Chief Secretary Donald Tsang says the Government is committed to providing Hong Kong with a high quality workforce, and that must include a workforce that can speak fluent English and Chinese.

To achieve this goal, he said the Government will continue to invest heavily in education and training so that Hong Kong can remain the international city of choice for companies doing business in the region.

Speaking in support for a motion on 'Promoting the use of English in Hong Kong' in the Legislative Council today, Mr Tsang said the Government is acutely aware of the need to promote the use of English among colleagues.

"As the largest employer in Hong Kong we must lead by example."

From January 1 this year, all applicants for civil service posts at degree or professional level will need to have acquired a pass in the Use of English and Use of Chinese papers in the Civil Service Common Recruitment Examination before applying for a job.

For any other civil service post with academic qualifications below degree level, an applicant needs to have attained at least a Grade E in English Language [Syllabus B] and Chinese Language in the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination, or its equivalent.

"Without passing this minimum standard, no one now can enter the Civil Service irrespective of rank. By introducing these standards, we are demonstrating the government's commitment to providing the community with a civil service proficient in both English and Chinese."

On a personal note, he said he opted to conduct senior internal meetings in English.

"I know from past experience that most, if not all, of my colleagues at the senior level of government do the same. English and Chinese are used at Executive Council meetings, and government officials attending to the questions of Honourable Members in this Chamber are equally at home using English or Chinese."

English remains widely used within the Government. In many departments it is the primary working language. Almost all inter and intra-departmental correspondence is in English.

The Director of Administration has, on occasion, reminded Government departments and bureaux to ensure that all written material meant for public consumption is in both English and Chinese.

This includes Government announcements, official forms, invitations, minutes of meetings and publicity material.

"By doing this we fulfil our obligations under the Basic Law and the Official Languages Ordinance, we remain faithful to our policy for a biliterate civil service and we eliminate inconvenience caused to members of the public who cannot read Chinese."

On the training side, he said the Civil Service Training and Development Institute (CSTDI), has a unit specifically dedicated to English and communication training.

Over the past four years, some 27,500 civil servants have taken part in English-training courses over a total of almost 110,000 training days.

Another 8,700 civil servants are expected to have completed English training courses by the end of the 2002/03. Courses cover both oral and written communication.

He said one of the core values that underpins Hong Kong's positioning as Asia's world city is 'high quality'.

"This applies as much to the products we make as to the services we provide. It also relates to the quality of our human capital in Hong Kong. We all know that people will pay a premium for quality goods or services. In other words, an investment in quality will reap dividends in the long run."

Also speaking in the motion debate, Secretary for Education and Manpower Professor Arthur Li said that all sectors of the community must work together to promote the use and learning of English.

Educators, parents, employers and learners themselves must each play their part.

Prof Li said the Legco and the community at large should strive to maintain and strengthen the population's ability to use English as one of the two official languages in Hong Kong.

He said the Government shall continue to provide financial and professional support to schools that wish to organise English language camps.

"We shall also encourage our schools to organise more co-curricular activities such as English days, debates, speech and drama competitions."

He also suggested that schools could also explore the possibilities of working with business organisations, alumni, and sister schools both inside and outside Hong Kong to provide immersion programmes or placements in local commercial firms.

To encourage more students and teachers to learn and teach through English television programmes, he said the Standing Committee on Language Education and Research (SCOLAR) has launched a pilot project with the support of the Language Fund.

Two entertaining television programmes targetting the teenaged audience have been selected on the advice of teachers and students to serve as the basis of a series of exercises, games and activities focusing on English, and the resources will be made available at a website specially designed by the Hong Kong Education City.

The project will be launched in the second half of the 2002/03 school year.

Prof Li also said what is really important is that all schools, irrespective of the medium of instruction, should provide a congenial environment for language learning.

He said a number of studies have in fact been commissioned to explore ways of enriching the language environment in both Chinese-medium and English-medium schools to help students achieve better English competence.

Support strategy and measures to help Secondary One students adapt to the learning environment in English-medium schools are being explored, and an enrichment programme to increase the exposure to English among Secondary Two and Three students in Chinese-medium schools is being tested.

He expects these studies to be completed by the end of 2004.

The Secretary also appreciates the concern over insufficient exposure to English of students studying in Chinese-medium schools.

For these schools, the Government has provided a package of support measures, including the provision of additional English teachers and additional grants for purchasing equipment and books, he added.