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Following is the transcript of a media session given by the Secretary for the Civil Service, Mr Joseph WP Wong, today (September 22) on the consultation paper on the review of fringe benefit allowances for civil servants:
Secretary: Today we have issued a consultation paper which sets out the outcome of our review on civil service fringe benefit allowances. At the same time, we have informed the LegCo Panel on Public Service the outcome of the review so as to enable us to discuss the matter further at a future meeting.
We have followed the principles of lawfulness, reasonableness and fairness in conducting the review. We have also taken full account of the recent Court of Final Appeal's interpretation of the Basic Law provisions on civil service remuneration which is, generally speaking, the remuneration of civil servants should not be below the 1997 level.
We believe that the outcome of the review has addressed many of the concerns expressed by our civil servants. We have also taken into account the views expressed to us by LegCo members and indeed members of the public on our civil service allowances. I am confident that the outcome will be broadly acceptable to the civil service. I will explain the outcome of the review to LegCo members as well as to the public. I am also hopeful that eventually our package of proposals will win the support of the community at large.
Reporter: A few changes were made ...... Will it affect civil service morale? ...... are not included in the changes?
Secretary: We of course are very conscious of maintaining morale in the civil service. But that is not really the point. The point is we want to conduct the review in accordance with the principles of lawfulness, reasonableness and fairness. Where we believe it is lawful and reasonable and fair to make changes, whether or not it is to abolish a certain allowance or to adjust the rate of a certain allowance downwards, I think we have no hesitation in so recommending.
In so far as the housing allowances are concerned, in fact, we have been reviewing different types of housing allowances on a regular basis. The most recent review only took place in 2000 when we introduced a Non-accountable Cash Allowance to replace all other forms of housing allowances. We will of course continue to see whether or not there is any scope for improving the management of the allowances.
But by and large we believe housing allowances have good reason to continue for the civil service.
(Please also refer to the Chinese transcript)
Ends/Thursday, September 22, 2005
Issued at HKT 17:32
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