CE visits Leisure and Cultural Services Department (With
photos)
********************************************************* The Chief Executive, Mr Donald Tsang, today (September 23) visited the Hong Kong Central Library, Victoria Park and Swimming Pool and the Museum of Teaware, all popular community facilities managed by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD).
Accompanied by the Director of Leisure and Cultural Services, Ms Anissa Wong, Mr Tsang started his visit by meeting with LCSD's frontline staff working in different areas. The staff shared with Mr Tsang the challenges of frontline customer service delivery and the pride they took in their jobs.
"Customer satisfaction is the driving force behind continuous improvement," Mr Tsang said, encouraging the staff to continue to be innovative in re-engineering their services.
"I have pledged to pursue excellence in governance," Mr Tsang said. "This covers not only the high-level decision making process, but also our day-to-day services provided to the public."
He noted that since its establishment in 2000, the department had been taking on new responsibilities and providing new services to the public notwithstanding the overall Government policy to contain the size of the civil service and public expenditure.
Mr Tsang toured the Hong Kong Central Library, which houses a wide collection of over two million items and has an average 15,000 visitors daily.
He was introduced to the Multimedia Information System (MMIS), which is one of the largest bilingual digital library systems in the world and has received awards for its creativity, simple operation, compatibility and flexibility.
"Informative, interactive and innovative, the MMIS breaks physical barriers to make information easily accessible and enables lifelong learning for people of all ages," Mr Tsang said.
He also visited the Language Learning Centre, which houses around 17,000 audio-visual items in 63 international languages and 41 Chinese dialects.
Mr Tsang had a taste of the fun-filled learning environment for kids when he played with children at the Toy Library. He was impressed with the innovative approach and said the Toy Library was a place where children could learn interpersonal and social skills through play.
Later Mr Tsang went to Victoria Park to review the hygiene measures and water quality checks in operation at the swimming pool. He was also briefed on the planned improvement works to Victoria Park Tennis Centre and Swimming Pool.
He praised the frontline staff for their diligence in maintaining hygiene standards at public swimming pools and pointed out that continued user education would be required in keeping the pools clean.
Mr Tsang ended his visit today at the Flagstaff House Museum of Teaware in Hong Kong Park.
He was briefed on the management of ancillary facilities run by the LCSD. The department has about 180 revenue contracts and in 2003/04 and 2004/05, rental fees of $127 million and $124 million respectively were received.
"This is a win-win situation. Not only can these ancillary facilities contribute to the public revenue, their operation actually provides value-added services to customers. They also add character to our leisure and cultural venues. This is an area into which we can bring more private sector cooperation in the future," Mr Tsang said.
photos)
********************************************************* The Chief Executive, Mr Donald Tsang, today (September 23) visited the Hong Kong Central Library, Victoria Park and Swimming Pool and the Museum of Teaware, all popular community facilities managed by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD).
Accompanied by the Director of Leisure and Cultural Services, Ms Anissa Wong, Mr Tsang started his visit by meeting with LCSD's frontline staff working in different areas. The staff shared with Mr Tsang the challenges of frontline customer service delivery and the pride they took in their jobs.
"Customer satisfaction is the driving force behind continuous improvement," Mr Tsang said, encouraging the staff to continue to be innovative in re-engineering their services.
"I have pledged to pursue excellence in governance," Mr Tsang said. "This covers not only the high-level decision making process, but also our day-to-day services provided to the public."
He noted that since its establishment in 2000, the department had been taking on new responsibilities and providing new services to the public notwithstanding the overall Government policy to contain the size of the civil service and public expenditure.
Mr Tsang toured the Hong Kong Central Library, which houses a wide collection of over two million items and has an average 15,000 visitors daily.
He was introduced to the Multimedia Information System (MMIS), which is one of the largest bilingual digital library systems in the world and has received awards for its creativity, simple operation, compatibility and flexibility.
"Informative, interactive and innovative, the MMIS breaks physical barriers to make information easily accessible and enables lifelong learning for people of all ages," Mr Tsang said.
He also visited the Language Learning Centre, which houses around 17,000 audio-visual items in 63 international languages and 41 Chinese dialects.
Mr Tsang had a taste of the fun-filled learning environment for kids when he played with children at the Toy Library. He was impressed with the innovative approach and said the Toy Library was a place where children could learn interpersonal and social skills through play.
Later Mr Tsang went to Victoria Park to review the hygiene measures and water quality checks in operation at the swimming pool. He was also briefed on the planned improvement works to Victoria Park Tennis Centre and Swimming Pool.
He praised the frontline staff for their diligence in maintaining hygiene standards at public swimming pools and pointed out that continued user education would be required in keeping the pools clean.
Mr Tsang ended his visit today at the Flagstaff House Museum of Teaware in Hong Kong Park.
He was briefed on the management of ancillary facilities run by the LCSD. The department has about 180 revenue contracts and in 2003/04 and 2004/05, rental fees of $127 million and $124 million respectively were received.
"This is a win-win situation. Not only can these ancillary facilities contribute to the public revenue, their operation actually provides value-added services to customers. They also add character to our leisure and cultural venues. This is an area into which we can bring more private sector cooperation in the future," Mr Tsang said.
Ends/Friday, September 23, 2005
Issued at HKT 17:58
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