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Following is a question by the Hon Tam Heung-man and a written reply by the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Rafael Hui, in the Legislative Council today (November 30):
Question:
Regarding the plan to reprovision the Central Government Offices, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the current numbers of policy bureaux and departments whose offices are in the Main, East and West Wings of the Central Government Offices, and the difference between the space provision for the relevant civil servants and the space standards specified by the Government for the grades and ranks to which they belong;
(b) of the respective numbers of civil servants that the proposed new Central Government Offices on the Tamar site can, and are planned to, accommodate as well as whether their space provision is calculated on the basis of the space standards specified by the Government; and
(c) whether it has plans to relocate civil servants currently working at locations other than the Main, East and West Wings of the Central Government Offices to the new Central Government Offices on the Tamar site; if so, of the numbers of civil servants involved and the locations of their present offices?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) The Government Secretariat comprises the Main Wing, East Wing and West Wing of the Central Government Offices (CGO) and the Murray Building. It has a total gross floor area of 76,000², providing office accommodation mainly for the Executive Council (ExCo), the Chief Executive, Secretaries of Departments / Directors of Bureaux, policy bureaux and the related offices. In addition, the CGO also provides various ancillary facilities, such as conference rooms, file registries, reception counters, etc. Office accommodation is allocated basically in accordance with the Accommodation Regulations (the regulations). According to the regulations, office space standards for individual officers is determined primarily on the basis of ranking of the officer and actual operational requirement. Space standards for Directorate officers range from 19² to 42², and the rest of the ranks from 4.1² to 8.8².
(b) The proposed new Central Government Complex (CGC) at Tamar will mainly reprovision the currently underprovided CGO with sufficient office accommodation and ancillary facilities. As regards the number of staff and office spaces to be provided, we are consulting various policy bureaux to update the estimated space requirement. When we seek funding support from the Legislative Council (LegCo) next year, we shall provide the relevant LegCo Panel, the Public Works Subcommittee and the Finance Committee full details on the CGC, such as the number of staff to be accommodated, floor areas, related justifications, etc.
Nevertheless, our estimates in 2003 may serve as useful indication of the scale of the CGC. According to the plan in 2003, the CGC needs to provide for some 3,200 staff, office accommodation and ancillary facilities such as conference rooms, working areas, file registries, etc. In addition, the CGC, with a gross floor area of 110,030², will provide additional space or make up the current shortage of space for special facilities such as the ExCo Chamber, multi-purpose hall, press rooms, building management offices, etc.
When we allocate office spaces in the CGC, we shall calculate the area of office space and ancillary facilities for various officers in accordance with space standards stipulated in the Accommodation Regulations. We shall also set out these details in the relevant LegCo papers.
(c) Due to physical constraints, some bureaux offices and their staff are currently required to operate in offices outside the CGO, either in other government offices or leased commercial premises. When we finalise the estimation on number of staff and office accommodation at the new CGC, we shall consider the possibility of making suitable accommodation arrangements for these staff and the bureaux they belong to, so as to enhance operational efficiency. We shall also explain to the LegCo the related details of these arrangements. We appreciate the concerns of the LegCo members, and will assure that only relevant units and staff responsible for policy making functions in the bureaux will be considered for relocation to the future new CGC.
Ends/Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Issued at HKT 12:23
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