The following is provided by the Staff side representatives of the Police Force Council (PFC), to report the meeting between the representatives and the Chief Secretary for Administration over CE's Policy Address.

Staff side representatives of the PFC, Peter Cornthwaite (from Superintendents' Association), Tony Liu (from Hong Kong Police Inspectors' Association), Chung Kam-wah (from Junior Police Officers' Association) and Neil Dunn (from Overseas Inspectors' Association), as well as representatives of other Civil Service Staff Councils met the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Henry Tang, on August 23 at a consultation session on issues facing staff, ahead of CE's Policy Address in October.

The staff councils focused their comments on the need for the Government to provide additional resources and posts in various departments, restore pay to the levels prior to pay cuts at the earliest opportunity and look into the standard of medical and dental care it provides for its employees as an employer.

On the issue of new posts, Mr Tang said the Administration's freeze on establishment had been lifted and more resources could be made available as required.

He listened attentively to staff councils' comments and genuine concerns about a number of cases of deterioration in medical and dental provisions to government employees. In those cases there were delays in recall appointments, specialist services and the availability of treatment drugs.

The councils also observed that the change that had been introduced by employing both civil service terms staff and non-civil service contract staff, would increasingly threaten the efficiency of the civil service. The councils also felt that the tenure of those new staff, although attracted by a sufficient remuneration package at recruitment, was insufficient to ensure commitment to longer-term careers. There were also concerns that the civil service would suffer from a lack of experience in the coming years.

The staff councils also raised the question of extending the retirement age of civil servants beyond the age of 60.

The Police Force Council Staff side representatives raised the following three key issues that they suggested should be highlighted in the upcoming CE's Policy Address:

# Recognition should be given to staff's devotion to duty that sustains community strengths of having rule of law and a clean and efficient government. It is these strengths that enable the economy and private enterprises to thrive in a stable society.

# The Administration is expected to embark on the 2008 survey that will look at the private sector pay in the past year and provide for a pay adjustment with effect from April 1 next year. Hong Kong now has had a fiscal balance that has been restored as a result of adequately controlled government spending and the robust and thriving performances of many sectors of the economy. The Administration has implemented the results of the Pay Level Survey and introduced a mechanism for future adjustments to pay through this year's and subsequent Pay Trend Surveys.

# Police morale needs to be sustained through the Administration's commitment to completing the Grade Structure Review for the Force in 2008. The Administration saw time and again how the Police displayed their professionalism in the past year and the Grade Structure Review needs to look at the career and police pay scale structure against the ever changing police roles and responsibilities to ensure the effectiveness of the Force in the years ahead.

Police Force Council Staff side representatives requested that serious consideration needs to be given to restoring police pay to the previous levels in 2003, through the annual pay trend survey and any other reviews of police pay scale. They also took the opportunity to reiterate the need to look at the budget and manpower for policing and the concerns about the current medical and dental services provided for their frontline staff.

Mr Tang was requested to put more focuses on policies on families. In response, he said the Administration attached great importance to this aspect but also welcomed suggestions for further improvements.

On alleviation of the current pressure of price increases on staff and their family budgets, the staff representatives felt that the Civil Service Bureau should actively look at a core employment issue, namely, the rates of the current education allowances (OEA and LEA). There is a need to be more realistic and to dispense with the unilateral capping of these allowances at the 1997 levels.

It was also hoped that the Administration could look at more tax concessions for civil servants, for example allowing deductions for civil servants' MPF contributions.

Focusing on the MPF, Mr Tang showed an interest in a discussion that suggested that there should be more free market choices for all the 19 MPF providers and that restrictions on civil servants' choices should be lifted. With the original five providers reduced to three, the current MPF scheme, it is felt, is inadequate in the choice of market providers.

Police Force Council Staff side representatives also noted that in retaining experienced officers, consideration could be given, in suitable cases, to enabling staff to voluntarily extend their service to 60 years of age. Many overseas Inspectors support this issue, the representatives said.

Rounding off the consultation session, Mr Tang said the CE and Administration attached great importance to communication and consultation with staff councils. While continuing to meet community expectations, he added, the Government therefore operates in an environment where criticism and complaints are inevitable.

Mr Tang said he greatly appreciated the staff side's frankness and views and was proud of the civil servants' performances, especially their contributions to the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference (HKMC) in December 2005. He said he was certainly aware of the pressures being faced by staff in respect of resources and reiterated that additional resources would be provided.

Lastly, he described the consultation as a most useful session and looked forward to meeting staff representatives again in the future.

Mr Tang with PFC Staff side representatives after what he calls a most useful session