立法會七題：政府聘用屬建築及相關工程專業的人士
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　　以下是立法會會議上盧偉國議員的提問和發展局局長陳茂波的書面答覆：

問題：

　　現時，多個政府部門（包括規劃署、房屋署、土木工程拓展署、渠務署、水務署、機電工程署、運輸署、路政署及環保署）有聘用屬建築及相關工程專業（「相關專業」）的人士。他們當中部分人屬公務員，另一部分人則以非公務員合約（「合約僱員」）受聘。有該類合約僱員向本人反映，他們的薪酬待遇低於職責相若的公務員，即同工不同酬，加上不明朗的工作前景，因而士氣受影響。就此，政府可否告知本會：

（一）過去五年，每年（i）分別有多少名屬相關專業的合約僱員及公務員受聘於上述政府部門，以及（ii）當中已連續受聘五年或以上的合約僱員人數；

（二）有否制訂具體計劃，協助具相當年資而其崗位屬有長期服務需求的合約僱員轉職為公務員；若有，詳情為何；若否，原因為何；及

（三）鑑於近年多項基建工程項目（包括廣深港高速鐵路香港段工程項目及港珠澳大橋香港口岸及香港接線工程項目）出現延誤，以及發生了食水樣本被驗出含鉛量超出世界衞生組織所訂暫定準則值的事件，各政府部門有否計劃開設更多相關專業的職位，並改善該類專業人士的待遇以挽留人才，以期提升各項工程項目的規劃和監管水平；若有，詳情為何；若否，原因為何？

答覆：

主席：

　　就盧偉國議員的提問，答覆如下:

（一）過去五年，題述部門中屬建築及相關工程專業（相關專業，見註一）的公務員、全職非公務員合約或香港房屋委員會（房委會）合約僱員（註二），其分項數字載列於附件一及附件二。

（二）及（三）就增加相關專業職系人手，政府考慮開設新公務員職位的原則是必須有充分運作需要，相關工作亦不能透過精簡程序、重組架構及調配人手等安排或其他方式處理。此原則適用於所有職系，包括相關專業職系。為確保有效運作，並因應推展新服務及提升服務的需要，包括提升各項工程項目的規劃和監管水平，政府會於理據充分的情況下增加人手。在決定應否以公務員職位取代非公務員合約／房委會合約僱員崗位時，須確定相關工作是否足以視為屬永久性質，以及是否由公務員處理更為適當。

　　在二○一三／一四至二○一五／一六年度期間，政府各局／部門獲支持開設711個相關專業公務員職位，當中130個是用以取代非公務員合約僱員崗位，18個是用以取代房委會合約僱員崗位。

　　至於讓非公務員合約／房委會合約僱員轉職為公務員，政府的一貫政策是透過公開、公平和具競爭性的招聘程序，挑選最合適的應徵者填補公務員職位空缺。鑑於相關工作經驗是招聘公務員的考慮因素之一，符合相關入職條件的合約僱員，因具備政府工作經驗，一般確較其他申請人佔優。在二○○七年一月至二○一五年八月期間，政府進行的相關專業職系招聘工作中（註三），非公務員合約僱員和其他應徵者的平均成功率分別約為31%及7%。就房屋署相關專業職系而言，房委會合約僱員和其他應徵者的平均成功率則分別約為90%及9%。

　　就公務員專業職位的待遇方面，政府會繼續執行一貫的公務員薪酬政策，即提供足夠的薪酬以吸引、挽留和激勵具合適才幹的人，為巿民提供有效率和成效兼備的服務，以及透過保持他們的薪酬與私營機構薪酬大致相若，確保這些職位的薪酬是公務員和他們所服務的市民都認為是公平的。

註一：在本答覆中，相關專業職系包括建築師、屋宇裝備工程師、屋宇測量師、機電工程師、電機工程師、電子工程師、工程師、產業測量師、土力工程師、土地測量師、園境師、屋宇保養測量師、機械工程師、規劃師、工料測量師、管理值班工程師、結構工程師、城市規劃師、製圖師、化驗師、環境保護主任及水務化驗師。

註二：房屋署是香港房委會的執行部門，由於享有財政自主權，房委會是按本身訂立的合約條款聘用其合約僱員的，因此房委會合約員工並不屬「非公務員合約僱員計劃」下的合約僱員。

註三：在此段期間展開並完成的相關職系公務員公開招聘工作中，有159項涉及由所擔任職務與招聘職級職務相若的在職非公務員合約僱員的合資格申請。而房屋署方面則有10項涉及由所擔任職務與招聘職級職務相若的在職房委會合約僱員的合資格申請。

Following is a question by the Dr Hon Lo Wai-kwok and a written reply by the Secretary for Development, Mr Paul Chan, in the Legislative Council:

Question:

