PLC Paper No. CB(1)100
Ref : CB1/DB/G/1

Paper for the House Committee Meeting
on 8 August 1997

Meeting/Luncheon with Provisional District Board Members

Purpose

This paper invites Members�views on the proposed arrangements for regular meetings/luncheons with members of Provisional District Boards.

Background

2. Meetings-cum-luncheons have been organised since mid 80s for Members of the Legislative Council (LegCo) to meet members of the District Boards on a regular basis to exchange views on matters of mutual concern. This arrangement has been regarded as a useful means to enhance the communication between the legislature and District Boards on local issues which may have implications on territory-wide policies, and to deliberate on legislative proposals which affect the community as a whole.

3. In the past, these meetings were held once every three weeks, and each meeting was attended by members of one District Board. The scheduling of these meetings was done at the beginning of each LegCo session after consulting the respective District Boards. Each meeting lasted from 10:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on a Thursday morning, followed by a lunch at the Dining Hall up to about 2:00 p.m. LegCo Members were scheduled on a roster, with about 10-12 Members attending each meeting. It therefore took two sessions to complete one round of meetings with the 18 District Boards.

Present position

4. The functions of the Provisional Legislative Council (PLC) include enacting laws, debating the policy address of the Chief Executive, and approving budgets. In so doing, Members of the PLC are obliged to understand the needs of the local community so as to assess the implications of the relevant policies or the legislative proposals on the community. The regular meetings with Provisional District Boards will therefore provide a useful forum for the exchange of views on such issues.

5. As the election of the first Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region will take place before 30 June 1998, it will not be possible for Members to complete one cycle of meetings-cum-luncheons with members of all 18 Provisional District Boards (PDBs) within the term of the PLC. It will also not be appropriate for Members to have meetings selectively or to combine the members of more than one PDBs as the matters to be discussed could be very different. Under the circumstances, Members may wish to consider the following alternatives:

1. holding two meetings concurrently at different conference rooms with a joint luncheon for members of both PDBs and keeping the frequency of meetings at once every three weeks from mid-September 1997 to mid-March 1998; or
2. increasing the frequency of meetings to once every two weeks from late-August to mid-December 1997 and once every week from early-January to mid-March 1998.

6. All Members of PLC, including the President, are welcome to join any of the luncheons with members of the PDBs.

Consultation with the Administration

7. As the Home Affairs Bureau is involved in assisting the members of the PDBs in preparing for these meetings, we have consulted the Director of Home Affairs on the practicability of the above alternatives. The Director prefers the format of option (a), i.e. to hold two meetings concurrently at different conference rooms with a joint luncheon for members of both PDBs. However, she proposes to increase the frequency of the meetings to once every two weeks so that desirably the cycle of meetings of PLC Members with PDB members could be completed as soon as possible, preferably before the end of 1997.

Advice sought

8. Members are requested to advise which alternative (i.e. option (a) or option (b) in paragraph 5 or Director of Home Affairs�proposal in paragraph 7) should be adopted for scheduling the meetings-cum-luncheons for members of the PDBs.

Provisional Legislative Council Secretariat
6 August 1997