HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
13 October 1993
64
香港立法局
一九九三年十月十三日
64
Members to study various matters relating to the winding up of OMELCO, the House Committee decided in February this year that existing panels should be made formal committees of the Legislative Council with clear legal status. They should continue to be called panels and to perform their existing function of monitoring and examining government policies.
I would like to highlight the following main features of the new panel system:
(a) panels shall be covered by the Legislative Council (Powers and
Privileges) Ordinance (Cap. 382);
(b) panels may form subcommittees of their own to study specific
issues;
(c) following the practice of the House Committee and the Bills Committees, a panel or its subcommittee, where so authorized by the Legislative Council (Powers and Privileges) Ordinance, may call any person to attend before it and to give evidence or to provide any document or record under the control of such person; and
(d) there will be restrictions on the chairmanship and deputy
chairmanship of panels. The restrictions are:
(i) a Member who is the chairman or deputy chairman of a government advisory body in respect of matters which a panel considers to be directly related to the terms of reference of the panel shall not be the chairman or deputy chairman of that panel; and
(ii) a Member shall not be chairman or deputy chairman of more
than one panel at the same time.
With the hard work of my colleagues, the Legislative Council Secretariat and the Administration, necessary amendments to the Standing Orders are now ready to effect the changes. It is believed that with the new and formalized panel structure, the efficiency of the Legislative Council will be further enhanced.
Mr President, I beg to move.
Question on the motion proposed, put and agreed to.