     Currently, several government departments (including the Planning Department, Housing Department, Civil Engineering and Development Department, Drainage Services Department, Water Supplies Department, Electrical and Mechanical Services Department, Transport Department, Highways Department and Environmental Protection Department) have employed persons of the construction and related engineering professions (the relevant professions). Some of those people are civil servants, while some others are employed on non-civil service contract (NCSC) terms. Some of these NCSC staff have relayed to me the fact that their remuneration packages which are inferior to those of civil servants who have comparable responsibilities (which means different pay for the same work), coupled with uncertain job prospects, have affected their morale. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(1) in each of the past five years, (i) of the respective numbers of NCSC staff and civil servants in the relevant professions who were employed by the aforesaid government departments, and (ii) among them, the number of NCSC staff who had been employed for five consecutive years or more;

(2) whether it has formulated specific plans to assist those NCSC staff who have relatively long service years and whose positions have long-term service needs in being appointed as civil servants; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and

(3) given that a number of infrastructure projects (including the Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link project, as well as the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Hong Kong Boundary Crossing Facilities and Hong Kong Link Road projects) in recent years have experienced delays, coupled with the occurrence of incidents in which drinking water samples were found to have a lead content exceeding the provisional guideline value set by the World Health Organization, whether the various government departments have plans to create more posts of the relevant professions and improve the remuneration packages for such professionals to retain talents, with a view to enhancing the planning and monitoring standards of the various projects; if they do, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

Reply:

President,

     My reply to the Dr Hon Lo Wai-kwok's question is as follows:

(1) Breakdowns of the number of civil service staff and full-time non-civil service contract (NCSC) staff in the construction and related engineering professions (the relevant professions, note 1) in the departments mentioned in the question, and the number of contract staff in the relevant professions in the Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA) (note 2) in the past five years are set out in Annexes 1 and 2 respectively.

(2) and (3) On increasing the manpower of the relevant professional grades, the Government's guiding principles for considering the creation of additional civil service posts are as follows: when the operational need is fully justified; and the work involved cannot be handled by streamlining the procedures, re-organisation, re-deployment of existing staff or any other means. The above principles are applicable across all the civil service grades, including relevant professional grades. Increased manpower will be arranged as and when it is fully justified on the grounds of maintaining effective operation and addressing the manpower needs arising from new and improved services, including enhancement of the planning and supervision standard for various works projects. In determining whether a contract position of NCSC/HA staff should be replaced by a civil service post, we have to ascertain whether the work involved is of a sufficiently permanent nature and whether it should more appropriately be handled by a civil servant.

     From 2013-14 to 2015-16, bureaux/departments were supported to create 711 civil service posts in the relevant professions. Among them, 130 posts were created to replace NCSC staff positions and 18 were to replace contract staff positions in the HA.

     Regarding the conversion of NCSC staff and the HA's contract staff into civil servants, the Government follows the established policy of selecting the most suitable persons to fill civil service vacancies through an open, fair and competitive process. As relevant working experience is one of the factors taken into account in the recruitment of civil servants, contract staff who meet the entry requirements do generally enjoy a competitive edge over other applicants because of their working experience in the Government. For the civil service open recruitment exercises held for the relevant professional grades (note 3) between January 2007 and August 2015, the average success rates for NCSC staff and other applicants were around 31 per cent and 7 per cent respectively. As for the relevant professional grades in the Housing Department (HD), the average success rates for the HA's contract staff and other applicants were around 90 per cent and 9 per cent respectively.

     As regards the remuneration packages for the civil service posts in the relevant professions, the Government will continue to implement the established civil service pay policy, which is to offer sufficient remuneration to attract, retain and motivate staff of suitable calibre to provide the public with effective and efficient service; and to ensure that the remuneration of these posts will be regarded as fair by both civil servants and the public they serve by maintaining broad comparability between civil service and private sector pay.

Note 1: The relevant professional grades in this reply refer to Architect, Building Services Engineer, Building Surveyor, Electrical and Mechanical Engineer, Electrical Engineer, Electronics Engineer, Engineer, Estate Surveyor, Geotechnical Engineer, Land Surveyor, Landscape Architect, Maintenance Surveyor, Mechanical Engineer, Planning Officer, Quantity Surveyor, Shift Charge Engineer, Structural Engineer, Town Planner, Cartographer, Chemist, Environmental Protection Officer and Waterworks Chemist.

Note 2: The HD is the executive arm of the HA. As a statutory organisation with financial autonomy, the HA employs contract staff under its own terms. As such, the HA's contract staff and the contract staff under the NCSC Staff Scheme belong to different categories.

Note 3: For the civil service open recruitment exercises launched and completed during this period, 159 exercises involved qualified applications from serving NCSC staff performing comparable duties to the ranks under recruitment. As for the HD, there were 10 exercises that involved qualified applications from serving contract staff of the HA performing comparable duties to the ranks under recruitment over the same period.