ENG-2001 — Page 55

CONSTITUTION AND ADMINISTRATION

with finance and the Public Service respectively. At present, all policy secretaries are civil servants. In the light of community aspirations for policy secretaries to be held politically accountable for the outcome of their policies, the Chief Executive proposed to introduce a new system of appointing the Chief Secretary for Administration, the Financial Secretary, the Secretary for Justice and most policy secretaries. Under the proposed new system, these officials would no longer be civil servants. Their term of office would not exceed that of the Chief Executive who nominated them. They would all be appointed to the Executive Council. The decision on whether the proposed new system should be implemented would be taken by the second term Chief Executive.

There are 69 departments and agencies whose heads are, with a few exceptions, responsible to the bureau secretaries for the direction of their departments and the efficient implementation of approved policy. The exceptions are the Audit Commission, the independence of which is safeguarded by having the Director report directly to the Legislative Council; the Independent Commission Against Corruption and the Office of The Ombudsman, whose independence is safeguarded by having the Commissioner and The Ombudsman report directly to the Chief Executive; and the Department of Justice, which comes under the Secretary for Justice.

The Administration

Role of the Chief Secretary for Administration

The Chief Secretary for Administration is 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. The Chief Secretary for Administration also deputises for the Chief Executive when he is not able to discharge his duties for a short period, and is the Senior Official Member of the Executive Council.

Role of the Financial Secretary

The Financial Secretary, who reports directly to the Chief Executive, is responsible for the Government's fiscal, monetary and economic policies. He oversees the operations of the Finance, Financial Services, Commerce and Industry, Economic Services, and Works Bureaux of the Government Secretariat, and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority. He also chairs several committees, including the Exchange Fund Advisory Committee, the Economic Advisory Committee and the Banking Advisory Committee.

The Financial Secretary is responsible under the Public Finance Ordinance for laying before the Legislative Council each year the Government's estimates of revenue and expenditure. In his annual budget speech, he outlines the Government's budgetary proposals and moves the Appropriation Bill, which gives legal effect to the annual expenditure proposals contained in the Budget.

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