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Following is a question by the Hon Li Fung-ying and a written reply by the Secretary for the Civil Service, Miss Denise Yue, in the Legislative Council today (June 9):
Question:
It has been reported that following the resignation of the former Commissioner for Tourism (former Commissioner) in December last year, the Civil Service Bureau soon gave permission, after imposing conditions to disallow her participation in the expansion project of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC) within one year, etc., for her to take up the post of Deputy Executive Director of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) in April this year. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the details of the measure restricting the former Commissioner from participating in the expansion project of HKCEC within one year; the reasons for adopting the measure; whether the Government has imposed other restrictions on her application for taking up post-service employment, as well as details of such restrictions;
(b) whether the Government has any measure to ensure that upon the expiry of the one-year restriction period, the former Commissioner will not participate or be engaged in any work of HKTDC that has actual or potential conflict of interest with her previous service in the Government, in order to avoid negative public perception, which will embarrass the Government and tarnish the image of civil servants; if so, of the details of such measures; if not, the reasons for that; and
(c) given that it has been reported that the former Commissioner had given up part of her paid leave accumulated during her service in the Government in order to assume office as early as possible, making it necessary for HKTDC to make pecuniary compensation to her, whether the Government knows the amount of the compensation, the nature of such expense and whether it was paid out of the funds allocated by the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau?
Reply:
President,
In general terms, for each post-service outside work application from a directorate civil servant, the decision authority will consider whether the proposed outside work will give rise to real, potential or perceived conflict of interest with the applicant's duties during his/her last three to six years of government service. If the applicant's proposed outside work will give rise to real conflict of interest, the application will be rejected. If the applicant's proposed outside work does not constitute any real conflict of interest with his/her duties before leaving government service but may give rise to potential or perceived conflict of interest, the authority will consider whether the application should be approved on its own merit. If it is decided that the application should be approved, the authority will, in addition to the standard work restrictions (Note 1), impose further work restrictions on a case-by-case basis to further reduce potential or perceived conflict of interest.
Regarding part (a) of the question, the decision authority, in approving the application from the former Commissioner for Tourism (former Commissioner) to take up post-service employment as Deputy Executive Director of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), imposed the following conditions in addition to the standard work restrictions:
(i) the former Commissioner may only take up the proposed appointment after she ceases to be a civil servant but not earlier than the expiry of the three-month sanitisation period;
(ii) the former Commissioner should not use or disclose any classified or sensitive information acquired while she was in government service in the course of her employment with HKTDC; and
(iii) the former Commissioner should not be involved, directly or indirectly, in the first 12 months of her appointment with HKTDC, in the work relating to (1) the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre expansion project; (2) the review and determination of subvention to HKTDC, and (3) the formulation of HKTDC's stance and response to the Government's competition policy and any draft competition legislation, including participating in any discussion between HKTDC and the Government on competition policy and any draft competition law.
The decision authority did not consider that the former Commissioner's proposed employment would have real or potential conflict of interest with her duties before leaving government service. Taking into consideration that the Tourism Commission is under the Commerce, Industry and Tourism Branch (CITB) of the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau, and that CITB is responsible for policy matters on Hong Kong's external commercial relations, inward investment promotion, intellectual property protection, industry and business support (including development of exhibition and convention services), consumer protection, competition and tourism, etc., the decision authority considered it possible for a perception of conflict of interest to arise. Therefore, the additional conditions as set out in paragraph 2 above were imposed to mitigate perceived conflict of interest.
Regarding part (b) of the question, the decision authority did not consider that the former Commissioner's proposed employment would constitute real or potential conflict of interest with her duties before leaving government service. There might only be perceived conflict of interest. Imposing the additional conditions as set out in paragraph 2 above could mitigate perceived conflict of interest.
As for part (c) of the question, we understand from HKTDC that it is required to follow established procedures in appointing senior staff. Suitable candidates will be selected by a selection panel before approval for appointment is sought from the Council of HKTDC. As regards the terms of employment between HKTDC and the former Commissioner, including the pecuniary compensation referred to in the question, HKTDC, as the employer, considers it inappropriate to disclose the information.
At present, about 17% of HKTDC's annual revenue comes from Government funding. This funding is used as HKTDC's operating funds to meet its daily operation expenditure, and there is no specific itemised breakdown.
Note 1: Under the standard work restrictions, the applicant should not:
(a) be personally involved, directly or indirectly, in the bidding for any government land, property, projects, contracts or franchises;
(b) undertake or represent any person in any work including any litigation or lobbying activities that are connected in any way with:
(i) the formulation of any policy or decisions;
(ii) sensitive information;
(iii) contractual or legal dealings;
(iv) assignments or projects; and/or
(v) enforcement or regulatory duties
in which he/she was involved or to which he/she had access during his/her last three years of government service; or
(c) engage in any activities which will cause embarrassment to the Government or bring disgrace to the civil service.
Ends/Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Issued at HKT 15:26
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