Speech by SCS in moving the Second Reading of the Disciplined Services Legislation (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 2009
Following is the speech (English translation) by the Secretary for the Civil Service, Miss Denise Yue, in moving the Second Reading of the Disciplined Services Legislation (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 2009 in the Legislative Council meeting today (February 18):
Mr President, I move that the Disciplined Services Legislation (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 2009 be read the second time.
All along, the Government is firmly committed to upholding a high standard of probity, integrity and conduct in the civil service. Acts of misconduct or criminal offences by civil servants are dealt with seriously in accordance with the principles of fairness and justice.
We have a well established civil service disciplinary mechanism. Under the mechanism, civil servants in civilian grades and senior ranking officers in disciplined service grades (i.e. officers at a rank equivalent to Superintendent and above) are dealt with under an executive order issued by the Chief Executive - the Public Service (Administration) Order (PS(A)O); middle ranking officers or below in disciplined service grades are dealt with under the respective Disciplined Services Legislation (DSL). Regardless of whether a case is processed under the executive order or the DSL, where the gravity and nature of the misconduct or criminal offence is very serious, the civil servant concerned may be subject to removal punishment.
The existing civil service workforce comprises two main categories of officers appointed under different terms of appointment. The first category refers to civil servants who joined the service before June 1, 2000. They are entitled to pension benefits upon retirement. Should they be found guilty of misconduct or offence of a serious nature during their service, they would be subject to three kinds of removal punishments, namely, dismissal with forfeiture of entire pension benefits, compulsory retirement with reduction of up to 25% of entire pension benefits, and compulsory retirement with entire pension benefits.
The second category refers to civil servants who were appointed on or after June 1, 2000 on new entry terms, and whose retirement benefits are provided under the Civil Service Provident Fund Scheme (CSPF Scheme). Unlike the pension schemes which are "defined benefit schemes", the CSPF Scheme is a "defined contribution scheme". The benefits provided by the Government as an employer under the CSPF Scheme mainly consist of the accrued benefits attributable to the Government's Mandatory Contribution (GMC benefits) and those attributable to the Government's Voluntary Contribution (GVC benefits). Under the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Ordinance (Cap. 485, Laws of Hong Kong), the GMC benefits cannot be tampered with under any circumstances. The GVC benefits, on the other hand, are by contract fully vested and paid to a CSPF civil servant when he leaves the service upon completion of at least ten years of continuous service or under other specified circumstances (e.g. retirement, death, permanent incapacity, etc). The present removal punishments involving the forfeiture and reduction of pension applicable to pensionable civil servants cannot be directly applied to civil servants whose retirement benefits are provided under the CSPF Scheme.
The first batch of CSPF civil servants will complete ten years of service by mid-2010 and be fully vested with their GVC benefits when they leave the service. For the effective management of the civil service, we need to put in place before then removal punishments which may impinge on the retirement benefits of these civil servants according to the terms and conditions of the CSPF Scheme. With reference to the existing removal punishments for pensionable civil servants, we propose to introduce three levels of removal punishments for CSPF civil servants, namely forfeiture of the entire GVC benefits at the time of dismissal, reduction of up to 25% of the GVC benefits at the time of compulsory retirement, and retention of entire GVC benefits at the time of compulsory retirement.
The above proposals are developed on the basis of a circular promulgated by the Civil Service Bureau in 2003, which forms part of the employment contract with the CSPF civil servants. The circular sets out in detail the terms and conditions of the CSPF Scheme, and for those civil servants who have been found guilty of misconduct or offence, enables the Government to forfeit or reduce their accrued benefits attributed to voluntary contributions made by the Government, wholly or in part, under the Scheme.
The main purpose of the Disciplined Services Legislation (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 2009 is to amend the enactments relating to the disciplined services so that certain existing provisions concerning removal punishments applicable to pensionable civil servants can also be applied to certain middle ranking CSPF civil servants or below employed in the disciplined services.
Besides, we also propose three amendments relating to the discipline services welfare funds and punishments through the Bill:
- firstly, to amend the description of former members/employees of the disciplined services under the law so that former CSPF civil servants of the disciplined services with retirement benefits are covered as beneficiaries of their respective welfare funds;
- secondly, to change the date of stoppage of pay and allowance for criminal conviction of police officers from the date following the conviction to the date of conviction as is the case for the rest of the civil service; and
- thirdly, to provide the punishment of compulsory retirement for a Traffic Warden grade officer who is found guilty of a disciplinary offence, on par with the arrangement for the rest of the civil service.
After the passage of the Bill, we will amend the PS(A)O so that the proposed removal punishments for CSPF civil servants are also applied to concerned civil servants in civilian grades and senior ranking officers in disciplined service grades.
We have consulted the staff sides and the Public Service Commission on the proposals thoroughly when drafting the Bill. We consulted the Legislative Council Panel on Public Service (the Panel) twice in October and November 2008. The Panel also invited deputations from all major civil service staff associations/unions to express their views at the latter meeting. The proposals contained in the Bill have incorporated views from the parties concerned where appropriate.
The proposals in the Bill will help complement the effectiveness of the disciplinary mechanism in handling disciplinary matters of the civil service (including CSPF civil servants), especially those concerning misconduct or offence of a more serious nature. This is of paramount importance to the Administration in upholding the integrity and probity among civil servants.
With these remarks, Mr President, I hope that Members will support the passage of the Bill.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009