Issued by Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government Information Services
Garden Road, 5th-8th Floors, Murray Building, Hong Kong. Tel: 2842 8777
Sunday, February 8, 1998
CONTENTS
========
1. Health chief pledges increased surveillance of influenza virus
2. Govt committed to implementation of information code
3. Update on avian flu
4. Performance Pledge Programme extended
1. Health chief pledges increased surveillance of influenza virus
**************************************************************
The Secretary for Health and Welfare, Mrs Katherine
Fok, pledged that to protect public health, the Government
will increase its surveillance of influenza virus.
Speaking after visiting the Yeung Uk Road Market this
(Sunday) morning, Mrs Fok said: "We will continue to work
with the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in
Atlanta to monitor for signs of changes in the composition
of the prevailing influenza virus. This will give us
early alert of new public health threats from the
influenza virus.
"We will also enhance our surveillance on the health
of birds and animals as this will help identify H5N1
infection, thereby confining any possible avian influenza
H5N1 outbreak to the poultry/animal population," she
added.
She paid tribute to the relevant mainland authorities
for their full co-operation with the HKSAR in working out
a comprehensive and stringent quarantine system for
chickens to be imported into Hong Kong.
Despite these efforts, the Secretary emphasized that
it was necessary to remain vigilant and maintain a clean
environment at all levels, from chicken farms to markets,
in order to ensure that chickens imported into Hong Kong
are healthy and free from H5 virus. She called on chicken
traders to co-operate with the Government to sustain a
high level of cleanliness.
Mrs Fok also appealed to the general public to
observe personal hygiene including cooking their food
thoroughly and washing their hands before and after
handling food.
The Secretary was accompanied on the tour by the
Director of Regional Services, Mr Adolf Hsu, and the
Deputy Director of Health, Dr Paul Saw. During the visit,
Mrs Fok noted the concern of retailers and some members of
the public about the short supply of chickens as well as
their high selling price. She expected that more chickens
would be imported gradually to meet the local demand and
this would subsequently lower the selling price.
End
2. Govt committed to implementation of information code
****************************************************
The Government is firmly committed to the full
implementation of the Code on Access to Information, a
government spokesman said today (Sunday).
The spokesman was responding to a statement issued by
the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) announcing
survey results on access to government information and
open government.
He said the administration was also fully committed
to open and accountable government to ensure that its
policies and activities are closely monitored and examined
by the public as well as responsive to their needs.
On the Code on Access to Information, the spokesman
stressed that the underlining principle is that
information held by the Government will be made available,
whether routinely or on request, unless there are valid
reasons to withhold them.
The spokesman noted that the Code was introduced in
1995 and extended to the whole of the Government in
December 1996. By the end of 1997, all government
departments and bureaus have had their homepages on the
Internet.
Public response to the Code has been encouraging.
Participating departments are responding to access
requests positively and are doing their best to meet them
within the target response time.
As at the end of last year, the Government had
received a total of 3,358 requests for information. Of
these, 2,906 (86.5%) were met either in full or in part.
Only 89 (2.6%) were refused. For requests rejected, there
is a channel of appeal to the Ombudsman.
Five complaints have been lodged with the Ombudsman.
Three cases were found to be unsubstantiated, one
partially substantiated and in one case investigation was
discontinued as the information requested was released
after an internal review by the department concerned.
From the onset, the primary objective of the Code is
to maintain an open government, which clearly dovetails
with the freedom of the press.
"Our record of complying with the Code speaks for
itself and testifies to our sincerity," the spokesman
said.
"The memo referred to in the HKJA statement was an
internal document, the whole purpose of which was to
remind front-line officials of their duty to respond as
expeditiously as possible and of the guidelines in dealing
with requests for access to information.
"The Secretary for Home Affairs, Mr David Lan, has
met members of the HKJA to clarify any misunderstanding
that might have occurred. A copy of that memo was made
available to the association and all those who are
interested to see it," the spokesman added.
Referring to a suggestion that legislation should be
introduced to require the Government to make available the
information it holds to the public, the spokesman said:
"Only very few countries in the world have laws governing
access to government information. We believe that the
Code on access to information has worked well since its
introduction and there is no need to legislate at this
stage."
End
3. Update on avian flu
*******************
The Department of Health (DH) announced today
(Sunday) that there were no new cases of influenza A
(H5N1) today.
The total number of cases stands at 18 confirmed
cases.
The conditions of these cases remain the same as of
February 3.
End
4. Performance Pledge Programme extended
*************************************
A Performance Pledge Programme will be launched
tomorrow (Monday) at all government schools and 263 aided
secondary and primary schools to promote openness and
accountability in schools.
Since the launch of the Education Department's
Performance Pledge Programme in August 1993, a high
attainment rate of the pledges has been maintained.
As a new direction for further development under the
Serving the Community Scheme, the department invited four
government schools to join a pilot scheme to explore the
feasibility of implementing the programme in schools.
Four pilot government schools jointly published their
performance pledges in April 1995.
In view of the favourable responses collected from
members of the public, parents and staff of participating
schools, the department decided to further extend the
programme to all government schools in May 1996.
Apart from the participation of all government
schools, four aided schools were invited to join a pilot
scheme. It was hoped that through participation of these
aided schools, experience could be gained for extending
the programme to more schools in the aided sector at a
later stage.
These four aided schools and all participating
government schools jointly published their performance
pledges on May 31, 1996.
In December 1996, the department conducted a review
on the effectiveness of implementing the Performance
Pledge Programme.
Evaluation forms and opinion survey forms were
distributed to heads and about 2,000 parents of students
of all participating schools to collect feedback on the
programme.
Parents of students and staff of participating
schools considered the programme useful in enhancing
understanding between schools and parents, improving the
service standards and promoting the schools' image. The
department decided to further extend the programme to more
aided schools.
In June 1997, the department issued a circular to
invite all aided schools to participate in the Performance
Pledge Programme.
As a result, a total of 263 aided schools (including
177 primary schools, 77 secondary schools and nine special
schools) participated in the programme in the 1997/98
school year.
All these aided schools and government schools launch
the same set of performance pledges targeted at parents
and members of the public.
These include, among others:
(a) providing information for parents and members of
the public;
(b) strengthening parent-school communication; and
(c) improving service environment in schools.
The newly published pledges are similar to those
published in 1996, with the addition of a new pledge - "We
will telephone within the school day the family of our
students who are absent from school for unknown reasons."
To meet the different needs of the parents of primary
and secondary school students, separate versions of
performance pledge booklets for primary and secondary
schools have been published.
Copies of the performance pledge booklets will be
distributed to parents of students by schools
participating in the programme. They are also available
for collection at all participating schools and the
department's District Education Offices.
Enquiries should be directed to the Education
Department on 2892 5729.
End
