ENG-1982 — Page 34

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REVIEW

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Though legislation may on occasions be the wind of change which reshapes society, nevertheless perhaps even more important than its legislative scrutiny is LegCo's second constitutional function, to control public expenditure. 'He who holds the purse-strings rules the world.' Its Finance Committee, chaired by the Chief Secretary, with all 27 Unofficials as members but only the Financial Secretary and the Secretary for Lands and Works from the official side, meets in closed session to scrutinise all public expenditure and vote or refuse funds as it wills. Without its sanction, no programme involving the spending of public money can commence even though in principle ExCo may have approved it. Again the wide expertise of the Unofficials drawn as they are from such differing parts and sections of the community - Cantonese, British, Shanghainese, Portuguese, Indian and encompassing over the years vice-chancellors and dons, social workers, captains of commerce, priests, personnel managers, teachers, lawyers, engineers, bankers, businessmen, unionists and a host of others - is of inestimable value in assessing the merits and cost-effectiveness of proposals, and in ensuring that the public get value for money.

The third constitutional role of the Council is to question the effectiveness of government, to ensure it knows where and how much the public's shoes pinch, and to act as a spur to put things right. This it does through the Public Accounts Committee, and during the question time with which each meeting of the Council commences. That committee, established by resolution of the council in 1978 and consisting of seven Unofficials, meets to examine the report of the independent Director of Audit, who annually audits the Government's accounts, searching for waste or misapplication of public funds, charged with seeing whether the public have had full value for their money. The committee calls heads and controlling officers of departments to give explanations, and ultimately its report to the full Council is laid on the table, and becomes public property.

Question time affords Unofficial Members the opportunity publicly to question senior members of the Government on every aspect of life in Hong Kong, from abandoned and broken-down vehicles in the streets, or crime prevention in the countryside, to the problems of illegal immigration or the re-settlement abroad of Vietnamese refugees. Such public exposure keeps departments on their toes, for if egg lands on the face of its head in public, it is likely to be followed rapidly by reverberations down the line. Sometimes the objective of questions may not at first be entirely foreseen:

Miss Dunn: 'Sir, what are the regulations governing the employment of women workers

at night in the manufacturing and the commercial sectors?"

Commissioner for Labour: 'Sir, this is governed by the Factories and Industrial Under- takings Regulations. Briefly these state that women workers cannot be employed before 6 a.m. or after 8 p.m. . . .

Miss Dunn: 'Sir, in these enlightened times, what is the logic behind divesting adult

women of their own free will to choose to work at night?'

'

Commissioner for Labour: . . . There is at present a debate in the ILO, EEC and elsewhere concerning what is the right balance between equality of rights of women and restrictions designed for their protection. I shall observe these debates carefully and review the situation fundamentally in a year or two.'

Miss Dunn: 'Sir, is it not inconsistent to restrict night work for women workers in the manufacturing sector but not in the commercial sector, where conditions of work may not necessarily be more tolerable?"

Commissioner for Labour: 'Miss Dunn certainly has a point in logic, although there is

not in that sector the employment of women in shift work on a large scale ...'