XN000022-1997-01-08 — Page 23

· 8.

At present, this Council may, by resolution, amend the amounts of financial resources specified in section 5, the amounts of income and financial resources specified in section 5A, and Schedules 2 and 3 to the Ordinance. However, the maximum amount of maintenance payment that may be exempted from the Director's first charge specified in section 18A(5) and the maximum amount that may be reduced by the Director under section 19B(1)(a) cannot be amended by resolution of this Council. As the amounts specified in these two sections have to be reviewed regularly to bring them in line with inflation, it would be more appropriate if they could also be amended by resolution of this Council rather than requiring primary legislation as at present. Clause 6 of the Bill empowers this Council to make amendments to the monetary amounts specified in section 18A(5) and section 19B(1)(a) by subsidiary legislation rather than primary legislation.

Mr President, this Bill represents merely an updating of the Legal Aid Ordinance and an immediate improvement to the legal aid scheme in Hong Kong and I commend it to this Council for early passage into law.

Lastly, I should also like to mention that we are conducting a comprehensive review of the criteria used to assess the financial eligibility of legal aid applicants for legal aid services provided by the Legal Aid Department in accordance with our Policy Commitment. We will also take this opportunity to consider carefully proposals to extend the scope of civil legal aid and possible improvements to the operation of the Legal Aid Ordinance.

End

Enduring Powers of Attorney Bill

Following is a speech by the Attorney General, Mr Jeremy Mathews, in moving the second reading of the Enduring Powers of Attorney Bill in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):

I move that the Enduring Powers of Attorney Bill be read a second time.

The purpose of the Bill is to make provision for a new kind of power of attorney, which will be effective after the person who gave it has become mentally incapable of managing his or her own affairs.