CONSTITUTION AND ADMINISTRATION
Government officials and members of the public are represented on these boards and committees. About 5 600 members of the public have been appointed to serve on a total of about 350 boards and committees, and some serve on more than one. These members are appointed for their specialist knowledge or expertise, or for their record or interest in contributing to community service. Increasing importance has been attached to their contribution to the formulation and execution of government policies. In order to fully utilise their potential, the composition and effectiveness of these bodies are regularly monitored. Where appropriate, the government broadens the cross-section of representa- tion and encourages an inflow of new ideas through a reasonable turnover of membership.
The Administration
Role of the Chief Secretary
The Chief Secretary is principally responsible to the Governor for the formulation of government policies and their implementation. She is the head of the Public Service. The Chief Secretary is one of the Governor's principal advisers, along with the Financial Secretary and the Attorney General.
The Chief Secretary exercises direction primarily as head of the Government Secretariat, the central organisation comprising the secretaries of the policy branches and resource branches and their staff. She deputises for the Governor during his absence, and is the Senior Official Member of the Executive and Legislative Councils.
Role of the Financial Secretary
The Financial Secretary, who reports directly to the Governor, is responsible for the fiscal and economic policies of the government. He is an ex-officio member of both the Executive and Legislative Councils, and a member of the Finance Committee of the Legislative Council.
As the government official with primary responsibility for Hong Kong's fiscal, monetary and economic policies, the Financial Secretary oversees the operations of the Finance, Financial Services, Trade and Industry, Economic Services, and Works Branches of the Government Secretariat, and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority. He also chairs the Exchange Fund Advisory Committee.
The Financial Secretary is responsible under the Public Finance Ordinance for laying before the legislature each year the government's estimates of revenue and expenditure. He delivers the annual budget speech, outlining the government's budgetary proposals and moving the adoption of the Appropriation Bill, which gives legal effect to the annual expenditure proposals contained in the budget.
Role of the Central Policy Unit
The Central Policy Unit forms part of the Government Secretariat, but it is not a policy branch and does not have responsibility for a defined programme area of its own. Its role is to undertake in-depth examinations of complex policy issues, to analyse options and to recommend solutions. These issues are assigned to it by the Governor, Chief Secretary and Financial Secretary, and are specified on a case-by-case basis. They are mostly issues of a long-term, strategic nature, or issues which cut across, or fall between, the boundaries of several policy branches or government departments.
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