aim was to simplify the whole of the leave system. He also agreed to consider the Committee's suggestion to look into the possibility of establishing a centralized and standardized leave scheme with computerized records.
6.11 Conclusions and Recommendations. The Committee wish to express their concern at the lack of appreciation so far revealed by certain Controlling Officers of the financial implications arising from incorrect leave records and overstatement of leave earnings.
6.12 The Committee note that the Secretary for the Civil Service has issued an aide-mémoire to all Controlling Officers drawing their attention to the proper method of calculation of leave earnings and of the need to carry out random checks within departments.
6.13 The Committee note that it is the intention to issue new forms for leave applications and for recording leave earnings. The Committee wish to be informed of the progress in implementing the new arrangements. The Committee note that the Secretary for the Civil Service is considering whether leave records should be computerized. The Committee recommend that the Secretary should investigate the feasibility of making the new forms computer readable. 6.14 The Committee note that the Secretary for the Civil Service is carrying out periodic quality control checks in departments to ensure that procedures for recording and calculating leave earnings, and the handling of leave applications and approvals, are in order and that he intends to continue doing so in the future.
6.15 The Committee note that there are wide varieties of leave schemes and of leave earning rates within the civil service, both of which contribute to the difficulties of calculating and recording leave eligibility. The Committee note that the Standing Commission on Civil Service Salaries and Conditions of Service is now considering proposals to rationalize and simplify the leave schemes. The Committee wish to be informed of the outcome of this review and of the progress made in implementing any recommendations which may arise out of it.
6.16 Paragraphs 63–68. Personal Emoluments. Service-wide review of the administration of job-related allowances. Commenting on the Director of Audit's report, the Secretary for the Civil Service stated that two new procedures had been introduced to improve the situation. The first was the imposition of time limits on approvals for the payment of allowances. The second was that new approvals were given to a specific number of staff working in specific work locations. Revised Civil Service Regulations on shift duty allowance had been issued in September 1985, in which it was emphasized that it was the duty of the Controlling Officers to ensure that all payments were justified, properly authorized and kept under regular review. The Civil Service Regulations on other job-related allowances were currently being reviewed.
6.17 The Secretary for the Civil Service said that, since December 1984, the Civil Service Branch had been conducting a comprehensive review on the payment of all job-related allowances. Attention had initially been concentrated on shift duty allowance and extraneous duty allowance. Following a review of the 28 departments which authorized the payment of shift duty allowance, 24 departments had been given a clean bill of health and work was in hand in the remaining four departments (Medical and Health, Regional Services, Urban Services and Transport). Regarding the payment of extraneous duty allowance, of all the 64 existing types examined, 24 had been cleared and fresh approvals given, approvals for 8 types had been withdrawn because the allowance was no longer required, and review of the remaining 32 types was continuing. Action had also commenced throughout the civil service on reviewing eligibility for obnoxious duty allowance. This could take up to two years to complete because there were about 23,000 payments per month. In many cases job inspections might be required to establish the extent to which the staff currently in receipt of the allowance were undertaking obnoxious tasks.
6.18 The Secretary for the Civil Service explained that the weaknesses in procedures referred to in paragraph 64 of the Director of Audit's report were the failure of departments to review the eligibility of officers to receive the allowances in the light of changed circumstances. The Director of Accounting Services said that there were two main reasons for the errors. Firstly, the Secretary for the Civil Service previously gave approval for allowances to be paid based on the type of work performed instead of for a specific job and secondly, some departments did not raise the necessary inputs to the computer system to stop payment of the allowances when a person ceased to be eligible. The Treasury had now issued circulars to departments advising them of the correct procedure for the recording and updating of the allowance record cards.
With regard to the three-stage review being carried out by the Treasury referred to in paragraph 66 of the Director of Audit's report, the Director of Accounting Services said that the first stage covering extraneous duty allowance had commenced in January 1985 and had been completed in August 1985. The number of officers drawing the allowance was 6,000, the annual expenditure was $11 million and the number of departments involved was 42. Up to now only five or six types of allowance remained unresolved and these were being considered by the Civil Service Branch. The second stage covering hardship allowances commenced in August 1985, involved 28,000 officers in 20 departments and was scheduled to be completed within six months. The third stage covering the other job-related allowances involving payments to about 6,000 officers was expected to commence in February or March 1986 and was scheduled to be completed by September 1986.
6.20 On the question of the issue of new checking procedures to Controlling Officers for carrying out six-monthly checks, the Director of Accounting Services stated that some new procedures had been introduced but he had yet to resolve a number of practical difficulties. However, he confirmed that six-monthly checks would be carried out and these would be on an on-going basis. On the question of the review of input forms for other allowances, the Director of Accounting Services said that action on the input form for shift duty allowance had been completed, but it would take nine to twelve months to complete the revision of the input forms for the other allowances. The new input forms required additional information which would assist the Treasury in their checking of payments.
11
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.