A Government spokesman said today (July 10) that the Chief Executive in Council (CE-in-Council) has decided that the existing remuneration package for Members of the Sixth Legislative Council (LegCo) (including the annual adjustment mechanism) should continue to be adopted for Members of the Seventh LegCo.
The Independent Commission on Remuneration for Members of the Executive Council and the Legislature, and Officials under the Political Appointment System of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region conducted a thorough review and recommended certain proposals to enhance the remuneration package for Members of the Seventh LegCo.
The spokesman said, "In arriving at the said decision, whilst the CE-in-Council found the Independent Commission's proposals not unreasonable, it considered it inappropriate to take them forward, having regard to such factors as the prevailing local economic downturn, labour earnings and employment situation, as well as the recent government decision to freeze civil service pay, the pay of politically appointed officials and the honorarium of Executive Council Non-official Members.
"The Government expresses its gratitude towards the Independent Commission for its dedicated efforts in and valuable advice on reviewing the remuneration package for Members of the Seventh LegCo."
In accordance with the said decision, the existing remuneration package for a LegCo Member which will remain unchanged in the Seventh LegCo comprises:
(a) monthly remuneration at $101,000 (Note 1);
(b) end-of-service gratuity at 15 per cent of the total remuneration for the term (payable at term end per term);
(c) medical allowance at $35,180 per annum;
(d) Office Operation Expenses Reimbursement (OOER) at $2,770,970 per annum;
(e) Entertainment and Travelling Expenses Reimbursement at $221,310 per annum;
(f) President's Entertainment Allowance at $221,520 per annum;
(g) Setting Up and Information Technology Expenses Reimbursement at $375,000 per term (Note 2); and
(h) Winding Up Expenses Reimbursement (being 1/12 of the annual OOER plus actual severance payments per term).
Components (a), (c), (d), (e) and (f) above will continue to be subject to annual adjustments in October each year in accordance with the movements of the Consumer Price Index(C). Components (b) and (h) above will also be adjusted as a consequence of any adjustment to components (a) and (d) respectively. In accordance with the established arrangement, the next round of annual adjustment will take effect on October 1, 2020.
Save for annual price adjustment to be made, the total funding for the remuneration package for Members of the Seventh LegCo is estimated to be about $1.3 billion, or about $18.3 million per Member per term.
The Independent Commission is chaired by Mr Carlson Tong and comprises Professor Leonard Cheng, Ms Lau Ka-shi, Ms Elaine Lo, Mr Philip Tsai and Ms Winnie Wong as members. It advises the Chief Executive, among others, on the remuneration package for LegCo Members. The Independent Commission started a comprehensive review of the remuneration package for Members of the Seventh LegCo in early 2019 and completed it in May 2020.
Note 1: Monthly remuneration of the LegCo President and the President's Deputy are fixed at 200 per cent and 150 per cent of the remuneration for their fellow LegCo Members respectively.
Note 2: For Members who have claimed setting up expenses in the previous term, they could claim $262,500 in the new term.
Follow this news feed: East Asia