Governance Structure & Management

Our Governance Structure

As at March 2009, the Housing Authority (HA) has four official members and 26 non-official members. Appointments were made by the Chief Executive. The Secretary for Transport and Housing was appointed Chairman of the HA since 1 July 2007 and the Director of Housing is the Vice-chairman.

The HA is in charge of the development and implementation of the public housing programme in Hong Kong. Six standing committees have been formed under the HA to formulate, administer and oversee policies in specific areas including building, commercial properties, finance, strategic planning, subsidised housing and tender. Sub-committees and ad-hoc committees are also formed when needed. The Housing Department (HD) acts as the executive arm of the HA in implementing its policies and those set by its standing committees. The HD is headed by the Permanent Secretary for Transport and Housing (Housing), who also assumes the office of the Director of Housing.

The HD has four operation divisions to support the implementation of HA's policies in housing strategies, overall housing administration, development and construction, and estate management.

Housing Department's Environmental, Health and Safety Committee

The Housing Department's Environment, Health and Safety Committee (HDEHSC) is responsible for the development and formulation of policy direction on Environmental, Health, Safety (EHS) and sustainability issues within the Department. Effective management of the overall departmental environmental, safety and health issues is supported by the following three sub-committees:

• The Housing Department's Environmental Sub-committee - assists the HDEHSC in overseeing the progress and performance of environmental initiatives and action plans in the Department.
• The Housing Department's Occupational Safety and Health Sub-committee - assists the HDEHSC in overseeing the occupational health and safety of the employees at their workplaces.
• The Housing Department's Site Safety Sub-committee - assists HDEHSC in overseeing site safety management measures for Works contracts.

Our Management Approaches

Our management approaches have been developed with the aim to sustainably manage the housing developments, services and resources within the HA. Various policies on Environment, Safety, and Procurement have been developed to set goals and objectives for sustainable management and targets for continual improvement.

Environmental Policy

• To promote healthy living and a green environment;
• To develop a strategic framework and implement environmental management for the promotion of sustainable development;
• To strictly comply with and fully implement all relevant environmental legislation and regulations;
• To address environmental concerns and incorporate environmental initiatives in planning and design, construction and demolition, marketing and estate management activities;
• To minimise environmental impacts from our operations (air, dust, noise, waste and water) on residents and the public;
• To develop procurement policies to minimise the use of resources and achieve cost effectiveness;
• To promote environmental awareness and participation among staff, residents and contractors through education and publicity programmes; and
• To review and seek continual improvement on the implementation of an environmental management system.

Safety Policy

• To provide information on safety and health criteria in new projects and maintenance operations for contractors, the public and other key stakeholders;
• To make safety and health performance one of the critical considerations in tender selection for all new and existing building projects;
• To build up a safety profile of contractors for continuous assessment of safety performance;
• To monitor contractor's performance by independent and in-house assessment;
• To work through partnership by incorporation of contractors' input in respect of safe construction technology and equipment; and
• To promote safety and health issues particularly related to HA projects to enhance the safety and health of all persons involved.

While adhering to the Government Procurement Agreement and HA's procurement policies and instructions, we have continued to enhance our procurement system to maintain a fair, open, equitable policy to ensure we can procure products with best value for money. We have no preference on locally-based or overseas suppliers.

We have regularly reviewed our procurement strategies, contractors list management, performance monitoring systems and manage our risks in all contracts we procured. Furthermore, we encourage our staff to support green procurement practices by employing environmentally friendly products and services where practicable and economically viable. All staff are required to observe our Environmental Procurement Policy whenever for the products and services and purchased.

Environmental Procurement Policy

• To identify significant environmental impacts of materials and services in use;
• To purchase materials, goods and services to specifications that are compliant with relevant environmental legislation;
• To include environmental considerations in our purchasing decisions so that, if technically acceptable and economically viable, lower environmental-impact goods are purchased;
• To assess the environmental commitment of suppliers, contractors and service suppliers as part of the tender evaluation process, and to reward the best environmental performers;
• To require contractors and service providers (where appropriate) to produce Environmental Management Plans in their bids for work, and to evaluate the evidence of implementation as part of the supervision of the works;
• To provide feedback and advice, and facilitate training to key suppliers, contractors and service providers on environmental performance and improvement opportunities;
• To ensure all staff, as well as suppliers, contractors and service providers are aware of, and act in accordance with, the Environmental Procurement Policy and contribute to the HA's environmental objectives; and
• To establish systems, targets and action plans for effective environmental procurement and regular reporting on performance.

