Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang yesterday unveiled the plans to revamp the Government Secretariat to rationalize the workload between bureau and streamline policy production.

 

Speaking at the Legislative Council question-and-answer session, Tsang proposed increasing the number of bureaus from 11 to 12, and redistributing some of their portfolios. He said the move will make it more effective for the Chief Executive to launch key policies to meet future challenges and opportunities.

 

"The reorganization aims to rationalize the distribution of responsibilities between policy bureaus. Putting related responsibilities under one bureau will help optimize synergy and enable the government to sharpen its focus on important and complex issues," he said. "This will better facilitate the Chief Executive to implement the priority policy initiatives pledged during the Chief Executive election."

 

According to the revamp, the 12 bureaus are the Civil Service Bureau; the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau; the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau; the Development Bureau; the Education Bureau; the Environment Bureau; the Financial Services and Treasury Bureau; the Food and Health Bureau; the Home Affairs Bureau; the Labor and Welfare Bureau; the Security Bureau; and the Transport and Housing Bureau.

 

The portfolios of the civil service, security and financial services and treasury bureaus will remain unchanged. The Education Bureau will no longer handle manpower issues while the Constitutional Affairs Bureau will take on human rights policy from the Home Affairs Bureau, and be renamed the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau.

 

The Environment Bureau will focus on environmental protection, energy and sustainable development policies. The Food and Health Bureau will work on food safety, health and environmental hygiene. The Labor and Welfare Bureau will handle welfare, labor and manpower issues.

 

The Housing, Planning and Lands Bureau will be reconstituted to form the Development Bureau, responsible for infrastructure development and heritage conservation issues. It will also handle matters involving planning, lands, building and urban renewal.

 

The Transport and Housing Bureau will be responsible for sea, land and air traffic, logistics, and housing policies. The Commerce and Economic Development Bureau will oversee commerce and industry, technology, tourism, creative industry, consumer protection and competition policy. The Home Affairs Bureau will, in addition to its existing duties on district administration and cultural, sports and recreation, oversee social enterprises and legal aid issues.

 

Legislative amendments will be tabled at the Legislative Council soon, Tsang said, adding the proposal will not change the accountability system. He said he hopes the new governing team will be sworn in, according to the new arrangement, before the third-term administration begins. The new government structure is scheduled to be implemented on July 1.

 

The Constitutional Affairs Bureau said each bureau will be headed by a Director of Bureau. The setting up of the private office of the additional Director of Bureau constitutes the only net increase in civil service establishment.

 

The government will also take the opportunity to align the terms of employment for the Chief Executive's Office Director with the Directors of Bureau.

 

It said as the post is a political appointee performing the roles and responsibilities akin to those of Principal Officials under the accountability system, its terms of employment should be identical to those of Directors of Bureau, instead of pegging to that of a Directorate civil servant at D8 level as at present. The additional annual cost is about HK$400,000 (US$51,147.58).

 

Tsang said that in the coming two months, his government will follow up on the Action Agenda on China's 11th Five-Year Plan. The Financial Secretary will start related work on finance, logistics, commerce and professional services.

 

On social enterprises, he said the Home Affairs Bureau will organize a social enterprises summit, which he will chair.

 

On constitutional development, Tsang said it is time to draw a conclusion. The government will summarize the discussions in mid-2007 and publish a Green Paper. A public consultation will be launched. He said the discussion should not just focus on the date of having universal suffrage, but should also include road maps and election designs. He reiterated that all proposals should comply with the Basic Law.

 

(Xinhua News Agency May 4, 2007)