Legislative Council

LC Paper No. CB(2) 146/98-99

Ref : CB2/PL/PS

Legislative Council Panel on Public Service

Minutes of meeting held on Tuesday, 14 July 1998 at 10:00 am
in Conference Room B of the Legislative Council Building


Members present:

Hon Mrs Sophie LEUNG LAU Yau-fun, JP (Deputy Chairman)
Hon CHEUNG Man-kwong
Hon CHAN Wing-chan
Hon Howard YOUNG, JP
Hon Ambrose LAU Hon-chuen, JP

Members absent:

Hon TAM Yiu-chung, JP (Chairman)
Hon Michael HO Mun-ka
Hon LEE Cheuk-yan
Hon LEE Kai-ming, JP
Hon CHAN Kwok-keung
Hon Andrew WONG Wang-fat, JP

Clerk in attendance:

Mrs LAW Wing-lok
Chief Assistant Secretary (2)5

Staff in attendance:

Mrs Justina LAM
Assistant Secretary General 2

Mrs Eleanor CHOW
Senior Assistant Secretary (2)8


I. Election of Chairman and Deputy Chairman

In accordance with the election procedure circulated to members on 11 July 1998 under LC Paper No. CB(2) 16/98-99, the clerk called for nominations for the presiding Member.

2. Mr CHAN Wing-chan nominated Mr CHEUNG Man-kwong and the nomination was seconded by Mr Ambrose LAU. Mr CHEUNG Man-kwong accepted the nomination. There being no other nomination, the clerk declared that Mr CHEUNG Man-kwong was elected as the presiding Member.

3. Mr CHEUNG Man-kwong took the chair and called for nominations for the chairmanship of the Panel.

4. Mrs Sophie LEUNG nominated Mr TAM Yiu-chung. The presiding Member informed members that Mr TAM Yiu-chung, who was unable to attend the meeting, had indicated in his letter to the clerk dated 13 July 1998 that he would accept the nomination should he be nominated. Mr CHAN Wing-chan seconded the nomination. There being no other nomination, the presiding Member declared that Mr TAM Yiu-chung was elected as Chairman of the Panel.

5. In the absence of the Chairman, the presiding Member called for nominations for the deputy chairmanship of the Panel.

6. Mr CHAN Wing-chan nominated Mrs Sophie LEUNG and the nomination was seconded by Mr Howard YOUNG. Mrs Sophie LEUNG accepted the nomination. There being no other nomination, the presiding Member declared that Mrs Sophie LEUNG was elected Deputy Chairman of the Panel. The Deputy Chairman then took the chair.

II. Schedule of meetings for the session

7. Members agreed that future meetings of the Panel would be held on the third Monday of every month at 10:45 am. The next meeting of the Panel was scheduled for 21 September 1998 at 10:45 am.

III. Items for discussion at the next meeting

8. Referring members to the list of issues for consideration (Appendix), the Deputy Chairman invited members' views on which issues should be discussed at the next meeting on 21 September 1998. Mr CHEUNG Man-kwong said that recently some civil servants had been convicted by the court for abusing their authority to secure personal gains. He suggested that this issue should be discussed as a priority item. Members agreed.

9. Mr CHEUNG further suggested that corruption in the civil service should also be discussed, having regard to the increase in the number of corruption reports relating to government departments as revealed by the Independent Commission Against Corruption recently. Members agreed.

10. Mr Howard YOUNG said that certain businesses offered special concessions to civil servants to their products or services. He wondered whether guidelines had been issued to advise civil servants on how to deal with such offers. The Deputy Chairman suggested and members agreed that the issue should be included in the list of items to be considered by the Panel.

11. Mr CHAN Wing-chan expressed concern about the impact of privatisation of government services, such as the contracting out of management of public housing estates, on civil servants. The Deputy Chairman suggested and members agreed that the issue should be discussed at a future meeting.

IV. Close of meeting

12. The meeting closed at 10:15 am.



Legislative Council Secretariat
1 August 1998



Appendix


Panel on Public Service List of issues to be considered


  1. Review of qualification benchmarks system
    2.

    In view of the developments which have taken place since the last review of qualification benchmarks for establishing the starting pay for civil service grades in 1989 and in order to ensure that civil service pay remains broadly comparable with private sector practice, the Administration intends to invite the Standing Commission on Civil Service Salaries and Conditions of Service to commence another qualification benchmark review, hopefully to complete by the end of this year. The Administration has undertaken to keep Members informed of developments as the review proceeds.

  2. Progress of review of the system of declaration of interests by civil servants
    3.

    An internal review to assess the effectiveness of the system for declaration of interests by civil servants to avoid possible conflicts of interest is under way. The review aims at examining the need for additional guidelines and assisting departmental managements to monitor staff compliance. The review would be completed by mid-1998 and the Administration will report to Members on the result of staff consultation in due course.