TNAG-1441-FCO40-1925-Constitutional-development-in-Hong-Kong-1987 — Page 8

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The Policies of the Hong Kong Government Made by the ExCo

The most important of all is the fact that the policies of the Government are no longer made by government departments or their heads, but by the Executive Council which consists mainly of unofficial members, That is to say, policies which are drafted by government officials may be amended substantially by unofficial members of the Executive Council and are subsequently passed. Therefore it will be grossly unfair if government officials alone are required to face criticism or queries in

Legislative Council.

queries in the

The idea of appointing Unofficial ExCo members to formally take charge of different policy areas and to answer Legislative Council is a means to solve this problem. If ExCo members who are assigned such responsibilities are at the same time Leg Co members, communication will practically exist between the two councils. Now that the idea cannot be implemented in the form of ministerial system, what other steps can the Hong Kong Government take?

Evidence shows that the Hong Kong Government may put the idea into practice by other means without making any amendments to the legislation. In involves a gradual combination of chairmen of advisory committees in important areas with Unofficial ExCo members. First, the Government will appoint Leg Co members who are outstandingly capable and who meet certain requirements to be chairmen of such advisory committees. These chairmen will then be appointed ExCo members. Another method is to appoint serving Unofficial ExCo members as chairmen of advisory committees. In the Executive Council, responsibilities are shared among members according to the interests covered by the advisory committees they chair, result, they become "ministers" in substance but not in name.

As a

The most difficult step in establishing this system is to make those councillors vested with special responsibilities face other councillors in the Legislative Council and answer queries. Under such an arrangement, Unofficial ExCo members will turn into "officials" and at open meetings they will share, or even take over, the role of government officials on policy

matters.