CONFIDENTIAL
機密
XCC(75)42
Relations with the Government
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Setting up the IEA requires careful consideration of the future relations between it and the Government. There are various kinds of relationship, but the most important is that which governs the degree of control which the Government should exercise over this statutory creation. If the degree of control is' pictured along a scale there is, at one extreme, a public examination authority heavily sub- sidised from public funds and probably subject to deficiency grant controls. This arrangement is considered inappropriate, given that the Authority would eventually become self-financing and given that deficiency grant arrangements requires close adherence to Government practice. At the other extreme is a completely independent organisation over whose activities the Government has no control. This extreme position is also unacceptable because it is likely to lead to a situation where the IEA could charge any fees it likes, or establish whatever examination syllabuses it sees fit, regardless of its responsibilities to the community and to educational practice in schools. This extreme position could result in the Government being morally obliged to subsidise the Authority again in the face of strong public pressure to reduce fees, to re-phase increases in fees or to dissolve the IEA.
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In other words, it would be as meaningless to set up a public authority which does not enjoy a measure of operational and financial autonomy as it would be to set up a public authority which could ignore the public interest by being recklessly independent. A position half way between these extremes is required and, given that the IEA is to be created to run public examinations on behalf of the Government, that position must confer upon the Authority a large measure of freedom while vesting in the Government the right to monitor its activities and if need be, to intervene. This latter requirement suggests that it will be necessary to write into the bill incorporating the IEA the following provisions:
(a)
(b)
(c)
a clause empowering the Governor to give directions, in the public interest, which must be carried out;
a clause requiring the IEA to submit plans and budgets annually for approval by the Governor; and
a clause providing for a Government presence on the IEA's governing body.
Such measures are not without precedent; some of them apply to the Urban Council and the Housing Authority.
CONFIDENTIAL #2