ENG-2009 — Page 40

4 Constitution and Administration

under the negative vetting procedure in the current session, 144 items were scrutinised by subcommittees formed under the House Committee, with three items amended by resolution of the council. The scrutiny of the remaining 32 items will continue in the next session. Furthermore, the council also scrutinised one technical memorandum and one code of practice which was amended by resolution of the council. The Government moved 21 motions under the positive vetting procedure to seek the council's approval of subsidiary legislation, and all were passed by the council. On bills, the council passed 11 bills in the 2008-2009 session.

During the session, two members' motions were passed to amend the Rules of Procedure, and another two to invoke the council's powers under the Legislative Council (Powers and Privileges) Ordinance for the conduct of enquiries. The council also passed one motion under Article 73(7) of the Basic Law to endorse the appointment of three non-permanent judges from other common law jurisdictions to the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal. The council debated 53 members' motions not intended to have legislative effect. In addition, with the permission of the President, nine adjournment debates were held to discuss issues of urgent public importance or to raise issues concerning public interest to elicit replies from designated public officers.

Finance Committee

The Finance Committee consists of all members of the Legislative Council except the President. The committee's Chairman and the Deputy Chairman are elected from among its members. The committee normally meets in public on Friday afternoons to scrutinise and approve public expenditure proposals put forward by the Government. Its work includes the scrutiny of the annual Estimates presented by the Financial Secretary to the Legislative Council during the proceedings related to the Appropriation Bill, which sets out the Government's annual expenditure proposals for the following financial year. During the 2008-2009 session, the Finance Committee held 32 meetings (including seven special meetings to examine the Estimates of Expenditure 2009-2010) and examined a total of 68 items of proposals, including 17 items containing 121 proposals which had been considered and supported by its two subcommittees.

There are two subcommittees under the Finance Committee: the Establishment Subcommittee and the Public Works Subcommittee, which also conduct meetings in public. Membership of both is open to all members of the Finance Committee.

The Establishment Subcommittee examines and makes recommendations to the Finance Committee on the Government's proposals for the creation, redeployment and deletion of directorate posts, and for changes to the structure of grades and ranks in the Civil Service. During the 2008-2009 session, the subcommittee held nine meetings and examined 19 Government proposals.

The Public Works Subcommittee examines and makes recommendations to the Finance Committee on the Government's expenditure proposals under the Capital Works Reserve Fund for projects in the Public Works Programme and building projects carried out by or on behalf of subvented organisations. During the 2008-