A 00/01-11(1)

Legislative Council

Agenda
Wednesday 6 December 2000 at 2:30 pm

I. Tabling of Papers

Subsidiary Legislation / Instruments		L.N. No.
1.	Money Lenders (Amendment) Regulation 2000	345/2000
2.	Securities (Miscellaneous) (Amendment) (No. 2) Rules 2000	346/2000
3.	Tax Reserve Certificates (Rate of Interest) (No. 11) Notice 2000	347/2000
4.	Mass Transit Railway Ordinance (Cap. 556) (Commencement) (No. 2) Notice 2000	348/2000

Other Papers

1. No.35	-	Annual Report of the Protection of Wages on Insolvency Fund Board 1999-2000
(to be presented by Secretary for Education and Manpower)
2. No.36	-	Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data, Hong Kong Annual Report 1999-2000
(to be presented by Secretary for Home Affairs)
3. No.37	-	Ocean Park CorporationAnnual Report 1999-2000
(to be presented by Hon Henry WU, who will address the Council)

II. Questions

1. Hon IP Kwok-him to ask: (Translation)

It has been reported that the tube boards of the Lion Rock Tunnel and the Aberdeen Tunnel are made of a plastic material which will release poisonous gas on combustion. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:

(a)	it has assessed if the tube boards of the two tunnels comply with fire safety standards; if so, of the results of the assessment;
(b)	it has plans to replace the tube boards of the two tunnels; if so, of the commencement and completion dates of the works; and the measures it will take to enhance the fire safety of the two tunnels before the completion of such works; and
(c)	it has taken out insurance against casualties caused by such tube boards?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport

2. Hon TSANG Yok-sing to ask: (Translation)

With regard to the services provided by dental clinics under the Department of Health ("DH"), will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the total number of attendances for services at such clinics in the past three years by civil servants, pensioners and their dependants, with a breakdown by service items, the percentage of each service item in the total number of attendances, as well as the total public expenditure involved; how these figures compare to the corresponding figures of the dental services provided to the public;
(b)	of the respective average utilization rates in the past three years in respect of the dental consultation sessions reserved for the two categories of persons mentioned above; and
(c)	whether it plans to provide comprehensive dental services to the public, especially the provision of dental care service to the elderly; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officers to reply

：

Secretary for Health and Welfare Secretary for the Civil Service

3. Hon WONG Sing-chi to ask: (Translation)

At present, employers are not required to make Mandatory Provident Fund Scheme ("MPFS") contributions in respect of staff who are employed for less than 60 days (hereinafter "short-term") but who are not "casual employees". Given that some publicly-funded non-governmental social welfare agencies ("social welfare agencies") employ short-term contract staff, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	whether it knows which social welfare agencies have signed short-term employment contracts with employees in the half-year before and the half-year from 1 April this year, and the respective numbers of posts involved;
(b)	of the measures in place to safeguard the interests of the short-term contract staff employed by the social welfare agencies, including their interests under the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Ordinance; and
(c)	whether it has studied if social welfare agencies can evade their obligation to make MPFS contributions by using non-successive short-term contracts; if the study concludes that they can, of the countermeasures in place?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health and Welfare

4. Hon Albert CHAN to ask: (Translation)

Regarding the disturbances caused by aircraft noise to residents in the early hours, will the Government inform this Council of:

(a)	the respective average numbers of aircrafts which took off and landed daily during the period between midnight and 7 a.m. in each month since the opening of the Hong Kong International Airport at Chek Lap Kok;
(b)	the new initiatives to alleviate the disturbances caused by aircraft noise to the residential areas under the flight paths, and how it will tackle the problem of aircraft noise in planning the new residential areas under the flight paths, including those at Ma Wan, in Area 40 of Tsuen Wan, and on the reclamation areas under the Tsuen Wan and Sham Tseng development plans, Tai Ho Wan and Yam O; and
(c)	the highest aircraft noise levels recorded at various stationary noise monitoring terminals between midnight and 7 a.m. during the past month, and whether there are measures in place to lower the aircraft noise to a level below 70 decibels?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Economic Services

