HONG KONG PROVISIONAL URBAN COUNCIL
601
Firstly, regarding the relationship between the Urban Services Department and the Urban Council, as the Director has stated on a number of occasions, she is the executive director of the Council. Meetings of the Council are basically a forum for Members to debate the policies of the Council. We consider it inappropriate for the Director to answer queries in this forum.
Secondly, about the question of stepping up supervision, our view is that we should first of all assess whether the existing mechanism is ineffective. If it is, we should consider whether improvements could be made, in order to embody the spirit behind the motion.
I agree with my two colleagues who mentioned just now that based on the existing mechanism, it would be appropriate to achieve our objective at the meetings of the Standing Committee. Further examination may be made in this area. In fact, we did in the past witness the Director submitting reports on the contents and progress of the motions of the Provisional Urban Council (or the former Urban Council) at the meetings of the Standing Committee. Of course, we might be disappointed because we could not step up supervision over the progress of the reports, but could we take this as a direction, under which possible improvements are examined? We could consider another direction, that is, for the motions carried at the monthly meetings, we could demand the Department to undertake to report on and account for them at either the monthly meetings or the meetings of the Standing Committee within a certain period of time.
Councillors who are members of the ADPL therefore do not support the motion. Mr. Chairman, these are my remarks.
MR. WU CHI-WAI (in Cantonese): Having listened to the speeches of a number of Members, I have discovered a very funny phenomenon. While everyone agrees that there is a need to increase the accountability of the Director or the Department, there is reservation about asking the Director to give us a chance to ask her questions at the monthly meetings, which is in fact a very simple move. I have pondered over the possible reasons for this reaction. At a number of the meetings of the Council, we did talk about the need to monitor the Department's performance and streamline the structure to enhance efficiency, but eventually nothing came out of it. Is this yet another example? I have been a member of the Urban Council for two years and I wonder if there is anyone who still does not know what has gone wrong in the relationship with the Department. Is it because of the Department's reluctance in streamlining the structure in order to enhance efficiency or is it because of the feasibility of the accountability system? The proposed arrangement does not necessarily mean that the existing and long-standing mechanism would be replaced. It simply means that another measure may be added to the existing mechanism to step up supervision over the Department's implementation of the Council's policies. I have heard many times and Members have repeated time and again that they are afraid that in attending the meetings, the Director
Page 611 of 654
Page 611 of 654
Page 611 of 654
Page 611 of 654
HONG KONG PROVISIONAL URBAN COUNCIL
601
Firstly, regarding the relationship between the Urban Services Department and the Urban Council, as the Director has stated on a number of occasions, she is the executive director of the Council. Meetings of the Council are basically a forum for Members to debate the policies of the Council. We consider it inappropriate for the Director to answer queries in this forum.
Secondly, about the question of stepping up supervision, our view is that we should first of all assess whether the existing mechanism is ineffective. If it is, wwe should consider whether improvements could be made, in order to embody #the spirit behind the motion.
I
agree with my two colleagues who mentioned just now that based on the existing mechanism, it would be appropriate to achieve our objective at the meetings of the Standing Committee. Further examination may be made in this area. In fact, we did in the past witness the Director submitting reports on the contents and progress of the motions of the Provisional Urban Council (or the former Urban Council) at the meetings of the Standing Committee. Of course we might be disappointed because we could not step up supervision over the progress of the reports, but could we take this as a direction, under which possible improvements are examined? We could consider another direction, that is, for the motions carried at the monthly meetings, we could demand the Department to undertake to report on and account for them at either the monthly meetings or the meetings of the Standing Committee within a certain period of time.
Councillors who are members of the ADPL therefore do not support the motion. Mr. Chairman, these are my remarks.
MR. WU CHI-WAI (in Cantonese): Having listened to the speeches of a number of Members, I have discovered a very funny phenomenon. While everyone agrees that there is a need to increase the accountability of the Director or the Department, there is reservation about asking the Director to give us a chance to ask her questions at the monthly meetings, which is in fact a very simple move. I have pondered over the possible reasons for this reaction. At a number of the meetings of the Council, we did talk about the need to monitor the Department's performance and streamline the structure to enhance efficiency, but eventually nothing came out of it. Is this yet another example? I have been a member of the Urban Council for two years and I wonder if there is anyone who still does not know what has gone wrong in the relationship with the Department. Is it because of the Department's reluctance in streamlining the structure in order to enhance efficiency or is it because of the feasibility of the accountability system? The proposed arrangement does not necessarily mean that the existing and long-standing mechanism would be replaced. It simply means that another measure may be added to the existing mechanism to step up supervision over the Department's implementation of the Council's policies. I have heard many times and Members have repeated time and again that they are afraid that in attending the meetings, the Director
Page 611 of 654
Page 611 of 654
Page 611 of 654
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.