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Following is the English version of the speech by the Secretary for the Civil Service, Mr Joseph W P Wong, on debate on the Motion of Thanks on the 2005 Policy Address today (January 27):

Madam President,

First of all, I would like to thank Members for expressing valuable views on civil service matters. When formulating and taking forward various civil service policies and initiatives, I shall take these suggestions into account.

Capitalising on advantages and building a people-based society

In this year's Policy Address, the Chief Executive attributed Hong Kong's emergence from the economic doldrums to the results produced by our unique advantages, among which are a clean government and a highly professional and dedicated civil service.

The civil service policy of the HKSAR Government is clear and consistent, that is, maintaining a clean and efficient civil service that strives for excellence, gives the Government full support in policy execution and provides cost-effective and quality services for the community. Today, I shall first focus on the contributions made by civil servants towards the good governance and integrity of the HKSAR Government.

Providing professional services and striving for excellence

Last year, Mr David Eldon, the Asia Pacific Chairman of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited drew an analogy when speaking of the contributions made by Hong Kong civil servants : "Sometimes we take for granted good customer service from our civil servants. Such service is like oxygen, you don't necessarily notice it unless you're not getting any."

Let me cite a few examples to illustrate our civil servants' achievements in rendering public service amid streamlining and under resources constraint.

Our police force continues to ensure that Hong Kong remains one of the most peaceful cities in the world. In comparison with 2003, the overall crime rate dropped by 8% in 2004 while there was a rise of 4.4% in crime detection rate.

Over the past four years, passengers and vehicles entering and leaving Hong Kong saw a sharp increase of 26% from 155 million in 2000 to 196 million in 2004. While maintaining speedy immigration service, officers of the Immigration Department have also implemented the arrangement of 24-hour opening of border crossings with Shenzhen to facilitate cross-border passenger flow.

Despite a persistent high unemployment rate, the officers of the Labour Department assisted over 86 000 job seekers in securing placements last year. This record-high figure represented an increase of 30% over 2003. For mediation of labour disputes and labour claims, the success rate reached 67%, which is the highest over the past decade.

The Trade and Industry Department, InvestHK and Customs and Excise Department have spared no efforts to realise the CEPA arrangements, thus opening up ample business opportunities for Hong Kong.

The Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority has offered assistance to local and overseas filmmakers to facilitate their shooting in Hong Kong. Hong Kong is also the first Asian city with a Film Services Office.

Hongkong Post won the 2004 Hong Kong Management Association Quality Award last year, the Association being a non-government organisation.

The most recent example is, of course, the contributions made by civil servants in rendering assistance to Hong Kong people affected by the tsunami in South Asia and in raising funds for victims of the disaster.

While the policy execution and service delivery of certain government departments are subject to occasional criticisms, we are firmly committed to conducting thorough review and seeking improvements. I wish to point out that, day in day out, over 100 thousand civil servants and government employees are in fact delivering a wide range of services that are on the whole promising. Examples are numerous and I shall be brief here.

I just want to recapitulate that to provide more and better services with less resources, each government department has been striving to simplify its structure, streamline work procedures and improve the mode of service delivery over the past few years. Yet there is no room for complacency and we shall do our utmost to achieve better. We welcome Members' criticism and suggestions. But of course, our civil servants, especially frontline staff, will be glad to know that their daily contributions are remembered and occasionally appreciated by Members and the community.

Maintaining integrity and observing the rule of law

An honest civil service that observes the rule of law is one of the cornerstones of the HKSAR Government. It also underpins the confidence of international investors and our community in the effective governance of Hong Kong. We consider appropriate internal checks and balances within the Government the best measures to prevent corruption, abuse of authority and collusion between the Government and the business sector. Government departments have therefore well-established systems and procedures in place for policy-making, procurement, law enforcement, financial and personnel management. Through well-defined policies and laws, stringent procedures and proper monitoring, malpractices are kept to the minimum. Government departments also maintain close cooperation with the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) to review systems and procedures on a regular basis so as to plug any loophole.

As regards civil service management, we have drawn up clear rules and guidelines to govern the conduct of civil servants. These include conflict of interests, acceptance of advantages, declaration of personal investments, use of government data and outside work. Departments may also lay down supplementary guidelines for their staff having regard to their own operational needs.

We take a firm stand towards disciplinary offence. Once allegations of misconduct or dishonesty are substantiated, we do not hesitate to impose disciplinary punishment or resort to law.

According to the annual Corruption Perception Index released by the Transparency International in October last year, Hong Kong is the second cleanest city in Asia. We are also pleased to know that relative to 2003, corruption reports involving government departments dropped by 17% in 2004 and the number of civil servants prosecuted for corruption also reduced by 24%. Despite this, we shall remain vigilant on the preventive front.

Just now, some Members have touched upon the post-retirement employment policy governing civil servants. First of all, let me reiterate that we follow established policies and approval mechanism in processing applications. Our basic principle is to prevent any conflict of interests between the intended employment and the previous official duties. For applications submitted by directorate staff, we follow the existing procedures and consult an independent advisory committee chaired by a judge before making a decision.

