ENG-1995 — Page 44

CONSTITUTION AND ADMINISTRATION

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and the Economic Advisory Committee). Both types of bodies give advice to the government through a branch secretary or a head of department. Their areas of activities are wide-ranging. Some deal with the interests of a particular industry, such as the Fish Marketing Advisory Board. Others advise on a particular area of government policy or public interest, such as the Transport Advisory Committee and the Social Welfare Advisory Committee. Some of these bodies also carry out executive functions, such as the Hong Kong Examinations Authority and the Hospital Authority. There are also local committees concerned with the affairs of particular areas and neighbourhoods throughout the territory. They include the area committees and District Fight Crime Committees.

Government officials and members of the public are represented on these advisory boards and committees. About 3 100 members of the public have been appointed to serve on a total of about 300 advisory boards and committees, and some serve on more than one. These members are appointed for their specialist knowledge or expertise, or for their record or interest in contributing to community service. Increasing importance has been attached to their contribution to the formulation and execution of government policies. In order to fully utilise their potential, the composition and effectiveness of these bodies are regularly monitored. Where appropriate, the government broadens the cross-section of representation and encourages an inflow of new ideas through a reasonable turnover of membership.

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. As 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 Council.

Role of the 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 the Executive Council and regularly attends meetings of the Legislative Council as senior government representative.

As the government official with primary responsibility for Hong Kong's fiscal, monetary 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 Hong Kong Monetary Authority. He also chairs the Exchange Fund Advisory Committee.

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. He delivers the annual budget 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.