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Constitution and Administration

13 items which had been tabled during 2017-18. It also completed scrutinising 164 items of subsidiary legislation tabled in 2018-19.

Finance Committee

The Finance Committee consists of all council members except the President of the Legislative Council, with its Chairman and Deputy Chairman elected from among its members. The committee is responsible for scrutinising and approving public expenditure proposals put forward by the government as well as examining the annual Estimates of Expenditure presented by the Financial Secretary to the council during proceedings relating to the Appropriation Bill.

The committee appoints two subcommittees, the Establishment Subcommittee and Public Works Subcommittee, whose memberships are open to all members of the Finance Committee.

The Establishment Subcommittee examines and makes recommendations to the Finance Committee on the government's proposals to create, redeploy and delete directorate posts, and those that seek to change the structure of civil service grades and ranks.

The Public Works Subcommittee examines and makes recommendations to the Finance Committee on the government's proposals about capital works projects.

In 2018-19, the Finance Committee held 24 meetings to scrutinise financial proposals, eight special meetings comprising 21 sessions to examine the Estimates of Expenditure and one meeting to receive the Financial Secretary's briefing on the Budget. The committee deliberated on and approved 50 financial proposals, namely 16 public works proposals costing $69 billion in total, 15 establishment proposals and 19 other funding proposals involving a total commitment of $53.1 billion.

Public Accounts Committee

The Public Accounts Committee considers the Director of Audit's reports on the government's accounts and the results of the director's value-for-money audits of government departments and other organisations that are within the purview of public audit. It may invite government officials, representatives of public organisations or any other persons to attend public hearings to give explanations, evidence or information. The seven members of the committee are appointed by the President of the Legislative Council according to an election procedure determined by the House Committee.

In 2018-19, the committee held 10 public hearings and 13 closed meetings. It examined the Director of Audit's report on the government's accounts for the year ended 31 March 2018 and his reports on value-for-money audits (Report Nos 70, 71 and 72). The committee gave its conclusions and recommendations in its Report Nos 70A, 71, 71A, 72 and 72A, which were tabled in the council on 14 November 2018, 20 February, 8 May, 16 October and 4 December 2019 respectively. The Government Minutes in response to the committee's reports and the dates of tabling in the council are: Report No 70A on 30 January 2019, Report No 71 on 15 May 2019, and Report Nos 71A and 72 on 11 December 2019.

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