TNAG-1441-FCO40-1925-Constitutional-development-in-Hong-Kong-1987 — Page 7

No

2

Dropping the phrase "ministerial system" does not necessarily mean

that the idea has been discarded. As a matter of fact, it is not easy to

discard the idea because the problem which it aims to tackle still exists. The problem is How should the Executive Council be accountable to the Legislative

Council?"

Difficult to Query Senior Government Officials after 1997

According to the Sino-British Joint Declaration, the Executive

Council should be "accountable" to the Legislative Council after 1997. However, after 1997, all Legislative Councillors will be selected by election.

In the past, senior government officials attended Legco meetings. They answered

queries raised by unofficial members and faced open criticism.

At present,

however, the number of official members is diminishing. If there is no other

means to link the executive body and the legislature, the Executive Council

and the Legislative Council will very soon become totally separate. Councillors

will only be able to criticize each other at Legco meetings. Their criticism

against the Government will serve no purpose as no representative from the

executive body is present at the meeting.

Legislative Councillors can of course call in government officials

to answer queries. This practice, however, is restricted to in-house meetings

at present, and the aim of "open criticism" cannot be fulfilled. Even if the Standing Order of the Legislative Council is amended in the future so that this can be done at open meetings, the effect of the present open questioning

cannot be achieved.