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Following is the letter issued by the Secretary for the Civil Service, Mr Joseph WP Wong, to all colleagues on the topic, "Enhancing Efficiency through Rewarding Good Performers and Retiring Poor Ones", today (September 14):
Dear colleagues,
It is the Government's policy to maintain a clean, stable and efficient civil service. In parallel with our efforts to reduce the size of the civil service establishment, we have continued to ensure that the quality and efficiency of the civil service are not affected. Subject to availability of vacancies and functional needs, deserving civil servants continue to be promoted to higher positions across grades and ranks, including those which have been included in the voluntary retirement schemes. Last year, a total of 1,788 officers in 124 grades were promoted, compared with 1,408 promotees in 2003. In the first seven months of 2005, 1,255 officers in 86 grades were promoted. In addition, 130 promotion boards involving 67 grades and several hundred vacancies have been convened in various departments since August this year.
Apart from the grant of annual increments and the award of promotions, we recognise outstanding performance or special contributions of civil servants through our Awards and Honours System administered centrally as well as the Commendation Scheme administered at the departmental level. There is also the Long and Meritorious Service Travel Award Scheme (LMSTAS) which grants a travel allowance of $14,700 per person to a selected local non-directorate civil servant (and spouse) for attaining a minimum of 20 years of meritorious service. About 2,000 officers are awarded each year under LMSTAS at a total cost of about $50 million to Government.
To recognise the contributions of those civil servants who have been putting in outstanding performance for at least five years, we introduced the Secretary for the Civil Service's Commendation Scheme last year and awarded 75 colleagues under the scheme. This year, another 74 colleagues will receive the SCS's Commendation at a presentation ceremony tomorrow (September 15). We are honoured that the Chief Executive has kindly agreed to attend the cocktail reception after the presentation ceremony. I hope it will be a memorable occasion for the award recipients and their families.
To reinforce the message that outstanding performance will be duly rewarded, and following consultation with departmental management and staff associations, we have decided that recipients of the SCS's Commendation will be granted a travel award modelled on the terms of the LMSTAS provided that they have not already received one. As a result, about 75 travel awards will be granted to eligible recipients of the SCS's Commendation of 2004 and 2005. This will be in addition to the number of awards granted under the LMSTAS each year so that the total number of travel award recipients will be increased.
As we spare no effort to motivate continuous improvement in performance, it is only fair that we take resolute action against the small number of civil servants who, despite our counsel and warning, fail to meet the required standard of performance. Under Section 12 of the Public Service (Administration) Order, a civil servant may be compulsorily retired in the public interest for poor performance. In 2003, we simplified the relevant procedures and have since taken more proactive action to retire substandard performers with positive results. We intend to further streamline the procedures so as to monitor the performance of civil servants more closely and to retire poor performers without delay. We are now consulting the staff sides on specific proposals.
It is in the interest of the civil service and the community at large that we maintain and improve the effectiveness of our performance management system. I assure you that outstanding civil servants will continue to be recognised and rewarded.
Mr Wong's letter has been uploaded onto the Civil Service Bureau website at http://www.csb.gov.hk.
Ends/Wednesday, September 14, 2005
Issued at HKT 15:08
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