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His office, the Colonial Secretariat, co-ordinates and
supervises the work of all government departments.
The Financial Secretary is responsible for
financial and economic policy and for the overall
supervision, through the Deputy Financial Secretary and
the Secretary for Economic Services, of departments primarily
involved in this field.
The Colonial Secretariat is organised into six
policy and two resource branches; a branch dealing with
New Territories; and an Administration branch responsible
for the overall machinery of government, each headed by a
Secretary. The policy branches are based on programme
areas, as indicated by their titles; environment, economic
services, home affairs and information, housing, security
and social services. The two resource branches, finance
and civil service, deal with the government's finances and
personnel.
A Political Adviser, seconded from the Foreiga
Office, advises on the external political aspects of
government policies.
:
The administrative functions of the government
are discharged by more than 40 departments, most of which
are organised on a functional basis and have responsibilities
covering all Hong Kong. This form of organisation, rather
than one based on authorities with responsibilities in a