Review of the selection and appointment mechanism for senior levels of the civil service and performance management in the civil service
Composition of the selection boards for directorate posts under the new selection and appointment mechanism (“the new mechanism”)
Mr CHAN Chun-ying noted that under the new selection and appointment mechanism for senior levels of the civil service (“the new mechanism”), while a majority of directorate posts would be filled by internal promotion, certain directorate posts would be filled by open recruitment. They enquired about the reasons for implementing the new mechanism and asked whether there was a talent gap within the Government.
The Administration replied that with a view to ensuring that the quality of public services could meet the rising public expectations, the Government would enhance the effectiveness of governance in various aspects, which included reviewing the selection and appointment mechanism for senior levels of the civil service. The objectives of the new mechanism were to widen the pool of candidates for civil service directorate posts as far as possible, provide competitive remuneration packages to attract talents, and allow bureaux/departments (“B/Ds”) sufficient flexibility to make adjustment to the selection of candidates and the way of appointment. Under the new mechanism, vacancies at the directorate ranks could be filled through internal promotion, or by officers from other grades within the civil service through in-service recruitment or candidates identified through open recruitment.
Performance management measures in the civil service
He concerned that the appraisals for civil servants, which were largely paper-based, were generally over generous and could not reflect the actual work performance of individual civil servants. They urged the Administration to improve the performance management system, such as introducing a third party review, so that the performance of individual civil servants would be truly reflected in appraisal reports. With a view to having an all-round assessment on the performance of civil servants, there was a suggestion that the Administration should use the 360-degree performance appraisal approach to evaluate civil servants’ performance (i.e. obtaining feedback from supervisors, peers and subordinates).
The Administration advised that individual civil servants were subject to annual performance appraisal. Appraisers (i.e. appraising officers, countersigning officers and reviewing officers) were required to make assessment of appraisees’ job performance based on facts and observations. Assessment standards might vary among different ranks and grades to reflect the respective nature and duties of their work. As for assessment standards for the same rank, assessment panels might be set up to undertake levelling and moderating work among appraisal reports where necessary, so as to better ensure consistency in assessment standards and fairness in appraisal ratings. The Administration stressed that promotion exercise was conducted in a stringent manner, and was not just a paper exercise. Promotion boards comprising officers familiar with the duties of the promotion rank would be convened to assess appraisees’ suitability for taking up higher responsibilities and select suitable candidates for promotion. Advice of the Public Service Commission would also be sought for appointment or promotion of officers to middle and senior ranking posts.
Noting that the Chief Executive-elect would set targets and key performance indicators for selected tasks, he asked whether the Administration would formulate key performance indicators or invite public participation in the assessment and monitoring of the performance of civil servants and B/Ds.
The Administration said that, at the individual level, under the existing appraisal system, the appraising officer and the appraisee would need to agree at the beginning of the appraisal cycle on the list of objectives/responsibilities for the coming appraisal period, and the appraisee’s performance would be assessed at the end of the appraisal period on how effectively the agreed objectives/responsibilities had been carried out. At the organizational level, B/Ds providing direct services to the public had drawn up performance pledges and targets, and would promulgate regularly their performance in delivering such pledges and meeting such targets, with a view to providing quality assurance of the services provided. However, there were bound to be some areas of government services which could hardly be quantified or measured merely by numbers. The Administration further advised that an internal working group would be set up to review the appraisal arrangement for directorate civil servants, with a view to enabling a more comprehensive and detailed reflection of the competencies and potential of directorate civil servants in their appraisal reports.
Civil service recruitment system
Basic Law and National Security Law Test
Noting that a pass result in the newly introduced BLNST would be an entry requirement for all civil service jobs and that answering half or more of the questions correct would be deemed as having attained a pass result, Mr CHAN Chun-ying called on the Administration to set a higher passing mark. With a view to ensuring new recruits’ understanding of the Basic Law and the Hong Kong National Security Law, there was a suggestion that candidates for civil service jobs should be arranged to receive a short briefing on the Basic Law and the Hong Kong National Security Law before taking BLNST, and the minimum passing mark should be 80%.
The Administration advised that requiring a pass result in BLNST would serve the purpose of ensuring that all new recruits would have basic understanding of the Basic Law and the Hong Kong National Security Law. Ongoing training would be provided to new recruits to deepen their understanding on the country’s Constitution, the Basic Law and the Hong Kong National Security Law. The Administration would review the BLNST arrangements where necessary in the future.
Civil service grades which encountered recruitment difficulties
There was a suggestion that the Administration should step up promotional efforts in the recruitment of specific civil service grades, for example, police officers and lifeguards, which had encountered recruitment difficulties. The Administration advised that individual departments had put in place various recruitment measures to attract suitable job seekers. The Government had also organized various internship programmes for students to find out more about the work of the Government and to enhance their interest in applying for Government jobs.