I must stress that we attach great importance to the concern of Members and the public over the post-retirement employment of civil servants. I shall respond to this positively, despite the Honourable CHEUNG Man-kwong's unwelcome remarks. As a matter of fact, the Civil Service Bureau has been reviewing this policy since mid-2004. At the meeting of the LegCo Panel on Public Service last month, I mentioned that in this review, we would consider lengthening the sanitisation period, enhancing the transparency of our approval mechanism in terms of data disclosure and whether the current practice of allowing retired officers to take up outside work during final leave has to be revised. We shall solicit the advice of our legal advisors on the proposals to ensure that they are legally viable and capable of protecting the employment rights of retired civil servants. Separately, we shall seek the advice of ICAC. In March, we shall inform the LegCo Panel on Public Service of the detailed proposals and consult the staff. I pledge to follow up the queries Members have raised on a particular case and inform the Panel of our findings in due course.

Entrench reforms on a cooperative basis

I would like to say a few words on the ongoing civil service reforms which most people might have forgotten. The reforms have been launched since 1999, with the objective of modernising the civil service to seek continuous improvements in operation efficiency and service quality. In response to the Honourable TAM Heung-man, I want to emphasise that our reforms are comprehensive and we always accord priority to the overall interests of the community when taking them forward. We have retained the distinct qualities of the civil service system, observed the principles of lawfulness, reasonableness and fairness, and maintained thorough communication with civil servants. As in previous years, the latest progress of civil service reforms is set out in the annex of this speaking note for the reference of Members and other interested parties.

This annex of course covers the progress of the development of an improved civil service pay adjustment mechanism which the Honourable Margaret NG has enquired about. In a nutshell, we are making efforts to fulfil this task and have just consulted the staff on the methodology of pay level survey and the proposals regarding the application of survey results. Public opinion has been gauged as well. The consultation period has ended and we plan to proceed to the next step. The pay level survey is important in that it lays the foundation for the future development of an improved civil service pay adjustment mechanism. We shall brief Members of the details at the Panel meetings and we welcome further discussion with Members.

I now turn to other Members' questions and views on civil service matters. The Honourable LEE Cheuk-yan is not here at the moment. But his question on civil service establishment is to varying extents similar to those asked by the Honourable WONG Kwok-hing and the Honourable KOWK Ka-ki.

The point I wish to make is that a policy of streamlining would be meaningless unless it has a definite target. Our target is to reduce the civil service establishment to 160 000 by 2007 and it provides a clear direction for all departments. We have made it explicit that we are not going to lay off any civil servant by forced redundancy. We shall also take a flexible approach and consider the actual situation of each department. Despite an overall target for streamlining, we have given 16 departments approval to recruitment having regard to their operational needs. 2004 and 2005 together, we have over 2 000 new recruits.

There are some doubts whether we are fiddling with the figure 160 000 because we also have some non-civil service contract staff. At present, there are 16 000 non-civil service contract staff. But actually thousands of such posts are temporary ones created at the request of the community and Members to improve unemployment. The figures quoted by the Honourable WONG Kwok-hing actually do not concern government employees. It is my responsibility to manage civil servants as well as government employees. For the public sector, its public services are provided by staff indirectly subsidised by the Government. This may include many public institutions and subvented organisations. The gross number of all those receiving salary from the public purse might reach some 300 000, far more than 160 000 or 170 000. This figure must be considered separately because it does not equate to the number of civil servants.

Regarding the remuneration of non-civil servants, the Government as a good employer will make reference to market levels when determining their level of pay. It is inappropriate to consider it unfair to offer civil servants higher salaries than those non-civil servants with similar duties. In some cases, civil service pay is determined by qualification. At present, the pay of certain civil service grades might outstrip the market level, but this does not mean that it is unfair if civil servants' salaries are relatively higher than those payable to non-civil servants with similar duties.

The Honourable CHIM Pui-chung also mentioned the pay issue. His view is that apart from the minority who warrant certain market value, most civil servants are overpaid. This is contrary to the Honourable WONG Kwok-hing's opinion that our treatment to civil servants at the basic level is unfair. Actually there is no end to this argument. This fully demonstrates how important it is to have an objective and comprehensive pay level survey.

The Honourable WONG Kwok-hing also mentioned hardship allowance. May I remind Members that hardship allowance is in fact one type of job-related allowances. A few years ago, the Public Accounts Committee of this Council, following up the criticism made in the Audit Report, urged the Government to review the use of public money positively. It suggested abolishing, reducing or revising allowances where necessary. We are actually conducting the last phase of review and it is our responsibility to complete the review. During this process, we shall of course take into account the views of the staff side and try to be fair and reasonable. I believe that we have been carrying out this task in a fair manner and doing what we need to do.

The Honourable CHIM Pui-chung asked if the performance pledges introduced by the former government before 1992 still exist or not. We do have performance pledges and what's more, they have been expanded. Departments usually have their performance pledges set out in their websites. If the Honourable CHIM Pui-chung is interested in the performance pledge of any department, we are more than willing to provide the information. I have a few here, Transport Department, Immigration Department etc. Just like the way public services have developed, we have more and better performance pledges and are definitely making progress.

Map out a brighter future with concerted efforts

To sum up, Hong Kong is a civilised, pluralistic and open-minded society built upon the rule of law. I understand that the Legislative Council, various sectors, different walks of life and other members of the society might have diverse opinion on civil servants, civil service reforms and relevant policies. Some of these views are indeed very strong, even opposing or conflicting. I hope that the widest possible consensus can be reached on the basis of mutual understanding and support. I believe that the HKSAR Government, Members and the community all share a common goal, that is, to ensure that Hong Kong continues to have a stable, professional, clean and efficient civil service that wins the trust of the community.

Thank you, Madam President.

Ends/Thursday, January 27, 2005

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