TNAG-1855-FCO40-2630-Legislative-Council-of-Hong-Kong-memoranda-and-minutes-of-me-1989 — Page 69

HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL —15 March 1989 香港立法局 —————————一九八九年三月十五日

21

SECRETARY FOR SECURITY: Sir, the Administration shares the public's wish that the police and Fire Services, amongst other departments of the Government, should be kept up to strength and that there should not be any deterioration in the present high standard of services provided.

The televised programme by Radio Television Hong Kong did not detract from the relevance of the information which I provided to this Council in February which showed that, at the end of 1988, the police wastage rate was 6% while the vacancy rate was less than 1%. For the Fire Services, the wastage and vacancy rates were 3.3% and 6.5% respectively.

According to the latest statistics at the end of February 1989, the police wastage rate for the financial year 1988-89 is estimated to increase slightly to 6.2% while the vacancy rate remains at less than 1%. For the Fire Services, the wastage rate is estimated to increase slightly to 3.6% while the vacancy rate will decrease to 5.7%. These figures show that the vacancy rates of these two departments compare favourably with the rest of the Civil Service where the average vacancy rate in 1988 was 6.1%. For wastage the police rate is slightly above the Civil Service rate of 5.6%. The Fire Services wastage rate, on the other hand, is substantially lower.

Regarding police services, in 1988 the overall crime rate dropped by 3%, and the number of complaints against the police dropped by 16.5%, compared with 1987. For the Fire Services, in 1988, 80% of the fire calls were answered within the target response time of 6 minutes, while the average response time was only 5.23 minutes.

It is clear from these indicators that there has been no impairment of services. Nevertheless, in the months ahead the Administration and the departments concerned will be monitoring the situation very carefully and will pay particular attention to efforts to step up recruitment as a matter of priority.

MRS. LAU: Sir, would the Secretary confirm whether the wastage rate in the police force was as disclosed in the televised programme: 379 in 1985 and 627 in 1986? If so, bearing in mind the wastage rate of 1 639 in 1988 which almost triples that of 1986 and in the light of aggravating recruitment difficulties and staff shortages sounded so loudly in the televised programme, would the Administration not consider there is reason for real concern? And would the Administration not consider it necessary to forget about percentages for the time being and take immediate steps to go to the root of the problem and attempt to remedy the situation instead of merely sitting back and monitoring it?