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Following is a question by the Hon Leung Yiu-chung and a reply by the Secretary for the Civil Service, Mr Paul Tang, in the Legislative Council today (October 23):
Question:
In recent years, whenever Members of the Legislative Council debate or vote on an important motion or bill, the Government very often deploys public officers to station at the various passageways and doorways of the Legislative Council Complex. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the reasons for making the aforesaid arrangement, and the specific duties of the public officers concerned;
(b) of the number of public officers deployed on each occasion for the aforesaid arrangement, the ranks of the public officers concerned and the payroll cost for deploying the relevant public officers to discharge the duties concerned; and
(c) whether it has reviewed if there is an actual need to make that arrangement; if it has, of the criteria adopted for the review; if the review outcome is in the affirmative, of the departments and ranks of the public officers responsible for deciding whether or not to make that arrangement; and whether it will consider not to make that arrangement anymore?
Reply:
President,
My consolidated reply to the different parts of the question raised by the Hon Leung Yiu-chung is as follows:
The Government fully respects the Legislative Council (LegCo)'s functions of enacting laws, controlling public expenditure and monitoring the work of the Government. Secretaries of Departments (SoDs) and Directors of Bureaux (DoBs), from time to time, attend LegCo meetings to brief Members on and elucidate government policies, participate in discussions on government motions and bills, and handle various matters relating to LegCo.
In this connection, other public officers (including other politically appointed officials and civil servants) may need to assist and support SoDs and DoBs. Their specific duties include assisting SoDs and DoBs in contacting Members, canvassing Members' views, taking note of their voting preferences, providing Members with detailed explanations and further information when necessary, as well as acquiring first-hand information about the conduct of meetings, including the content of discussions, Members' attendance and the conduct of voting, so as to report to SoDs and DoBs.
Assisting SoDs and DoBs in handling LegCo business is one of the duties of public officers. When need arises for relevant officers to visit the LegCo Complex for attending to LegCo business, officers will be discreet and they will fully comply with the rules of the LegCo Complex, so as to ensure that the conduct of meetings and the activities of Members and other members of the public in the LegCo Complex will not be affected.
As different LegCo business may vary in terms of their nature as well as the duration of time and procedure involved, bureaux or departments will arrange, according to their particular situations and actual needs, an appropriate number of suitably ranked officers to carry out the supporting work. That being the case, we are not able to provide the number, rank and payroll cost of the officers involved in the above arrangements. Nevertheless, the relevant work only involves existing manpower and resources of bureaux or departments and no additional public expenditure is incurred.
Whenever SoDs and DoBs have to conduct important LegCo business, the senior echelon of relevant bureaux or departments will evaluate and consider if assistance is needed, as well as the manpower so required. As LegCo business that needs to be handled varies, the bureaux or departments concerned will make their own deployment accordingly.
We will review the manpower support for handling important LegCo business from time to time. If certain arrangements require adjustments, we will make corresponding modification, with a view to handling all business relating to LegCo in a more appropriate manner.
Ends/Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Issued at HKT 16:06
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