Hong Kong Civil Service - Overview

Overview

The following are the core values of the civil service, which all civil servants are expected to share and uphold:

• commitment to the rule of law;
• honesty and integrity;
• accountability for decisions and actions;
• political neutrality;
• impartiality in the execution of public functions; and
• dedication, professionalism and diligence in serving the community.

The Hong Kong civil service provides a wide range of services, which in many countries are divided among various public authorities, e.g. public works and utilities cleansing and public health, education, fire services and the police force. Hong Kong civil servants therefore do a wide variety of jobs. As of September 30, 2004, the civil service employed about 160,100 people (excluding about 1 500 ICAC officers and judicial officers) or about five per cent of Hong Kong's labour force. About 1,200 of them are directorate officers. There are about 400 grades or job categories in the administrative, professional, technical and manual fields, with some 1,100 ranks or job levels. Over 99 per cent of the service are local officers and there are about two men to every woman employed. The size of the civil service is about 15 per cent down from that in early 2000. To help reduce the Government's operating expenditure, the CE has announced in the 2003 Policy Address to further reduce the civil service establishment to around 160,000 by 2006/07. The civil service is a unified service in the sense that all its employees are subject to common appointment procedures and similar disciplinary codes.