A 00/01-20(1)
Legislative Council
Agenda
Wednesday 28 February 2001 at 2:30 pm
I. Tabling of Papers| Subsidiary Legislation / Instruments | L.N. No.
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| Merchant Shipping (Registration) (Fees and Charges) (Amendment) Regulation 2001
| 49/2001
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Other Papers| 1. No.65 | - | Hong Kong Arts Development Council Annual Report 1999/2000
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(to be presented by Secretary for Home Affairs)
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| 2. No.66 | - | The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts Annual Report 1999-2000 and the Financial Statements and Auditor's Report for the year ended 30 June 2000
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| (to be presented by Secretary for Home Affairs)
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II. Questions
1. Hon Ambrose LAU to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that not all the immigration counters at the Lo Wu Control Point were opened during the peak hours of inbound travel during the last Lunar New Year period (i.e. between the third and the eighth days of the Lunar New Year). As a result, people returning to Hong Kong packed the control point and caused much chaos. In this regard, will the Government inform this Council of:
| (a) | the number of immigration counters opened each day during the above-mentioned period; whether the Immigration Department opened all the counters to cope with the influx of entrants; if not, of the reasons for that;
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| (b) | the criteria adopted for deciding on the number of immigration counters to be opened; and
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| (c) | the short-term and long-term measures to clear huge crowds of entrants travelling via the control point, especially when the number of entrants reaches its peak?
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Public Officer to reply
: Secretary for Security
2. Hon Audrey EU to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the Committee on the Review of the Institutional Framework for Public Housing chaired by the Chief Secretary for Administration, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the progress of the Committee's work and its preliminary conclusions;
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| (b) | whether, judging by its progress, the Committee will be able to complete its work before the departure of the incumbent Chief Secretary for Administration at the end of April; if not, of the succession arrangements for the chairmanship of the Committee; and
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| (c) | of the measures in place to ensure that the work of the Committee will not be delayed by the departure of the incumbent Chief Secretary for Administration?
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Public Officer to reply
: Secretary for Housing
3. Hon WONG Sing-chi to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the supply and demand of Secondary One school places in North District, New Territories, will the Government inform this Council of:
| (a) | the number of new secondary schools expected to be completed in the next three years in North District, and the number of additional Secondary One places thus generated;
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| (b) | the estimated shortfall in Secondary One places in North District in the 2003-04 school year; and
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| (c) | the ways to completely solve the problem of inadequate Secondary One places in the district?
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Public Officer to reply
: Secretary for Education and Manpower
4. Hon Frederick FUNG to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that a large quantity of radioactive waste is stored in a wartime air-raid shelter in Wanchai but the means of storage is improper. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it has:
| (a) | drawn up guidelines on the facilities and the safety measures to be adopted for storing radioactive waste; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
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| (b) | plans for relocating to other safe places the radioactive waste now stored in the urban areas, so as to remove the hazards to the safety and health of the people in the neigbourhood; if it has, of the timetable and arrangement for the relocation; if not, the reasons for that; and
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| (c) | conducted studies on constructing special facilities for storing radioactive waste in Hong Kong; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
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| Public Officers to reply | :
| Secretary for the Environment and Food
Secretary for Health and Welfare |
5. Dr Hon LO Wing-lok to ask: (Translation)
Recently, a number of persons were sent to hospital for lead poisoning allegedly caused by the intake of some home-made herbal pills prepared by a Chinese medicine practitioner. Regarding imported and locally manufactured proprietary Chinese medicines, as well as the home-made medicines processed by local Chinese medicine practitioners, will the Government inform this Council of:
| (a) | the number of cases in the past five years involving these medicines which were found to be containing heavy metals or poisonous substances exceeding the relevant safety standards, and the number of persons who fell ill allegedly after taking such medicines;
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| (b) | the existing mechanism for regulating the importation, processing, prescription and sale of these medicines; and
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| (c) | the recommendations it plans to make to the Chinese Medicine Council of Hong Kong for strengthening the regulation of these medicines?
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Public Officer to reply
: Secretary for Health and Welfare
6. Hon CHAN Kam-lam to ask: (Translation)
With regard to alleviating the financial burden of tenants of public rental housing ("PRH"), will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the number of households in each category of per-square-metre rentals for PRH units;
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| (b) | of the number of tenants in each type of PRH blocks who are eligible for rental assistance; and the number of applications for such assistance it received last year; and
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| (c) | whether it will review the existing stipulation that new PRH tenants are not eligible for rental assistance before the next review of the rentals of the housing estates concerned has been conducted by the Housing Authority; if so, of the timing of the review; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply
: Secretary for Housing
*7. Hon Kenneth TING to ask: (Translation)
According to a recent survey, members of the public generally do not know much about information technology ("IT"), with some 20% of the respondents indicating that they know nothing about IT at all. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council of the measures to promote the public's interest in and understanding of IT, as well as to encourage and facilitate wider application of IT in their daily life?