5. Hon Eric LI to ask: (Translation)

Will the Government inform this Council whether it knows the criteria and considerations the Hong Kong Housing Authority will adopt in determining the number and prices of Home Ownership Scheme ("HOS") units to be sold in the coming year, and, at the same time as it promotes the sale of a large number of HOS flats, how it will avoid causing an adverse impact on private residential property prices and creating more land owners of "negative-value assets"?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Housing

6. Hon Cyd HO to ask: (Translation)

Regarding the handling of complaints about kindergarten and primary school pupils suspected of being sexually abused, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the role played by the Police in participating in multi-disciplinary case conferences convened by the Social Welfare Department ("SWD") for handling such complaints, and whether the Administration has assessed if the Police's participation in such case conferences has any bearing on their investigations and prosecution decisions in respect of the cases concerned;
(b)	where complaints are found unsubstantiated by such case conferences, whether the SWD will continue to provide psychological counselling to the children concerned; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
(c)	whether it will make public the procedural guidelines issued by the authorities to schools on handling complaints about child sex abuse; how the authorities monitor schools for compliance with the guidelines; and how the authorities handle and follow up with the schools which breach the guidelines?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health and Welfare

*7. Hon LAU Wong-fat to ask: (Translation)

Will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the government departments and public organizations (including the Equal Opportunities Commission and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data) which currently do not accept verbal complaints lodged through telephone, interviews, etc;
(b)	of the reasons for those departments and organizations not accepting verbal complaints;
(c)	whether it has assessed if such practice discriminates against those who lodge verbal complaints; and
(d)	whether it will require those departments and organizations to accept verbal complaints?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs

*8. Hon CHAN Yuen-han to ask: (Translation)

It is learnt that between June last year and August this year, there were 916 cases in which the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance ("CSSA") recipients who had participated in the Active Employment Assistance Programme ceased to receive CSSA payments after obtaining employment. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of a breakdown of these cases by:
	(i)	age band and gender of the recipients, as well as household size;
	(ii)	the number of children aged 12 or below in the recipient families; and
	(iii)	post, trade and duration of employment in respect of the jobs found by the recipients;
(b)	of the average monthly salary for the jobs found by the recipients;
(c)	of the number of cases in which the recipients became unemployed again after finding jobs; and
(d)	whether the Social Welfare Department had arranged for the recipients concerned to attend courses organized by the Employees Retraining Board which were related to the jobs subsequently found by the recipients; if not, of the reasons for these recipients still being able to find these jobs?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health and Welfare

*9. Dr Hon David LI to ask:

Regarding the factors considered by the Hong Kong Observatory ("HKO") in determining the tropical cyclone warning signals to be hoisted, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	when HKO last made a comprehensive study on the factors which it should consider; whether it plans to conduct another study in the near future; if not, of the reasons for that;
(b)	whether the speed of gale or storm force winds expected to blow or is blowing in Victoria Harbour is still the predominant factor for determining the number of the signal to be hoisted; if so, whether it has assessed if such a practice is still meeting present-day needs, given that Hong Kong's population is now spread all over the territory;
(c)	other than the speed of gale or storm force winds, of the social, economic or meteorological factors that HKO also takes into account in determining whether the number 8 or a higher signal should be hoisted; and
(d)	of the guidelines HKO has in place to ensure consistency among its duty officers in determining whether to hoist the number 8 or a higher signal?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Economic Services

*10. Hon CHOY So-yuk to ask: (Translation)

Will the Government inform this Council of:

(a)	the present number of vacant public rental housing ("PRH") units on Hong Kong Island which are available for allocation;
(b)	the number of those which have been left vacant for one year or longer, with a breakdown by the reason for their being left vacant; and
(c)	the measures in place to shorten the vacant period for PRH units?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Housing

*11. Hon TAM Yiu-chung to ask: (Translation)

