To enhance and promote the responsibilities of corporate citizenship, we encourage and support the organization of social and charity activities for the community. In recognition of our contribution, the Hong Kong Council of Social Service awarded the “Caring Organization” certificate to the department in February 2008. In addition, we participated and won three awards in the “Civil Service Volunteer Action” programme coordinated by the Civil Service Bureau in 2007, which marked the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.


(A) Supporting social services

The Land Registry Volunteer Team has joined hands with some ten other Government departments to run a “Crossover Volunteer Project” programme. During 2007/08, the LR Volunteer Team organized 19 volunteer activities and participated in 13 volunteer activities coordinated by other departments under the programme for environmental protection, the disabled, the elderly and the youth.

(B) Encouraging donations

We are supportive of donation drive organized by the charities by encouraging staff to donate or participate in their events.

• Community Chest: we encouraged colleagues to participate in the “Dress Special Day”, “Skip Lunch Day” and “Green Day” organized by the Community Chest in September 2007, December 2007 and March 2008 respectively.
  
  
• Standard Chartered Marathon: we have participated in the event since 2002. This year, 8 staff members participated in the race on 17 February 2008 and raised an encouraging sum for charity.

(C) Equal Opportunities

As an Equal Opportunities Employer, we are committed to eliminating discrimination in employment. We employ staff with different degrees of disability. In addition, we also participate in Social Welfare Department’s Sunnyway Programme and Labour Department’s Youth Pre-employment Training - Workplace Attachment Programme to offer training placements for the people in need.


(D) Promoting care for the employees

28 seminars on occupational safety and health related issues, such as first aid training, health hints on the use of display screen, how to handle potentially violent clients, occupational health for office workers, prevention of musculoskeletal disorders and stress management, etc. were arranged for staff in 2007/08.


(E) Job Shadowing

In support of nurturing our younger generation, we have partnered with Junior Achievement Hong Kong to organize a one-day Job Shadowing Programme for students for the second year. By joining the programme, we hold the mission to help develop youth, to enable them to take an up-close look at the world of work, to learn from the experienced workplace mentors, to discover their potentials and to develop their career aspirations.

The Job Shadow Day was conducted on 20 February 2008 for 20 fifth form and sixth form students from SWCS Chan Pak Sha School. A mentor was assigned to every two students to guide them through the work in a normal working day. The day commenced with an opening remark by the Registry Manager. Through the one-day programme, students were able to build up their confidence through completing simple tasks assigned to them by the mentors. Both mentors and students benefited from the programme and enjoyed the event.

(F) Green Management and Environmental Improvement

We are committed to ensuring that the Land Registry’s business and daily operations are conducted in an environmentally responsible manner. To fulfill our commitment we have formulated an Environmental Policy to establish the overall direction for the Land Registry and set out the key areas for actions. We adopt effective environmental practices in reducing the consumption of paper and energy, reusing office materials and replacing office consumables with environmental friendly products.

The Registry Manager is the Green Manager of the department, responsible for monitoring the Registry’s environmental performance. A Green Housekeeping Working Group, led by the Departmental Secretary and with divisional representatives as members, assists the Green Manager to implement green initiatives particularly in the following aspects:

• Energy Management;
  
• Material and Waste Management;
  
• Noise Level Control;
  
• Air Quality Management;
  
• Environmental Hazard Management; and
  
• Staff Awareness of Environmental Protection.

The Working Group plans and organizes environmental audit inspections to various offices of the department. In 2007, 2 inspections covering 3 offices were conducted, making a total of 16 visits and covering 24 offices since the introduction of the environmental audit inspections in 1999. By conducting environmental audits, the green practices at operational level are reviewed and recommendations are made for continual improvement.

Of particular note in 2007/08 was work carried out by the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department to install separate meters for electricity consumption at our Headquarters in the Queensway Government Offices. This will allow us to monitor our power consumption much more easily, so as to target and measure efficiency improvements. It will also equip us with data to study the issue of the greenhouse gas emissions for which our activities are responsible, allowing us to identify effective mitigation practices.

The Controlling Officer’s Environmental Report 2007 with detailed environmental performance is available from the Land Registry’s website.