A 00/01-7(1)

Legislative Council

Agenda
Wednesday 8 November 2000 at 2:30 pm

I. Tabling of Papers

Subsidiary Legislation / InstrumentsL.N. No.
1.Control of Obscene and Indecent Articles (Amendment) Regulation 2000288/2000
2.Public Health and Municipal Services (Fees and Charges) (Museums) Regulation289/2000
3.Road Traffic (Village Vehicles) (Amendment) Regulation 2000290/2000
4.Legal Practitioners (Fees) (Amendment) Rules 2000291/2000
5.Tax Reserve Certificates (Rate of Interest) (No. 10) Notice 2000292/2000
6.Civil Aviation (Insurance) Order (Cap. 448 Sub. Leg.) (Commencement) Notice 2000293/2000
7.Road Traffic Legislation (Amendment) (No. 2) Ordinance 2000 (50 of 2000) (Commencement) Notice 2000294/2000


Other Papers

1. No.25-The Government Minute in response to the Twelfth Annual Report of the Ombudsman issued in June 2000
(to be presented by Chief Secretary for Administration, who will address the Council)

2. No.26-Hong Kong Tourist Association Annual Report 1999/2000
(to be presented by Secretary for Economic Services, who will address the Council)


II. Addresses

Hon Cyd HO to address the Council on the Prison (Amendment) Rules 2000, which are subsidiary legislation laid on the Table of the Council on 11 October 2000.

III. Questions

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

Regarding how the Consumer Council disposes of the products which are still usable after testing, especially those more expensive ones, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:

    (a)the current practice of the Consumer Council; and

    (b)if the Consumer Council has arranged selling the tested products to its staff members by private sales; if it has, the criteria used in deciding on the kinds of products to be disposed of by selling to its staff members instead of open auction, as well as the mechanism for setting the sale prices of such products?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Economic Services

2. Hon Fred LI to ask: (Translation)

At present, as the drying racks of units in some Harmony-type Public Rental Housing estates are installed outside the kitchen window and are very close to the exhaust points of the range hoods, clothes drying on these racks may be stained easily. For this reason, some tenants have installed drying racks at other positions on the external walls of their units, and subsequently have received warning letters issued by the Housing Department demanding the removal of the unauthorized drying racks or else they may have their tenancies terminated. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

    (a)of the names of the housing estates which have drying racks installed outside the kitchen window of their units, and the respective numbers of housing blocks and units involved;

    (b)of the specific measures in place to tackle the problem; and

    (c)whether it will consider allowing the tenants to keep the unauthorized drying racks already installed, and permitting tenants of such estates to install drying racks at other positions on the external walls of their units; if not, of the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Housing

3. Hon NG Leung-sing to ask: (Translation)

Regarding the Government's appointment of members of the public to advisory and statutory bodies, will the Government inform this Council:

    (a)of the basic criteria adopted for making such appointments; the policy set for the appointment of professionals to such bodies; the respective proportions of members belonging to the engineering, architectural and planning professions in the relevant bodies, and whether the Government has assessed if such proportions are adequate; if so, of the assessment result;

    (b)whether it has issued guidelines to appointees, stating clearly their rights and duties, the performance assessment mechanism as well as the reward and punishment system; and how the appointees' performance is monitored; and

    (c)of the mechanism for reviewing matters relating to such appointments?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs

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

The theme of the United Nations' "World Habitat Day" this year is "Women in Urban Governance". In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows if the Hong Kong Housing Authority:

    (a)has assessed whether the proportions of female members in its subcommittees are appropriate; if so, of the assessment results; if not, the reasons for that;

    (b)plans to increase the proportions of female members in such subcommittees; and

    (c)plans to put the ideas of the theme into practice; if so, of the details?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Housing

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

Regarding the costs of training full-time engineering students in local universities and the employment situation of engineering graduates, will the Government inform this Council of:

    (a)the annual average unit costs of training engineering students at present, and how such costs compare to the costs of training students in other academic disciplines;

