LegCo Paper No. CB(2) 1921/96-97
Ref : CB2/BC/17/96

Bills Committee on Long-Term Prison Sentences Review Bill

Minutes of the First Meeting held on Friday, 11 April 1997 at 5:05 pm in Conference Room B of the Legislative Council Building

Members present :

Hon Ronald ARCULLI, OBE, JP (Chairman)
Hon Emily LAU Wai-hing
Hon James TO Kun-sun
Hon LEUNG Yiu-chung
Hon Lawrence YUM Sin-ling

Members absent :

Hon Andrew CHENG Kar-foo*
Hon Bruce LIU Sing-lee*
Hon Margaret NG*
Hon TSANG Kin-shing*

Clerk in attendance :

Mrs Sharon TONG

Chief Assistant Secretary (2)1

Staff in attendance :

Mr Jonathan DAW
Consultant, Legal Service Division
Mr Paul WOO
Senior Assistant Secretary (2)5

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I. Postponement of meeting
II. Election of Chairman
III. Way Forward
Public views
IV. Date of next meetings
V. Close of meeting

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I.Postponement of meeting

1. The meeting, originally scheduled for 4:00 pm, was held after the closing of the House Committee meeting at 5:00 pm. Because of the delay and with the concurrence of members of the Bills Committee, representatives from the Administration left prior to the meeting. Internal discussion between members started at 5:05 pm.

II. Election of Chairman

2. Mr Ronald ARCULLI was elected Chairman of the Bills Committee.

III. Way Forward

Public views

3. Members agreed that the Secretariat should invite submission from the following parties on the Bill :

Clerk

1. the Law Society of Hong Kong

2. the Hong Kong Bar Association

3. relevant groups and organizations concerned with the welfare of prisoners and ex-prisoners

4. Members noted that the Administration had consulted familities of those prisoners detained at Her Majesty’s pleasure. The Administration would be asked to provide other written submission, if any, which it had received for the Bills Committee’s information.

Clerk

5. Members did not see the need to issue press release for public consultation, in addition to seeking views from the above concerned parties.

IV. Date of next meetings

6. The next meetings of the Bills Committee were scheduled as follows :

Date	Time	Venue
a) Monday	21 April 1997	2:30 pm - 4:30 pm Conference Room B
b) Tuesday	29 April 1997	2:30 pm - 4:30 pm Conference Room A

V. Close of meeting

7. The meeting closed at 5:20 pm.

LegCo Secretariat
14 April 1997

*. other commitments

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