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The following is issued on behalf of the Legislative Council Secretariat:
The Chairman of the Legislative Council (LegCo) Finance Committee (FC) has decided to hold three FC meetings in Conference Room 1 of the LegCo complex on Friday (November 30). The first meeting will start at 3pm; the second FC meeting will start at 5.10pm if the House Committee (HC) does not need to resume its meeting at 5pm. If the HC needs to resume its meeting at 5pm, the second FC meeting will start immediately after the HC has finished its business; and the third FC meeting will start half an hour after the second FC meeting.
During the meetings, members of the FC will examine the recommendations of its Establishment Subcommittee made on November 14; continue to examine the Government proposals of seeking a supplementary provision of $2,575.2 million in 2012-13 for the introduction of the Old Age Living Allowance (OALA), and increasing the ceiling placed on the total notional annual mid-point salary value of all non-directorate posts in the permanent establishment of the Social Welfare Department in 2012-13 by $23,264,040 to enable the creation of a total of 90 non-directorate civil service posts for implementing the OALA; examine the funding proposal for the 2012-13 Judicial Service Pay Adjustment; and consider the improvements to the Examination Fee Remission Scheme for needy non-Chinese speaking students at senior secondary level.
For the updated agenda and discussion papers of the meetings, please visit the following webpage:www.legco.gov.hk/yr12-13/english/fc/fc/agenda/fc20121130.htm .
Regarding the suggestion of holding an FC meeting with no end time, the Chairman, having considered all the relevant factors, is of the view that there is no compelling reason to change the prevailing practice of holding FC meetings at a fixed interval of two hours. As such, the suggestion will not be taken forward.
Ends/Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Issued at HKT 17:08
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