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Starting tomorrow (July 3), many Government policy bureaux and departments will extend their working hours from Monday to Friday, but will no longer provide services on Saturdays as Phase One of the five-day work scheme in the civil service comes into effect.
In Government headquarters, the working hours of all policy bureaux will be standardised to run from 8.45am to 6pm on weekdays.
Other departments vary in their degree of participation in the scheme. For instance, the Immigration Department and Hongkong Post just maintain the status quo; the Transport Department and Inland Revenue Department will basically close all their public counters on Saturdays; while the Labour Department, the Social Welfare Department and the Food and Environmental Department are partially switching to five-day week.
In view of this, a Government spokesman today (July 2) urged members of the public to either check with the 24-hour Citizen's Easy Link 1823 or look up the Government five-day week dedicated website at www.info.gov.hk/info/5day before they visited a Government office on a Saturday.
"To minimise inconvenience to the public, bureaux and departments have put in place or enhanced alternative means of service delivery or transactions. These include electronic and internet services, telephone bookings and drop-in boxes. Moreover, emergency and essential services will not be affected," he added.
Apart from setting up a dedicated website and stepping up the 1823 enquiry hotline service to provide residents with a one-stop shop for information on five-day week, the Government has also resorted to other publicity measures. These include posters, pamphlets, announcements on TV, radio and the Housing Channel installed at public housing estates, press conferences, media interviews, news releases, press columns and display of five-day week messages on the MTR, KCR, Light Rail and public buses. In addition, individual departments have notified their clients of the new arrangements by way of notices, flyers and direct mail as necessary.
Ends/Sunday, July 2, 2006
Issued at HKT 10:04
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