(a)
(b)
(c)
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of the total number of posts which have been included in the 'opening up' arrangement and the departments to which these posts belong, as well as the expected date at which all these posts will be opened up;
whether the progress of opening up these posts is on target; if not, what plans are in place to speed up the progress; and
whether the Government has encountered any difficulties in opening up these posts; if so, what the difficulties are?
Answer:
Mr President,
The opening up arrangement was introduced in December 1994. It applies to positions in promotion ranks which are occupied by agreement officers whose agreements expire on or after 1 September 1995. Such a position will be opened up for competition when an overseas agreement officer who is a permanent resident seeks a further agreement modelled on local conditions or when a local agreement officer seeks a further agreement on his existing terms. When a position is opened up, the incumbent and eligible officers one rank below can apply to compete for the position. A selection board would be formed to select the most suitable person for the position.
We estimated that 591 agreement officers in promotion ranks whose agreements expire on or after 1 September 1995 would be affected by the arrangement. A breakdown of these agreement officers by departments is at Appendix. Since the introduction of the opening up arrangement in December 1994, 124 positions have been opened up for competition and 41 positions are in the process of being opened up.
There are situations where the opening up arrangement does not apply to the 591 positions mentioned above. These include officers who choose to renew their agreements on overseas terms; local officers who have been approved to transfer to the permanent and pensionable establishment before the temporary suspension of such applications on 31 October 1995; and officers who decide not to seek renewal of their agreements. So far, 231 positions were not opened up for any one of the reasons above.
The opening up of the remaining positions would depend on when and how the officers choose to seek further employment with government. An officer is only required to exercise his option for further employment 12 months before the expiry of his agreement.