ENG-2009 — Page 65

Constitution and Administration | 21

The improved system also includes an effective means for adjusting pay upwards or downwards. The Government is working out the details on this with the staff sides.

In October 2009, the Chief Executive-in-Council accepted and, where appropriate, refined the recommendations in the three grade structure review reports one for the civilian directorate, another for the disciplined services, and the last one for specific non-directorate civilian grades facing recruitment and retention difficulties submitted by the relevant advisory body on civil service salaries and conditions of service. With the approval of the Finance Committee of the Legislative Council in December 2009, revisions to salaries and increments were implemented with retrospective effect from April 1, 2009. Other changes would take effect from a forward date after approval by the Finance Committee or from the date when the necessary administrative arrangement is in place.

In addition to salaries, civil servants are eligible for fringe benefits depending on their terms of appointment, rank, salary point, length of service, and other eligibility rules. The Government has been taking steps over the years to modify the granting of fringe benefits to civil servants in line with present day conditions. These included scrapping or exercising stricter control of allowances to new recruits.

3. Improving the Entry and Exit System

The New Entry System for civil service recruits gives the Government greater flexibility in making appointments, while the new retirement benefits system, called the Civil Service Provident Fund Scheme, provides retirement benefits for officers appointed on New Entry terms.

The Management-initiated Retirement Scheme is now in place to allow the Government, for the purpose of organisational improvement, to initiate the early retirement of directorate officers.

4. Providing Diversified Training

The Civil Service Training and Development Institute, under the Civil Service Bureau, formulates training policies and gives support to bureaux/departments in training and development matters. The institute focuses on four core service areas: senior civil servants' development, national studies programmes, human resource management consultancy service and promotion of a continuous learning culture in the civil service.

Special programmes, conducted by professionals and academics, are offered to senior civil servants to help them develop as leaders. Programmes for attachment to, and exchange with, overseas organisations and the Mainland's municipal and provincial governments in Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou and Guangdong, have also been arranged for civil servants to gain wider exposure.

To give civil servants a fuller understanding of national affairs, the institute arranges national studies programmes at the National School of Administration, Foreign Affairs University, Tsinghua University, Peking University and Sun Yat-sen