A total of 60 Hong Kong civil servants were removed from service in the financial year of 2022-23, around double the yearly average recorded in the previous five years, the city’s civil service chief has said.
The Hong Kong government dismissed a total of 195 public officers between the financial years of 2018-19 and 2022-23, Secretary for Civil Service Ingrid Yeung revealed in the legislature on Monday in a briefing on the 2023 Policy Address announced last week.
The 195 officers ousted were among 1,124 civil servants punished with formal disciplinary actions for serious misconduct or criminal conviction during the time period, Yeung said. Separately, 1,995 civil servants faced summary disciplinary action for misconduct of a less serious nature.
In 2022-23 alone, 60 officers were relieved of duty, double the average figure recorded from 2017-18 until 2021-22, which was “less than 31,” according to government figures.
“The Government attaches great importance to the conduct and integrity of civil servants, and takes a zero-tolerance approach against officers who have breached the law or misconducted themselves,” a government paper submitted to the legislature read.
Last month, the Civil Service Bureau rolled out a streamlined mechanism of retiring public officers who continued to perform below par, which included reducing what the government described as unnecessary representations at multiple junctures. Department heads are also no longer required to set up and consult an independent panel within the department before reporting cases of underperformance to the bureau.
The mechanism would be used to terminate civil servants with persistent sub-par performance in a timely manner, Yeung told lawmakers on Monday.
Civil Service Code update
The Hong Kong government is expected to roll out a draft updated Civil Service Code in the first quarter of 2024 or earlier for consultation among its staff, Yeung said. The updated code, of which the draft was submitted to Chief Executive John Lee for review last year, would require civil servants to be aware of the need to safeguard sovereignty, national security and development interests, the minister said.
Core values listed in the existing code included commitment to the rule of law, honesty and integrity, objectivity and impartiality and political neutrality. Asked if the new code would retain wording related to political neutrality, Yeung said there were mixed opinions and the bureau would review those opinions before a new code was finalised.
“We will make it clear that civil servants must pledge allegiance to the SAR government and the country. Whatever policy we make, we must take the country’s interest and security as the main points of consideration,” the minister said in Cantonese.
In June last year, the government revealed that a total of 129 Hong Kong civil servants and 535 other government workers had been sacked or resigned after failing to take a newly-introduced oath of allegiance to the government.
Lee said in his second Policy Address delivered last Wednesday that the scope of the oath-taking requirement would be expanded, but he did not give further details.
Earlier this month, a local court rejected a civil servant’s bid to challenge his forced retirement after he did not take the loyalty oath on time. The court said the appeal applicant had “ample time of four weeks” from when he was first notified about the oath-taking requirement, and yet he only made enquiries on the day of the deadline.
