CONSTITUTION AND ADMINISTRATION
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per cent over that of the previous financial year. At April 1, 1988, the total strength of the service was 182 843, over 98 per cent of this number being local officers. It is structured into some 430 grades or job categories in administrative, professional, technical and manual fields, with 1 188 ranks or job levels.
Responsibility for the management of the Public Service lies with the Civil Service Branch of the Government Secretariat. The branch deals with such matters as appoint- ments, pay and conditions of service, staff management, manpower planning, training and discipline. It is also the focal point for consultation with the principal staff associations.
Recruitment and promotions to the middle and senior ranks of the Public Service are subject to the advice of the Public Service Commission which is independent of the government. The commission has a full-time chairman and leading citizens serving as members.
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The government is advised on matters relating to pay and conditions of service by two independent bodies. The Standing Committee on Directorate Salaries and Conditions of Service advises on matters affecting directorate officers (the 1 000 or so most senior public servants). The Standing Commission on Civil Service Salaries and Conditions of Service deals with all other public servants.
In January 1988, a new independent body, the Standing Committee on Judicial Salaries and Conditions of Service, was established to advise on matters affecting judicial officers.
In March 1988 an independent Review Committee on Disciplined Services Pay and Conditions of Service was appointed. It submitted a preliminary report to the Governor in July and a final report in October. The Review Committee's recommendations, which provide a comprehensive framework for determining the pay and conditions of service of the disciplined services, were accepted by the government in December. Steps are in hand to implement these recommendations.
The year also saw the appointment, in October, of an independent Committee of Inquiry to look into the 1988 pay award and related matters. The committee was appointed under the 1968 Agreement between the Hong Kong Government and the main staff associations represented on the Senior Civil Service Council. It reported on the first phase of its work in November, and is expected to submit its final report in March 1989.
The government fully recognises the value of good staff relations in the Public Service. Apart from providing a wide range of welfare and recreational facilities to staff, much effort is devoted to the promotion of effective staff consultation. The formal consultative machinery comprises two service-wide central consultative councils; the Senior Civil Service Council and the Model Scale 1 Staff Consultative Council, a Police Force Council for members of the Police Force, and departmental consultative committees for staff in all other departments. Outside these councils and committees, individual members of the Public Service or staff associations have already access to their heads of department or grade and the Civil Service Branch.
Continued efforts were made in 1988 to increase productivity and to improve the qua- lity of service to the public. To this end, value for money studies and work improvement studies were carried out in various departments. These studies brought about not only improvements in the quality of service, but also more effective deployment of staff, as well as significant savings in resources.
The quality of service is also maintained by way of a disciplinary code which applies to all public servants. It provides sanctions against misconduct and sub-standard performance where other staff management measures fail, while safeguarding the interests and rights of individual public servants. The government is developing its use of manpower planning