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Constitution and Administration
efficient support and services, enhance public understanding of the council's work and ensure the effective operation of its redress system.
District Administration
Hong Kong comprises 18 districts, each with a District Office, a District Council and a District Management Committee (DMC). Each district office is headed by a District Officer, who represents the HKSAR Government at the local level in overseeing district administration.
The 18 District Councils of the fourth term (2012-2015) have 507 seats in all, comprising 412 elected seats, 68 appointed seats and 27 ex-officio seats whose members are the chairmen of the New Territories rural committees. All appointed seats will be abolished in the fifth term (2016-2019) while 19 elected seats will be added, yielding a total of 458 seats filled by 431 elected members and 27 ex-officio members.
The councils' main function is to advise the government on matters affecting the well-being of their local residents, and on the provision and use of the respective public facilities and services. The government consults the councils on a wide range of issues. The councils carry out district minor works and community involvement projects, for which the government allocated $340 million and $361.6 million, respectively, in the 2015-16 financial year. The government has undertaken to increase the annual provision for district minor works progressively to $400 million within the two council terms from 2012 to 2019.
The DMCs are government bodies chaired by the district officers. Each DMC comprises the chairman, vice-chairman and committee chairmen of the council and representatives of government departments providing essential services in the district. It serves as a forum for consultation and co-ordination between various departments and the council to resolve inter- departmental district issues and to ensure district needs are met promptly.
In 2014, the government introduced a pilot scheme in Sham Shui Po and Yuen Long, empowering the DMCS to decide on and co-ordinate work to address certain management and environmental hygiene problems of some public areas, with the councils' advice on the work priorities. The scheme ended in August 2015 and proved highly successful as it responded actively to the public's wishes. The government will consider extending the scheme to all 18 districts.
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There are also 63 Area Committees district-based advisory bodies which help organise community involvement activities, advise on local issues and promote public participation in district affairs. Their members are drawn from a wide spectrum of the community, including council members.
Twenty Home Affairs Enquiry Centres, attached to the district offices, provide a wide range of free services to the public, including answering general enquiries about government services, distributing government forms, disseminating information and administering declarations and oaths (including affirmations in lieu of oaths) for private use. Members of the public seeking legal advice can make appointments at the centres to see volunteer lawyers under a Free Legal Advice Scheme administered by the Duty Lawyer Service. Rating and Valuation Department
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