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In short, our system of Government is a fully accountable one, with accountability resting in the final analysis with those who are responsible for policies of the day. There is no accountability gap that needs to be filled.
Transparency
As Hong Kong has become more sophisticated, the community has rightly come to expect greater openness with respect to Government's decision-making process. It is natural that this expectation of greater transparency should also apply to advisory and statutory bodies, given that they deal with important matters affecting people's day to day lives. The fact is that we have done a great deal in recent years to meet this expectation. Measures adopted to increase their transparency include, where appropriate, conducting meetings in public, making papers and reports available for public inspection, holding regular press briefings and issuing press releases. To date,
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
over 130 conduct their meetings, either wholly or partly, in public;
nearly 190 make their papers/reports available for public inspection;
almost 240 regularly or occasionally hold press briefings after meetings; and
about the same number of them (i.e. around 240) regularly or occasionally issue press releases to inform the public of their work.
In short, we have been matching changing community expectations with far greater transparency.
Conflict of Interest
It is of fundamental importance to our system of advisory and statutory bodies that members should tender their advice and conduct the business of the bodies concerned in an impartial manner. To help ensure that this is done, the Independent Commission Against Corruption has drawn up guidelines on a two-tier system of declaration of interests. For those boards and committees that have extensive influence over policy and financial matters, the chairmen and members are required to register their general pecuniary and personal interests on first appointment. This register of interests is updated regularly and made available for public inspection. When a matter that raises a potential conflict of interests for a particular member is brought up for discussion at a meeting, the member concerned is requested to make full disclosure of his or her interests and withdraw from further discussion of the relevant matter. For other boards and committees, the guidelines provide for the chairmen and members to declare interests as and when a matter for discussion at a meeting raises a conflict of interest. All advisory and statutory bodies have been asked to adopt one or the other of these two systems according to their own needs and the nature of the business they deal with. Over 320 advisory and statutory bodies have done so to date.