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Following is a question by the Hon James To and a written reply by the Secretary for the Civil Service, Mr Joseph W P Wong, in the Legislative Council today (May 15):

Question:

Regarding the acting arrangements for the Chief Secretary for Administration, the Financial Secretary, the Secretary for Justice (the Secretaries) and bureau secretaries during the periods when they are not in Hong Kong to discharge their duties, will the Government inform this Council:

(a) of the acting arrangements for the Secretaries and bureau secretaries during the periods when they are not in Hong Kong to discharge their duties; and

(b) whether there have been cases in which no acting arrangements had been made in accordance with the prescribed procedures for the Secretaries and bureau secretaries during the periods when they were not in Hong Kong to discharge their duties over the past 24 months; if so, of the reasons for that and the details, including the number of days of their absence from Hong Kong without having made such arrangements and whether there had been occasions on which their decisions or instructions were required on certain matters; if so, of the details?

Reply:

Madam President,

Acting appointments are administrative arrangements made to assign an officer to undertake the duties and responsibilities of another office during the temporary absence of the substantive holder. There is no statutory requirement that acting appointments must be made to civil service posts whenever the incumbents are away from Hong Kong. The need for making an acting appointment is assessed on the merits of individual cases having regard to the operational needs prevailing at the time, for example, whether the period of the officer's absence from Hong Kong involves normal working days or public holidays, whether appropriate arrangements governing the exercise of statutory or administrative authorities are in place, whether the officer can be easily contacted for instructions or can return to office at short notice as necessary. Where an acting appointment is required, the officer who is most familiar with the work of the acting office should take up the acting appointment.

Against the above background, my replies to the specific questions are as follows:

(a) There is no mandatory requirement for acting appointments to be made to the posts of the Chief Secretary for Administration, the Financial Secretary, the Secretary for Justice and Bureau Secretaries when the incumbents are away from Hong Kong. Acting appointments to such posts will be made if the operational needs so require. The acting office will be taken up by a senior officer who is conversant with the work of the office at the time.

(b) Over the past 24 months, the need for making acting appointments to the posts of the three Secretaries of Departments and Bureau Secretaries had been assessed against the prevailing operational requirements at the time and acting appointments had been made in accordance with the above considerations as appropriate.

End/Wednesday, May 15, 2002

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