CONFIDENTIAL ##
XCC(77)19
Given the controls over the revenue and expenditure of the Authority described in paragraph 18 above, and the requirements for accounting and auditing contained in clause 12, it is considered that this clause gives an adequate degree of protection to the public interest.
20
Clause 15 states that the Authority is not an agency of the Govern- ment, but for the purposes of the Frevention of Bribery Ordinance, the Authority will be considered as a public body, and an amendment to this Ordinance is made by clause 18. The Authority will also be treated as other public service for the purposes of the Pensions Ordinance, once it has established a provident fund.
Criminal offences
21
Clauses 16 and 17 of the bill provide for penalties to be imposed against the unauthorised disclosure of information and the impersonation of staff of the Authority. It has not been considered necessary to provide for specific penalties against candidates found guilty of cheating, as the Authority will have powers under clause 7(1)(c) and clause 7(2)(c) to deal with such cases on an administrative basis.
Timetable
22
It is desirable that the Authority should be established formally by 1st September 1977, in order to provide it with sufficient time to make arrangements for administering the Certificate of Education examination in June 1978. The Authority will therefore be eligible for subsidy from 1st September 1977. Before this, however, it will be necessary to appoint the members of the Authority, so that they can make arrangements for the appointment of their staff, draw up estimates of receipts and payments for the first financial year, and negotiate a memorandum of administrative arrangements with Government. Subject, therefore, to Members' approval of the bill and of the other proposals in this memorandum, it is proposed to introduce the bill into the Legislative Council at the earliest opportunity, and it is intended that the Ordinance, if passed by the Legislative Council, should come into operation as soon as possible thereafter, so that suffi- cient time is available for preparatory work of this kind. It will be necessary, however, to make in July 1977 a public announcement of the fees to be charged for the 1978 Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination. It is considered unlikely that the Authority will be able in this short time to prepare detailed estimates of receipts and payments for 1977-78, and have these approved by the Governor as required by clause 10(2) of the bill, and so provision has been made in clause 10(7) for the fee levels for this examination to be fixed by the Director of Education.
CONFIDENTIAL
機密