298
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
I suggest that public interest and support will derive from a crash-programme of market and hawker bazaar development, thus facilitating the implementation of the Council's Hawker Policy which was accepted by the Governor-in-Council in 1971, and paving the way for the clearing of congested hawker areas. I suggest that public understanding and appreciation will be attracted, also, by immediate action on our new commitment to provide one Urban Council Library a year in every suitable district and in this respect I am encouraged by the comments of the Chairman of the Libraries Select Committee.
The implications of my remarks are clear. The new Council has concluded its period of adjustment and must now move into positive attitudes in the scheme of things in Hong Kong.
This calls for a change in thinking in both Government and the Council, and I suggest that we should now enter into discussions with the Colonial Secretariat and the Public Works Department so that policies can be agreed, and these programmes planned and announced in the new Council's second year.
To back-up a progressive Urban Council Programme, we must undertake a major re-organization of the Council's Secretariat which, as a result of the withdrawal of experienced staff, has been greatly weakened at a most inopportune time.
And how can we define the organizational needs? I think the Council might look at the McKinsey Report and accept its findings that increased efficiency can be achieved without too much radical change; that the aims should be for more dynamic attitudes, for management by results, greater delegation of authority, and for promotion on merit rather than on length of service.
In practice, this means a strengthening of the Secretariat so that it effectively serves the Council and its Select Committees; increased staff and responsibilities in the areas of planning, management and supervision of the Council Works Programme, with a parallel extension of Treasury services to provide for more accurate and longer-term financial costing and planning. It requires, also, proper delegation of authority to staff so that Select Committee work can be progressed expeditiously and does not proceed, as at present, by a series of stops-and-starts from meeting to meeting.
I do not propose to enter into the detail of organizational planning and changes at this time. Rather, I suggest that the matter is most urgent, and propose that the problem should be tackled by the appointment of local management consultants to study our needs and put forward firm recommendations to the Council on our future organizational needs.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Page 185 of 212
299
urgent, and propose that the problem should be tackled by the appoint-ment of local management consultants to study our needs and put forward firm recommendations to the Council on our future organiza-tional needs.
Relationship with Government
As I have said, this first year has been a period of investigation and exploration, with Council and Government taking measure of each other's postures and policies. But we have both a good way to travel. It is not recognized in some areas, and accepted reluctantly in others, that the Council is a policy-making body and has the financial power to implement its policies, with authority extending down through its Secretariat and Urban Services Department.
The coming year should see greater assertion of Council power, and a continuing adjustment in our relationship with Government. I was interested to note the recent call for more "Open Government" from the Secretary of Home Affairs, providing for a freer exchange of opinion and leading to more harmonious relationship between the Government and the community. How "open" is Government with the Urban Council? What are the facts?
Is it not a fact that Councillors are held at "arm's length" on many Urban Services Department affairs and have no right of access to departmental files which, we are told, are exclusive to Urban Services Department officers and higher Government authority?
Is it not a fact that reports and surveys within the Urban Services Department are not freely available, in full text, for the study and comment of Councillors? I refer specifically to the "Secret Enquiry" into the assault of a newspaper reporter by City Hall staff a year ago, and to the World Health Organization report last year on Hong Kong's rat problems.
Why is a wall of silence drawn around all communication between the Council Secretariat and the Colonial Secretariat? Why cannot copies of relevant correspondence from and to the Secretariat be copied to Chairmen of appropriate Select Committees?
In the current proliferation of Advisory Committees what has happened to my suggestion that the Urban Council be kept informed and I mean all members on current and proposed developments within areas of Council interest such as Pollu-
Page 185
Page 186
298
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
I suggest that public interest and support will derive from a crash-programme of market and hawker bazaar development, thus facilitating the implementation of the Council's Hawker Policy which was accepted by the Governor-in-Council in 1971, and paving the way for the clearing of congested hawker areas. I suggest that public understanding and appreciation will be attracted, also, by immediate action on our new commitment to provide one Urban Council Library a year in every suitable district and in this respect I am encouraged by the comments of the Chairman of the Libraries Select Committee.
The implications of my remarks are clear. The new Council has concluded its period of adjustment and must now move into positive attitudes in the scheme of things in Hong Kong.
This calls for a change in thinking in both Government and the Council, and I suggest that we should now enter into discussions with the Colonial Secretariat and the Public Works Department so that policies can be agreed, and these programmes planned and announced in the new Council's second year.
To back-up a progressive Urban Council Programme, we must undertake a major re-organization of the Council's Secretariat which, as a result of the withdrawal of experienced staff, has been greatly weakened at a most inopportune time.
And how can we define the organizational needs? I think the Council might look at the McKinsey Report and accept its findings that increased efficiency can be achieved without too much radical change; that the aims should be for more dynamic attitudes, for manage- ment by results, greater delegation of authority, and for promotion on merit rather than on length of service.
In practice, this means a strengthening of the Secretariat so that it effectively serves the Council and its Select Committees; increased staff and responsibilities in the areas of planning, management and supervision of the Council Works Programme, with a parallel extension of Treasury services to provide for more accurate and longer-term financial costing and planning. It requires, also, proper delegation of authority to staff so that Select Committee work can be progressed expeditiously and does not proceed, as at present, by a series of stops- and-starts from meeting to meeting.
I do not propose to enter into the detail of organizational planning and changes at this time. Rather, I suggest that the matter is most
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Page 185 of 212
299
urgent, and propose that the problem should be tackled by the appoint- ment of local management consultants to study our needs and put forward firm recommendations to the Council on our future organiza- tional needs.
Relationship with Government
As I have said, this first year has been a period of investigation and exploration, with Council and Government taking measure of each other's postures and policies. But we have both a good way to travel. It is not recognized in some areas, and accepted reluctantly in others, that the Council is a policy-making body and has the financial power to implement its policies, with authority extending down through its Secretariat and Urban Services Department.
The coming year should see greater assertion of Council power, and a continuing adjustment in our relationship with Government. I was interested to note the recent call for more "Open Government" from the Secretary of Home Affairs, providing for a freer exchange of opinion and leading to more harmonious relationship between the Government and the community. How "open" is Government with the Urban Council? What are the facts?
Is it not a fact that Councillors are held at "arm's length" on many Urban Services Department affairs and have no right of access to departmental files which, we are told, are exclusive to Urban Services Department officers and higher Government authority?
Is it not a fact that reports and surveys within the Urban Services Department are not freely available, in full text, for the study and comment of Councillors? I refer specifically to the "Secret Enquiry" into the assault of a newspaper reporter by City Hall staff a year ago, and to the World Health Organi- zation report last year on Hong Kong's rat problems.
Why is a wall of silence drawn around all communication between the Council Secretariat and the Colonial Secretariat? Why cannot copies of relevant correspondence from and to the Secretariat be copied to Chairmen of appropriate Select Committees?
In the current proliferation of Advisory Committees what has happened to my suggestion that the Urban Council be kept informed and I mean all members on current and proposed developments within areas of Council interest such as Pollu-
Page 185Page 186
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.