Xu Zhengyu: It is suggested to make reallocations among seven non-governmental funds.

On April 10, the Hong Kong Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Christopher Hui, made opening remarks at a meeting of the Legislative Council's Finance Committee to review the financial arrangements of 36 funds set up outside the government's accounts. In response to proposals for the 2025-26 Budget, the Hong Kong Treasury last year, after consulting the Legislative Council's Finance Committee and the Financial Committee (Hong Kong Finance Committee), transferred HK$61.5 billion from six larger seed funds to the government's accounts for the 2025-26 financial year. In order to further integrate and use financial resources effectively, the Hong Kong Financial Services and Treasury Bureau, following the instructions of the Financial Secretary of Hong Kong, together with relevant policy bureaus, conducted a comprehensive review of the policy objectives, operational models, and financial arrangements of the remaining 36 funds set up outside the government's accounts. For seven funds, Hui proposed reallocating approximately HK$15.3 billion from the Environmental and Conservation Fund, Self-financing Post-secondary Education Fund, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government Scholarship Fund, and the Anti-Drug Fund back to the government's accounts, ensuring enough funds are reserved to support the operation of these funds for the next five years. The policy objectives, operational models, management, and supervisory arrangements of these funds will remain unchanged after the reallocation. Hui further suggested ending three funds and reallocating the remaining funds. Among them, the remaining and annual spending of the Hong Kong Athletes Fund and the Disabled Persons Arts Development Fund are relatively low, and ending these funds could streamline administrative procedures and reduce related work and expenses. Hui emphasized that starting from the 2027-28 financial year, the Hong Kong government will provide additional recurrent funding to the Hong Kong Social Welfare Department through regular funding mechanisms to ensure the continuous implementation of relevant policy objectives, so ending these two funds will not affect support for the continued development of disabled persons in arts and sports. As for the Sichuan Earthquake Relief Trust Fund, all 190 reconstruction projects funded have been completed, and the fund has achieved its policy objectives, so Hui recommended ending it as well. Additionally, Hui proposed to consolidate six funds established under the Sir David J. T. Trench Fund Ordinance (Chapter 1128). He suggested ending the Sports Aid Fund, Disabled Athletes Sports Aid Fund, and Arts Development Fund that have been replaced or no longer accepting applications and transferring all remaining funds to the Sir David J. T. Trench Leisure Fund (main fund) to reduce overlap and enhance resource efficiency. Of the remaining 23 funds, 17 are non-seed funds. After reviewing them, it was determined that these funds do not have surplus balances and are operating cost-effectively, so it was proposed that they continue to operate under the current financial arrangements to achieve relevant policy objectives. The remaining six are seed funds, and considering the circumstances of individual funds, such as the need to reserve all surplus balances for future expenses for the next five years, operating in a fee-based or self-financing operation, or primarily involving non-government funding, it was recommended that their financial arrangements remain unchanged. The seven funds proposed for reallocation involve different types of investments, including foreign exchange funds, bank deposits, securities, and others. The relevant policy bureaus will implement the reallocation process in an orderly manner. It is estimated that approximately HK$15.8 billion will be reallocated to the government's accounts in the 2026-27 financial year. Among the seven funds proposed for reallocation, the Environmental and Conservation Fund is established under the Environmental and Conservation Fund Ordinance (Chapter 450), so the ordinance will need to be amended to allow for the transfer of some surplus balances to the government's accounts without affecting the fund's objectives. The remaining six funds were established through a trust or approved by the Legislative Council's Finance Committee. It is hoped that the committee will support the follow-up work, including amending the Environmental and Conservation Fund Ordinance and seeking the approval of the Finance Committee for the revision of the financial arrangements of these funds.