Chief seeks more focused government in shake-up Donald Tsang Yam-kuen yesterday unveiled his restructuring plan for government - involving a redistribution of portfolios among policymaking bureaus and the creation of a development bureau putting planning, infrastructure development and heritage conservation under one roof. The Constitutional Affairs Bureau, long criticised for having too light a workload, will take over the Home Affairs Bureau's responsibilities for human rights and access to information, and will be called the constitutional and mainland affairs bureau. The current system of policy bureaus was created in 2002 when Tung Chee-hwa launched the ministerial system, which took policymaking out of the hands of top civil servants and gave it to political appointees. Some of the bureaus have been found to have had too wide a brief. Among these, the Environment, Transport and Works Bureau and the Health, Welfare and Food Bureau will undergo big changes. The realignment will free Mr Tsang from the structure he inherited when Mr Tung resigned in 2005. Seventeen top civil servants will work as permanent secretaries under the 12 ministers heading the bureaus. A new tier of politically appointed junior ministers would be brought in after July 1, a government source said. Mr Tsang told lawmakers: 'The reorganisation aims to rationalise the distribution of responsibilities between policy bureaus. Putting related responsibilities under one bureau will ... enable the government to sharpen its focus on important and complex issues.' The changes will take effect when Mr Tsang's second, five-year term starts on July 1. Defending the changes, Mr Tsang said he could not 'indefinitely expand' the government structure and had to balance workloads. 'No changes in the system's structure would be perfect ... I would need more than 20 bureaus if each minister takes special care of one policy area. In other words, these new bureaus' portfolios might not appear to have clear relations to each other. What is important is to divide the work among the ministers.' A government source said the reorganisation was intended to enhance policy implementation and rationalise the distribution of responsibilities between bureaus, while keeping changes to a minimum. Lawmakers generally supported the exercise, although some questioned the distribution of portfolios. Ronny Tong Ka-wah of the Civic Party said he would like more detailed analysis of the changes, 'but on the surface, I can see the overall logic'. Liberal Party vice-chairwoman and transport sector legislator Miriam Lau Kin-yee asked why the transport and housing portfolios, both of them highly controversial, had been lumped together. Political scientist Ma Ngok, of Chinese University, said Mr Tsang's reorganisation would correct the mistake Mr Tung committed when he cut the number of bureaus from 16 to 11 in 2002. 'At that time Mr Tung made too big a cut. Now Mr Tsang tries to realign the portfolios of various bureaus,' Professor Ma said. The reorganisation will add HK$8.26 million a year to the administration's budget. The 12 ministers heading the bureaus, and the chief secretary, financial secretary and secretary for justice will receive pay rises of 10 per cent from July 1. Their pay was cut by 10 per cent in 2003.