*******************************************************
Following is a question by the Hon Cheung Man-kwong and a written reply by the Secretary for the Civil Service, Miss Denise Yue, in the Legislative Council today (June 2):
Question:
It has been recently reported that the Government has given conditional permission to the former Commissioner for Tourism to take up a senior position in the Hong Kong Trade Development Council only four months after leaving the civil service, and that a former Deputy Director of the Housing Department has taken up a senior position in the Hong Kong Monetary Authority only three months after leaving the civil service. Regarding the post-service employment of civil servants, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the details regarding the applications from the two aforesaid former civil servants for post-service employment and the vetting and approving of such applications;
(b) apart from the two aforesaid applications, of the total number of directorate civil servants whose applications for post-service employment in other organisations within one year after leaving the civil service on grounds other than retirement were approved by the authorities in the past three years, and the details;
(c) how the authorities at present regulate post-service employment of civil servants who left the civil service on grounds other than retirement; and
(d) whether the authorities will expeditiously review the arrangements for vetting and approving post-service employment applications from civil servants who left the civil service on grounds other than retirement, so as to make the arrangements consistent with those for vetting and approving applications from retired civil servants; if a review will be conducted, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
Regarding parts (a) and (c) of the question, the policy governing post-service outside work aims to ensure that civil servants on final leave or who have left the Government will not take up any work outside the Government which may constitute real or potential conflict of interest with their former government duties or cause negative public perception embarrassing the Government and undermining the image of the civil service, without at the same time unduly restricting the said individuals' right to pursue employment or other work after ceasing government service.
According to the control regime governing the taking up of post-service outside work of directorate civil servants implemented since January 1, 2006, directorate civil servants leaving the Government on grounds other than retirement are required to apply for prior permission from the decision authority for taking up outside work during their final leave period and/or within a specified control period. The key features of the control regime applicable to these directorate civil servants are in general similar to those applicable to those directorate civil servants leaving the Government upon retirement. The only difference is in respect of the sanitisation period. For directorate civil servants leaving the Government on retirement ground, they are subject to prescribed minimum sanitisation period during which the decision authority will normally not approve an application to take up post-service outside work with a commercial organisation. The decision authority may, where justified and on a case-by-case basis, shorten the minimum sanitisation period to allow for paid work in specified non-commercial organisations (Note 1). For all other forms of outside work, the minimum sanitisation period may only be shortened where there are special considerations, and subject to there being no conflict of interest and the outside work being unlikely to cause negative public perception. For directorate civil servants leaving the Government on grounds other than retirement, there is no prescribed minimum sanitisation period. The decision authority will consider the need for, and length of, a sanitisation period for each post-service outside work application on its merits.
The details of the current control regime are as follows:
(1) The control period, counting from a directorate civil servant's formal departure from the Government (i.e. on exhaustion of final leave if any), is three years for those at Directorate Pay Scale (DPS) D8 (or equivalent) and two years for those at DPS D1 to D7 (or equivalent).(Note 2)
(2) As directorate civil servants on final leave remain civil servants on full pay, they are normally not permitted to take up any full-time remunerated work or any work of a commercial nature during the final leave period, unless there are special considerations and there is no problem of dual identity.
(3) The authority has given blanket permission to directorate civil servants to take up unpaid post-service work in specified non-commercial organisations during their final leave period and prescribed control period. Directorate civil servants who do so are required to notify the Civil Service Bureau (CSB).
(4) In processing an application to take up post-service outside work from a directorate civil servant, CSB will obtain views from the relevant Permanent Secretaries, Heads of Departments and Heads of Grades and the advice of the Advisory Committee on Post-service Employment of Civil Servants (Advisory Committee) before submitting a recommendation on the application to the decision authority for a decision.
(5) Within the policy objectives stated above (in paragraph 1), the specific considerations to be taken into account in the vetting and consideration of an application for post-service outside work from a directorate civil servant include:
(i) whether the applicant was involved in the formulation of any policy or decisions, the effects of which directly or specifically benefited or could directly or specifically benefit his own business/prospective employer;
(ii) whether the applicant/prospective employer might gain unfair advantage over competitors because of the applicant's access to sensitive information while in government service;
(iii) whether the applicant was involved in any contractual or legal dealings to which the prospective employer was a party;
(iv) whether the proposed work would have any connection with the assignments/projects and/or regulatory/enforcement duties in which the applicant was involved while in government service;
(v) whether the applicant's taking up of the proposed work would give rise to public suspicion of conflict of interest or other impropriety; and
(vi) whether any aspects of the proposed work would cause embarrassment to the Government or bring disgrace to the civil service.
(6) The decision authority may approve or reject an application. If an application is approved, the applicant will be subject to the standard work restrictions. The applicant should not:
(i) be personally involved, directly or indirectly, in the bidding for any government land, property, projects, contracts or franchises;
(ii) undertake or represent any person in any work including any litigation or lobbying activities that are connected in any way with:
- the formulation of any policy or decisions;
- sensitive information;
- contractual or legal dealings;
- assignments or projects; and/or
- enforcement or regulatory duties
in which he was involved or to which he had access during his last three years of government service; or
(iii) engage in any activities which will cause embarrassment to the Government or bring disgrace to the civil service.
Furthermore, the decision authority, may, as necessary, impose further specific work restrictions or conditions for approved post-service outside work applications on a case-by-case basis.
(7) Where there is a breach of the control regime, depending on the nature and gravity of the breach, the decision authority may consider invoking appropriate sanction against the directorate civil servant concerned.
(8) A case record on each post-service outside work approved and taken up by a directorate civil servant at DPS D4 (or equivalent) or above is placed on a register for public inspection upon request. The case record is kept on the register until the expiry of the applicable control periods, or after the directorate civil servant has ceased the outside work, whichever occurs first. For approved post-service outside work taken up by directorate civil servants below DPS D4 (or equivalent), the relevant information may be disclosed on a case-by-case basis where there is public concern.
The two applications referred to in the question were processed and considered in accordance with the procedures and assessment criteria mentioned above (i.e. paragraphs 2 and 3). The decision authority approved the two applications and imposed conditions on each application, including a sanitisation period of three months.
Regarding part (b) of the question, from 2007 to 2009, a total of 16 applications from eight former directorate civil servants to take up post-service outside work within one year after leaving the civil service on grounds other than retirement were approved. The details are at Annex.
Regarding part (d) of the question, the Committee on Review of Post-Service Outside Work for Directorate Civil Servants (the Review Committee) conducted a thorough review of the existing control regime and submitted its report to the Chief Executive in July 2009. The Review Committee had examined the current regime in detail, including the absence of a standard minimum sanitisation period for directorate civil servants leaving the Government on grounds other than retirement. The Review Committee had not recommended any change in this particular respect. The Administration is carefully considering the Review Committee's report.
Note 1: The specified non-commercial organisations are: charitable, academic or other non-profit making organisations not primarily engaged in commercial operations; non-commercial regional or international organisations; and the Central Authorities of the People's Republic of China.
Note 2: The length of the control period is halved for directorate civil servants with less than six years of continuous government service and leaving the Government on grounds other than retirement.
Ends/Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Issued at HKT 15:55
NNNN
