TNAG-1548-FCO40-2112-Future-of-the-Hong-Kong-public-service-1986 — Page 8

PA258/1/htm 256/1 (haturve

Question No 6

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Reply by the Chief Secretary

to a question by the Hon Tai Chin-wah

in the Legislative Council on 29 October 1986

Question: Could the Government inform this Council of

its policy with regard to

to the localisation of the Civil Service and whether such policy is likely to affect the morale of the expatriate Civil Service in Hong Kong?

HKK 256f RECEIVED IN REGISTRY

·E NOV 1986

Sir,

Y

Color Taken

The current policy on localisation has been

in force since the early 1960s. Preference is given

to the appointment of local candidates at recruitment

and overseas candidates are appointed only when there

is no suitable local candidate. Promotion is based on

merit and all eligible officers, whether local or

•

overseas, on pensionable or agreement terms, are

considered on an equal basis.

Overseas officers on agreement terms are

2.

given a a further

contract if a local officer is not

available to fill

the

vacancy.

applications for transfer to the

As regards

permanent and

pensionable establishment, the guideline is to look 5

years ahead.

If, within this period, a local officer

2

1

will not be available to fill the vacancy,

then the

application to transfer to pensionable establishment

would be favourably considered.

3.

Sir,

I believe Hong Kong has a loyal and

highly public service. On the whole, morale is high

but this is not to say that all officers are equally

There appears to be some

contented.

happy and

misunderstanding among some overseas officers that the

government

has

tightened the rules on

renewal

of

contracts. I must stress that the rules have not been

changed. In the last 3 years, over 90% of those who

have applied for contract renewal have been successful

and I expect the trend to continue this year.

4.

preference

The basic fact is that our policy of giving

candidates on appointment has

to

local

borne fruit as many of these officers have acquired

experience and gained promotion to directorate level.

Notwithstanding this, overseas officers will continue

to be appointed on agreement terms

on agreement terms to fill posts for

which local talent is not available. Indeed we shall

be appointing more

overseas

officers

this year

than

completion

of their

those who will be leaving on

contracts.

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Supplementary to Question No. 6.

LegCo meeting.

29 October 1986.

Mr. TAI: Sir, could the Government inform this Council in

respect of the following:

has

With regard to paragraph 1 of the reply,

the Government any plan to review the current policy

on localisation ? The second question is with regard to paragraph 3 of the reply regarding rules on renewal of contracts for overseas

officers.

plan to review or to change

the rules for the renewal of contracts ?

Has

the Government any

Chief Secretary: The answer, Sir, is "no" to both questions.

Mr. YEUNG: Sir, what steps have been taken by the Government to alleviate the sad misunderstanding amongst those overseas officers and how many posts are there in the Government where local talent

is not available ?

Chief Secretary: Sir, as I understand it, the Secretary for the

Civil Service or his staff have seen the officers concerned and have

explained the position to them. On the second part of the question, which involves a considerable amount of statistical detail, I would

prefer to let Mr YEUNG have that in writing.

Mr. LEE Yu-tai: Sir, is there a danger of promoting people beyond their level of capability because the recruitment pool is made smaller

as a result of localisation ?

careful

Λ

Chief Secretary: No, Sir. The appointment of staff to posts in

the Civil Service has to pass the

scrutiny of the Public Services

Commission and I am sure that that is not the case.

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