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CONSTITUTION AND ADMINISTRATION

The Administration

Role of the Chief Secretary

The Chief Secretary is principally responsible to the Governor for the formulation of government policies and their implementation. She is the head of the public service. The Chief Secretary is one of the Governor's principal advisers, along with the Financial Secretary and the Attorney General.

The Chief Secretary exercises direction primarily as head of the Government Secretariat, the central organisation comprising the secretaries of the policy branches and resource branches and their staff. She deputises for the Governor during his absence, and is the Senior Official Member of the Executive and Legislative Councils and chairman of the Finance Committee.

Role of Financial Secretary

The Financial Secretary, who reports directly to the Governor, is responsible for the fiscal and economic policies of the government. He is an ex officio member of both the Executive and Legislative Councils. He is, in addition, a member of the Finance Committee of the Legislative Council and chairman of the Public Works Sub-committee of the Finance Committee. As the government official with primary responsibility for Hong Kong's fiscal and economic policies, the Financial Secretary oversees the operations of the Finance, Financial Services, Trade and Industry, Economic Services, and Works Branches of the Government Secretariat, and the new Hong Kong Monetary Authority.

The Financial Secretary is responsible under the Public Finance Ordinance for laying before the legislature each year the government's estimates of revenue and expenditure. In his capacity as an ex officio member of the Legislative Council, he delivers a major speech outlining the government's budgetary proposals and moving the adoption of the Appropriation Bill, which gives legal effect to the annual expenditure proposals contained in the budget. He is also responsible under a number of ordinances for carrying out executive duties, such as setting levels of certain charges and remunerations, and overseeing the accounts of certain trust funds and statutory bodies.

Role of the Central Policy Unit

The Central Policy Unit forms part of the Government Secretariat, but it is not a policy branch and does not have responsibility for a defined programme area of its own. Its role is to undertake in-depth examinations of complex policy issues, to analyse options, and to recommend solutions. These issues are assigned to it by the Governor, Chief Secretary and Financial Secretary, and are specified on a case-by-case basis. They are mostly issues of a long-term, strategic nature, or issues which cut across, or fall between, the boundaries of several policy branches or government departments.

Role of the Efficiency Unit

The Efficiency Unit was established in May 1992. The unit reports to the Chief Secretary. Its objective is to pursue the government's commitment to improve services to the community and to achieve openness and accountability by formulating, securing support for and co-ordinating the implementation of a programme of public sector reform.

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