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Following is a question by the Hon Ip Kin-yuen and a written reply by the Secretary for Home Affairs, Mr Tsang Tak-sing, in the Legislative Council today (December 11):
Question:
According to the web site of the Home Affairs Bureau, the Government has currently established 460 advisory and statutory bodies (ASBs) to advise the Government on different policy areas or perform statutory functions. In this connection, will the Government:
(a) set out by the name of such ASBs the (i) ranks and (ii) notional annual mid-point salaries of the civil servants serving as secretaries to such bodies; and
(b) inform this Council whether it has regularly reviewed the ranks of the civil servants to be assigned to serve as secretaries to various ASBs and the relevant payroll costs, as well as submitted reports to the Legislative Council and made public the relevant details; if it has not, of the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
My reply to the question of Hon Ip Kin-yuen is as follows:
(a) The ranks and notional annual mid-point salaries (NAMS) of the civil servants serving as secretaries to the government advisory and statutory bodies (ASBs) as at November 30, 2013 are set out at Annex.
(b) Government bureaux and departments will as appropriate review various aspects of the operation of the ASBs under their purview, including the rank of the secretaries, to ensure that the ASBs are given the necessary and sufficient support. In assessing the appropriateness of the rank of the secretaries of ASBs, Government bureaux and departments will consider various relevant factors, such as the functions and specific nature of operation of the ASBs concerned, as well as the range and complexity of duties being performed by their secretaries.
When the secretary of an ASB is a civil service post, it is part of the establishment of the bureau or department concerned, and his or her salary is provided for under the financial provision under the operational expenses of the estimates of the bureau or department. Information of the establishment and the operational expenses of bureaux and departments are set out in the annual Draft Estimates of Expenditure, which are scrutinised and approved by the Finance Committee of the Legislative Council.
Most ASBs have Internet homepages to make information about their functions and composition available to the public. Where applicable, bureaux or departments will publicise information about the post and contact information of the secretaries or secretariats through the homepages of the ASBs under their purview.
Ends/Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Issued at HKT 17:10
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