LCQ9: Establishment of AO and EO Grades

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Following is a question by the Hon Bernard Chan and a written reply by the Secretary for the Civil Service, Mr Joseph W P Wong, in the Legislative Council today (February 27):

Question:

Regarding the establishment and strength of the administrative grade and the executive officer grade within the civil service, will the Government inform this Council of :

(a) the respective current numbers of vacancies in these grades;

(b) the respective current numbers of male and female administrative grade staff holding Deputy Secretary, Principal Assistant Secretary, Assistant Secretary and Director posts; and

(c) the average length of service in the last serving rank in respect of each rank of the administrative grade directorate officers before they were promoted to the present ranks?

Reply:

Madam President,

(a) Out of a total establishment of 588, there are a total of 28 vacancies in the Administrative Officer Grade. For the Executive Officer Grade, there are 89 vacancies out of a total of 2 268 posts.

(b) Currently, the Director (or Head of Department) posts in 26 operational departments are held by officers from the Administrative Officer Grade. Also, the majority of the Deputy Secretary, Principal Assistant Secretary and Assistant Secretary posts in policy and resource bureaux are taken up by officers from the Administrative Officer Grade. The current numbers of male and female Administrative Officers filling these posts are set out as follows -

No of Male:Female

Post Officers Male Female (%)

---- -------- ---- ------ ----------

Director 26 19 7 73:27

Deputy Secretary 47 28 19 60:40

Principal Assistant 94 42 52 45:55

Secretary

Assistant Secretary 153 59 94 39:61

Total 320 148 172 46:54

(c) The promotion of officers in the Administrative Officer Grade is essentially based on performance in the present rank and objective assessment of ability to assume greater responsibilities and undertake more demanding duties in the next higher rank. Other relevant factors such as personality, versatility and potential will also be taken into account. There is no fixed period of experience in a particular rank before an officer is considered for promotion. The number of officers promoted each year is also subject to the availability of vacancies in the higher ranks. Based on the outcome of the last promotion exercise, the average length of service in the last serving rank before the officers were successfully promoted is as follows

Average length of service

Present rank in the last serving rank

------------ -------------------------

Director of Bureau 4

Administrative Officer Staff 3

Grade A

Administrative Officer Staff 3

Grade B1

Administrative Officer Staff 6

Grade B

Administrative Officer Staff 4

Grade C

It should be stressed again that promotion is entirely based on merits. The average length of service shown in the above table is calculated on the basis of the length of service of the successful promotees at the last promotion exercise. It is not a relevant factor to be considered by the promotion board.

End/Wednesday, February 27, 2002

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