relevant public information of statutory organisations (such as TPB)?
Reply:
President,
Upon consultation with relevant bureaux and departments, we provide a consolidated reply to Hon Wu Chi-wai's question as follows:
(a) and (b) The Government adheres to the principle of openness and transparency in disseminating information to the public through various channels. Bureaux and departments and statutory bodies under their purview shall, taking into account the nature of information and actual circumstances, decide on their specific arrangements of information dissemination, with a view to keeping in line with the above principle and ensuring such arrangements are practical in individual cases.
As regards the ways of disseminating information, the Government has formulated guidelines to encourage departments to disseminate their information to the public by using information technology, particularly through their websites, which should provide relevant information in an efficient and effective manner and in a format that facilitates public access. Specific requirements include: information dissemination through Government departments' websites and in other media should be simultaneous; major public announcements should be made available on the Internet as soon as possible; and information in the form of hard copies or printed materials should be uploaded as far as possible.
Concerning the scope and criteria of information dissemination, the Government's underlying principle is to facilitate public understanding of the Government, the services that it provides and the basis for policies and decisions that affect individuals and the community as a whole. The Government publishes information following established practices; and it makes available information on request in accordance with the Code on Access to Information.
The principle of openness and transparency is also applicable to statutory bodies. The Government has issued guidelines requiring bureaux and departments to make more use of their websites to provide information on statutory bodies under their purview. In addition, departments should encourage these statutory bodies to upload meeting documents (including agendas and minutes of meeting) onto their websites. Designated web pages have been made available on the websites of bureaux for respective statutory bodies under their purview. Information in Table 1 is at Annex I.
(c) Information in Table 2 is at Annex II.
(d) Consultancy reports are a kind of information held by bureaux, departments and statutory bodies. As mentioned in the first part of this reply, bureaux and departments shall, in accordance with Government's guidelines, upload information onto their websites as far as possible, particularly information of public concern. In deciding on the arrangements of information dissemination in a particular case, Government departments will take into account the factors mentioned in the first paragraph above, adhere to the principle of openness and transparency, and follow the Code on Access to Information.
(e) It is the Government's guiding principle that all materials issued by bureaux and departments to the public, including reports, should be in both Chinese and English. It is only in exceptional circumstances where there are strong operational or financial reasons may such materials be monolingual. The monolingual materials issued should contain a bilingual caption, or a brief message in the other language directing the recipient to another source where further information in the other language can be obtained. Bureaux and departments will continue to remind their officers to adhere to this principle.
The Advisory Council on the Environment (ACE) and its three subcommittees, namely the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Subcommittee, Waste Management Subcommittee and Nature Conservation Subcommittee, prepare their discussion papers and conduct their meetings in English, having regard to the facts that environmental jargon is predominantly English and that there are expatriate members on the Council/Subcommittees. Agendas, discussion papers and minutes of meetings of the ACE and its three subcommittees are uploaded onto ACE's webpage www.epd.gov.hk/epd/english/boards/advisory_council/maincontent.html for public inspection. Since September 2013, bilingual versions of the agendas of the ACE and its EIA Subcommittee are available for public information.
For prudent utilisation of Government's manpower and resources, the ACE has no plan to request the Administration to provide full-scale bilingual discussion papers and minutes of meetings to the Council and its sub-committees. The ACE shall, in the light of actual circumstances, determine whether its meetings are to be conducted in Cantonese or English. In addition, a large number of presentations on discussion items and question-and-answer sessions are open to the public. There is also simultaneous broadcasting so that attendees in the public gallery have a more accurate understanding of the discussion matters of the ACE and comments pertaining to the discussion matters. Furthermore, starting from September 2013, the ACE Secretariat may arrange simultaneous interpretation services for the open sessions of ACE meetings upon prior notification on the need of such services from members of the public who wish to observe the meetings in the public gallery. The ACE chairman also holds post-meeting press briefings, explaining matters deliberated at the meetings to ensure accurate information of the discussions and views raised at ACE meetings is disseminated through media.
Town Planning Board (TPB)'s agendas, minutes of meetings and gist of planning applications are available in both languages. Also, staff members of the Planning Department (PlanD)'s Planning Enquiry Counters (PEC) shall render assistance in enquires about information of applications and meeting papers that are available in English only.
(f) Since the Environmental Impact Assessment Ordinance (EIAO) has come to force in 1998, case details of EIAO applications and the Environmental Protection Department (EPD)'s decisions, including project profiles, EIA study briefs, EIA reports and environmental permits, are all uploaded onto EPD's website for public inspection and downloading.
Gist of planning applications (including those filed under sections 12A, 16 and 17 of the Town Planning Ordinance) and relevant newspaper notices are uploaded onto the TPB's website until a decision has been made by the TPB or its committees. Gist of applications that have been considered by the TPB and its related decisions are available for public inspection at the Statutory Planning Portal of the TPB's website. Detailed information of planning applications is also available for public inspection at the PlanD's PEC.
(g) In attaching great importance to information dissemination, the Government puts together the most sought-after public services and information through its one-stop portal, GovHK. Various departments also have, in the light of their service nature, public needs and habits, introduced related electronic services, including regular dissemination of information to members of the public through their registered e-mail accounts, and the use of other web-based or smart phone application services. Take MyGovHK as an example, by subscribing to project profiles and EIA reports exhibited for public to comment, members of the public will receive a notification message when such project profiles or EIA reports are available. Government departments may offer such public notification service as and when necessary.
In line with relevant guidelines, bureaux have created web pages on their websites on available information, publications and related bodies for easy public access. Members of the public may go to the websites of bureaux and look for the information they need.
The Government will, having regard to the needs of the community and the actual operation of departments, continue to make good use of information technology for better information and services for the public.
Ends/Wednesday, December 18, 2013
Issued at HKT 19:01
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