ENG-1994 — Page 48

CONSTITUTION AND ADMINISTRATION

Select Committees

The Legislative Council may appoint select committees to consider matters or scrutinise bills in depth. The purpose is to enable small groups of members to examine complex problems and to report their findings and recommendations to the council. Meetings of a select committee are normally held in private unless the committee decides otherwise. All select committees are dissolved at the end of the session. In October, the council decided to appoint a select committee to look into the landslip at Kwun Lung Lau Estate earlier in the year and at related issues. The select committee has not yet completed its inquiry.

Redress System

Legislative Councillors operate a redress system under which members of the public can make representations on, or seek solutions to, problems arising from government policies, decisions and procedures.

Under the system, members take turns to be on 'ward duty' during their duty week to meet individual complainants and to give on-the-spot guidance to staff in processing cases. Cases received are examined in the light of government policies and procedures. If members consider a complaint to be justified, they will ask the government department concerned to reconsider the matter or to re-examine the procedures that have given rise to the complaint. Cases involving matters of policy, or of particular importance, are put to the appropriate Legislative Council panels for further consideration. Where a change in policy or in law is considered necessary, members will make recommendations to the appropriate policy branch in the Government Secretariat. Members may also ask questions during council sittings on the problem itself, or the policy giving rise to it.

During the 1993-94 session, more than 2 000 new cases were handled. About 12 per cent of the cases handled were group representations, while the rest were complaints and requests for assistance from individuals. In addition to these, over 2 000 telephone enquiries were handled.

The redress system was fine-tuned in 1993-94, having regard to the changes and developments in other complaints systems in the public sector. Since June 1994, complaints about maladministration can be taken directly to the Commissioner for Administrative Complaints without having to be referred by a non-official Legislative Council member. In the light of this development, it has been decided that the primary target of the Legis- lative Council's redress system should be towards representations that raise wide policy issues and matters of public concern, although the ambit of service to the public remains unchanged.

Legislative Council Commission and Secretariat

The year saw the coming into being of a totally independent Legislative Council Com- mission, with financial and managerial autonomy. The Legislative Council Commission Ordinance, providing the legal framework for the Legislative Council to direct and oversee the operation of its secretariat, came into effect on April 1. The commission, chaired by the President of the Legislative Council and comprising 10 council members, is given the powers and responsibilities to employ its own staff, determine the organisation and support facilities, formulate and execute policies on their effective operation and expend funds in ways it sees fit to support these activities.

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