Mock Council debate (for youth organizations)

Please note that mock Council debates are suspended until further notice.

Mock Council debates aim to provide training opportunities for students and young people to enhance their understanding of the work of the Legislative Council and promote their political awareness.

Target: Youth organizations
Eligible organizations

Mock Council debates are offered to:

  1. Organizations which are exempt from tax under section 88 of the Inland Revenue Ordinance, with youth work as one of their major areas of activities; and
  2. Student organizations recognized by the University Grants Committee-funded institutions.
Programme

Role-play
Participants can understand the work of the Legislative Council through role-playing the conduct of business at a Council meeting. The organization can choose to conduct one of the below three types of role-play:

(A) Mock motion debate (1-2 hours)
Participants will have a chance to role-play as legislators to express their views on issues of public interests, or call on the Government to take certain actions; or as public officers to respond to the motion and speaking of legislators.

The suggested topics of mock motion debate are provided as follows: *


(B) Passage of a mock bill (2-3 hours)
Participants will have a chance to role-play as legislators to express their views on the bill; or as public officers to speak on the principles and intent of the bill, and respond to the speaking of legislators. The organization is recommended to arrange participants to attend training on the law-making process before the programme.

The suggested topics of mock bills are provided as follows: *


(C) Mock Question Time (1 hour)

Participants will have a chance to role-play as legislators to raise questions on a contemporary social issue; as public officers to answer the questions raised by legislators. To enrich the content of the activity, the organization is recommended to conduct the mock Question Time together with the mock motion debate (item (A) above).

The suggested topics of mock Question Time are provided as follows: *


* Organizations are welcome to propose topics for the role-play. However, the organizations have to prepare the relating information and their own scripts. Any topic other than those suggested as above should reach the Education Service Team of the Legislative Council Secretariat at least one month prior to the event so that the Secretariat can offer the organizations concerned advice having regard to the objectives of the programme and other relevant considerations.

Briefing before the programme
To facilitate the organization’s work to assist the participants in their preparations for the mock Council debate, the Legislative Council Secretariat staff will brief the organization on the rundown and content of the programme.

Guided tour of the Legislative Council Complex (optional)
Upon request, a guided tour of the Legislative Council Complex will be arranged for participants before the role-play.

Venue and capacity

Conference Room 3 (depends on the availability of the conference room on the designated date) on 2/F in the Legislative Council Complex (Address: 1 Legislative Council Road, Central, Hong Kong).

Conference Room 3
(up to 66 participants)
Time and schedule
  1. The mock Council debates will be held on a Saturday afternoon. The duration is about three hours per session from 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm.
  2. The dates of the scheduled debate slots will be announced here later.
Charge

The following administrative fee will be charged:

Venue / Item Charge@ (HK$)
(for a three-hour session)
Conference Room 3:
a.
Venue (including the provision of three wireless microphones for use of participants)
 1,430
b.
Optional items:
  

 
(i)
Audio conference system (with a CD-ROM of the sound recording of the event) (service provided by PCCW)

 10,279

 
(ii)
Video recording service (service provided by PCCW)

 7,800

@ The charges are subject to change from time to time.

Application
  1. Applicants are requested to submit proposals detailing the work of their organization and specifying the aim of the event, target participants and other relevant information before the deadlines as stated in the section Time and schedule above for the consideration of the Legislative Council Secretariat. No block booking will be accepted.
  2. If more than one application for a scheduled debate slot is received, priority will be given to an applicant who has not organized mock Council debates over the past two years. If there are more than one applicant having organized mock Council debates before, priority will be given to the applicant who has organized the event the least number of times during the same period of time. Where the applicants have organized the same number of mock Council debates, allocation will be determined by ballot.
  3. Interested organizations may still apply for a vacant session even if the deadline for applications for that particular session has already passed. Such late applications will be processed as far as possible.
Insurance

The organization is advised to consider taking out public liability insurance in connection with the activity.

Cancellation

Written notification is required at least one month prior to the event if the organization wishes to cancel the activity.

Inclement weather/Special circumstances
  1. Mock Council debate will be cancelled if Tropical Cyclone Warning Signal No. 8 or above or Rainstorm Black Warning is issued and/or remains in force two hours before the scheduled time of activity.
  2. In the case that such signal or warning is issued after scheduled activity has started, the organization and the Legislative Council Secretariat will decide together whether the mock Council debate should be terminated.
  3. Mock Council debate will be conducted as planned if Tropical Cyclone Warning Signal No. 8 or above or Rainstorm Black Warning is lowered/cancelled two hours before the scheduled time of activity.
  4. If the Education Bureau announces the suspension of classes of schools, scheduled mock Council debate on that day will be cancelled accordingly. However, if the organization requests that activity be conducted as scheduled, the Legislative Council Secretariat may, depending on the circumstances, make such special arrangements.
  5. In case of other inclement weather or emergency traffic conditions, the organization may decide whether the scheduled mock Council debate on that day should be cancelled. If it is decided that the mock Council debate be cancelled, the organization should inform the Legislative Council Secretariat at (852) 3919 3399, or via email (education@legco.gov.hk) accordingly.
  6. If the mock Council debate is cancelled under the above circumstances, the organization may contact the Legislative Council Secretariat for re-scheduling the mock Council debate. However, in view of the fact that time slots available for mock Council debates are limited, the Legislative Council Secretariat may not be able to re-schedule another mock Council debate as requested within a short period of time.

Snapshots




Enquiry

Telephone: (852) 3919 3433 / Email: education@legco.gov.hk