Civil servant chief announces updated service code, rules out being ‘politically neutral’

The Secretary for the Civil Service confirmed today that the updated version of the Civil Service Code will not approve the term “politically neutral”, emphasizing the government will highlight civil servants’ loyalty.  

Speaking in a members meeting of the Legislative Council on Tuesday, Ingrid Yeung Ho Poi-yan explained that civil servants should not be affected by their political orientations when working on their positions and cannot use “being apolitical” as an excuse for not implementing the government’s resolutions.  

In his Policy Address speech delivered last Wednesday, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said the government will update the Civil Service Code to spell out standards of conduct that present-day civil servants should uphold under "the core value of ‘Patriots governing Hong Kong'", as well as launching a reward and punishment system with the "Chief Executive's Award for Exemplary Performance".

"There are a number of black sheep in our civil servant force that should be excluded," he said, "otherwise it will undermine the efficiency of civil service work."  

"New systems and standards are not aimed to punish civil servants casually but prompt their working performance under simplified mechanisms," said Yeung.  

She noted that 52 civil servants were removed from service in the last financial year due to disciplinary offenses. Seventeen were under authorities’ proceedings for poor performance, with 10 of them ordered to leave their positions.  

The bill of the updated version of the Civil Service Code will be launched in the first quarter of next year, Yeung said.