Permanent Secretary, Chief Executive's Office
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Index Page Replies to initial written questions raised by Finance Committee Members in examining the Estimates of Expenditure 2021-22 Controlling Officer : Permanent Secretary, Chief Executive’s Office Session No. : 6 Consolidated e-file name : CEO-1-e1.docx Reply Serial Question Name of Member Head Programme No. Serial No. CEO001 0015 CHENG Chung-tai 21 (1) Chief Executive’s Office CEO002 2818 CHENG Chung-tai 21 (2) Executive Council CEO003 2819 CHENG Chung-tai 21 (1) Chief Executive’s Office CEO004 2820 CHENG Chung-tai 21 (1) Chief Executive’s Office CEO005 2821 CHENG Chung-tai 21 (1) Chief Executive’s Office CEO006 2847 CHENG Chung-tai 21 (1) Chief Executive’s Office CEO007 2853 CHENG Chung-tai 21 (1) Chief Executive’s Office CEO008 1521 HO Kwan-yiu, 21 (1) Chief Executive’s Office Junius CEO009 2477 LEUNG Mei-fun, 21 (2) Executive Council Priscilla CEO010 2478 LEUNG Mei-fun, 21 (1) Chief Executive’s Office Priscilla CEO011 2581 LEUNG Mei-fun, 21 (1) Chief Executive’s Office Priscilla Examination of Estimates of Expenditure 2021-22 Reply Serial No. CEO001 CONTROLLING OFFICER’S REPLY (Question Serial No. 0015) Head: (21) Chief Executive’s Office Subhead (No. & title): (000) Operational expenses Programme: (1) Chief Executive’s Office Controlling Officer: Permanent Secretary, Chief Executive’s Office (Ms Shirley LAM) Director of Bureau: Director of the Chief Executive’s Office Question: Please set out the estimated expenditures on the salaries and allowances of the Chief Executive and the Director of the Chief Executive’s Office for 2021-22. Asked by: Hon CHENG Chung-tai (LegCo internal reference no.: 15) Reply: For 2021-22, the estimated expenditure on the salary and non-accountable entertainment allowance of the Chief Executive is $5,080,200 and $982,400 respectively. The estimated expenditure on the salary of the Director of the Chief Executive’s Office is $4,072,800. No other allowances are paid to the Chief Executive and the Director of the Chief Executive’s Office. - End - Session 6 CEO - Page 1 Examination of Estimates of Expenditure 2021-22 Reply Serial No. CEO002 CONTROLLING OFFICER’S REPLY (Question Serial No. 2818) Head: (21) Chief Executive’s Office Subhead (No. & title): (-) Not specified Programme: (2) Executive Council Controlling Officer: Permanent Secretary, Chief Executive’s Office (Ms Shirley LAM) Director of Bureau: Director of the Chief Executive’s Office Question: Please set out the number of meetings convened by the Executive Council (ExCo) in the past year, the attendance rate at each meeting and the attendance rate of each ExCo Member. Asked by: Hon CHENG Chung-tai (LegCo internal reference no.: 24) Reply: The Executive Council (ExCo) held 57 meetings in 2020. Statistics on the attendance of each non-official Member of ExCo at ExCo meetings in this period are tabulated below: ExCo Non-official Member Total no. of No. of meetings Attendance meetings§ attended rate The Hon Bernard Charnwut CHAN 55 54 98% The Hon Mrs Laura CHA SHIH May-lung 51 45 88% Professor the Hon Arthur LI Kwok-cheung 57 53 93% The Hon CHOW Chung-kong 57 56 98% The Hon Mrs Fanny LAW FAN Chiu-fun 57 56 98% The Hon Jeffrey LAM Kin-fung 56 54 96% The Hon IP Kwok-him 55 54 98% The Hon Tommy CHEUNG Yu-yan 56 55 98% The Hon Martin LIAO Cheung-kong 56 54 96% The Hon Joseph YAM Chi-kwong 57 57 100% The Hon Mrs Regina IP LAU Suk-yee 55 50 91% The Hon Ronny TONG Ka-wah 56 54 96% The Hon WONG Kwok-kin 56 53 95% Dr the Hon LAM Ching-choi 57 57 100% The Hon Kenneth LAU Ip-keung 54 50 93% The Hon CHEUNG Kwok-kwan 56 56 100% Session 6 CEO - Page 2 § The total number of meetings represents the number of ExCo meetings held in the above period after deducting the number of meetings where the Member withdrew from the discussion of all items or where the Member was absent on the day of meeting due to other official meetings or engagements. Official Members of ExCo attend ExCo meetings for items under their respective policy purview. The ExCo Secretariat does not maintain statistics on their attendance at ExCo meetings and is unable to provide their overall attendance rate at each meeting. - End - Session 6 CEO - Page 3 Examination of Estimates of Expenditure 2021-22 Reply Serial No. CEO003 CONTROLLING OFFICER’S REPLY (Question Serial No. 2819) Head: (21) Chief Executive’s Office Subhead (No. & title): (000) Operational expenses Programme: (1) Chief Executive’s Office Controlling Officer: Permanent Secretary, Chief Executive’s Office (Ms Shirley LAM) Director of Bureau: Director of the Chief Executive’s Office Question: Please set out the details of the Chief Executive’s expenditures on overseas visits, receiving visitors, entertainment and gifts in the past year, the total amount of donations she received from outside organisations, and the largest amount of donation received. Asked by: Hon CHENG Chung-tai (LegCo internal