Another 5,290 applications for voluntary retirement have been approved.

The second Voluntary Retirement Scheme saw 5,961 applications received. The approvals included 23 directorate officers out of 29 applications.

To help staff adjust to changes arising from the scheme, the Civil Service Bureau has reserved $10 million under the three-year Training & Development Programme.

The programmes range from those aiming to instil the right mindset amongst staff to those which enable staff to take up new duties and adapt to new working environments.

The Government will review the overall manpower situation later this year on the basis of plans to be submitted by Directors of Bureaux in October on their projected establishment up to 2006-07.

These manpower plans will take into account changes arising from the second scheme and natural wastage.

Some 574 applications were from ineligible applicants or had subsequently been withdrawn, and 57 applications have been rejected due to operational reasons.

A further 40 applications have been held in abeyance, including 21 pending the outcome of disciplinary proceedings and 19 from the Customs & Excise Department pending further study on redeployment arrangements.

Most voluntary retirement takers will be released within one year, with posts deleted within 18 months. Only a few departments will need to release their staff over a longer period of about two years to ensure their operations are not unduly affected.

The departure of retirement takers will tie in with the departments' plans for redeployment, re-engineering of operations or contracting out programmes so as to minimise the impact on the provision and quality of service to the public.

The Government will reduce the civil service establishment by 10% to around 160,000 by 2006-07. The second scheme is one of the measures, in addition to natural wastage and implementing a recruitment freeze, to help reduce the establishment.