Will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	whether it knows if the Hong Kong China Gas Company Limited and the two electricity companies have set up concessionary schemes for senior citizens; if they have, of the respective application procedures and eligibility, details of the concessions, and the number of beneficiaries; if not, whether it will encourage these companies to set up such schemes;
(b)	of the measures Government will take to support the schemes implemented by these companies; and
(c)	whether it plans to encourage these companies to provide more concessions under their existing schemes; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health and Welfare

*12. Hon LEUNG Fu-wah to ask: (Translation)

Will the Government inform this Council whether currently there is legislation governing the broadcasting of radio programmes on buses by franchised bus companies; if so, of its details; if not, the measures it has to protect passengers' right to choose freely whether or not to listen to radio programmes on buses?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport

*13. Hon CHAN Kwok-keung to ask: (Translation)

It is noted that between June last year and August this year, there were 2 258 cases in which the Social Welfare Department ("SWD") ceased to make out Comprehensive Social Security Assistance ("CSSA") payments to recipients who had participated in the Active Employment Assistance programme but could not subsequently be contacted. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of a breakdown of these cases by age band and gender of the recipients, as well as household size;
(b)	whether the addresses, telephone numbers and means of contact reported by CSSA applicants are verified by SWD; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
(c)	of the usual frequency and means for SWD to contact the CSSA recipients; and
(d)	of the average length of time taken for a case to be classified as "lost contact" from the first time SWD fails to contact a CSSA recipient?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health and Welfare

*14. Hon Bernard CHAN to ask:

The Chief Executive stated in his Policy Address this year that "the Government will consider further promoting flexitime to enable working parents to spend more time with their children and to participate more actively in school affairs and activities organized by parent-teacher associations". In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the bureaux and departments which allow their staff to work flexitime; and the ranks and grades of the eligible staff;
(b)	whether it has reviewed the impact of staff working flexitime on the services provided by the bureaux and departments concerned; if so, of the findings of these reviews; and
(c)	of the actions it will take to promote flexitime within and outside the Government?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Civil Service

*15. Hon YEUNG Yiu-chung to ask: (Translation)

Will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	whether it has issued guidelines to government and public sector schools on the acceptance of donations by the school authorities and their staff from suppliers of students' lunches, uniforms, stationery and appliances; and of the measures it has put in place to ensure that the schools follow the guidelines; and
(b)	of the number and details of cases reported to the Education Department on the acceptance of donations from lunch suppliers by schools in the past five years?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education and Manpower

*16. Ir Dr Hon HO Chung-tai to ask: (Translation)

Will the Government inform this Council whether:

(a)	it has compiled statistics on the total number of employees made redundant since 1 January this year by companies operating Internet web-sites; if it has, of a breakdown by the posts they held and the types of jobs in which they were employed;
(b)	it has carried out a survey on the average time taken by such employees to obtain new employment; if it has, of a breakdown of the findings by the type of jobs in which they were formerly employed; and
(c)	it knows the types of business operated by the companies which are now employing the information technology personnel made redundant in the past two years?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education and Manpower

*17. Hon Mrs Sophie LEUNG to ask: (Translation)

Will the Government inform this Council whether it has plans to provide assistance to women who need to take care of their young children but are at the same time interested in participating in voluntary services; if it has, of the relevant details and whether it will provide funding to non-governmental social welfare agencies for the provision of more child-minding services; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health and Welfare

*18. Hon Emily LAU to ask: (Translation)

Regarding matters relating to the financial arrangements for the Cyberport project undertaken by the Pacific Century Group ("PCG"), will the Executive Authorities inform this Council:

(a)	whether they know if the financing activities in respect of the Cyberport project have been affected by the recent considerable drop in the share prices of the Pacific Century CyberWorks, which is an affiliated company of PCG; if such activities have been affected, of the details and the impact on the progress of the project;
(b)	when they last examined the cash flow forecast and audited financial statements submitted by PCG; whether any areas of concern were identified when they examined such forecast and statements; if so, of the details; and
(c)	of the measures to ensure that the project will not be delayed due to financial problems?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Information Technology and Broadcasting

*19. Hon LAU Kong-wah to ask: (Translation)

