Better promotion opportunities for civil servants

The Government is considering an increase in the number of grades in 'general service scheme' to provide more promotion opportunities for civil servants, the Secretary for Administration and Justice, Ms Florinda Chan, said today. Ms Chan told the press that revisions of a number of rules and regulations governing civil servants were in progress and some of these would be proposed to the legislature this year, including the 'general service scheme', the 'general rules for bureau directors, department heads, division chiefs and supervisors', and the service schemes for public security forces, nurses and assistants working in health departments. Regarding the 'general service scheme', Ms Chan said since a considerable number of civil servants had reached the highest grade and rank of the scheme a few years ago, the Government is considering all kinds of initiatives, such as an increase in the number of grades, to provide them more promotion opportunities in their public service careers. She said that terms for promotion would be clarified in the revisions: academic background, experience and training history of civil servants would all be taken into account. Other purposes of the revision of the 'general service scheme' included integrating different kinds of contracts in the recruitment of civil servants and eliminating inequality between the promotion of staff with or without permanent tenure. She said that the principles for revising the 'general service scheme' would be adopted in the revision of various 'special service schemes', which was expected to begin after the completion of the former scheme. In the revision of 'general rules for bureau directors, department heads, division chiefs and supervisors', Ms Chan said that it would introduce measures to facilitate job rotation, enhance accountability and eliminate the phenomenon of department heads in acting status. Ms Chan also disclosed that an incentive programme, to be in line with the existing appraisal scheme, was expected to be introduced in the second quarter of this year.