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Vivian Au

A proposed accountability framework will hold government department heads personally liable for systemic loopholes that they fail to flag to superiors, Hong Kong’s civil service chief has said.
Secretary for the Civil Service Ingrid Yeung Ho Poi-yan also said that public perception could play a role in decisions on pay adjustments for government employees, after being questioned about the potential impact of an inquiry into the city’s deadliest fire in decades.
In a television appearance on Sunday, she discussed the proposed framework and said that even department heads would be held accountable and should face the consequences of governance failures.
“Regarding post-investigation actions, we will adhere to existing protocols. Whether it is a permanent secretary, a department head, or a frontline civil servant, if they are found to be incompetent, they will be handled under the same mechanism and face the same consequences,” she said.
Under the system, department heads who discovered any systemic loopholes would be required to report them to their superiors, or they would be held liable for failing to come forward, Yeung said.
The proposal was first mentioned in Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu’s 2025 policy address and aims to enhance governance, drive top officials to improve work procedures and boost management efficiency.
The planned mechanism will allow the city leader, the top three government ministers and bureau chiefs to initiate investigations through the Public Service Commission – an independent statutory body that advises on civil service appointments and promotions.
Investigations can be initiated if problems in the relevant department were considered “widespread, repetitive and systemic” or if there are indications that department heads are personally implicated.

Meanwhile, department heads will be tasked with investigating problems involving working-level officers that are regarded as “of a less serious and isolated nature”.
Yeung said that most past cases were typically resolved within nine months, with the increasing thoroughness of current investigative procedures expected to affect the speed of subsequent disciplinary hearings.
The minister was also questioned about whether the fire at Wang Fuk Court last November and the subsequent preliminary findings that suggested systemic failures spanning multiple departments should impact this year’s civil service pay review.
She replied that the civil service was a vast organisation, with some departments having received praise for their performance and others facing criticism.
Yeung said the salary adjustments would continue to be governed by a mechanism that factored in the state of the economy, the government’s financial position, changes in the cost of living, the net pay trend indicator, morale and salary expectations.
Pressed on whether public perception was officially weighed among the six factors, she said that she believed it could be reflected through civil service morale.
“[The public] can see how well civil servants are performing, whether their morale needs boosting under these circumstances, and whether the civil servants themselves need to reflect on their work,” she said.
The fire at Wang Fuk Court, which broke out on November 26 and raged for more than 43 hours, resulted in the deaths of 168 people and left nearly 5,000 more displaced.


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Civil service chief also says public perception can play role in decisions on pay adjustments for government employees


Civil service chief also says public perception can play role in decisions on pay adjustments for government employees.


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.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Civil service chief also says public perception can play role in decisions on pay adjustments for government employees

Civil service chief also says public perception can play role in decisions on pay adjustments for government employees