Hong Kong authorities will take public opinion into account when deciding whether to trigger a new investigation mechanism to hold senior officials accountable, the city’s civil service minister has said.
Permanent secretaries of bureaus, who are not covered by the proposed “Heads of Department Accountability System”, will also face scrutiny if they are found to be involved in management failures, Secretary for the Civil Service Ingrid Yeung Ho Poi-yan said on Saturday.
Under the new mechanism, the chief executive, department secretaries or bureau directors can initiate investigations by the Public Service Commission, an independent statutory body that advises on civil service appointments and promotions, if they deem problems in a department to be “widespread, repetitive and systemic”, or if there are indications that department heads are personally implicated.
Yeung said it was impossible to clearly define what constituted “sufficient seriousness” to launch an investigation, given the diverse nature of government departments, but stressed that public sentiment would be a factor in any decision.
“If there is any problem that the public sees as very serious, sees as very much of a concern to the community, the director of the bureau will have a good grasp of it,” Yeung said.
“[They] will definitely take this into consideration when considering whether to trigger the investigation mechanism.”
