Speech by SCS on the Motion of Thanks for the Policy Address
Following is the English translation of the speech by the Secretary for the Civil Service, Miss Denise Yue, on the Motion of Thanks for the 2007-08 Policy Address at the Legislative Council today (October 24):
Madam President,
First of all, I would like to thank Members for their views and concern about civil service matters.
As the Secretary for the Civil Service, I have the responsibility to do my best to maintain a professional team of civil servants who are politically neutral, clean, efficient and committed, and to ensure that civil servants and non-civil service contract (NCSC) staff are fully committed to supporting the governance of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government and providing the community with quality public services.
In the addresses made by Members just now, Mr Wong Kwok-hing, Miss Chan Yuen-han, Mr Leung Yiu-chung and Mr Kwong Chi-kin have expressed their views on the issue of NCSC staff. I would like to thank them for their opinions. I also understand why they have put forward such views. But given only limited time, I would like to a make a brief response here.
Firstly, the Civil Service Bureau (CSB) has issued policy bureaux and departments with detailed guidelines on the employment and management of NCSC staff to ensure that the NCSC Scheme is duly implemented. It is clearly set out in the guidelines that bureaux and departments can only employ NCSC staff within the ambit of the NCSC Scheme, that is to meet service need that is time-limited, seasonal, under review or subject to the latest technical changes or market fluctuations from time to time. Also, the employment of NCSC staff by bureaux and departments has to be considered and approved by the more senior-ranking officers. In addition, an upper limit is set for the employment of NCSC staff to meet the special operational needs of individual bureaux and departments. If the number of NCSC staff to be employed by a bureau and department exceeds the upper limit, prior approval from the CSB will have to be sought.
Last year, the CSB conducted a special review in conjunction with other policy bureaux and departments and confirmed that it would be more appropriate for civil servants to perform the duties of 4,000 or so NCSC posts. We, together with other bureaux and departments, will follow up this issue and arrange the gradual replacement of such posts with civil service posts. The arrangements for replacing NCSC staff will unavoidably deal a blow to some NCSC staff.
Therefore, we will do our best to minimise this when implementing the scheme. Generally speaking, departments will not terminate the contracts of existing NCSC staff before expiry. They will also ensure that such staff members are informed of all civil service recruitment news. If NCSC staff are not offered a renewal of contract, they should be notified by departments in advance, so that they will be given adequate time to find a new job or plan for their future. Also, departments will do their best to offer appropriate assistance to affected staff members by, for example, providing them with job news and arranging training courses on interview skills for them if necessary.
Some Members suggested that the Government should arrange a "through train" mechanism and give the NCSC staff priority consideration for appointment during civil service recruitment. On this issue, I had made it clear at the meeting of the LegCo Panel on Public Service that this proposal was unacceptable. It is because it has been the Government's established recruitment policy to fill civil service vacancies through an open, fair and competitive recruitment process, under which the best persons from the eligible applicants are selected on the basis of merits. The introduction of the "through train" arrangement, which is against the principle of openness and fairness, would be unfair to those who are not serving in the Government but are interested in the civil service openings as they would be deprived of the opportunity to apply for such civil service posts. Having said that, we welcome serving NCSC staff who are interested in such civil service openings and meet the basic entry requirements to take part in the open recruitment process. They will have an edge over outside candidates given their government experience.
Mr Wong Kwok-hing just mentioned that the pay of NCSC staff has not been handled and adjusted in a fair way. In response to such an accusation, I would like to point out that civil service and NCSC appointments are two distinct types of employment. Their purposes and circumstances of employment are entirely different. While civil service appointment is meant to provide a stable workforce on a permanent basis to meet long-term operational needs, the employment of NCSC staff is to meet service needs which are short-term, part-time or subject to market fluctuations, or where the demand or mode of delivery is under review. It is therefore not appropriate to directly compare the terms of employment and remuneration packages of NCSC staff with those of civil servants. The remuneration offered to NCSC staff is an all-inclusive pay package. In determining the pay level and terms of employment of NCSC staff, heads of departments will consider factors like the situation of the job market, operational needs of departments, the recruitment and manpower of the relevant posts in the market, and the pay of the comparable civil service ranks. We believe that heads of departments will ensure the pay and terms offered would be attractive in order to recruit staff of suitable calibre.
As regards pay adjustment for NCSC staff, given the job nature of such kind of appointment, we consider it more appropriate for the departments concerned to make their own decision on the level of pay for their NCSC staff. The department head may take into account a number of factors, including the situation of the job market, recruitment and wastage of staff and management and operational needs of the departments, when considering the suitable pay level for NCSC staff, subject to the condition that their pay should not exceed the mid-point salary of comparable civil service ranks or those ranks with comparable duties. While the pay adjustment level for the civil service is naturally one of the factors to be considered, it is by no means the sole factor in the deliberation on the pay adjustment level for NCSC staff. The pay adjustment levels should not be directly compared and there is no direct correlation between them. In fact, although there was a pay cut in 2005 and a pay freeze in 2006 for the civil service, some departments that are major employers of NCSC staff like the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, Social Welfare Department and Leisure and Cultural Services Department raised the pay for their NCSC staff during that period.
