Chief Secretary for Administration

Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Chief Secretary for Administration 政務司司長
Emblem of Hong Kong
Incumbent The Hon Carrie Lam since 1 July 2012
Style	The Honourable
Member of	Government Secretariat Executive Council
Reports to	Legislative Council
Residence	Victoria House, 15 Barker Road, The Peak
Appointer	Central People's Government nomination by Chief Executive
Term length	No longer than the Chief Executive's remaining term (No constitutional or statutory limits, but no CS would receive employment contract longer than the CE's remaining term since POAS was in place in 2002.)
Inaugural holder	Anson Chan
Formation	1 July 1997
Website	CSO

The Chief Secretary for Administration (Chinese: 政務司司長), commonly known as the Chief Secretary of Hong Kong, is the most senior principal official of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The Chief Secretary is the head of the Government Secretariat which oversees the administration of the Region to which all other ministers belong, and is accountable for his or her policies and actions to the Chief Executive and to the Legislative Council.

The Chief Secretary formulates and implements government policy, gives advice to the Chief Executive as a member of the Executive Council, and is responsible for managing the Government's relationship with the Legislative Council and drawing up the Government's legislative programme. The office also exercises certain statutory functions, such as the handling of appeals from designated public bodies.

Prior to the transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong in 1997, the office was known simply as "Chief Secretary" (布政司), and before 1976, "Colonial Secretary" (輔政司). Until the introduction of the Principal Officials Accountability System in 2002, the Chief Secretary was a civil service position, and in this capacity, the head of the public service. In 2005, Henry Tang became the first person who has not been a civil servant to be appointed to the office of the Chief Secretary.

List of Secretaries

Colonial Secretaries between 1843 and 1976

• John Robert Morrison (1843–1844)
• Sir Frederick Bruce (1844–1846)
• William Caine (1846–1854)
• William Thomas Mercer (1854–1868)
• John Gardiner Austin (1868–1879)
• William Henry Marsh (1879–1887)
• Frederick Stewart (1887–1889)
• Francis Fleming (1890–1892)
• George Thomas Michael O'Brien (1892–1895)
• Sir James Haldane Stewart Lockhart (1895–1902)
• Sir Francis Henry May (1902–1911)
• Warren Delabere Barnes (1911)
• Sir Claud Severn (1912–1925)
• Sir Wilfrid Thomas Southorn (1925–1936)
• Norman Lockhart Smith (1936–1941)
• Sir Franklin Charles Gimson (1941)
• David Mercer MacDougall (1945–1949)
• John Fearns Nicoll (1949–1952)
• Sir Robert Brown Black (1952–1955)
• Edgeworth Beresford David (1955–1958)
• Claude Bramall Burgess (1958–1963)
• Edmund Brinsley Teesdale (1963–1965)
• Michael David Irving Gass (1965–1970)
• Sir Hugh Selby Norman-Walker (1969–1973)
• Sir Denys Tudor Emil Roberts (1973–1976)

From the 1870s to 1902 the Colonial Secretary was de facto Lieutenant Governor of Hong Kong. The role was once held by the Commander of British Forces in Hong Kong. After 1902 the title disappeared from use as the second highest post was transferred to the Colonial Secretary and late Chief Secretary.

Chief Secretaries between 1976 and 1997

• Sir Denys Tudor Emil Roberts (1976–1978)
• Sir Jack Cater (1978–1981)
• Sir Charles Philip Haddon-Cave (1981–1985)
• Sir David Akers-Jones (1985–1987)
• Sir David Robert Ford (1987–1993)
• Anson Chan Fong On-sang (1993–1997)

Chief Secretaries for Administration after 1997

Politiical party:       Nonpartisan

№	Portrait	Name (Born–Died)	Term of office			Political Party	Previous Office	Chief Executive	Term	Ref
			Took office	Left office	Duration
1		Anson Chan Fang On-sang 陳方安生 (1940–)	1 July 1997	30 April 2001		Nonpartisan	Chief Secretary (1993–1997)	Tung Chee-hwa (1997–2005)	1
2		Donald Tsang Yam-kuen 曾蔭權 (1944–)	1 May 2001	25 May 2005		Nonpartisan	Financial Secretary (1995–2001)
									2
3		Rafael Hui Si-yan 許仕仁 (1948–)	1 July 2005	30 June 2007		Nonpartisan	Managing Director of Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority (2000–2005)	Donald Tsang (2005–12)
4		Henry Tang Ying-yen 唐英年 (1952–)	1 July 2007	28 September 2011		Nonpartisan	Financial Secretary (2003–2007)		3
5		Stephen Lam Sui-lung 林瑞麟 (1955–)	29 September 2011	30 June 2012		Nonpartisan	Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs (2002–2011)
6		Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor 林鄭月娥 (1957–)	1 July 2012	Incumbent		Nonpartisan	Secretary for Development (2007–2012)	Leung Chun-ying (2012–present)	4

Residence

Victoria House, 15 Barker Road, Hong Kong.

The Chief Secretary resides at an official residence at 15 Barker Road, The Peak, Hong Kong, which is also known as Victoria House and Victoria Flats.

See also

• Hong Kong Government
• Government departments and agencies in Hong Kong
• Secretary for Justice
• Financial Secretary (Hong Kong)
• Secretary for Education and Manpower
• Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food
• Lieutenant Governor of Hong Kong - second in command from 1843 to 1870s

References

General

Specific

External links

• Official website
• Organisation chart of Hong Kong Government