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Following is a question by the Hon Hui Cheung-ching and a written reply by the Secretary for the Civil Service, Mr Joseph W P Wong, in the Legislative Council today (March 6):
Question :
Regarding the employment of staff on non-civil service contract terms, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the number of staff employed on non-civil service contract terms and the gross amounts of their remuneration package, together with the number of staff whose contracts were renewed, in each of the past three years;
(b) whether the department concerned will conduct an open recruitment exercise to fill a post which still has an operational need upon the expiry of the incumbent employee's contract;
(c) of the mechanism in place to ensure that the employee is the most suitable person for the job when the department decides to renew the contract; and
(d) whether, in deciding to retain a non-civil service contract post or recruit the post-holder afresh, the department will re-set the recruit's remuneration package at the prevalent market level; if so, of the criteria for setting it?
Reply :
Madam President,
The Non-Civil Service Contract (NCSC) Staff Scheme is a standing scheme introduced in 1999 to enable Heads of Department (HoD) to employ staff on fixed-term contracts up to three years outside the Civil Service to meet service needs which are short-term, part-time or under review. It replaced the previous arrangements on the employment of temporary staff on part-time or short-term basis. For example, in 1998/99, a total of 13,931 temporary staff were engaged by HoD. When determining the employment package for NCSC staff, HoD need to observe two guiding principles -
(a) the package should be no more favourable than civil servants in comparable civil service ranks or ranks of comparable level of responsibilities; and
(b) the terms and conditions must be no less favourable than those provided for under the Employment Ordinance (Cap. 57) even though the Employment Ordinance does not bind the Government and must fully meet the provisions of other employment legislation which binds the Government
HoD have been given discretion to determine the employment package and other employment-related matters for NCSC staff having regard to the two broad principals above and other guidelines drawn up by the Civil Service Bureau where applicable. NCSC staff are employed under fixed-term contracts for any duration up to three years, having regard to the service or operational needs. The employment relationship with an NCSC staff ends upon expiry of the contract. The offer of any further contract beyond the current contract is solely at the discretion of HoD, subject to service needs and prevailing terms and conditions as may be offered. Apart from basic salaries and contract gratuities, NCSC staff are not entitled to any of the civil service job-related allowances.
Against the above background, my replies to the specific questions are as follows -
(a) The number NCSC staff fluctuates from time to time during a particular year because the length of their contracts may vary from weeks to three years. We do not keep statistics of the total number of NCSC staff engaged by HoD on an annual basis. Departments are asked to provide statistics as at 30 June and 31 December each year. As at 31 December of 1999, 2000 and 2001, the number of NCSC staff engaged was -
31 December 31 December 31 December
1999 2000 2001
Part-time Not available 2,410 2,506
Full-time Not available 6,635 11,244
Total 4,695 9,045 13,750
The total expenditure incurred by departments for the payment of salaries and gratuities to NCSC staff in 1999, 2000 and 2001 amounted to $536m, $920m and $1,644m respectively. In these three years, 2 474, 6 618 and 7 494 NCSC staff were offered further employment within one month after the expiry of their previous contracts.
(a) HoD recruit NCSC staff to perform specific tasks. If the service need remains after the expiry of the contracts of the NCSC staff, HoD may decide whether there is a need to launch fresh selection exercises or whether to offer new contracts to any of these staff. HoD may take into account a host of factors, such as their performance records, conduct and experience, job requirements, cost-effectiveness of conducting another selection exercise in making their conscious decisions.
(b) If there remains operational needs to justify offering further employment of NCSC staff, HoD will make reference to the records of performance and conduct of an incumbent as well as comments from his supervisors before deciding whether he should be offered further employment.
(c) The employment relationship of an NCSC staff ends upon the expiry of the existing contract. In determining the remuneration package in new contracts, including new contracts for serving NCSC staff, HoD will make reference to market conditions, practice in the industry, experience and qualification of the candidates, recruitment difficulties etc. But the maximum level of pay offered should not exceed the mid-point salaries of comparable civil service ranks or ranks of comparable level of responsibilities.
End/Wednesday, March 6, 2002
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