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Following is a question by the Hon Michael Ho and a reply by the Secretary for the Civil Service, Mr W K Lam, in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):

Question:

The recent transfer of the former Director of Broadcasting, a departmental grade officer, to the post of Principal Hong Kong Economic and Trade Representative, Tokyo, has caused some members of the public to worry that the principle of Radio Television Hong Kong's ("RTHK") editorial independence and autonomy may change. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a) of the policy on the transfer of departmental grade officers to posts of non-departmental grades (including the circumstances under which such transfers will be considered, and whether it is stipulated that such transfers are confined to departmental grade officers of certain ranks or above); and of the differences between this transfer policy and that applicable to general grade officers;

(b) of the circumstances under which departmental grade officers who have been transferred to posts of non-departmental grades will switch to the general grades; and

(c) in order to avoid similar transfers in the future causing public concern again, whether it will consider ways to further ensure the editorial autonomy of RTHK, including reconsidering the corporatization of RTHK?

Reply:

Madam President,

I would like to respond to the three questions raised by The Honourable Michael Ho in seriatim.

(a) The Government's appointment policy has always allowed the transfer of civil servants from one civil service grade to another. This includes the transfer of a departmental officer to a general grade (by general grade, we mean a grade with posts distributed among different bureaux and departments). To the management, the arrangements for internal transfer not only increase the flexibility for manpower deployment, but also widen the pool of candidates for filling the vacancies in the relevant grades. Furthermore, transfers could broaden the opportunities for staff development and advancement within the civil service.

Generally speaking, departmental staff may be transferred to general grade posts through the following four avenues, the first of which involves temporary secondments and the rest permanent transfers:

(i) In the light of service or training need, departmental management and the management of general grades may arrange between themselves the temporary secondment of suitable departmental officers to fill general grade posts, e.g. the secondment of a Building Surveyor to the Home Affairs Bureau to fill an Assistant Secretary post ranked at Senior Administrative Officer;

(ii) Individual departmental officers who are interested to transfer to a general grade on a permanent basis may apply to join the general grade through open recruitment/in-service recruitment. Applicants will have to go through the same selection process and compete with other eligible candidates, e.g. departmental officers in various departments may apply for appointment as an Administrative Officer through open recruitment;

(iii) For the purpose of meeting service need or the career aspirations of promising departmental officers, individual departmental management and the management of a general grade may work out between themselves a standing mechanism for eligible departmental officers to be transferred permanently to a specific general grade for career advancement, e.g. the Trade Officer grade and the Administrative Officer grade has a cross-posting scheme whereby eligible Principal Trade Officers are posted to fill positions at the Senior Administrative Officer rank;

(iv) The fourth avenue generally applies to senior directorate positions in the Administrative Officer grade. When considering the filling of vacancies at these senior positions, the management will consider not only the suitability of officers in the Administrative Officer grade, but also the suitability of departmental officers with comparable rank and ability to undertake the work of Administrative Officer grade, e.g. the appointment of former Land Registrar Mr Kenneth Pang as Commissioner, U.S.A. The recent appointment of CHEUNG Man-yee as Permanent Representative, Tokyo, also falls under this category.

In arranging the secondment or permanent transfer of individual departmental officers to the general grades, the management has to take into account not only the appropriate work ability of the officers concerned, but also the officers' personal preference. In other words, the officers can decide to accept or not the secondment or transfer arrangement, which is different from general grade officers who are required to take up different postings on a regular basis.

(b) The Honourable Member in his second question asked about the circumstances under which departmental officers who have transferred to general grade posts would be substantively appointed as members of general grades. If the transfer is only meant to be a temporary secondment as per the first avenue described above, there is obviously no question of substantive appointment as a general grade officer. For transfers under the remaining three avenues, normally the transferring departmental officers would have to go through a trial or acting period. Their substantive appointments as general grade officers would be subject to their satisfactory performance and willingness during the period.

(c) As regards the third question raised by The Honourable Member, let me state once again that it is SAR Government's established policy to maintain and uphold the editorial independence of RTHK which will remain unchanged despite the transfer of personnel. The policy is clearly stipulated in the Framework Agreement between the Information Technology and Broadcasting Bureau and RTHK.

RTHK has a well-established editorial system to ensure editorial independence. Last year, RTHK promulgated the Producers' Guideline to codify and institutionalise the established editorial practice.

There is no causal relationship between the policy of editorial independence and RTHK's status as a government department. That RTHK enjoys editorial independence is an established policy which has been fully implemented. We consider it inappropriate to associate the question of corporatization of RTHK with the policy of editorial independence.

End/Wednesday, December 8, 1999

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