reference no.: 25) Reply: Information on the Chief Executive’s duty visits from 1 April 2020 to 28 February 2021 is set out in the Annex. To consolidate and strengthen Hong Kong’s ties with the Mainland and other countries and regions, the Chief Executive frequently receives representatives of governments, international organisations, the media and business communities, etc. from all over the world, including visitors from the Mainland and overseas. She also often meets with people from various sectors of the local community, including Members of the Legislative Council, representatives of business and industrial associations, professionals and media representatives. In view of the large number of organisations and people involved, we have not compiled information in this regard by reference to the organisations and individuals met. The Chief Executive receives a non-accountable entertainment allowance for meeting expenses on official entertainment held at the official residence. The amount of the allowance in 2020-21 was $982,400. In line with the Government’s green policy, public officers should as far as possible refrain from bestowing gifts or souvenirs on others in the conduct of official activities. According to the prevailing guidelines, where bestowal of gifts or souvenirs is necessary or unavoidable due to operational, protocol or other reasons, the gift or souvenir items should not be lavish or extravagant and the number should be kept to a minimum. Also, the exchange of gifts or souvenirs should only be made from organisation to organisation. The above requirements also apply to, and are being observed by, the Chief Executive’s Office. Session 6 CEO - Page 4 During the above period, the Chief Executive did not receive any donations. Session 6 CEO - Page 5 Annex The Chief Executive’s Duty Visits (from 1 April 2020 to 28 February 2021) Expenses for the Chief Executive and the entourage Remarks (e.g. whether the Date Place of visit Hotel Other Passage Total+ accommodation is accommodation expenses* ($) ($) sponsored) ($) ($) 21 - 22 May 2020 Beijing 0 38,280.00 1,084.16 39,364.16 Accommodation and local transportation for the full delegation were sponsored. 2 - 4 June 2020 Beijing 20,339.88 60,090.00 12,109.04 92,538.92 Local transportation for the full delegation was sponsored. 26 August 2020 Shenzhen 0 0 1,777.00 1,777.00 Nil 12 - 14 October 2020 Shenzhen 0 0 5,019.36 5,019.36 Accommodation and local transportation for the full delegation were sponsored. 3 - 7 November 2020 Beijing, Guangzhou 38,981.63 63,444.00 36,869.96 139,295.59 Local transportation and Shenzhen for the full delegation was sponsored. 9 - 10 November 2020 Macao 5,249.83 0 5,539.64 10,789.47 Local transportation for the full delegation was sponsored. * Other expenses include subsistence allowance for officers on duty visit outside Hong Kong and other sundry expenses, etc. In line with the Government’s green policy, the Chief Executive normally does not bestow gifts or souvenirs on others during duty visits. + Does not include sponsored expenses (if any). - End - Session 6 CEO - Page 6 Examination of Estimates of Expenditure 2021-22 Reply Serial No. CEO004 CONTROLLING OFFICER’S REPLY (Question Serial No. 2820) Head: (21) Chief Executive’s Office Subhead (No. & title): (000) Operational expenses Programme: (1) Chief Executive’s Office Controlling Officer: Permanent Secretary, Chief Executive’s Office (Ms Shirley LAM) Director of Bureau: Director of the Chief Executive’s Office Question: Please set out in table form the visitors that the Chief Executive received or entertained in the past 3 years, purposes of their visits and details of the entertainment, including the entertainment expenses. Asked by: Hon CHENG Chung-tai (LegCo internal reference no.: 26) Reply: To consolidate and strengthen Hong Kong’s ties with the Mainland and other countries and regions, the Chief Executive frequently receives representatives of governments, international organisations, the media and business communities, etc. from all over the world, including visitors from the Mainland and overseas. She also often meets with people from different sectors of the local community. In view of the large number of organisations and people involved, we have not compiled information on the visitors. The Chief Executive receives a non-accountable entertainment allowance for meeting expenses on official entertainment held at the official residence. In 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21, the amount of the allowance was $932,300, $954,700 and $982,400 respectively. Apart from this, in 2018-19 and 2019-20, the expenditure incurred by the Chief Executive’s Office for organising various official hospitality activities to reach out to different sectors of the community and visitors (such as the Spring Reception, luncheon for representatives of international and local chambers of commerce, etc.) was about $810,000 and $316,000 respectively.