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Following is a written reply by the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Stephen Lam, to a question by the Hon Lau Wong-fat in the Legislative Council today (November 9):
Question:
Will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the total number of locations which have flagstaffs for raising and lowering the national flag and regional flag, among those places managed by various bureaux, including the Home Affairs Bureau, and government departments as well as the agencies within their purview;
(b) whether the Government has provided training on the raising and lowering of the national flag and regional flag to the officers-in-charge and staff of the agencies within its purview which are required to fly the national flag and regional flag;
(c) whether it knows if the personnel in (b) will be liable to administrative sanctions or other punishments for incorrectly flying the national or regional flag; and
(d) whether it knows if any incident of the national or regional flag being incorrectly flown has occurred at the locations in (a) since 1997; if such incidents did occur, the total number of such incidents, and how those incidents were handled by the Government afterwards?
Reply:
President,
(a) Among those places managed by Government bureaux, departments and agencies under their purview, there are 486 locations where flagstaffs are installed for the raising and lowering of the national flag and the regional flag.
(b) Officers-in-charge and staff responsible for performing flag raising and lowering duties have all been trained by the relevant Government bureaux, departments and agencies under their purview in accordance with the guidelines issued by the Government.
(c) Staff who have incorrectly flown the national flag or the regional flag will be given serious advice or warning in accordance with the nature and seriousness of the incident concerned.
(d) Since 1997, there were 22 incidents where the national flag or the regional flag were flown incorrectly at the locations under item (a) above. Mistakes were rectified as soon as they came to the notice of the bureaux/departments/agencies concerned and the responsible officers were given serious advice or warning. The bureaux/departments/agencies concerned have also stepped up training, inspection and supervision to prevent recurrence of similar incidents.
Ends/Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Issued at HKT 16:34
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