BEN WESTCOTT
BEN.WESTCOTT@SCMP.COM
PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 02 September, 2015, 7:00am
UPDATED : Wednesday, 02 September, 2015, 7:00am
There is growing concern about the granting of a non-accountable allowance to senior civil servants. Photo: Nora Tam
A Legislative Council member is considering calling for a review of an expensive government allowance, saying the money could be better spent to help vulnerable people such as the elderly.
But a tax expert said allowances were important to attract high-profile candidates to government posts.
Labour Party lawmaker Fernando Cheung Chiu-hung said the HK$839 million currently being spent on the government’s non-accountable cash allowance could fund new homes for senior citizens.
“About a month ago, the Finance Committee approved HK$55 million for an elderly home which will house 100 people,” he said.
“So HK$1 billion would buy like 18 of these homes, if I’m not mistaken.”
The non-accountable cash allowance was introduced in June 2000 to replace previous housing allowances.
In 2005, 85 senior civil servants received non-accountable allowances totalling HK$17 million. This year, an estimated 4,000 employees will receive HK$839 million.
Cheung said Hong Kong was running low on places in nursing homes for elderly residents and was in need of new housing for them. “We have more than 30,000 people waiting in line and each year we have up to 6,000 elderly people dying while waiting,” he said.
“So I think this is not a small sum of money that we could have spent on welfare services.”
Cheung said if there was a need for a housing allowance, it should be focused specifically on housing with a cap to ensure the spending only went as high as was required.
I think resources should be spent for a definite purpose, not for an unaccountable amount
LAWMAKER FERNANDO CHEUNG
“That seems to be the usual practice for most other places and especially for public servants,” he said. “I think resources should be spent for a definite purpose, not for an unaccountable amount.”
When the allowance was introduced, the government was spending HK$2.6 billion annually on the home financing scheme for civil servants.
Taxation Institute of Hong Kong council member Marcellus Wong Yui-keung said the big increase in the amount spent on the allowance could be due to the natural growth of the civil service and rapidly rising home prices.
“If those allowances are meant to subsidise or help the staff, whether in public or private housing, and it is adjusted to compensate for those rising costs, I think that is understandable,” he said.
Wong said attractive pay conditions and salary packages were important to attract talented workers to the civil service. “It can attract the best people or ensure good talents stay in the government to help run the bureaus and departments,” he said.
“That said, of course, we have to make sure that the money is well spent … Departments should still look at ways to work more efficiently.”
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/1854581/hong-kong-lawmaker-may-call-review-non-accountable-civil
