Civil service establishment and initiative to enhance productivity -
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| Date | Context | Summary of development | Action | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30.10.00 | PS | The Panel discussed the paper on the implementation of the initiative to contain the size of the civil service and the Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS). [Paper] The Financial Secretary announced in his Budget Speech on 8 March 2000 an initiative to reduce the total civil service establishment by 10 000 back to its 1995 level (188 000) over the period from 2000-01 to 2002-03. To implement the initiative, all Heads of Department/Grade (HoDs/HoGs) were required to critically assess their manpower situation. The general recruitment freeze since 1999-00 would continue for the year 2000-01 and all HoDs/HoGs were encouraged to assess how to achieve more cost-effective service delivery. The Administration stressed its commitment to maintain the quality of public services in implementing the initiative and that the initiative would not result in redundancy of existing staff. | |||||
| 19.3.01 | PS | The Panel noted the up-to-date progress of the initiative to contain the size of the civil service, specifically the lifting of the freeze on recruitment to the civil service and other related issues. [Paper] The Panel noted that the total civil service establishment as at end 2000-01 had been reduced by some 8 000 down to 190 000.
Panel members expressed concern about the impact of the reduction in civil service establishment on the quality of public service and employment opportunities. There were also concerns about the recruitment freeze for the 59 grades in the VRS. | |||||
| 18.2.02 | PS | The Panel was updated on the latest progress in containing the size of the civil service. Through the concerted efforts of all bureaux and departments, the civil service establishment had been reducing progressively. As at 1 January 2002, the civil service establishment was about 184 300. The establishment had been reduced primarily through the implementation of VRS in 59 designated grades, business process re-engineering, streamlining of service delivery processes and increasing private sector's participation in the delivery of public services. [Paper]
Panel members expressed concern over the actual savings resulted from reduction in civil service establishment and measures to contain the directorate establishment. At members' request, the Administration provided after the meeting supplementary information on containing the size of the civil service [Follow-up Paper] and information on civil service establishment in respect of other countries. [Follow-up Paper] | |||||
| 27.2.02 | CQ | Hon James TIEN raised a question on whether the Government would conduct a study on the existence of redundant staff in the civil service and whether government departments would be requested to assess their minimum manpower requirements. [Hansard "page 61"] | |||||
| 18.3.02 | PS | The Panel discussed the civil service-related issues featuring in the 2002-03 Budget Speech, including the 2002 civil service pay adjustment and the progress of containing the size of the civil service. The Panel noted that as at 1 January 2002, the civil service establishment was about 184 300, a reduction of 7% from that in March 2000. [Paper]
Panel members queried whether the reduction in the number of civil servants was in fact off-set by the increase in the number of non-civil service contract (NCSC) staff. The Panel also expressed concern over fairness to NCSC staff serving on a long-term basis. | |||||
| 15.1.03 | PS | The Panel discussed the paper on the policy initiatives of the Civil Service Bureau featuring in the Chief Executive's (CE) 2003 Policy Address. In contributing to the objective of reducing public expenditure by $20 billion to $200 billion by 2006-07, the Chief Executive (CE) had set a target of reducing the civil service establishment by 10% to about 160 000 by 2006/07 and announced two initiatives in relation to the target. These included: the implementation of a general recruitment freeze to the civil service with effect from 1 April 2003 and the launching of the second VRS. The Panel noted that as at 30 September 2002, the civil service establishment was 178 798, representing a reduction of 9.7% from some 198 000 in March 1999. [Paper]
Panel members expressed concern about the impact of the further reduction in the civil service establishment on the provision of public service, the quality of service as well as staff morale. Members were also concern about the impact of the civil service general recruitment freeze on the employment opportunities in the labour market. | |||||
| 17.3.03 | PS | The Panel discussed the paper on the civil service-related issues featuring in the 2003-04 Budget Speech, including the progress of containing the size of the civil service, the 2003 civil service pay adjustment and the staff suggestion scheme. The Panel noted that as at 31 December 2002, the civil service establishment was 177 629. The Panel also noted that the target of reducing civil service establishment to about 160 000 by 2006-07 would be achieved through a general recruitment freeze, the second VRS and natural wastage. [Paper]
Panel members expressed concern about the impact of the general recruitment freeze on the opportunities for the younger generation to pursue their career in the civil service. Members were also concerned about the impact of the second VRS on the provision and quality of public service. Panel members also pointed out that in achieving the target of reduction in civil service establishment, the Administration should take into account the impact on the civil service and should not reduce staff through forced redundancy. | |||||
| 19.5.03 | PS | The Panel discussed a paper on the implementation arrangements for the initiative announced in CE's 2003 Policy Address to reduce the civil service establishment to around 160 000 by 2006-07. [Paper] As at 31 March 2003, the total establishment of the civil service was 175 759 while the strength was 170 605. The Administration aimed at achieving the target of reducing the overall civil service establishment to around 160 000 through natural wastage, introduction of general civil service recruitment freeze (with effect from 1 April 2003) and the implementation of the Second VRS.
