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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
I note that the annual expenditure to be saved could reach $288 million. When I look back at part 1 of the question (item no. 1 on page 2 of the reply document), it points out that contracting out services could save cost for the Council and that the quality and quantity of service would be maintained at a reasonable standard or even be improved. From that reply, it seems to suggest that contracting out is a good policy that saves resources. From the reply to part 2 of the question, I can see that at present, street cleansing of one-third of the urban area has been contracted out.
So, from various parts of the reply, I gather that the Council could successfully save $288 million annually through contracting out around one-third of its work and that the service standard would not decline, but even would improve. It is baffling. If this is really the case, by increasing the contracted out work from one-third to one-half, we would be able to save about $150 million more annually. That is indeed a huge sum of money. My question for Mr. SUEN is in two parts. Firstly, how much saving in terms of manpower is estimated and do we have information in hand? Secondly, if the contracting out plan is working well, can we continue to expand it?
MR. SUEN KAI-CHEONG (in Cantonese): On manpower saving referred to by Mr. WONG, I do not have information in hand. It will be provided to Mr. WONG after the meeting.
The second part of the follow-up question concerns the possibility for expansion of the successful contracting out plan. It is actually something we need to consider now. Perhaps various Select Committees can take this up for consideration. However, before proceeding, I want to remind you on two points. First, there should be a contingency measure in the course of contracting out services. The reason we have so far only contracted out one-third of the street cleansing work is to make sure the Council can undertake its duty even if individual contractors fail to fulfill their contracts. Even if contractors fail, we have to maintain our service. If we contract out all cleansing services, we will have our hands tied when contractors fail us. Therefore, we need to be cautious in deciding the ratio of contracting out work.
The second point concerns staff manpower and it is not something that can be solved at once. There are at present over 16,000 staff members in the Department. In what way should we cut staff in the contracting out process? Should we do it through natural wastage or redundancy? It calls for cautious consideration. Of course, on this matter of contracting out, I promise you that there is room for further review.
MR. CHAN KWOK-LEUNG (in Cantonese): Contracting out of Urban Council services is in fact a good idea. It enhances cost effectiveness and trims down the bureaucratic set-up of the Urban Services Department. However, without adequate monitoring of the services, standards could decline. The Chairman of
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