TNAG-0992-FCO40-1211-Policy-on-salaries-and-pensions-for-civil-service-in-Hong-Ko-1980 — Page 2

The Major Recommendations

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The major recommendations in the Standing Commission's Report can be grouped under 4 headings. First, on departmental consultative machinery (chapter 3), the Commission recommends that formal consultative councils should be established in all departments with a staff of 100 or more, that "all staff groups" should be accommodated in such councils and that, on an experimental basis, a representative of the Civil Service Branch should attend departmental consultative council meetings to facilitate communication between Government Secretariat, departmental management and staff in departments. The Report also contains a number of proposals on how existing arrangements in departments for consultation between management and staff may be improved and highlights the Commission's emphasis on the importance of Heads of Department or their Deputies taking a personal interest in matters raised at departmental consultative councils. This is to ensure that staff aspirations are known at the highest level in departments and that agreements reached with staff are implemented expeditiously.

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Second, on the central consultative machinery (chapter 4), the Commission recommends that the 1968 Agreement between the Government and the three main staff associations (the Hong Kong Chinese Civil Servants Association, the Association of Expatriate Civil Servants of Hong Kong and the Senior Non-Expatriate Officers Association) which provides, inter alia, for the establishment and operation of the Senior Civil Service Council should be jointly reviewed by both the Official Side and the Staff Side of the Council to see if it still meets the full needs of a growing and more sophisticated Civil Service. In addition, the Commission noted that one of the main deficiencies of the present arrangements is the lack of consultation with junior staff, in particular those on Model Scale 1, who constitute a substantial proportion of the Civil Service. To overcome this deficiency, the Commission recommends that a new Junior Civil Service Consultative Council should be set up to provide a channel for junior civil servants to voice their opinions to central management and a forum for the Administration to consult its junior staff on matters affecting their employment and welfare. The Report lists a number of general guidelines for setting up this new Council. In recognition of the special position of police officers who are prohibited by virtue of the Police Force Ordinance from joining any staff union, the Commission has recommended that existing liaison arrangements between the Police consultative councils and the Administration should be rein- forced, with the former being consulted on all matters considered by the Senior Civil Service Council.

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Third, as regards staff relations and staff management work at both central and departmental levels (chapters 4 and 5), the Commission recommends that the Government should give priority in the allocation of

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