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Following is question by the Hon Ng Leung-sing and a written reply by the Secretary for the Civil Service, Mr W K Lam, in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):

Question:

Will the Government inform this Council:

(a) of the present system for granting awards and commendations to civil servants who have achieved outstanding performance in their work or made contributions to public service;

(b) how this system compares with that in force before Hong Kong's reunification with China; and

(c) whether it has announced the reasons or good deeds for which a civil servant was awarded or commended; if so, whether it has assessed the effects of such announcements; if not, why not?

Reply:

Madam President,

(a) At present, there are a number of systems to grant awards and commendations to civil servants who have achieved outstanding performance in their works or made contributions to public service. The main one is that the Chief Executive presents honours and awards to civil servants in recognition of their distinguished and dedicated public service or for acts of bravery in the course of duty. Honours and awards can be classified into general honours, bravery awards, disciplined services and ICAC awards, and the Chief Executive Commendation. Besides, Department Heads may issue commendation letters to officers who have made a substantial contribution towards enhancing the efficiency or the image of their departments or who performed an exceptionally meritorious act warranting special recognition. Apart from the above, most of the departments also organise the "Staff Suggestion Scheme" and the "Staff Motivation Scheme" to encourage staff to improve efficiency and service quality by giving out awards. Besides, Trading Fund Departments also organise incentive schemes to recognise those civil servants who have outstanding performance and contributed to attain pre-determined performance indicators. In the coming financial year, the Civil Service Bureau will introduce a "Customer Service Award" Scheme to encourage front-line civil servants to provide better services to the public.

(b) A new honours and awards system has been introduced after the reunification to make the system more in line with local needs and circumstances. This system is broadly similar to the one before the reunification in terms of the types and grades of awards in order to recognise the different areas and levels of contribution by different persons. As regards the Staff Suggestion Scheme, the Commendation Letters and the Staff Motivation Scheme, the current systems are basically the same as those before the reunification. The government is also considering the introduction of more schemes to encourage civil servants to further improve their performance.

(c) For honours and awards, citations for individual recipients are usually issued together with the press release on the Honours List. This arrangement has been well received by both the recipients and the media. For the other three schemes, Government departments announce the name and the good deeds of a civil servant who was awarded or commended through various channels, e.g. presentation ceremony, departmental newsletter, circulars and press release. Such arrangement is considered effective in giving honour to the awardees and also in encouraging other civil servants to make their contributions and to make suggestions.

End/Wednesday, January 6, 1999

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