The Home Affairs Department said today that the current-term District Council (DC) members' attendance rate at meetings is higher than that of all previous terms.

Responding to media reports on the attendance record of DC members in 2024, the department stressed that they were diligent in their work.

It said that over 98% of the 470 members have attended all DC meetings or were only absent with their council's consent. In addition, over 90% have attended all committee and working group meetings or were only absent with their council's consent.

Besides attending DC meetings, each DC member on average attended 28 committee or working group meetings.

Moreover, the department stressed that all DC members fulfilled the requirement under the "Performance Monitoring Guidelines for Members of the DCs" for an attendance rate of not lower than 80%.

While certain reports stated that some DC members were in violation of the guidelines due to their absence at meetings, the department said these reports were incorrect since absence at an individual meeting was not a violation in itself.

For the purposes of calculating attendance, the department said the guidelines stipulate certain reasons for absence that would be accepted by the DCs without affecting a member's attendance record. These include sickness, attendance at another meeting, or participation in an activity on behalf of the DCs.

If a DC member is absent from a meeting due to other reasons, including personal matters, the absence will be counted towards their attendance rate.

The department added that current-term DC members' attendance rate at meetings was higher than that of all previous terms, and stressed that this demonstrated their efforts and work in improving governance at the district level.