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The Government has developed policies and expended some $2.2 billion to implement measures to strengthen the community for exploitation of opportunities in the digital world.

This was stated by Secretary for Information Technology and Broadcasting, Mrs Carrie Yau, when speaking at the motion debate on "Bridging the digital divide" in the Legislative Council today (June 6).

Mrs Yau noted that a substantial proportion of the local population already had the opportunity to access information and communication technologies (ICT) and the use of the Internet. Half of the households have installed computers. One third of the population are Internet users. And the mobile phone penetration rate has reached nearly 80 per cent. "The use of ICT in the community is compared favourably to many advanced economies and in fact surpasses many other economies. Therefore, digital divide is less a problem in Hong Kong as compared with other places in the world and our people have stronger capability in the exploitation of IT technology," she said.

Mrs Yau emphasized that the Government had formulated clear policies in tackling the issue. She said, "In our first 'Digital 21 Information Technology (IT) Strategy' published in 1998, we had clearly set out that one of our key initiatives was to create a culture and environment conducive to the innovative and popular use of ICT in our community.

"Under the 2001 'Digital 21' Strategy promulgated last month, strengthening the Hong Kong community for digital exploitation is one of our key result areas. We hope the community can take advantage of the use of IT in their daily lives."

She outlined a series of measures taken to bridge the gap or avoid the emergence of potential gap between various sectors of the community. These include providing education and training, creating a favourable environment for technology diffusion in the community, enhancing knowledge and awareness, and developing E-government. Details of the measures are:

Education and Training

- Promote ICT education in primary and secondary schools; provide training for all teachers; enhance the effectiveness of teaching by harnessing the power of IT; and adopt the use of IT in teaching 25 per cent of the school curriculum from the 2002-03 school year .

- Provide funds to schools to purchase notebook computers with free Internet access for loan to needy students.

- Collaborate with renowned IT companies in organizing IT summer programs for students at secondary level so that students can gain early exposure to the use of ICT.

- Provide vocational training and employees retraining on IT to strengthen the capability of the employed and the unemployed for integration into the digital community.

Technology Diffusion in the Community

- Provide a favourable environment for ICT to diffuse in the community.

- Provide more PCs with Internet connection for free use by the public at convenient locations around the territory, including community halls/centers, District Offices, public libraries, post offices, and Government-subvented organizations and voluntary agencies.

- Assist people with disabilities to set up PC workstations at home so as to help them find and sustain an income-generating job.

- Support local institutions in the development of software products for the blind and visually impaired.

Knowledge and Awareness

- Promote the awareness of ICT in the community by launching the "IT Hong Kong" campaign in September 2000. The campaign comprised a series of ICT awareness programs, the establishment of a dedicated website, the introduction of an ICT pioneer scheme, the organizing of district ICT activities, and broadcasting educational and promotional programs about ICT on television. The ICT awareness programs have already benefited 18 000 people. Another 15 000 will be benefited in the next few months.

Development of e-Government

- Launch more online services through the "Electronic Service Delivery" (ESD) scheme so as to familiarize the public with carrying out transactions through electronic means, thus enhancing the ICT knowledge of the community. The ESD website provides also text only version for use by blind and the visually impaired. The ESD public kiosks are also equipped with touch pad for easy web page navigation and data input by people with physical handicap such as wheelchair users.

Mrs Yau said the objectives of implementing the above measures were to familiarize the public with basic ICT skills in the exploitation of opportunities in the digital world, and to ensure that people can make use of IT in their daily lives without difficulties.

In response to questions about providing tax relief to help disabled people to acquire IT equipment, "Under existing salaries and profits tax regimes, expenditure for acquisition of computer facilities for use in work or business operation is eligible for depreciation allowance. Taxpayers who support disabled dependents are also eligible for salaries tax allowance which can be used to purchase equipment to improve the well-being of disabled persons," she said.

"The Government would work closely with the industry, academia, private bodies, charitable and non-profit making sectors in organizing different activities in promoting the awareness and use of ICT in the community," she said.

But Government's efforts alone are not sufficient. She called for the cooperation and collaboration with the industry and other organizations to jointly drive the strategy forward in strengthening the community for digital exploitation and in making Hong Kong a premier digital city.

End/Wednesday, June 6, 2001

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