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The following is issued on behalf of the Legislative Council Secretariat:
Chairman of the Legislative Council (LegCo) House Committee (HC), Mr Andrew Leung, believed that the relationship between the Executive Authorities and the Legislature has yet to improve over the past year. He said the Administration should strengthen communication with Members and have a better grasp of public sentiment when introducing new policies, in order to avoid social conflicts and worsening the relationship with the Legislature.
Speaking at the end-of-session media briefing of the LegCo HC today (July 12), Mr Leung said that the relationship between LegCo and the Administration for this LegCo term did not have a good start. He pointed out that last year the Administration consulted the relevant panel on the Old Age Living Allowance scheme only two weeks before the Finance Committee was going to examine the relevant funding proposal. Besides, the Administration also did not fully consult the Legislature on the legislative proposals of restricting the export of powdered formula for infants and young children and implementing further measures to address the overheated residential property market.
To improve the relationship between the Executive Authorities and the Legislature, Mr Leung said that the Administration had to explain its stance and rationale behind the policy to Members and listen to their views as early as possible. He also stressed that both sides should put more efforts to improve the relationship. "I particularly hope that when the Chief Executive prepares his next Policy Address and the Financial Secretary prepares his Budget, LegCo Members and members of the public will be fully consulted. Meanwhile, Members also have to act in the best interest of the community and the welfare of the people of Hong Kong to avoid unnecessary political bickering," he said.
On scrutiny of bills, Deputy Chairman of the HC, Mr Ronny Tong, said that the Government had originally intended to introduce 18 bills into LegCo in this session but only 16 were introduced. In addition to another six bills which were not in the Legislative Programme, the Government had introduced a total of 22 bills into the LegCo in this session.
However, Mr Tong pointed out that out of the 22 bills, 13 were introduced in the second half of the session, and most of which were introduced in late April or even later. Among these 13 bills, two would be introduced in the last Council meeting of the current session to be held next Wednesday (July 17). He said that despite Members' repeated requests for early introduction of bills so that they would have sufficient time to scrutinise the bills, the situation remained unsatisfactory. He hoped that the Administration would make improvements in the next session.
Moreover, Mr Tong said during the current session, Members scrutinised a total of 127 items of subsidiary legislation, including the Import and Export (General) (Amendment) Regulation 2013 and the Minimum Wage Ordinance (Amendment of Schedule 3) Notice 2012.
Ends/Friday, July 12, 2013
Issued at HKT 21:53
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