Employee Management

As of March 2009, we had a total of 8 367 staff, including 7 194 permanent/civil servants and 1 173 contract staff, representing approximately 4.7% reduction from the previous year.

For our staff composition, the breakdown of staff by gender and the breakdown of staff turnover by age group for male and female are presented below respectively.

Staff Appointment and Appraisal System

In accordance with Article 99 of the Basic Law, new recruits appointed to the Civil Service on or after 1 July 1997 must be permanent local residents. All HA's senior staff (at D2 rank and above) are permanent Hong Kong residents.

In general, staff remuneration depends on the terms of employment and job grades. For civil servants, their remunerations follow the civil service pay scales and the related annual pay adjustment exercise. For contract staff, they follow the HA pay bands and their base salaries are adjusted annually based on pay trend movement of the market. A review of the remuneration package for contract staff was conducted in the year 2008/09 to ensure alignment with the market level.

Individual's performance of staff is assessed through a 3-level staff appraisal system. In order to motivate good performance, civil servants may receive one increment annually in his respective rank scale, while contract staff may be granted a one-off merit payment annually.

All senior officers at D2 rank and above in Housing Department are civil servants and their appointments are governed by the Civil Service Regulations and subject to the approval of the Public Service Commission.

New Manpower Strategy

In building a lean and dynamic workforce, we evaluate our requirements regularly to make sure we have the necessary systems in place to meet our new demands and challenges. During the year, we were able to make significant progress in this direction with our new Manpower Strategy, which helped to establish a vibrant, flexible and sustainable workforce under a harmonious working environment.

This strategy provides a basis for us to move forward and enables us to resolve various management and staff issues including rationalisation of the staffing establishment, timely conduct of recruitment and promotion exercises, and career development planning for staff in various ranks and grades. The implementation of the strategy has also enhanced the job security of current contract staff, in turn helping us retain a pool of knowledge and dedicated talents.

With the endorsement of the new strategy in October 2008, we have been actively conducting recruitment exercises to fill some 370 civil service positions. Coincidently, the economic turmoil has provided us with opportunities to choose many highly qualified candidates. With the new recruits expected to start reporting for duty from May 2009, we believe they can help to enhance our services to the public.

Staff Benefit

Staff may also enjoy various fringe benefits including medical and dental treatment, housing benefit, annual leave and retirement benefit which are depending on their staff rank levels and the terms of employment.

Staff Integrity

We aim to maintain high standards of staff integrity and conduct in order to ensure the best management of public housing resources in the territory. In addition to the guidelines provided by Civil Service Bureau, specific guidelines and requirements have been stipulated in our departmental staff circulars for staff to declare private investments, and to educate staff on avoidance of conflict of interest and dealing with situation when being offered advantages and benefits.

We have also developed internal circulars to deal with attempted bribe, allegations of corruption, Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC)'s referrals and operational liaison with ICAC.

To fully commit our collaboration with ICAC in combating corruption, anti-corruption's briefings are provided to all newly appointed staff as part of the staff induction programme. Integrity reinforcement seminars are also held for existing staff members. In 2008/09, over 1 213 staff attended various courses related to anti-corruption. In 2008/09, ICAC issued four assignment reports to the Department.

Human Rights

We give full effort to ensure equal opportunities and fair treatment in terms of remuneration, fringe benefits, promotion and compensation among our staff, and to avoid all forms of discrimination against gender, ethnicities, age and physical abilities, with full compliance to all the employment related legislation including prohibition of child labour and forced labour.

Staff have the freedom to join staff associations/working groups in their respective grades or ranks. In 2008/09, we had a total of 33 staff associations/working groups and five Departmental Consultative Committees. Through the Departmental Consultative Committees and staff associations/working groups, we have effectively communicated the changes and issues of mutual concern to the staff and obtained their feedbacks to enhance operational effectiveness.