Proposed retention of two supernumerary posts of one Administrative Officer Staff Grade B and one Senior Principal Executive Officer in the Private Columbaria Affairs Office under the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department
Work of non-directorate staff and their distribution
On the five sections under PCAO (i.e. the Licensing Team, the Enforcement Team, the Financial Monitoring Team, the PCLB Secretariat and the Branch Administration Unit), members enquired about: (a) the manpower distribution of non-directorate staff in each section; and (b) the responsible section for the public education and publicity work of PCAO.
The Administration advised that, of the existing 65 non-directorate staff of PCAO, 25 were in the Licensing Team, 20 were in the Enforcement Team, and 20 were distributed among the Financial Monitoring Team, the PCLB Secretariat and the Branch Administration Unit. The Licensing Team and the Enforcement Team were tasked with carrying out public education and publicity work, including the dissemination of a wide range of information on private columbaria to the public through the dedicated website of “Regulation of Private Columbaria”.
He took the view that the Administration should make early announcement of the planning details of the Northern Metropolis, so that private columbaria not in compliance with the relevant planning requirements at the location would take note of the situation as soon as possible, thus preventing any delays in PCLB’s vetting.