EC(97-98)62
For discussion
on 6 February 1998


ITEM FOR ESTABLISHMENT SUBCOMMITTEE OF
FINANCE COMMITTEE

HEAD 146 - GOVERNMENT SECRETARIAT:
EDUCATION AND MANPOWER BUREAU
Subhead 001 Salaries

Members are invited to recommend to Finance Committee the creation of the following permanent posts in the Education and Manpower Bureau of the Government Secretariat with effect from 1 March 1998 -

1 Administrative Officer Staff Grade B
(D3) ($127,900 - $135,550)

1 Senior Principal Executive Officer
(D2) ($110,000 - $116,800)

PROBLEM

The Education and Manpower Bureau (EMB) does not have adequate staffing support at the directorate level to cope with the workload arising from the growing complexity and volume of work on school education, including the work arising from the recently established Quality Education Fund (QEF).

PROPOSAL

2. The Secretary for Education and Manpower (SEM) proposes to create two permanent posts, one Administrative Officer Staff Grade B (AOSGB) as Deputy Secretary (3) to provide the necessary support at the Deputy Secretary level to cope with the school education work, and one Senior Principal Executive Officer (SPEO) to head the QEF Support Unit, with effect from 1 March 1998. The corresponding supernumerary AOSGB and SPEO posts created on
13 October 1997 will lapse on the same date.

JUSTIFICATION

The existing structure of EMB

3. At present, we have one permanent post of AOSGB1 (D4) designated as DS(EM)1 to deal with policy matters relating to tertiary education, manpower planning and other labour issues, and a permanent post of AOSGB (D3) designated as DS(EM)2 to deal with policy matters relating to school education. On 13 October 1997, we created a supernumerary post of AOSGB (D3) designated as DS(EM)3 to cope with the substantial increase in volume and complexity of school education work arising from the various new initiatives announced by the Chief Executive in his Policy Address. The organisation chart of EMB is at Enclosure 1.

The need for an additional permanent post at the Deputy Secretary level

4. With the creation of the supernumerary DS(EM)3 post, the duties of the two Deputy Secretaries responsible for school education have been apportioned as follows -

DS(EM)2 is now responsible for :

  1. overseeing the work of the Education Commission including implementation of the recommendations of the Education Commission Report No. 7 which require policy considerations such as further devolution of authority to schools and the establishment of a quality assurance mechanism;

  2. overseeing the operation of the QEF;

  3. policy relating to language education and overseeing the work of the Standing Committee on Language Education and Research;

  4. overseeing the major educational reviews, such as the review of the structure, length and interface of various stages of education, the review of the examination system, the review of the education-related advisory and executive structure, and the organisation review of the Education Department; and overseeing the implementation of recommendations from these reviews; and

  5. formulating and monitoring the long term strategy for the application of information technology in education.

DS(EM)3 is now responsible for -

  1. monitoring the various educational expenditure items arising from the 1997-98 Budget and the 1997 Policy Address to ensure effective and timely implementation. In the 1997-98 Budget, an additional amount of over $1.2 billion in recurrent expenditure has been provided to finance major improvements in school education in 1997-98 and over $4.4 billion has been allocated for capital projects to start in 1997-98 or after;

  2. supervising the school building programme and the school improvement programme to ensure timely implementation. We need to expand the school building programme considerably to achieve our goal of providing whole-day schooling for 60% of our students by the 2002 school year;

  3. policy relating to teacher quality and teaching qualification including the policy to increase primary graduate teacher posts, the work of the Advisory Committee on Teacher Education and Qualifications, the language benchmark exercise for teachers, and the establishment of a General Teaching Council;

  4. policy relating to pre-primary education and special education;

  5. policy relating to the development of school education, including whole-day primary schooling, nine-year compulsory education and strategy for new arrival children; and

  6. policy review on private schools, the Direct Subsidy Scheme, English Schools Foundation schools and international schools.

5. SEM has reviewed the supernumerary AOSGB post and considers that the increased workload in EMB in respect of school education is of a permanent rather than short-term nature. He will continue to require support of two officers at the Deputy Secretary level to cope with the increased complexity and volume of school education work. We therefore propose to create a permanent post for DS(EM)3. The main duties and responsibilities of DS(EM)3 are at Enclosure 2.