The Panel was concerned whether the initiative to further reduce the civil service establishment would result in forced redundancy of staff. The Panel also gave views on the various implementation arrangements. | |||||
| 16.1.04 | PS | The Panel discussed the paper on the policy initiatives of the Civil Service Bureau featuring in CE's 2004 Policy Address, covering the work on facilitating the maintenance of a lean and efficient civil service and reduction of the civil service establishment to 160 000 by 2006-07. The civil service establishment as at 30 September 2003 was 174 175. [Paper]
Panel members expressed concern about the impact of the reduction in civil service establishment on civil servants at the lower ranks. In response to members' request, the Administration provided supplementary information on changes in the number of civil service posts in the past few years after the meeting. [Follow-up Paper] On the additional measures that might be needed to realize further reduction in civil service establishment, members were concerned whether these included forced redundancy and employment of NCSC staff. | |||||
| 15.3.04 | PS | The Panel discussed the up-to-date progress of containing the size of the civil service. [Paper] The total civil service establishment had been reduced to 172 865 as at 31 January 2004. About 5 300 officers had been approved to retire under the Second VRS launched in March 2003 for 200 designated grades and majority of these VR takers would be released gradually by July 2004. It was projected that the total civil service establishment would be brought down to about 166 500 by March 2005. The Administration had started to explore a number of measures to facilitate further reduction in the coming years, including, re-deployment, tighter control over employment of NCSC staff, greater flexibility in granting no pay leave and targetted voluntary departure scheme.
The Panel also discussed the civil service-related issues featuring in the 2004-05 Budget Speech, including civil service pay adjustment, streamlining the organization structures of bureaux and departments and containing the size of the civil service. [Paper] Panel members expressed concern about the impact of the reduction in establishment on the delivery of public service and whether the reduction had been implemented in a fair manner across all grades and ranks in the civil service. Members were also concerned about the impact of the reduction on the maintenance of healthy grade structures. The increasing number of NCSC staff employed was also an issue of members' concern. At members' request, the Administration provided after the meeting supplementary information on establishment statistics for civil servants and NCSC staff as well as details on posts with approval for exemption from the civil service recruitment freeze. [Follow-up Paper] | |||||
| 2.6.04 | CQ | Hon NG Leung-sing raised a question on the efforts made by the Administration to re-define its responsibilities, re-prioritize the provision of public services and its plans for increasing private sector participation in the provision of public services, in order to achieve the target of reducing the size of the government. [Hansard "page 65"] | |||||
| 17.1.05 | PS | At the meeting when the Panel discussed the policy initiatives of the Civil Service Bureau featuring in the Chief Executive's 2005 Policy Address, some members raised concern about the Administration's measures for achieving the target of reducing the size of the civil service and impact of these measures. [Paper]
[Minutes "page 8"]
At members' request, the Administration provided supplementary information on deletion of vacant directorate posts. [Follow-up Paper] | |||||
| 21.3.05 | PS | The Panel discussed the civil service-related issues featuring in the 2005-06 Budget Speech, including the progress of reducing the civil service establishment. The Panel noted that the civil service establishment had been reduced from some 170 600 in March 2004 to about 166 000 at present. This represented a reduction of some 16% from the peak of 198 000 in early 2000. The Administration anticipated that the establishment would be reduced by another 2 700 to around 163 300 by March 2006. [Paper]
At members' request, the Administration provided supplementary information on containing the size of civil service establishment. [Follow-up Paper] | |||||
| 17.10.05 | PS | The Panel discussed the paper on policy initiatives of the Civil Service Bureau set out in the 2005-06 Policy Agenda, including the reduction of the civil service establishment. [Paper]
At members' request, the Administration provided supplementary information on the following two subjects:
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| 1.12.05 | ESC | The Administration issued to ESC an information note setting out details of the directorate posts proposed to be created and/or deleted in the 2005-06 session. [Paper] | |||||
| 2.12.05 | ESC | The Administration issued to ESC an information note on containing the size of directorate establishment, providing a summary of the latest changes in directorate establishment approved since 2002 and changes to the directorate establishment in relation to the discussion items on ESC's agenda for 7 December 2005. [Paper] | |||||
| 3.2.06 | ESC | The Administration issued to ESC an information note on containing the size of directorate establishment, providing a summary of the latest changes in directorate establishment approved since 2002 and changes to the directorate establishment in relation to the discussion items on ESC's agenda for 8 February 2006. [Paper] | |||||
| 28.2.06 | PS | The Panel discussed the civil service-related issues featuring in the 2006-07 Budget Speech, particularly on the progress of reducing the civil service establishment. The Panel noted that the civil service establishment had been reduced from some 165 000 in March 2005 to about 162 800 at present. This represented a reduction of over 17% from the peak of 198 000 at the beginning of 2000. The Administration anticipated that the establishment would be reduced by another 900 to around 161 900 by March 2007. [Paper]
The Panel also discussed the up-to-date progress of reducing the civil service establishment and general recruitment freeze. [Paper] At members' request, the Administration provided supplementary information on the civil service establishment and related matters. [Follow-up Paper] | |||||
| 25.4.06 | ESC | The Administration issued to ESC an information note on containing the size of directorate establishment, providing a summary of the latest changes in directorate establishment approved since 2002 and changes to the directorate establishment in relation to the discussion items on ESC's agenda for 3 May 2006. [Paper] | |||||
| 24.5.06 | ESC | The Administration issued to ESC an information note on containing the size of directorate establishment, providing a summary of the latest changes in directorate establishment approved since 2002 and changes to the directorate establishment in relation to the discussion items on ESC's agenda for 1 June 2006. [Paper] | |||||
| 7.6.06 | ESC | The Administration issued to ESC an information note on containing the size of directorate establishment, providing a summary of the latest changes in directorate establishment approved since 2002 and changes to the directorate establishment in relation to the discussion items on ESC's agenda for 14 June 2006. [Paper] | |||||
| 7.6.06 | CQ | Hon Howard YOUNG raised a question on the number of civil service directorate posts. [Hansard "page 57"] | |||||
| 15.3.07 | PS | The Administration briefed members on the progress of reducing the civil service establishment and related matters. [Paper] |