In fact, it has been the practice of some departments to review the need for adjusting the pay for their NCSC staff in the latter half of each year and then make a decision. I understand that they will adhere to this timetable of handling this issue in 2007.
Just now I noted that Mr Chim Pui-chung suggested that the Government should ban retired civil servants from taking up employment in the business sector so as to avoid conflicts of interest or transfers of benefit. In fact, we have already put in place a stringent mechanism under which senior civil servants intending to work for the private sector within a specific period after their departure or retirement from the civil service should submit an application to the Government. They can only be employed by the private sector after their applications have been approved. We think that this can strike a balance. While senior civil servants can enjoy the basic human right to take up employment after leaving or retiring from the civil service, the public concern over our efforts to avoid any possible conflicts of interest and transfers of benefit has been addressed.
President, the Chief Executive has proposed in his Policy Address to enhance the training of civil servants on the Basic Law. I would like to take this opportunity to express my thanks to Mr Wong Yu-hong, Mr Lau Wong-fat and Mr Tam Yiu-chung for their support. The Basic Law is the bedrock constitution of Hong Kong. The HKSAR Government has always attached importance to the promotion of the Basic Law among civil servants, who are provided with appropriate training on it. We will further enhance the training on the Basic Law in a more systematic approach to make it an integral part of the training for the civil service in 2008-09. Our plan will include the provision of three Basic Law-related courses, i.e. an introductory course for new appointees, an intermediate course for middle level management and an advanced course for senior officers. In addition, we will organise interesting and easy-to-follow learning and promotional activities for all civil servants, in particular junior and front-line staff, in order to create a stimulating atmosphere for learning the Basic Law.
The Chief Executive has also mentioned in his Policy Address that the Basic Law would form part of the civil service recruitment examination. Mr Lee Cheuk-yan holds a different point of view. I wish to emphasise that the objective of this measure is to promote public awareness of the Basic Law and to ensure the new appointees have some understanding of the Basic Law. We are working out the detailed arrangements, which will be announced in due course. The format of assessing candidates’ knowledge of the Basic Law will be determined according to the entry requirements and job nature of individual grades. The way by which the assessment is conducted will fit into the recruitment procedures. For example, candidates' knowledge in this area can be tested through examinations or selection interviews. However, I have to emphasise that the Government will consider the overall performance of candidates for selection of appointment. Candidates’ performance in the Basic Law test will be one of the factors to be considered in the overall assessment and will not affect their eligibility for applying for civil service posts.
The constitutional role of civil servants is to support the serving Chief Executive and his government. The two features of the civil service, namely permanency and political impartiality, enable it to perform such a role. The permanent nature of the civil service provides stability and continuity to the governance of Hong Kong through changing times and changing leadership. The permanency of the civil service goes hand-in-hand with its political impartiality. The civil service must be politically impartial in order to serve the Chief Executive, the Principal Officials and the Government of the day—whatever their political persuasion— with total loyalty.
In particular, I would like to point out that the concept of a politically impartial civil service does not mean that it need not engage in any work with political content. In making policies, civil servants put forward honest and impartial advice on policy options formulated by the Government of the day to their best abilities. Once decisions are taken by the political tier, civil servants will, regardless of their own personal convictions, implement the decisions taken and discharge their public functions without fear or favour. Traditionally, senior civil servants have been involved in work with political content, such as explaining and defending government policies and decisions, and lobbying for support for them. But they remain neutral and are not in favour of any political party when doing such work.
The political team will play a more crucial role in undertaking important political work after the new political appointment positions have been created. This does not mean that civil servants, particularly experienced officers, will not be required to take part in, for instance, parliamentary work. Doing such work is not contradictory to the principle of political impartiality of the civil service. To secure political impartiality, a core value of the service, civil servants should avoid getting involved in certain political work, such as electoral politics and electioneering activities for any individual or party. To maintain the civil service's political impartiality in the further development of the political appointment system, the Civil Service Bureau will issue a Civil Service Code to establish a framework under which civil servants are expected to work with the appointees under an expanded political appointment system. The Code will set out the principles and values which civil servants are expected to uphold and the roles and responsibilities of civil servants under the expanded political appointment system, thereby delineating the working relationships between the civil service and the politically appointed officials.
President, I understand that the public has very high expectations of the civil service. In this respect, we will continue to work with dedication and strive for excellence. As a whole, Hong Kong is blessed with an excellent civil service team. I believe that most of the public recognise the contribution of the civil service. I look forward to continuous co-operation with my colleagues in the civil service, Members of this Council and the community at large to ensure that the civil service will continue to make improvements and, as in the words of Mrs Sophie Leung, support the governance of the SAR Government and deliver quality public services with an open attitude and dedication.
President, I sincerely hope that Members will support the original motion.
Thank you, President.
Wednesday, 24 October 2007