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CONSTITUTION AND ADMINISTRATION
In addition, members of the Urban Council operate a ward system through which they receive complaints from members of the public and bring them to the attention of the appropriate government department or raise them formally in the Urban Council.
Civil Service
The civil service provides the staff for all government departments, sub-depart- ments and other units of the administration. As at April 1, 1974 the total number of posts in the civil service (or its establishment as it is generally called) was 112,818. The strength on January 1, 1974 was 95,467 officers, of whom 93,318 were local officers and 2,149 were overseas officers.
This indicates that about one person in every 40 in Hong Kong is employed by the government. There is a large proportion of labouring staff, and 38,659 of the total establishment of the civil service are labourers, semi-skilled labourers or artisans of one kind or another. The Hong Kong civil service is unusual in that it does some jobs which in other territories and administrations are done by people who do not belong to the civil service. For example, in other territories staff for hospitals, public works and utilities, urban cleansing and public health and the police, are not always servants of the central government. In Hong Kong, the establishments of the Medical and Health Department (13,786), the Public Works Department (16,025), the Urban Serv- ices Department (18,634) and the Royal Hong Kong Police Force (19,114) account for a total of 67,589 posts, or about 60 per cent, of the total establishment of the service. The service has grown from a little more than 17,500 in 1949 to about 45,000 in 1959 and to its present strength of more than 95,000. This reflects not only the continu- ing expansion of existing services, in line with the continuing expansion of the popula- tion, but also the development of new and more diverse services to meet the changing needs of the population.
The cost of the civil service is reflected in the expenditure on personal emoluments. For the financial year 1974-5 the estimated expenditure on personal emoluments, ex- cluding pensions, is about $1,676 million. This represents about 43 per cent of the estimated recurrent expenditure included in the Budget.
The establishment of each post in the civil service requires the approval of the Finance Committee of Legislative Council, assisted by the advice of its establishment sub-committee, which examines all requests received from departments for additional posts, both for new projects and to meet increasing work-loads, to ensure that staff is properly utilised and that new posts are provided only when they are essential.
Recruitment and promotions to the civil service are, with a few exceptions, subject to the advice of the Public Services Commission, which was set up in 1950 and is in- dependent of the government. The commission also advises the government on dis- cipline cases. Sir Ronald Holmes is the full-time chairman of the commission, and leading citizens are appointed as members on a part-time voluntary basis.
Overall responsibility for recruitment, promotion, training and conditions of service in the civil service is exercised by the Civil Service Branch of the Colonial Secretariat.