Sir,
вс
кар
Se
24.
In the absence of the Chief Secretary, Sir David Ford,
se
I wish to comment upon a number of other civil service matters cap. on his behalf. Mr. Martin Lee suggested that a commission might examine fringe benefits with a view to furthering localisation. We have, of course, Standing Commission which is charged with
the task of keeping civil service salaries and conditions of
service under review. I would, however, offer a word of
caution:
there is clearly disquiet among civil servants
concerning the possible erosion of their conditions of
三
service. While such concern is in my view misplaced, we must
recognise that, if in the coming years we want a civil
Civil service which is well-motivated and whose morale is high, regard has to be paid to the perception as well as the reality. Great care
must be taken in matters relating to adjustments to fringe benefits to ensure that signals are not misread either by civil
servants or those we would like to attract into the service.
Regarding Mr. Lee's proposal for a cash allowance in lieu of housing to attract local lawyers, a review of measures. designed to further the localisation of the Legal Department as well as a full review of civil service housing benefits is currently
underway.
at / se 25. clay
B.
Mr. Helmut Sohmen had something to say about movement
- of staff between
the civil service and the private sector. May I say in reply that the Government accepts that in principle cross-fertilization of this kind is a good idea. Over the past
15 fifteen or so years, several middle-ranking officials have been seconded to the private sector. Two are seconded at present and we intend to increase this to four a year if possible. However, we would prefer reciprocal arrangements and the difficulty seems
to be to find private firms who will release staff for
secondment to government departments. The permanent loss
loss of
private sector is a
trained
and experienced
staff to the
10
/different