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| Chapter 6 | |||||
| Organisation, Administration and Staffing | |||||
The Department has three Divisions, namely the Application and Processing Division, the Litigation Division and the Policy and Administration Division, each headed by a Deputy Director. The organisation chart can be found at the departmental website at http://www.lad.gov.hk/eng/ginfo/oo.html. |
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The Ombudsman Award 2016 Having previously been awarded the Grand Award of The Ombudsman's Awards in 2009 and The Ombudsman's Awards for Public Organisations in 2015, we were once again very honoured to receive the Grand Award this year. It came as a great encouragement |
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CS' Visit to Legal Aid Department The then Chief Secretary for Administration, Mrs Carrie Lam, visited the Legal Aid Department on 7 September 2016 and was briefed about the work of the Department and met with our staff. The Director of Legal Aid and other senior officers shared with her the work of various divisions and the challenges they were facing. Mrs Lam also took the opportunity to tour the Policy & Administration Division, Application & Processing Division and Litigation Division to understand better our provision of legal aid services. She was pleased to hear that the Department has been maintaining close liaison and co-operation with the legal profession to provide quality legal aid services. She encouraged our colleagues to keep up good spirit, professionalism and dedication to serve the community. |
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Staffing At the end of 2016, the Department had 528 staff members comprising 77 professional officers, 162 law clerks and 289 supporting staff which included two newly recruited Legal Aid Counsel and 12 Law Clerks. |
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Training and Development The Department is committed to developing and maintaining a highly-motivated and professional work team to provide quality services to our customers. Every year the Department arranges various general and professional training courses for our staff of all levels to equip them with the latest knowledge and skills needed to face the challenges ahead. The Training Unit, which is headed by a Senior Training Officer, is responsible for formulating, implementing and reviewing the Department's training and development policies and plans to meet the operational and development needs of the staff. |
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Professional Training The Department organises in-house job-related training to keep our professional officers abreast of the changes and development in the relevant legislation and law. In 2016, three courses, namely, Briefing on How to Conduct Means Test, Briefing on First Charge, and Introduction to Anti-discrimination Laws in Hong Kong were organized with an attendance of 50 professional officers and 254 other staff members. In addition, the Department also sponsored 7 professional officers to attend the General Mediation Training Course and 36 professional officers to attend external seminars including Medical Mediation Scheme, Mediation Conference 2016, Statutory Interpretation in the Context of Judicial Review, Why Isn’t Anyone Using the DCRVO? What Lawyers and the Judiciary Need to Know, Playground Antics? Alienation and Relocation, Family Law and Children’s Rights Conference on the Modern Family, Proposed Arrangement with the Mainland on Reciprocal Recognition and Enforcement of Judgments on Matrimonial and Related Matters, Parental Responsibility: Best Interests of Children on Divorce, Children's rights and the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child and their Impact in Criminal and Administrative Law, and Competition Law. To promote exchanges with the Mainland counterparts, two professional officers attended the Mainland Legal Studies Course at Peking University coordinated by the Department of Justice. |
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Management Training Courses To strengthen staff's management capability, the Department organized a Briefing on Performance Appraisal Report Writing for newly promoted officers. Besides, 20 professional officers attended management courses organised by the Civil Service Training and Development Institute, Civil Service Bureau (CSTDI, CSB). Courses included A New Era of Crisis Communication, Dialogue in the Dark, Effective Conversation for Staff Engagement, Leading High-performance Organizations, Positive Leadership, Speak with Confidence, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Practical Negotiation Skills, Presentation Skills for Occasional Speakers, Speak with Confidence: An Award-winning MC Tells you How, Building Alertness for Public Relation Issues, Enhancing Government Capacity Through Behavioural Insights. For executive development, four professional officers were nominated to attend programmes organised by CSTDI, CSB, namely Advanced Leadership Enhancement, Leadership in Action and Innovative Leadership Programmes. |
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Customer Service Training The Department places great importance in nurturing a customer focused culture. To enhance staff’s skills in delivering quality service to the public, the Department sponsored staff of different ranks to attend relevant courses held by CSTDI, CSB. In 2016, 36 staff
