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Date:
Time:
Reporter:
25.11.86
2.15
PMS
5 pm
or is not getting value for money out of a particular group of staff or out of a particular piece of equipment as examples. But what we have found is that once the studies are carried out as a team effort involving the department, i.e. the Controlling Officer and his staff in a steering group, then we make very much better progress than if we come in as outsiders and provide an outsider team without adequate dovetailing with the department itself and clearly in the early years we have spent a lot of time trying to convince heads of departments that we are not there to make their lives a misery but that we want to make it easier for them to carry out their functions, their operational and statutory functions using as far as possible the resources they already have rather than always having to go for incremental additions to their staff and estimates. I hope that that gives an idea of an answer to your question, Mr Poon.
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CHAIRMAN:
Well I am glad to hear that because I have
a feeling that the Director of Audit is in the same predicament! Yes, Mr Cheong.
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MR CHEONG:
DFS, as a member of this Committee, I am
extremely heartened by the fact that the Finance Branch is looking after the taxpayers' money in trying to save as much as possible and 23 give as good value as possible. I wonder whether you could tell us 24 the internal organisation of your Branch in how to steer the steering 25 groups and how the steering groups would have been set up and that, 26
you know, what sort of resources do you have now and are the resources 27 being deployed to the fullest possible use?
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DFS:
At the moment, because we have taken a little while to establish enough steering groups in various departments, as I said earlier we have only got seven so far, we have, and this was 32 a point that I took up myself a day or two ago, to check this very 33 question, we have enough staff to carry out very many more studies 34 than we are presently undertaking but what we are doing is getting 35 through the studies that we are undertaking very much faster than if 36 we had to spread the same amount of staff over, say, 20 studies rather
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