Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for the Civil Service, Mrs Ingrid Yeung, at a media session on offers of 2023-24 civil service pay adjustment at the Central Government Offices this afternoon (June 6):
Reporter: Because unions are calling for an across-the-board 5 per cent pay rise for civil servants, so why is the Government deciding to raise the pay like this this time? And also because you mentioned that factors of previous years won't affect this year's pay rise as well, so how about inflation? And also do you think this is enough to attract new people joining the civil service jobs?
Secretary for the Civil Service: The Chief Executive (CE)-in-Council considers all six factors in coming to a decision on civil service pay adjustment every year. This year is no exception. The CE-in-Council has considered all six factors and has taken a balanced view. On past considerations, every year, the CE-in-Council makes a decision based on all the six factors and therefore, in the year following, the factors in the previous year, which had been taken into account already, would not be considered again. Every year, the CE-in-Council makes a new decision. On the point of inflation, every year, the CE-in-Council takes into consideration the change in cost of living. Last year, it had been taken into account; this year, again the new figures have been taken into account. So every year, the cost of living has been duly considered by the CE-in-Council.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
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