Regarding the recovery of outstanding government rates, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the number of cases involving default in payment of government rates adjudicated by the Small Claims Tribunal in the past three years; the total amount not yet recovered in such cases and the reasons for the Government's failure to recover such arrears;
(b)	whether the number of cases involving outstanding government rates has been on an upward trend over the past three years; if so, the reasons for that and the measures it will take to curb such a trend;
(c)	whether it has assessed the adequacy of the manpower currently deployed for recovering government rates; and
(d)	of the total amount of public money spent on recovering government rates in the past three years, and the average amount spent per case?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Treasury

*20. Hon IP Kwok-him to ask: (Translation)

Will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the number of inspections made in the past three years by officers from the Department of Health ("DH") at retail shops to check if any prepackaged foods are still on sale after the "use by" dates marked on their labelling have expired, and the respective numbers of shop owners warned and prosecuted for selling expired foods;
(b)	whether the DH conducts laboratory tests on samples of expired foods found during inspections to see if they have perished; if so, of the number of cases in the past three years in which expired foods were found to have perished; if not, of the reasons for that; and
(c)	as many consumers may not understand the difference between the "best before" date and "use by" date, whether the Administration will consider standardizing the labelling of prepackaged foods in this respect?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment and Food

*For written reply.

III. Members' Motions

1. Smart identity card

Hon Emily LAU: (Translation)

That this Council expresses grave concern over the issues arising from the smart identity card scheme, relating to security, privacy as well as the public's rights to choose and to know, and urges the Government to implement the scheme only after such issues have been satisfactorily resolved; at the same time, if data not already contained in existing identity cards (other than fingerprints) are to be stored on the smart identity cards, this Council considers that the Government must submit the relevant proposals to this Council for endorsement, and offer the public the right to choose the data to be stored on their smart identity cards.

Amendments to Hon Emily LAU's motion

(i)

Hon IP Kwok-him: (Translation) To delete "to implement the scheme only after such issues have been satisfactorily resolved" and substitute with ", in formulating and implementing the scheme, to fully consider these concerns and adopt all effective measures to address the issues in question"; to delete "(other than fingerprints)"; and to delete "offer the public the right to choose the data to be" and substitute with "that it should be a matter for this Council to decide if the public should be allowed to choose whether or not to have such data".

(ii)

Hon James TO: (Translation) To add "before the legislation to implement the scheme is passed by this Council, the Government should only apply for funding to engage consultants to assist in resolving those issues;" after "such issues have been satisfactorily resolved;"; to delete "fingerprints" and substitute with "fingerprint data"; and to delete "submit the relevant proposals to this Council for endorsement, and".

Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Security

2. Railway development strategy

Hon LAU Chin-shek: (Translation)

That this Council urges the Government to expeditiously implement the new railway projects proposed in the "Railway Development Strategy 2000" published in May this year and, in particular, to adopt various measures to strive for the completion by 2008 of the Shatin to Central Link (comprising the East Kowloon Line, the fourth cross-harbour rail link and the Tai Wai to Diamond Hill Link) and the West Hong Kong Island Line; at the same time, when planning the implementation of new railway projects, the Government should expeditiously carry out environmental impact assessments and conduct extensive consultation on railway alignments and the locations of railway stations, so that railway development can harmonize with the need for environmental protection and fully reflect the wishes of the public.

Amendments to Hon LAU Chin-shek's motion

(i)

Hon LAU Kong-wah: (Translation) To add "the Government should also determine as soon as possible the schedule for constructing the Port Rail Line and the Regional Express Line;" after "the West Hong Kong Island Line;"; to delete "and" from "environmental impact assessments and" and substitute with ";"; and to delete ", so that railway development can harmonize with the need for environmental protection" and substitute with "; and review existing legislation and the policy-making mechanism in order to ensure more efficient coordination of the views of the relevant departments, so that the construction of new railways can take better account of the needs for environmental protection and social development,".

(ii)

Dr Hon TANG Siu-tong: (Translation) To add "; devise a compensation mechanism which is fair and reasonable to the affected landowners;" after "the Government should expeditiously carry out environmental impact assessments".

Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Transport

Clerk to the Legislative Council