**************************************

Following is the transcript of the media session (English portion) by the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mrs Anson Chan, this (September 22) afternoon at Tsing Yi Complex after her visit there:

Reporter: Are you concerned about how fast standards have dropped within the Police Force and the Immigration Department?

Chief Secretary: Standards have dropped within the Police Force? I don't think so. I think we should bear in mind is that we are a 190 000 strong civil service, of which the disciplinary forces, particularly the Police and Immigration, have some of the largest company of staff. By and large, most staff are very dedicated to their work and they perform very well. They do not always get the credit that they deserve from the media. I do acknowledge, of course, that in a force as large as that, there are bound to be some who are, perhaps incompetent , who are perhaps indolent. It's up to us within the management, particularly at the top level to pay attention to these cases and to take appropriate action, but also at the same time to encourage staff to give all their best. I hope that in judging performances, you will avoid the tendency to generalise too much. But we do take seriously any cases of staff not performing up to standard and, as I said, with these cases, we will take appropriate action.

(Please also refer the Chinese portion of the transcript)

End/Friday, September 22, 2000

NNNN