GOVERNOR Chris Patten yesterday warned the Preliminary Working Committee (PWC) to be careful with its remarks and not make civil servants worry about their future. Senior Chinese official Lu Ping and the mainland co-convenor of the PWC's political sub-group Xiao Weiyun last week attacked the embargo on personal information on top civil servants. The Government has said it will only supply the details to the future chief executive. Yesterday the Governor said: 'We've already provided a huge amount of information on civil servants [to Beijing].' He said the administration had told China the civil service regulations and its structure and specific information, such as biographical details and salary levels. 'What more does anyone want and why should people be talking about sending to Beijing information which we wouldn't dream of sending to London and which London wouldn't dream of asking for? 'I think that people should be specific about what additional information they want to have,' he said. Mr Xiao attacked the Secretary for Civil Service Michael Sze Cho-cheung for allegedly saying the information would be given to London but not Beijing. Mr Patten said: 'I do think people should be rather careful about the consequences of what they say. 'We all have to be very careful of what we say [and] reinforce the civil service morale.' He said: 'Last week, the PWC was making remarks about the Hong Kong Monetary Authority. 'Well, you couldn't have chosen a much worse week for doing that.' The PWC had suggested the future head of the authority be one of the principal officers subject to the nationality requirement of the Basic Law in a week when speculators attempted to force a run on the Hong Kong dollar. Executive councillor Edward Chen Kwan-yiu said he did not see any problem giving Beijing basic information such as education, work experience and conduct appraisals. Regarding private information, he said the officers' wishes should be respected and it might only be needed for promotion in specific posts.
