Spending cuts: The portion of civil-service pay and staff-related expenses in the Government's operating expenditure is forecast to reduce to about 30% or $65.2 billion in 2007-08.

The civil-service establishment will be reduced by more than 18%, to about 161,800 by the end of March as compared with the 198,000 peak in early 2000, Secretary for the Civil Service Denise Yue says.

Miss Yue told legislators today the Government will continue to strictly control the civil-service size and monitor the staffing of individual bureaux and departments through their annual manpower plans.

"Existing civil-service vacancies or new posts will be filled or created only on a need basis after critically reviewing the manpower situation and exploring the feasibility of other alternative means of service delivery."

Meanwhile, the establishment will expand by about 0.7%, to around 162,900 by the end of March next year, to implement policy initiatives and meet the community's increasing demand for public service.

She said with the downward adjustments or revisions to the civil-service establishment, civil-service pay and fringe benefits in the past few years, the portion of civil-service pay and staff-related expenses in the Government's operating expenditure is forecast to drop to about 30% or $65.2 billion in the 2007-08 estimates, from about 36% or $71.2 billion in 2001-02.

The Civil Service Bureau will decide whether to adjust the civil servants' pay in 2007-08 when the discussions with the staff representatives on the pay-level surveys are finished, and the outcome of the upcoming pay-trend surveys is released.