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Following is a question by the Hon Emily Lau and a written reply by the Secretary for the Civil Service, Mr Paul Tang, in the Legislative Council today (February 27):
Question:
The Government raised the Chinese language proficiency requirement for appointment to the civil service on a par with that for the English language in 1995 and further raised the proficiency requirements for both languages in 2003. However, some people from the ethnic minorities have relayed to me that they have difficulties in securing appointments when applying for jobs in the civil service because they were unable to learn Chinese in a systematic manner under the education system in Hong Kong but have to compete with applicants whose mother tongue is Chinese. On the other hand, in an article published on the Internet on July 8, 2012, the Secretary for Home Affairs pointed out that "the Government understands that people from the ethnic minorities may find it difficult to secure appointments to the civil service due to their level of proficiency in the Chinese language, and we are trying to address this issue. Currently, apart from recognizing the results of the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination and the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination obtained by the applicants, the Government also recognizes other diplomas more often obtained by students whose second language is Chinese. Individual departments such as the Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) have also revised their entry requirements under which additional merits will be given to applicants who are proficient in foreign languages including Hindi and Urdu (commonly used among Pakistanis)". In this connection, will the executive authorities inform this Council:
(a) of the respective average annual numbers of people from the ethnic minorities appointed to the civil service in the two periods from 1997-1998 to 2002-2003 and from 2003-2004 to 2010-2011;
(b) of the current number of civil servants who belong to the ethnic minorities, as well as their percentage in the total number of civil servants; and
(c) whether they have requested other government departments to follow the practice of HKPF in giving additional merits to applicants who are proficient in the languages of the ethnic minorities when recruiting civil servants; if they have, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
(a) and (b) Appointments to the civil service are based on the principle of open and fair competition. All candidates in an open recruitment exercise are assessed consistently on the basis of their ability, performance and character, and having regard to the stipulated entry requirements (including language proficiency) set according to the job requirements of the grade concerned. Race is not a relevant consideration in the selection process. Given this, we do not require candidates to declare their ethnic origins. Nor do we collect information about the ethnic origins of individual civil servants (including new recruits).
The Administration conducted the first survey on the racial profile of the civil service in 2011 with a view to understanding the composition of the civil service by racial groups. The survey, conducted on a voluntary and anonymous basis, sought to reflect the overall racial profile of the civil service through compilation of consolidated information. A total of 26 671 civil servants (or 17% of the 156 781 serving civil servants as at March 31, 2011) responded by close of the survey period. As revealed by the survey, the distribution of individual ethnic minority groups in the civil service was broadly comparable to that in the general population as noted in the 2006 By-census.
(c) In setting the language proficiency requirements (LPRs) for recruitment to the civil service, the job nature and operational requirements of the grade concerned are the primary considerations. Under the prevailing guidelines, individual civil service grades should ensure that the LPRs specified are relevant to and commensurate with the satisfactory performance of the duties of the grades concerned. The Civil Service Bureau has issued guidelines to heads of department/grade, reminding them to review the LPRs from time to time taking into account the operational needs, and to revise the LPRs when necessary. Departments and grades have accordingly taken appropriate follow-up actions in this regard. For instance, the Hong Kong Police Force has revised the selection process for Police Constables, under which candidates' proficiency in language(s) other than Chinese and English would also be considered. The Correctional Services Department has replaced the Chinese written test with a group interview or an oral question session in the selection process for relevant grades. In addition, following a recent review, the Government Logistics Department has revised one of the LPRs of the Motor Driver grade from "be able to write simple Chinese" to "be able to write simple Chinese or simple English". The revised LPRs have been adopted in the recruitment exercise launched in January 2013.
In revising the existing LPRs, the overriding principle must be to meet actual operational needs of individual grades and to ensure that the LPRs specified or selection methods adopted are relevant to and commensurate with the satisfactory performance of the job concerned. Requiring all grades to adopt the same set of LPRs or practices is neither appropriate nor suitable for addressing the actual operational needs.
The Administration will continue to keep the LPRs of individual grades under review and make suitable adjustments as appropriate with a view to meeting actual operational needs, and at the same time facilitating those who wish to join the Government, including the ethnic minorities, in applying for civil service jobs.
Ends/Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Issued at HKT 16:55
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