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The following is issued on behalf of the Legislative Council Secretariat:
The Legislative Council will hold a meeting this Wednesday (May 10) at 11am in the Chamber of the Legislative Council Building. During the meeting, Members will resume Second Reading Debate on Chief Executive Election and Legislative Council Election (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 2006. If the Bill is supported by Members and receive their Second Readings, it will then go through the Committee Stage and be read the third time.
During the meeting, Members will debate a motion on perfecting the framework of advisory and statutory bodies.
The motion, to be proposed by Dr Hon Fernando CHEUNG, says:䩕That, whereas the Chief Executive has earlier on candidly admitted in a radio programme that there is a difference in the closeness of his relationship with the political parties of the Legislative Council and he would maintain a particularly good relationship with the parties that support the Government, and there have been queries that the Government practises favouritism towards pro-government people and parties in the appointment of members of advisory and statutory bodies (ASBs), given that ASBs serve as a framework for the Government to extensively solicit public opinions and as an important channel for public participation in politics for more equitable distribution of social resources, this Council urges the Government to adopt measures to perfect the framework of ASBs; such measures should include:
(a) strictly adhering to the 䩕six-six principle蒅, whereby no member of an ASB shall serve on the ASB for more than six years or serve on more than six ASBs at any one time;
(b) upholding the principle of selection on merit, inviting the major stakeholder groups concerned to nominate representatives to ASBs, and reducing the appointments to ASBs ad personam, so as to enable ASBs to have a more representative and diversified composition;
(c) enhancing the transparency of ASBs by uploading onto the internet the agenda, minutes and relevant documents of all their meetings, and disclosing the information on the members of the ASBs as well as their public service, political background and attendance rates at ASB meetings, etc;
(d) disclosing the procedure for appointing ASB members, including uploading onto the internet information on the vacancies in ASBs and the nominees, so as to facilitate members of the public in making nominations;
(e) increasing the ratio of women on ASBs, and allowing more people of ethnic minorities and those with disabilities to service on ASBs, so that people from different walks of life have equal opportunities to participate in public affairs; and
(f) introducing clear guidelines on the appointment of public officers, and actively studying the appointment of an independent commissioner to monitor the appointment of ASB members by the Government.蒅
Hon Howard YOUNG and Hon Frederick FUNG will move separate amendments to Dr Hon Fernando CHEUNG﷿s motion.
Members will also debate a motion on strengthening the development of post-secondary education and upgrading the quality of sub-degree courses. The motion, to be moved by Hon CHEUNG Man-kwong, states: 䩕That, although the Government has announced that it has exceeded the policy objective of providing tertiary education for 60% of senior secondary school leavers, a series of problems have arisen as a result of the substantial increase in the number of self-financing sub-degree places over the past five years, this Council considers that the Government should, apart from meeting the quantitative objective, also strengthen the development of post-secondary education and upgrade the quality of post-secondary courses; in this connection, this Council urges the Government to allocate more resources and adopt measures to address such problems as the varied quality of sub-degree courses, inequality under various student financial assistance schemes, and difficulties encountered by students in pursuing further studies and securing employment; such measures should include:
(a) setting up a quality assurance mechanism to ensure the quality of sub-degree courses and recognition of the qualifications conferred;
(b) facing up to the situation of over-supply of sub-degree places, and preventing vicious competition among institutions;
(c) combining the Local Student Finance Scheme and the Financial Assistance Scheme for Post-secondary Students, so that all full-time students are treated equally and provided with the same level of assistance according to their financial needs;
(d) providing appropriate facilities and student development services to post-secondary students, having regard to their education needs within and outside schools; as well as providing institutions with an option to extend their loan repayment period, so as to relieve their financial pressure and enable them to utilize most of the tuition received for teaching purpose; and
(e) gradually increasing the number of degree places in keeping with the needs arising from social development and the academic structure reform, so as to allow outstanding graduates of sub-degree courses to pursue subsidised degree courses, thereby eliminating the bottleneck in pursuing further studies.蒅
During the meeting, the Chief Secretary for Administration will present the Government Minute in response to the Report No.45 of the Public Accounts Committee dated February 2006 and address the Council.
Meanwhile, Members will ask the Government 20 questions on various policy areas, six of which require oral replies.
The agenda of the above meeting can be obtained via the Legislative Council InfoFax Service (Tel: 2869 9568) or the Legislative Council web site (http://www.legco.gov.hk).
Members of the public are welcome to observe the proceedings of the meeting from the public galleries of the Legislative Council Chamber. They may reserve seats by calling 2869 9399 during office hours. Seats will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis.
Ends/Monday, May 8, 2006
Issued at HKT 18:16
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