Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung today visited the Civil Service Training & Development Institute to learn more about its promotion of civil servants' participation in national studies training and the progress of the Civil Service College project.

Accompanied by Secretary for the Civil Service Patrick Nip, Mr Cheung was briefed by institute colleagues on the national studies training offered to civil servants.

He appreciated its provision of online seminars and learning resources on national studies, the Constitution of the People's Republic of China, the Basic Law and the National Security Law through the Cyber Learning Centre Plus (CLC Plus).

The institute also collaborated with Tsinghua University to launch Tsinghua Lecture, which provided a series of video-recorded lectures to introduce national policies and the country's latest developments.

Mr Cheung said the Government attaches great importance to civil service training, especially the enhanced training on the Basic Law and the National Security Law in recent years for civil servants to gain a correct understanding of the latter and an enhanced awareness of safeguarding national security.

He encouraged civil servants of various ranks to optimise the learning resources provided by the institute for self-enhancement and sharpen their leadership and management skills.

To ensure that newly recruited civil servants have an accurate understanding of the constitutional order established under the Constitution and the Basic Law, the institute arranges for all new appointees to the civil service to receive basic training on the Basic Law within three years after joining the Government. It aims to train about 10,000 new appointees each year.

It also organises foundation courses on national affairs for new appointees to deepen their understanding of national development and their sense of national identity.

Meanwhile, the institute invited authoritative experts from the Mainland to explain topics related to the Basic Law and the National Security Law to strengthen relevant training. These talks were recorded on videos and uploaded to the CLC Plus.

A dedicated webpage on safeguarding national security was also launched on the CLC Plus, which contains the full text of the National Security Law as well as a booklet and short videos introducing the law. It has been well received by civil servants and has been viewed 150,000 times.

On the Civil Service College project, Mr Cheung learnt about the progress of its preparatory work from Civil Services Bureau colleagues.

An 11,000 sq m site in Kwun Tong has been identified for composite development, including the construction of the college and other supporting facilities for the civil service.

The college will be equipped with better and more diversified facilities for civil service training, including modern information and communications technology equipment and training venues for media responses, crisis management and council meetings. It will also provide a Learning Commons comprising different learning zones to facilitate more flexible and interactive learning.

Before its completion, the Government is upgrading the institute's existing facilities at North Point Government Offices so that the premises can be used as the college's interim accommodation to tie in with the plan to establish it this year.

Mr Cheung pointed out that apart from hardware facilities, the Government is also committed to enhancing the training for civil servants on the software front, including a Civil Service Training Advisory Board comprising professionals and government officials set up in 2019 which gives guidance on training programmes for the civil service and its long-term development strategy.

Before concluding the visit, Mr Cheung toured the institute's facilities and chatted with civil service colleagues who were participating in the Leadership in Action Programme to find out more about their learning experiences.