    (b)the number of engineering graduates in each of the past four academic years, and whether it knows the respective numbers and percentages of those graduates who obtained employment relevant to their studies; and

    (c)the number of fresh graduates in engineering studies employed by various government departments in each of the past four academic years, and the respective percentages of such graduates in all engineering graduates of the same year?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education and Manpower

6. Hon James TIEN to ask: (Translation)

At present, the transport links between the Peak and Aberdeen, two popular tourist attractions, are rather inconvenient, particularly since the roads to the Peak area are often congested. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it will consider constructing a road to connect the two places for the convenience of tourists; if not, of the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport

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

Regarding visits between officials of Hong Kong government departments and their Mainland counterparts, will the Government inform this Council:

    (a)of the numbers of visits paid by Hong Kong officials and participants, as well as those in respect of Mainland officials, in each of the past five years;

    (b)of the existing guidelines and mechanism for the arrangements of these visits; and

    (c)whether it has plans to increase such visits; if so, of the details for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Constitutional Affairs

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

It has been reported that a hunger strike is brewing among 50 local prisoners currently serving their sentences in Ma Po Ping Prison on Lantau Island to protest against officers of the Correctional Services Department ("CSD") therein for being partial to Mainland prisoners in dealing with conflicts among prisoners. In this connection, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council:

    (a)whether there have been conflicts between local and Mainland prisoners in that prison in the past six months; if so, of the details;

    (b)whether they have investigated if the way and procedure adopted by CSD officers in dealing with conflicts among prisoners are appropriate and impartial; if they have not, whether the relevant authorities will inquire into the incidents; and

    (c)of the measures in place to minimize conflicts among prisoners?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

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

Regarding the air quality in train compartments of the Mass Transit Railway, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows if MTR Corporation Limited:

    (a)measures the concentrations of carbon dioxide in train compartments on a regular basis; if so, of the details;

    (b)plans to install instruments in train compartments for measuring carbon dioxide concentrations; and

    (c)plans to take measures to improve the air quality in train compartments; if so, of the details?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport

*10. Hon Fred LI to ask: (Translation)

The Government indicated in May this year that it was contacting Dr SUN Yat-sen's descendents with a view to formulating long-term maintenance plans for the grave of Dr SUN Yat-sen's mother situated in Sai Kung. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

    (a)of the progress made in formulating the maintenance plans; the anticipated time for carrying out the repairing work and the estimated costs per annum; and

    (b)whether it has plans to declare the grave as a monument; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs

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

On 18 October this year, officers of the Customs and Excise Department ("Customs officers") found 26 male Mainlanders hiding in a container, intending to sneak into the United States illegally. In this connection, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council:

    (a)of the respective average numbers of inbound and outbound containers inspected by Customs officers every day at present;

    (b)whether they have any plans to increase the number of containers inspected;

    (c)of the progress of the discussions between the Administration and the relevant Mainland authorities on preventing unlawful elements from using Hong Kong as a transit point for smuggling illegal immigrants, and the new measures to combat such activities; and

    (d)whether they plan to publicize overseas the actions and measures they have taken to combat unlawful elements using Hong Kong as a transit point for smuggling Mainlanders to foreign countries?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

*12. Hon WONG Yung-kan to ask: (Translation)

A Home Ownership Scheme flat owner who has moved into his flat over one year told me that he had never received the Demand for Rates relating to the unit. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

    (a)of the usual time gap between the issuance of an Occupational Permit and the issuance of the first Demand for Rates in respect of a newly completed residential building; whether it plans to shorten the duration; if not, of the reasons for that;

    (b)of the number of cases in the past three years in which the Administration failed to issue the first Demand for Rates within the above duration, and whether it has estimated the loss in interest due to the resultant delayed collection of rates; and

    (c)as the first Demand for Rates may cover the rates for several quarters, whether rates payers will be allowed to pay by instalments; if not, of the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Treasury

