ENG-2011 — Page 36

4 Constitution and Administration

2011 session, the council completed the scrutiny of 128 items, with 10 of them amended by resolutions of the council. The scrutiny of the remaining 10 items continued into the 2011-12 session. In addition, one technical memorandum and one revised code of practice were tabled in council for scrutiny, and both were amended by resolution of the council.

The Chief Secretary for Administration moved a motion under Article 73(7) of the Basic Law and section 7A of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal Ordinance for the council to endorse the appointment of two judges of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal from other common law jurisdictions. He also moved a motion under Article 73(7) of the Basic Law for the council to endorse the appointment of the Chief Judge of the High Court of Hong Kong. The two motions were passed by the council.

During the 2010-2011 session, three members' motions to amend the council's Rules of Procedure were moved, two of which were passed and one was negatived. Another two members' motions to invoke the council's powers under the Legislative Council (Powers and Privileges) Ordinance were negatived.

On the recommendation of the Committee on Members' Interests, a member's motion was moved under Rule 85 of the Rules of Procedure to admonish a member for failing to disclose the nature of his pecuniary interest in a matter before he spoke on the matter at certain meetings of a subcommittee pursuant to Rule 83A of the Rules of Procedure. The motion was negatived.

In the 2010-2011 session, the council also debated 60 members' motions not intended to have legislative effect. In addition, four adjournment motions were moved for debating issues of urgent public importance or 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 2010-11 session, the Finance Committee held 35 meetings (including eight special meetings to examine the Estimates of Expenditure 2011-12) and examined a total of 65 items of proposals, including 14 items containing 70 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.