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(b)
(c)
(d)
As for the tertiary institutions, there are 1,770 teaching staff residing in pay this quarters and 2,004 receiving a Private Tenancy Allowance who
level of rent.
The payment of rent as a proportion of salary came into effect on 1 April 1971. Prior to that date rent paid by civil servants living in NDQs was set on the basis of salary "platforms" corresponding to different grades of quarters. This system emerged from the recommendations of the 1947 Salaries commission. In 1971, the Salaries Commission considered that in order to simplify administration of rent payments and to rectify anomalies inherent in such a "platform rent" system, rent should be assessed as a percentage of salary not exceeding the average of the percentage represented by the mid-point of each of the platforms. By reference to the then prevailing rent platforms (Appendix), the percentage recommended was 7.5% for quarters of G grade and above (and 5.0% for quarters below G grade). These arrangements were implemented with effect from 1 April 1971. The percentage of deduction has no direct relationship to average expenditure on housing incurred by the general public.
The provision of civil service housing benefits was reviewed in 1989. The result was the introduction of new forms of housing benefits. Civil servants joining the service on or after 1 October 1990 are only eligible for these new benefits, i.e., the Home Financing Scheme for staff on or above point 34 of the Master Pay Scale or equivalent, or the Home Purchase Scheme if they serve on a lower salary point. Staff appointed on overseas contract terms receive an Accommodation Allowance. Those who joined the service before the cut-off date were given the option to join the new Schemes.
The provision of NDQs and the PTA has ceased for staff employed after 1 October 1990, and is a declining benefit. For entitled staff who joined before that date, however, they remain a condition of service the provision of non-departmental quarters with rent deduction of 7.5% of salary is stipulated in the Memoranda on Conditions of Service which cannot be varied unilaterally by the government.
There is no plan to review the present percentage of rent deduction for quarters.