Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for the Civil Service, Mr Joshua Law, at a media session after the meeting of the Legislative Council Panel on Public Service today (May 21):
Reporter: Several lawmakers in that meeting were asking you about wastage in the civil service. Do you see anything that concerns you? Do you think that there is enough pay, enough benefits?
Secretary for the Civil Service: The wastage in the civil service remains stable. I think during the (panel) meeting, some of the members asked about the resignation rate. The resignation rate actually is rather low, at 0.63 per cent (in 2016-17), it is actually lower than the 0.65 per cent a year before. Many of them resigned during the probation years – over 60 per cent (of the resignees) left the service during the probation years. This may be due to a variety of reasons, such as they decided that this may not be their ideal job or they encountered problems in adjusting to the new job. On the other hand, the supervisors may find them not suitable for the job. On the whole, the resignation rate has remained very low.
Reporter: On the civil service college, is there any indication you could give us the location?
Secretary for the Civil Service: As we said in the (panel) paper, we have more or less identified the location, but we now need to work out the details about the development of the site. It will still take a bit more time for us to work out all the details. At the moment, we don't have a timetable.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
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