20 Constitution and Administration
help them integrate into the community and to ensure that they are given equal opportunity in recruitment to the civil service.
The Government monitors closely the turnover in the civil service for manpower planning purposes to keep manpower at a level commensurate with service demand. Overall wastage in the civil service was about 3.1 per cent in 2008-09. Given the importance of continuity at the management level, the Government has a well- established staff planning mechanism to review the succession planning for senior staff, identify and groom officers with potential for advancement to senior management and develop a pool of talent for senior positions.
The Government values regular communication and consultation with staff. There are four consultative councils at the central level: the Senior Civil Service Council, the Model Scale 1 Staff Consultative Council, the Disciplined Services Consultative Council and the Police Force Council. More than 80 consultative committees operate at the departmental level. The Civil Service Newsletter is published regularly to provide an added link with serving and retired civil servants.
To ensure that Hong Kong continues to maintain a world-class civil service which keeps pace with changes in society, the Government introduced a number of reforms during the past 10 years. The reforms cover the following five main areas:
1. Maintaining a Lean and Efficient Civil Service
The civil service establishment has been reduced by about 18.7 per cent from about 198 000 posts in early 2000 to about 161 000 at the end of March 2007—through a process of re-engineering, organisational review and outsourcing. In accordance with the 'small government' principle, the Government continues to keep a watchful eye over the size of the civil service. New posts are only created when the need is fully justified and other means of providing services are not feasible. On the other hand, due consideration is given to the need for additional manpower resources for delivering new and improved services. The growth forecast. for the civil service in 2009-10 is about 0.9 per cent.
2. Reviewing Civil Service Pay and Benefits
The policy for civil service pay is to offer sufficient remuneration to attract, retain, and motivate staff of a suitable calibre to provide the public with an effective, efficient and high quality service. In order that civil service pay can be regarded as fair and reasonable by both civil servants who provide the service and the public who foot the bill, the Government adopts the principle that civil service pay should be broadly comparable with private sector pay.
Broad pay comparisons are achieved through periodic surveys. Under the current improved system, the Government conducts a pay level survey every six years; a starting salaries survey every three years; and a pay trend survey every year. The Government has invited the Standing Commission on Civil Service Salaries and Conditions of Service to conduct the next starting salaries survey, using April 1, 2009 as the reference date.