Over the years, the Standing Committee has been expanded to its present strength of 161 members. The expanded standing Committee functions as a “miniature-NPC" - its small size allows more frequent and efficient consultations as compared to the NPC as a whole, yet it is large enough to accommodate different social and political bases, partlcularly those that include non-CCP members. The expansion of this group of "first-among-equals" serves to raise the quality of motions tabled during annual NPC conferences and allows follow-ups on NPC decisions when the need arises.