Construction Industry Council - Annual Report 2024

ANNUAL REPORT 2024 33 CORPORATE GOVERNANCE REPORT 8 The draft Minutes prepared by the Secretariat should be ready around seven calendar days after the meeting for consideration by the senior management and Chairman/Chairperson. The Minutes and discussion points of each agenda item are circulated to Members no later than 21 calendar days after the meeting for comment. The Minutes are reviewed and confirmed in the subsequent meeting. In addition, for the Council and the Executive Committee meetings, an action list of issues/matters that require immediate attention would be developed by the Secretariat for the management of relevant departments/business units to follow up in a timely manner. 9 Minutes of the meetings (except those of the Executive Committee, Audit Committee, Objections Board and the closed-door sessions of meetings of the Council) are uploaded to the CIC website for the public’s reference. 10 Members are required to declare conflicts of interests, if any, before the commencement of discussion of the related agenda item(s) in question. These declarations and the actions taken, such as a Member abstaining from participating in the discussion of the concerned item(s), will be recorded in the Minutes and kept in a register of the relevant Secretariat. 11 Members have access to relevant expertise to help discharge their responsibilities upon obtaining proper approval where appropriate, e.g. consultants will be invited to present and explain their recommendations in separate sessions before the Council meeting to allow more time for questions and detailed discussions. 12 The quorum required by the Council meetings and Statutory Boards meetings is specified in the CICO and CWRO respectively. At a meeting of the Council, a quorum is not less than half of its members. The quorum for a Construction Industry Training Board meeting is not less than six members, while a Construction Workers Registration Board meeting requires a quorum of 10 members. For a meeting of the Construction Workers Qualifications Board, the quorum is seven members, and the quorum for a Construction Workers Review Board meeting is four members. A “Starred Discussion Paper” system was introduced in 2018 to facilitate prompt handling of approval matters and efficient processing of discussion papers at meetings. For routine and straightforward matters presented in a Starred Discussion Paper, approval by Members is assumed, unless Members choose to raise comments and/or enquiries during meeting. Since the implementation of this system, meetings have been conducted in a smoother, more timely and effective manner.