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

It was reported last month that a student of a secondary school in Aberdeen alleged that he had been subjected to extortion and assaults for a long time by schoolmates who claimed to have triad background, and numerous complaints on this made by his parents to the school and the Education Department had not been taken seriously. Regarding violence and crimes in schools, will the Government inform this Council:

    (a)whether the Administration has received any complaints concerning students of that school being beaten by schoolmates over the past year; if so, how such complaints have been followed up;

    (b)of the total number of complaints received concerning students being treated violently by schoolmates in the past three years; whether such cases are on an upward trend, and of the districts where more schools are involved in such complaints;

    (c)how these complaints have been followed up; the number of prosecutions instituted by the Police against the perpetrators in the past three years, and whether psychological counselling has been provided to the student victims; if it has not, of the reasons for that; and

    (d)whether undercover policemen disguised as students or staff have been deployed to schools to investigate such crimes over the past three years; if so, of its effectiveness; and whether there are other measures in place to combat such offences?
Public Officer to reply: Secretary for Security

*14. Hon Howard YOUNG to ask:

In order to relieve the heavy congestion at immigration counters at Lo Wu Control Point, especially at weekends and during holidays, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows if the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation has conducted feasibility studies respectively on:

    (a)the provision of through train service between Hung Hom and Shenzhen, with immigration clearance for the Hong Kong side conducted at Hung Hom; and

    (b)the addition of a stop in Shenzhen for the through train service between Hung Hom and Guangzhou; if so, of the results of the studies; if not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport

*15. Hon CHEUNG Man-kwong to ask: (Translation)

It has been reported that a number of schools have signed contracts with a telecommunication company to allow it to install radio transmitters for telecommunication services on the rooftops of the schools for commercial purposes, and this may be in breach of the land lease conditions of the schools concerned. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:

    (a)it has investigated if such acts of the telecommunication company and the school authorities concerned have breached the law; if they have breached the law, of the details, and how it will assist the school authorities to adopt remedial measures;

    (b)the proposals for installing telecommunication facilities on the rooftops of schools are subject to the prior approval of relevant government departments; if so, of the approving departments and procedure; and

    (c)the Education Department will consider representing the schools concerned to negotiate, on a collective bargaining basis, with the telecommunication companies in respect of the installation of telecommunication facilities within the school areas, so as to get the most favourable contract terms for the schools?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education and Manpower

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

Regarding the problem of Mainland women entering Hong Kong to engage in prostitution, will the Government inform this Council:

    (a)of the number of Mainland women intercepted while trying to enter Hong Kong illegally by sea each month during the past year, and the number of such women who were reasonably believed by the relevant authorities to have the intention of working as prostitutes in Hong Kong; and

    (b)whether it has assessed if the problem of Mainland women entering Hong Kong to engage in prostitution is deteriorating; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

*17. Hon SIN Chung-kai to ask: (Translation)

At present, Internet web-site operators can keep track of the Internet activities of individual surfers without their knowledge, by means of "cookie files". In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

    (a)of the number of complaints received from Internet surfers over the past year alleging that their privacy had been infringed upon by means of cookie files; and

    (b)whether it has plans to enact legislation to control such acts of infringing on personal privacy; if it has, of the details; if not, how it safeguards the privacy of Internet surfers?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Information Technology and Broadcasting

*18. Dr Hon TANG Siu-tong to ask: (Translation)

The Government stated in the Policy Objectives of the 1999 Policy Address its target to introduce the requisite legislation in early 2000 to resolve the problem of missing or illegible Government leases and grants. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

    (a)of the technical and legal issues encountered in drafting the relevant legislation and how such issues are being resolved;

    (b)of the parties to be consulted in the course of drafting such legislation and the estimated length of the consultation period; and

    (c)when the relevant bill will be introduced into this Council?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Planning and Lands

*For written reply.

