LCQ11: Government outsourced services involving employment of professionals
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Question:
This Council passed the motion on "Taking the lead by the Government to review the outsourcing system" at its meeting on November 15, 2023, urging the Government to take the lead to review and reform the outsourcing system, including giving priority to local enterprises which employ local professionals when outsourcing, so that local employees can gain work experience and enhance their competitiveness. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the number of vacancies in government professional grades (e.g. lawyers, accountants and engineers) in each of the past three years; whether it has reviewed which professional grades are facing chronic manpower shortages;
(2) of the number of local professionals employed by the Government through outsourced service contracts or by outsourcing organisations in the past three years (set out by profession), and the amounts of money involved; and
(3) of the criteria adopted by the Government for evaluating tenders for outsourced services involving the employment of professionals or the provision of professional services, such as whether it will require the services to be provided by local professionals?
Reply:
President,
Having consulted the Civil Service Bureau (CSB), the Development Bureau (DEVB), the Department of Justice (DoJ) and the Legal Aid Department (LAD), our reply to the question raised by the Hon Lam San-keung is as follows:
(1) According to CSB, in the past three financial years (i.e. 2022-23 to 2024-25), the total number of vacancies among the 34 professional grades in the Government was 672, 755 and 720 respectively, accounting for approximately 6.7 per cent, 7.4 per cent, and 7.0 per cent of the total positions of the professional grades. Such vacancy rates were lower than the overall vacancy rates of the civil service in the same period. Among them, vacancies were relatively higher in the grades of Engineer, Medical and Health Officer, Dental Officer and Government Counsel.
Government departments have all along put in place mechanisms to handle the duties of vacant posts to minimise disruption to departmental operations or public services. Relevant measures include recruitment, promotion or appointment of suitable officers to take up acting appointments. Where necessary, consideration may also be given to extending the service of civil servants beyond the retirement age, employing non-civil service contract staff, etc. Departments would also re-prioritise and re-organise their work, capitalise on technology solutions, and streamline work processes, with a view to optimising the use of the civil service manpower resources and enhancing efficiency and service delivery of the Government continuously.
(2) and (3) Government departments which address their service or manpower needs through outsourcing generally procure services in an open and fair manner, and draw up tender specifications and requirements of procurement contracts in accordance with their respective needs, including setting requirements for the relevant personnel to meet applicable local professional qualifications or pertinent requirements.
As outsourced service contracts in government departments may involve the engagement of professionals and such outsourced services are directly procured by the departments, the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau (FSTB) does not maintain any details of the relevant contracts. Considering the diverse range of professional grades in the Government, the following reply specifically addresses outsourced service contracts related to legal, engineering and accounting professionals in response to the Hon Member's concern raised in part (1) of the question.
As regards legal services, DoJ and LAD engage outsourced counsel/solicitors based on their needs to handle prosecution, civil and legal aid cases. When engaging counsel/solicitors to handle cases, departments generally take into account various factors such as the nature and complexity of the cases, qualifications and expertise of the counsel/solicitors, etc. Besides DoJ and LAD, other departments may also outsource legal services having regard to their individual needs.
DoJ's expenses for engaging outsourced legal services and related professionals in the past three financial years are tabulated as follows:
| Financial year | Expenses for engaging legal services and related professionals ($ million) (approximate) |
Estimated percentage of expenses attributed to local personnel/entities (Note 1) |
| 2022-23 | 190 | 97.8% |
| 2023-24 | 199 | 97.5% |
| 2024-25 | 180 | 98.6% |
The numbers of counsel and solicitors to whom LAD assigned legal aid cases and the relevant expenses in the past three financial years are tabulated as follows:
| Financial year | Number of counsel | Number of solicitors | Expenses associated with counsel and solicitors ($ million) (approximate) (Note 2) |
| 2022-23 | 474 | 961 | 1,025 |
| 2023-24 | 460 | 903 | 953 |
| 2024-25 | 496 | 922 | 930 |
Although LAD does not maintain a breakdown of statistics by the number of local and non-local counsel/solicitors, the vast majority of those who were assigned legal aid cases were local lawyers.
In terms of public works, relevant departments engage consultants to provide professionals for undertaking the work on project planning, investigation and design, and to arrange resident site staff for contract management and site supervision during the construction stage, having regard to the needs of works projects. As for the number of professionals engaged under consultancy agreements by DEVB and relevant departments as well as the expenses, estimations for the past three financial years are tabulated as follows:
| Professionals engaged under architectural and engineering-associated consultancy agreements (Note 3) |
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| Financial year | Number of professionals (in terms of man-years) |
Expenses associated with professionals ($ million) (approximate) |
| 2022-23 | 913 | 907 |
| 2023-24 | 998 | 1,042 |
| 2024-25 | 917 | 998 |
| Professional resident site staff engaged by the Government through consultants (Note 4) |
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| Financial year | Number of professionals (in terms of man-years) |
Expenses associated with professionals ($ million) (approximate) |
| 2022-23 | 1 087 | 1,808 |
| 2023-24 | 1 105 | 1,827 |
| 2024-25 | 1 130 | 1,868 |
Although DEVB and relevant departments do not maintain a breakdown of statistics by local and non-local personnel for the above professionals, the vast majority of professionals and resident site staff engaged by consultants are local professionals.
To ensure the quality and capability of consultants undertaking government contracts, DEVB has drawn up lists of approved consultants which allow local and non-local consultants fulfilling the admission requirements (including the requirement on the number of professionals engaged) to apply for inclusion. In general, professionals must hold local or non-local professional qualifications recognised by relevant statutory professional institutes in Hong Kong. However, it is not compulsory for consultants to engage local professionals under the admission requirements. Moreover, when evaluating experience requirements in proposals for consultancy agreements, procuring departments will consider relevant local and non-local experience of the consultants and their professionals.
As for accounting services, the services procured by government departments through outsourced service contracts include the provision of consultancy services and operational support services for their initiatives, etc., some of which may involve the employment of accountants. As departments procure the above services based on their operational needs, FSTB does not maintain relevant statistics on the number of local accountants engaged for the related services and the expenses involved.
Ends/Wednesday, October 8, 2025
Issued at HKT 11:05
Issued at HKT 11:05
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