XN000022-1997-04-23 — Page 37

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Quarter for Commissioner of Police

I now turn to Mr Li's remarks concerning the allocation of a quarter to the Commissioner of Police. We firmly believe that the present Commissioner of Police, and his successors, should live in government-owned accommodation. We made our various decisions on the allocation and designation of this quarter as a post-tied departmental quarter in full knowledge of all relevant information the nature of the Commissioner's official duties and responsibilities, the suitability of the quarter for the purpose, and the fact that the incumbent Commissioner had received a housing allowance under the Home Purchase Scheme.

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There is no question of any preferential treatment being granted or any breach of the prevention of double housing benefit policy. We note the PAC's views on this quarter. However, we consider that the action taken to allocate this quarter for use by the Commissioner of Police as a post-tied quarter is fully in line with the approved policy. We therefore do not agree that the Commissioner should be asked to vacate his quarter or pay for any double housing benefits.

Co-ordination within Goverment

Mr Li suggested that a number of the situations criticised by the Director of Audit have arisen due to a lack of co-ordination amongst Government branches and departments, or of a mechanism to resolve inter-portfolio disagreements. We do, in fact, place heavy emphasis on co-ordination and lateral communication within the Administration. Apart from the less formal arrangements, we have across the Government a range of standing and ad hoc committees set up for this purpose. I myself chair a number of these committees which Policy Secretaries attend. So Members could rest assured that there are adequate and well-established fora within the Administration for co-ordinating Government business and for resolving any differences in opinion. We nonetheless welcome the PAC's observations which usefully remind us to give the question of co-ordination the full attention it deserves.