252
CONSTITUTION AND ADMINISTRATION
address the council in English or Cantonese, and facilities for simultaneous interpretation to cover the proceedings are provided.
Legislation is enacted in the form of Bills, which go through three readings and a committee stage. A question is put at each stage and is decided by the majority of votes. If a clear majority either for or against any motion is not apparent from a voice vote, the President may order the council or the committee to proceed to a division, when votes will then be taken from members individually and recorded by the Clerk to the Council. Official members are expected to vote with the government on all issues, except those where a 'free vote' is expressly permitted. Private Bills, not representing government measures and intended to benefit particular persons, associations or corporate bodies, are introduced from time to time and enacted in the same way. All Bills, after passing through the Legislative Council, receive the assent of the Governor and are then gazetted as ordinances. Apart from the enactment of legislation, the business of the council includes two major debates in each legislative session: a wide-ranging debate on government policy which follows the Governor's address at the opening of the new session of the council in October each year; and the budget debate on financial and economic affairs, which takes place in February and March during the second reading of the Appropriation Bill.
Questions may also be addressed by unofficial members to the government relating to public issues for which the government is responsible, either seeking information on such issues or asking for official action on them. Oral questions and answers are dealt with in the Legislative Council, and supplementary questions for the purpose of elucidating an answer already given may also be asked.
Other business of the council includes motions on subsidiary legislation, statements and policy papers (Green Papers and White Papers) for debate. A complete record of all papers laid before the council together with a verbatim record of proceedings (Hansard) is kept in respect of each legislative session.
Finance Committee
The Finance Committee of the Legislative Council consists of the Chief Secretary (Chairman), the Financial Secretary, one other official member of the council (at present the Secretary for Lands and Works) and all the unofficial members of the council. It scrutinises public expenditure, both at special meetings held in March at which members examine the draft Estimates of Expenditure, and at regular meetings held throughout the year to consider requests which entail changes to the provisions agreed by the Legislative Council in the estimates each year, or to note financial implications of new policies. The Finance Committee has two sub-committees, the Establishment Sub-Committee and the Public Works Sub-Committee.
The Public Works Sub-Committee consists of the Financial Secretary (Chairman), the Secretary for Lands and Works and 15 unofficial members of the Legislative Council. It reviews the progress and priority of capital works in the Public Works Programme, and makes recommendations to the Finance Committee on proposals for changes to the programme.
The Establishment Sub-Committee consists of 13 unofficial members of the Legislative Council, one of whom is the chairman, the Secretary for the Civil Service and the Deputy Financial Secretary. It examines staffing proposals for directorate posts and for the creation of new ranks or changes in salary scales in detail, and makes recommenda- tions on them to the Finance Committee. It also examines reports on the establishments of departments.