ENG-1997 — Page 54

CONSTITUTION AND ADMINISTRATION

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Construction Advisory Board). Their areas of activities are wide-ranging. Some deal with the interests of a particular industry, others advise on a particular area of government policy or public interest. Some of these bodies also carry out executive functions, such as the Hospital Authority. There are also local committees concerned with the affairs of particular areas and neighbourhoods, such as District Fight Crime Committees.

Government officials and members of the public are represented on these advisory boards and committees. Almost 4 000 members of the public have been appointed to serve on a total of about 350 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. The government constantly keeps in view the composition and operation of the advisory bodies to ensure that they meet the needs of the community. Appropriate measures have been introduced to enhance their transparency and representativness.

The Administration

Role of the Chief Secretary for Administration

The Chief Secretary for Administration is principally responsible to the Chief Executive for the formulation of government policies and their implementation. As the head of the Public Service, the Chief Secretary for Administration is one of the Chief Executive's principal advisers, along with the Financial Secretary and the Secretary for Justice.

The Chief Secretary for Administration exercises direction primarily as head of the Government Secretariat, the central organisation comprising the secretaries of the policy bureaux and resource bureaux and their staff. She deputises for the Chief Executive during his absence, and is the Senior Official Member of the Executive Council.

Role of Financial Secretary

The Financial Secretary, who reports directly to the Chief Executive, is responsible for the government's fiscal and economic policies and regularly attends meetings of the Executive and Legislative Councils. 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 Bureaux 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.

The Structure of the Administration

The HKSAR Government is organised into bureaux and departments. The bureaux, each headed by a policy secretary, collectively form the Government Secretariat.