members, including general grade staff, attended the following courses, namely, Enhancing Communication in English for Customer Service, Better Spoken English for Frontline Staff, Quality Customer Service, Complaint Management, Replying to Customer Complaints, Prevention and Resolving Customer Complaints, Effective Putonghua Telephone Skills, Effective Putonghua for Quality Service, EQ and AQ for Customer Service, Telephone Skills for Customer Service, Prevention, Being Confident in Handling Aggression, Handling Difficult Customers and Confrontational Situations, and Understanding and Responding to Verbal Violence. |
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Staff Well-being and General Training The Department is committed to promoting staff well-being. In 2016, two in-house classes on Mindful Drawing in Managing Stress were held, with an attendance of 46 staff members. Besides, the Department also nominated staff to attend courses organised by CSTDI, CSB. The courses included Enhancing Wellness Through the Chinese Medicine System, Mastering Mind at Work, Managing Emotions for Happiness, Building Resilience and Facing Change and Work Stress Management. To raise the awareness of staff in upholding civil service core values, the Department organised two workshops on Conflict of Interests and Supervisory Accountability respectively. A total of 150 staff members, including 39 professional officers, attended the workshop. Meanwhile, 104 staff members were nominated to attend courses and seminars organised by the CSTDI, CSB and other government departments on a wide range of topics such as Records Management, Stores Regulations, Occupational Safety, First Aid, Civil Service Values and Integrity, Basic Law, Putonghua, Knowledge Management, Official Writing, Performance Management System, Gender Awareness, Employment Ordinance, Information Technology and Chinese Classics & Culture. Regarding National Studies training, seven professional officers attended programmes held at the Tsinghua University, Nanking University, Zhejiang University and Jinan University respectively. |
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Promoting Self-Learning and Development: In-house Learning Resource Centre To cultivate the culture of continuous self-learning, the Department maintains a comprehensive collection of books available to our staff. The collection covers a wide range of topics including general management, communication, use of language, national studies, personal development, positive thinking, stress management and healthy lifestyles. Every year, new books are added to the Learning Resource Centre to further enrich the collection. To facilitate easy access to self-learning materials by staff, resources on IT tips, use of Chinese as well as reference materials of training courses were uploaded onto the departmental portal. Staff also have direct access to CLC Plus, the e-learning portal for all civil servants, which contains a variety of self-learning resources, toolkits and job aids on management, language, Basic Law, communication, information technology, etc. As at the end of 2016, 247 staff members have registered as CLC Plus users. |
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Information Systems The Department places great importance on its IT infrastructure and office automation facilities. To provide prompt and efficient legal aid services to the public, network infrastructure for 2 sub-offices of LAD and office automation facilities in all LAD offices were revamped by the end of 2016. The Department's Case Management and Case Accounting System (CM&CAS) supports over 500 staff users in handling day-to-day legal aid business processes such as processing applications, monitoring assigned out cases and handling legal aid payments. The Legal Aid Electronic Services Portal (LAESP), which was launched in 2008, provides an online gateway through which members of the public and Panel lawyers can gain access to information and transact certain legal aid business with the Department online. Members of the public can access the LAESP to download and submit legal aid Pre-application Information forms to the Department as a first step towards making an application for legal aid. The means test calculator and its mobile version, which provide potential applicants a preliminary assessment of their financial eligibility for legal aid, had 5552 and 6630 hits in 2016 respectively. In addition to Case Report Form and Fees Report Form, solicitors assigned with criminal legal aid cases can submit Bill of Costs by electronic means via LAESP commencing from September 2016. Taking into account the technological development, the Department has upgraded the operating system, hardware and software of the LAESP in early 2016. To provide an alternative and more convenient means for government officers and legal practitioners including the Department’s staff to pay officials visits to Persons in Custody detained in Lai Chi Kok Reception Centre (LCKRC), a Remote Official Visit System (ROVS) in LCKRC was launched in May 2016. With the ROVS, video interview of legal aid applicants detained in LCKRC by the Department’s staff can be conducted timely and conveniently within the Department’s designated location. To enhance efficiency and to create an environmentally friendly workplace, the Electronic Application for Time-off for Medical Treatment / Examination / Consultation was launched in November 2016. |
