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Following is a reply by the Acting Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Stephen Lam, to a question by the Hon Alan Leong on behalf of the Hon Margaret Ng in the Legislative Council today (May 4):
Question:
It has been reported that the Central Policy Unit (CPU) had recently commissioned the Center for Communication Research of The Chinese University of Hong Kong to conduct an opinion survey, and one of the questions asked was whether it was necessary for the Financial Secretary to resign. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the objective of CPU's conducting the aforesaid opinion survey;
(b) whether CPU had previously conducted any opinion survey on the question of whether it was necessary for a particular government official to resign; if it had, of the details; if not, why the question of whether it was necessary for the Financial Secretary to resign was included in the aforesaid opinion survey; and
(c) whether CPU will make public the results of the aforesaid opinion survey; if it will, of the date and form of publication; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
Mr President,
The Government's reply to the three-part question raised by the Hon Margaret NG is as follows –
(a) The Government attaches great importance to public opinion. The aim of conducting opinion polls is to gauge public views on various policy and social issues in an objective and scientific manner for reference in policy formulation. The Central Policy Unit (CPU) regularly commissions academic institutions or commercial research bodies to conduct polls on different political, economic and social topics as well as matters of concern to the general public. It has commissioned an institution to collect public views on the 2011-12 Budget and their response to some incidents in the community.
(b) CPU has conducted opinion polls on similar subjects before. The results were for the Government's internal reference only and therefore not published. CPU will not comment on individual polls.
(c) Results of the opinion polls conducted by CPU are for internal reference only and the Government will not publish them. CPU will continue to conduct opinion polls in an objective and scientific manner to help the Government assess public opinion.
Ends/Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Issued at HKT 12:14
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