XN000022-1995-05-10 — Page 34

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The Committee has expressed its concern that our conclusion will send out a message that if there is no evidence of "bad faith", an officer's wrong doing of whatever degree of blame will always be tolerated. This is certainly not our intention. We take the question of accountability very seriously and the Committee is aware that we have carried out an extensive investigation into the case. I regret that our conclusion does not appear to be acceptable to the Committee.

As in any organisation, we in the civil service have to give our officers a certain degree of discretion to enable decisions to be taken efficiently, and at the level most appropriate to the case. There will inevitably be occasions when a judgement is made which, with hindsight, may not be considered the best or the most appropriate. However, such "imperfect" judgement does not, and should not, of itself amount to misconduct which warrants disciplinary action. To do otherwise would adversely affect the decision-making mechanism and, in turn, civil service efficiency.

Mr Wong also highlighted the Committee's concern that a number of the situations which attracted the Director of Audit's criticism have been caused, at least partly, by the problem of insufficient information provided to the Executive Council, the Legislative Council or the Housing Authority. I would like to assure Members that we always aim to provide full and accurate information to the two Councils. And I am sure this wish is shared by our colleagues who service the Housing Authority. But Members will appreciate that deciding how much information is sufficient and whether the information is relevant for inclusion in a paper must largely be a matter of judgement. It is not something on which we can lay hard and fast rules. Under our system, Honourable Members have the right to question officials and to ask for any additional information necessary for their consideration of a proposal, and we have always responded to these as best as we can. That said, let me assure Members that we note the Committee's concern on the matter, and we will do our best to provide adequate information in our submissions to facilitate the two Councils' consideration of our proposals.

We are pleased to learn that the Committee appreciates the efforts we have made to improve the presentation of financial and performance information to Members. The answer to the question of "adequacy and quality of financial and performance information provided by the Government to the Legislative Council" is one of balance. A balance between the need, on the one hand, to provide Members with the information necessary to enable them to monitor the efficiency and effectiveness with which Government uses the funds approved by the legislature; and on the other hand, not to burden Members with too many facts and figures.