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Staff Relations and Communication The Department maintains effective communication with staff through regular meetings with various staff representative bodies such as the Departmental Consultative Committees, the Law Clerks Association and the Legal Aid Counsel Association. Resulting from the discussions at these meetings, improvements have been made concerning office accommodation, streamlining of working procedures, indoor air quality and human resources planning, etc. The Director of Legal Aid visited each section throughout the year with a view to exchanging ideas with staff of all levels including professional officers and receiving their views on work arrangements and procedures for further review and improvement. Divisions/Sections continued to implement their respective internal communication strategies in consultation with staff. Informal meetings were also held between the Deputy Director of Legal Aid (Policy and Administration) and Senior Law Clerks I and II and general grades staff regularly to collect their views on work and to explore areas for improvement. |
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Staff Suggestions Scheme Staff Suggestions Scheme has been launched to encourage colleagues to make suggestions to the Department. It aims to facilitate the improvement and streamlining of the Department's operation and management, promote Department's image, arouse staff morale and occupational safety, thereby enhancing work efficiency. Our colleagues provided many useful and practical suggestions such as mini thank-you cards, e-fax, conference room e-booking system, regular health tips to colleagues, etc. The suggestions were carried out in the Department accordingly. |
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Staff Welfare The Department values the general well-being of its staff. The objective of the Staff Club, which was formed in 1988, is to promote staff welfare by organising a wide range of activities and to provide opportunities where staff can meet and interact whilst engaging in relaxing and enriching activities. |
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To provide staff with opportunities to keep a healthy balance between work and relaxation, Yoga classes were held regularly. Recreational activities including the Annual Dinner, badminton competition and mini bazaars to celebrate Chinese New Year, Dragon Boat Festival and Mid- Autumn Festival were also held. Interest classes such as dessert making and bakery classes proved to be very popular among staff. During the year, the Volunteer Service Group, which was formed in 2002, and aimed to encourage staff to get involved in volunteer services, participated in various fund raising activities such as the Rice Selling Campaign organised by Oxfam Hong Kong, Day Fund Raising Campaign organised by Medecins Sans Frontieres, World Sight Day organised by ORBIS Hong Kong and the Chinese New Year Gift Transfer Program organised by St James' Settlement (People's Food Bank). 20 pieces of winter clothing were also donated to St James' Settlement. It was worth mentioning that the Department attained the Top Fund-raiser and the Highest Per Capita Contribution Award in the Civil Service Category of Dress Casual Day organized by The Community Chest in 2016. |
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Environmental Initiatives The Department is committed to ensuring its operations and activities are conducted in an environmentally responsible manner. The Department makes efforts to minimise waste, conserve energy, promote "reuse" and "recycle" of resources and enhance staff awareness and participation in protecting the environment. The Department undertakes regular reviews to ensure that the use of its resources is in an efficient and green manner. Details of the Department's environmental initiatives in 2016 can be found in the Department's Environmental Report at the departmental website http://www.lad.gov.hk/eng/ppr/publication/enr.html. |
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Internal Audit The Internal Audit Section (IAS) is an independent team established to assist management to ensure that adequate control procedures and systems are in place to safeguard the Department's assets. It also carries out reviews of the various activities of the Department in order to ensure an economical, efficient and effective use of the Department's financial, human and other resources. During the year, IAS reviewed the use of purchasing cards. It also carried out audits on the use of the Integrated Registration Information System provided by the Land Registry for conducting land searches in legal aid cases and performed periodical checks on means investigation reports, petty cash, imprest, etc. |
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Support Service to the Legal Aid Services Council Legal Aid Services Council ("the Council") is a statutory body set up under the Legal Aid Services Council Ordinance, Cap. 489 to oversee the provision of legal aid services. The Council is responsible for advising the Chief Executive on matters of policy relating to legal aid. The Council is chaired by a non-official who is not a professional lawyer. There are a total of 10 members comprising the Director of Legal Aid, representatives of the two legal professional bodies and lay members chosen from other fields. Representatives of the Department attend meetings of the Council and its working party and participate in its activities in promoting public awareness and understanding of the role of the Council and its relationship with the Department. During the year, the Department provided the Council with regular progress reports and information on different aspects of legal aid services, such as the Review of criminal legal aid fees, information relating to the expansion of the Supplementary Legal Aid Scheme and assignment of lawyers. With the support from the Council, starting from this year more statistics on assignment of legal aid cases and legal aid budget were included in the Annual Report to enhance the operational transparency of the Department. |
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