The need for a permanent post to head the QEF Support Unit

6. To provide secretariat support to the QEF, we have set up a support unit comprising a supernumerary SPEO post and 16 non-directorate posts. The unit is responsible for -

  1. managing and inviting applications for QEF;

  2. processing applications;

  3. monitoring progress of projects and reviewing progress with grantees;

  4. evaluating projects on completion;

  5. formulating recommendations on the basis of the findings from research and development projects funded by QEF; and

  6. disseminating the good practices and experiences resulting from projects funded by QEF.

7. We now propose to create a permanent SPEO post because of the long-term need for high-level input in the vetting of proposals, management of the Fund and development and dissemination of quality education. We have reviewed the schedules of the other Principal Assistant Secretaries/D2 posts in EMB and are of the view that none of them has any capacity for additional work. The main duties and responsibilities of the SPEO post are at Enclosure 3.

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

8. The additional notional annual salary cost at mid-point and the full annual average staff cost of the proposed two directorate posts are $2,941,200 and $5,091,048 respectively, broken down as follows -

Post

Notional Annual Salary Cost at
Mid-point
$

Full Annual Average Staff Cost
$

No. of Posts




AOSGB

1,580,400

2,740,884

1

SPEO

1,360,800

2,350,164

1

Total

2,941,200

5,091,048

2

9. Subject to Members’ approval, we will provide supplementary provision under delegated authority to meet the cost of this proposal in 1997-98. We will include sufficient provision in the 1998-99 draft Estimates for this purpose.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

10. Finance Committee (FC), at its meeting held on 12 December 1997, approved a grant of $5 billion for establishing a QEF to fund, on a competitive basis, initiatives and one-off projects that aim to raise the quality of school education, and to promote quality school education at all levels [FCR(97-98)81]. FC also approved at that meeting increases in the ceilings placed on the total notional annual mid-point salary value of all non-directorate posts in 1997-98 in the permanent establishments of EMB and the Treasury to enable the creation of non-directorate posts to handle the related work. We informed Members at the same meeting that we would approach the Establishment Subcommittee in early 1998 to create two permanent directorate posts of AOSGB and SPEO.

CIVIL SERVICE BUREAU COMMENTS

11. The ranking and grading of the proposed posts are appropriate having regard to their duties and responsibilities.

ADVICE OF THE STANDING COMMITTEE ON DIRECTORATE SALARIES AND CONDITIONS OF SERVICE

12. The Standing Committee on Directorate Salaries and Conditions of Service has advised that the grading proposed for the posts would be appropriate if the posts were to be created.


Education and Manpower Bureau
January 1998

Enclosure 2 to EC(97-98)62

Deputy Secretary for Education and Manpower (3)
Administrative Officer Staff Grade B

Main Duties and Responsibilities

Responsible to the Secretary for Education and Manpower for -

  1. monitoring the various educational expenditure items arising from the 1997-98 Budget and the 1997 Policy Address to ensure effective and timely implementation;

  2. supervising the school building programme and the school improvement programme to ensure timely implementation;

  3. policy relating to teacher quality and teaching qualification including the policy to increase primary graduate teacher posts; the work of the Advisory Committee on Teacher Education and Qualifications, the language benchmark exercise for teachers and the establishment of a General Teaching Council;

  4. policy relating to pre-primary education and special education;

  5. policy relating to the development of school education, including whole-day primary schooling, nine-year compulsory education and strategy for new arrival children; and

  6. policy review on private schools, the Direct Subsidy Scheme, English Schools Foundation schools and international schools.

Enclosure 3 to EC(97-98)62

Principal Assistant Secretary for Education and Manpower (8)
Senior Principal Executive Officer

Main Duties and Responsibilities

Responsible to the Deputy Secretary for Education and Manpower (2) for -

  1. managing the Quality Education Fund (QEF) including -

    1. processing applications for the Fund;

    2. servicing and providing secretariat support to the QEF Steering Committee;

    3. monitoring progress of projects and reviewing progress with grantees;

    4. evaluating projects on completion;

    5. overseeing the accounts of the Fund; and

    6. publicity for the Fund;

  2. formulating recommendations on the basis of the findings from research and development projects funded by the QEF;

  3. disseminating good practices and experiences resulting from projects funded by the QEF;

  4. encouraging schools to propose new initiatives on their own and consider implementing initiatives suggested by the Administration;

  5. managing the award scheme for meritorious schools/teachers;

  6. engaging outside experts to conduct institutional reviews; and

  7. drafting papers and speeches as required.