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Public Service Commission Ordinance
Following is the speech by the Secretary for the Civil Service, Mr Michael Sze, in moving the motion on Public Service Commission Ordinance (Chapter 93) in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):
Mr President,
I move the motion standing in my name on the Order Paper. Section 6(1)(a) - (d) of the Public Service Commission (PSC) Ordinance stipulates, amongst other things, that the Commission shall advise the Governor on the filling of vacancies and the promotion of officers in the public service. This motion proposes to exclude the departmental grade staff in the Monetary Authority (MA) who remain on civil service terms from the purview of the Public Service Commission under Section 6 (2A) of the PSC Ordinance. The departmental staff includes mainly officers of the Bank Examiner and Bank Examination Assistant Grades.
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The MA was set up in April 1993 under the Exchange Fund (Amendment) Ordinance, following the re-organisation of the then Monetary Affairs Branch. It is accountable to the Financial Secretary who receives advice from the Exchange Fund Advisory Committee. To attract and retain staff with the right experience and expertise, the MA is empowered to employ people on terms different from those in the Government. All serving departmental officers were given the option to resign from the civil service and take up MA terms of employment before 30 September 1994. Those who had not opted for MA terms remain working in the Authority as civil servants. As at 30.6.95, 48 departmental officers had opted for MA terms of employment and the other 78 departmental officers were still on civil service terms. The option to transfer to MA terms was not available to general/common grades staff. These staff will be transferred back to the Government once the MA has recruited its own staff to replace them.
As a result of the above arrangement, a mixed staff situation now exists in the departmental grades of the MA under which it is not possible for the PSC to scrutinise promotion exercises of these grades comprising both of civil and non-civil servants. This is because the PSC only has the authority to examine and advise on staff on civil service terms - but not on HKMA terms. Without an overall picture, the Commission is not best placed to determine who are the most meritorious officers. Following the precedent of the Hospital Authority and the Vocational Training Council, we propose that the departmental grades in the MA who remain as civil servants should be excluded from the purview of the Commission. However, matters relating to the conduct and discipline of these staff will continue to be subject to the advice of the Commission.