impact on an organisation's attitude towards corruption of being named as a "public body" would be significantly weakened if the list of "public bodies" contained more than 1, 000 named bodies. Furthermore, the creation of such a long list of "public bodies" would create administrative problems as any amendments such as additions to or deletions from the list, would have to be approved by the Legislative Council.
10
The Attorney General has also advised that section 4 of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance, which makes it an offence for a public servant to solicit or accept an advantage without lawful authority or reasonable excuse, prohibits the management of a public body from giving its employees legal authority to accept any form of advantage. Thus, if Government-assisted schools were named "public bodies" in the Schedule to the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance, any gift for example from a child to a teacher would become a criminal act. It is not considered that this would serve the aims and spirit of the Ordinance. A possible course of action would be to amend the Ordinance to require:
(a) a public body to seek the approval of the Commissioner,
ICAC to any written authority permitting its employees
to accept advantages in certain well defined circumstances; and
(b) for this written authority to be subsequently published
in the Gazette.
However, the application of these requirements to the 41 bodies already included in the Schedule to the Ordinance would be complex and controversial and the problem would be compounded if applied to some 900 schools.
11
In view of these technical problems, the Board of Education has accepted the Attorney General's advice that the Government should not at this stage include aided schools in the Schedule to the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance. The Commissioner, ICAC is attempting to resolve these problems and has agreed to report to the Board later this year. As a temporary measure, the Director of Education intends to send a circular to aided schools to remind managers and staff of the important aspects of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance. This circular is being drafted with the assistance of the Commissioner, ICA C.
12
The Extra-Mural Department of Hong Kong University is running a course on administration in secondary schools which will be of special benefit to recently appointed heads of schools. To encourage participation half of the course fee will be refunded to those who successfully complete the course. The Director of Education is making an overall assessment of
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