IV. Bills

First Reading

1. Adaptation of Laws Bill 2000
2. Dutiable Commodities (Amendment) Bill 2000

Second Reading (Debates to be adjourned)

1. Adaptation of Laws Bill 2000:Chief Secretary for Administration
2. Dutiable Commodities (Amendment) Bill 2000:Secretary for the Treasury


Second Reading (Debate to resume), Committee Stage and Third Reading

Stamp Duty (Amendment) Bill 2000:Secretary for the Treasury


V. Members' Motions

1. Enhancing the welfare for the elderly

Hon YEUNG Yiu-chung: (Translation)

That, in view of the aggravation of the problems of ageing population and impoverishment of the elderly in Hong Kong, this Council urges the Government to adopt effective measures to enhance the welfare for the elderly; these measures should include:
    (a)processing separately the cases of Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) for the elderly and the general CSSA cases, as well as relaxing the assets limit for elderly CSSA applicants, so as to benefit more elderly persons;

    (b)maintaining the existing application mechanism for the old age allowance, increasing the rate of the allowance to an appropriate level and relaxing the absence rule on the allowance received by the elderly settling in their hometown;

    (c)extending the Portable CSSA Scheme to places on the Mainland outside Guangdong and relaxing the eligibility criteria for the Scheme; and

    (d)strengthening and improving the services of multi-service centres, social centres, day care centres and health centres for the elderly, so as to provide medical care, community care, as well as cultural and recreational services etc. for the elderly in Hong Kong.

    Amendments to Hon YEUNG Yiu-chung's motion

      (i) Hon LEUNG Yiu-chung: (Translation)

      To delete "adopt effective measures to enhance the welfare for the elderly; these measures should include" and substitute with "expeditiously introduce the old age pension scheme to meet the basic needs of the elderly; before that, the Government should improve the existing Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) and old age allowance schemes through"; to delete "Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA)" and substitute with "CSSA"; to add "(b) restoring the right of elderly persons who are living with their family members to apply for CSSA on an individual basis, which had been in existence prior to the CSSA review last year, to show respect for their independence and autonomous rights;" after "so as to benefit more elderly persons;"; to delete "(b) maintaining" and substitute with "(c) relaxing"; to add "and" after "the elderly settling in their hometown;" to delete "(c)" and substitute with "(d)"; and to delete "and (d) strengthening and improving" and substitute with "at the same time, the Government should strengthen and improve".

      (ii) Hon Mrs Sophie LEUNG: (Translation)

      To delete "processing separately the cases of" and substitute with "reviewing the policy on"; to delete "the general CSSA cases, as well as relaxing the assets limit for elderly CSSA applicants, so as to benefit more elderly persons"; to delete "(b) maintaining the existing application mechanism for the" and substitute with "completing the review on"; to add "expeditiously" after "old age allowance"; to delete "increasing the rate of the allowance to an appropriate level and relaxing the absence rule on the allowance received by the elderly settling in their hometown" and substitute with "so as to benefit more elderly persons in genuine need"; to delete "(c)" and substitute with "(b)"; and to delete "(d)" and substitute with "(c)".

      (iii)Hon Frederick FUNG: (Translation)

      To delete "and" after "relaxing the eligibility criteria for the Scheme;"; and to add "; (e) offering full subventions for social centres and multi-service centres for the elderly; and (f) defining elderly persons as Hong Kong residents aged 60 and above and extending the services and concessions currently provided by the Government for the elderly to those aged 60 and above" after "for the elderly in Hong Kong".
Public Officer to attend: Secretary for Health and Welfare

2. Terminating the appointment of the Senior Special Assistant to the Chief Executive

Hon Margaret NG:

That the Chief Executive should terminate the appointment of Mr Andrew LO as Senior Special Assistant to the Chief Executive having regard to the fact that Mr LO has completely lost public credibility through the evidence he gave to the Independent Investigation Panel appointed by the University of Hong Kong and the manner in which he gave the evidence.

Public Officer to attend: Secretary for the Civil Service

Clerk to the Legislative Council