Food and Health Bureau revamped over proposed govt structure reshuffle

Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor on Wednesday announced details of a plan to reorganize the government structure, including revamping the Food and Health Bureau.

Lam, speaking at the opening session of the city’s new, patriots-only legislature, said there will be a total of 15 policy bureaux in the Hong Kong government after the reshuffle.

The Hong Kong leader announced that the Food and Health Bureau will be revamped as the Health Bureau which will be dedicated to medical and health policies.

Apart from making continued efforts to fight the Covid-19 epidemic, the Health Bureau will update the city’s public health strategies and resolve the problem of medical manpower shortage, according to Lam.

Food safety issues will be taken over by the expanded and renamed Environment and Ecology Bureau, which will also focus on policies on environmental hygiene, agriculture and fisheries, and veterinary public health, achieving better synergy.

Meanwhile, as proposed in Lam's policy address in October, a new Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau will take over the culture, arts and sports portfolios from the Home Affairs Bureau, as well as the film, creative industries and tourism portfolios from the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau.

“Consolidating the culture, sports and tourism portfolios currently within the ambits of different bureaux under the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau can better steer and promote the development of the cultural industries of Hong Kong, which be conducive to creating synergy for the development of Hong Kong as an East-meets-West center for international cultural exchange as stated in the 14th Five-Year Plan,” said Lam.

As for the Transport and Housing Bureau, it will be split into two policy bureaux.

The Housing Bureau upon re-organization will take full charge of the housing policy which tops the agenda, especially in expediting public housing production for people to move in as early as possible and closely monitoring the private residential market.

Transport-related issues will be handled by the new Transport and Logistics Bureau to clearly reflect its dual role of taking charge of both external and internal transport matters.

The Chief Executive also said the Home Affairs Bureau will be re-organized and renamed as the Home and Youth Affairs Bureau to highlight policy focuses on district administration and youth work.

It will review and formulate the overall youth policy and a blueprint for youth development , along with conducting a comprehensive review on district administration and the way forward of District Councils.

The Innovation and Technology Bureau will be retitled as the Innovation, Technology and Industry Bureau. It will enhance the policy function of re-industrialization and strive to build an industry chain for I&T, which fully covers R&D, financing, production and even commercialization.

Lam also proposed the creation of the post of Deputy Secretaries of Departments to take forward and co-ordinate large-scale regional developments such as the Northern Metropolis and the Lantau Tomorrow Vision.

She noted the Deputy Secretaries will also handle “other matters requiring high level co-ordination include cross-bureaux issues such as national security, climate change and manpower policy. 

“However, since whether the post of Deputy Secretaries of Departments should be created or not is a matter of the style of governance, it should be considered by the Chief Executive-elect,” Lam added.

The Chief Executive said her administration aims to submit the proposal and Members' views for the Chief Executive-elect's consideration after the Chief Executive Election on March 27, 2022.

“The current-term Government will render full support by submitting to the Legislative Council the re-organization proposal that is deemed appropriate by the Chief Executive-elect as soon as possible. All vetting and approval procedures concerned should be completed by early June 2022 to allow sufficient time for the Chief Executive-elect to complete the constitutional procedures of appointing principal officials,” said Lam.