Public Officer to reply
: Secretary for Information Technology and Broadcasting
*8. Hon LEE Cheuk-yan to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the employment statistics compiled by the Census & Statistics Department, will the Government inform this Council of the respective numbers of employed persons (excluding unpaid family works, live-in domestic helpers and those who have worked less than 35 hours during the seven days preceding the interview as a result of taking vacation) in each of the past three years, broken down by the categories in the form appended below?
| Employed persons（in thousands）
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Gender/
Number of hours
worked | Monthly employment earnings
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| Less than $5,000 | $5,000 to $7,499 | $7,500 to $9,999 | $10,000 to $19,999 | $20,000 or over | Sub-Total
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| Female
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| less than 35 |
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| 35 to 49 |
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| 50 to 59 |
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| Over 60 |
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| Sub-Total |
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| Employed persons（in thousands）
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Gender/
Number of hours
worked | Monthly employment earnings
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| Less than $5,000
| $5,000 to $7,499 | $7,500 to $9,999 | $10,000 to $19,999 | $20,000 or over | Sub-Total
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| Male
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| less than 35 |
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| 35 to 49 |
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| 50 to 59 |
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| Over 60 |
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| Sub-Total |
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| Employed persons（in thousands）
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Number of hours
worked | Monthly employment earnings
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| Less than $5,000 | $5,000 to $7,499 | $7,500 to $9,999 | $10,000 to $19,999 | $20,000 or over | Sub-Total
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| less than 35 |
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| 35 to 49 |
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| 50 to 59 |
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| Over 60 |
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| Sub-Total |
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Public Officer to reply
: Secretary for Education and Manpower
*9. Hon Henry WU to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that a man was found in a wartime air-raid shelter used for storing radioactive waste on the 19th of last month. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether the man was contaminated by radio-activity as a result;
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| (b) | of the locations and current usage of the existing wartime air-raid shelters;
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| (c) | of the present number of air-raid shelters used for storing radioactive waste, and whether regular tests are conducted to determine the ambient radiation level in these air-raid shelters; if so, the frequency of such tests and the date and findings of the last tests;
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| (d) | whether it will consider installing devices so that the department concerned will be immediately alerted to any unauthorized entry to an air-raid shelter used for storing radioactive waste; and
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| (e) | of the measures in place to prevent persons who have entered such air-raid shelters from being contaminated by radio-activity?
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Public Officer to reply
: Secretary for Health and Welfare
*10. Hon SIN Chung-kai to ask:
Value-added services ("VAS") providers, including Internet services providers ("ISPs") and mobile network service operators ("MNSOs"), are required to pay an interconnection charge, known as the Public Non-exclusive Telecommunications Service ("PNETS") charge, to the local fixed telecommunication network services ("FTNS") operators. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the respective amounts of PNETS charges received by FTNS operators from ISPs, MNSOs and other VAS providers in each of the past two years;
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| (b) | how each adjustment in the PNETS charge rates in the past three years was related to changes in the relevant cost components of the dominant FTNS operator, PCCW-HKT Telephone Limited in the relevant periods;
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| (c) | whether it has assessed if there is still room for further reduction in PNETS charge rates; if there is such room, of the timing for the reduction; and
(d) of the timing for the next review on the methodology for calculating PNETS charge rates?
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Public Officer to reply
: Secretary for Information Technology and Broadcasting
*11. Hon YEUNG Yiu-chung to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the dismissal of teachers or the ordering of their early retirement, will the Government inform this Council of:
| (a) | the respective numbers of teachers of government secondary schools, government primary schools, aided secondary schools and aided primary schools who were dismissed or ordered to retire early in the past five years, with a breakdown by the reason for such actions; and
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| (b) | the current assessment criteria and procedure adopted and followed by school authorities in dealing with the dismissal of teachers or ordering them to retire early on grounds of unsatisfactory performance in teaching?
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Public Officer to reply
: Secretary for Education and Manpower
*12. Hon SIN Chung-kai to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the monitoring of radio communications by the Radio Monitoring Unit ("RMU") of the Office of the Telecommunications Authority, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether the RMU takes the initiative to monitor radio communications even if no complaints about radio interference have been received;
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| (b) | how the RMU determines which radio communications to monitor; and
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| (c) | whether there are guidelines and measures to ensure that such monitoring work will not infringe on the privacy of the general public?
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Public Officer to reply
: Secretary for Information Technology and Broadcasting
*13. Hon Albert CHAN to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the maintenance of slopes with potential hazards and those with imminent dangers, will the Government inform this Council of:
| (a) | the number of dangerous slopes upgraded in the past three years; and the current number of such slopes pending upgrading;
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| (b) | the respective numbers of slopes with potential landslip risks on Government and private lands at present; and
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| (c) | the estimated time required respectively for the Administration and private owners to upgrade all the slopes currently found to have potential landslip risks?
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Public Officer to reply
: Secretary for Works
*14. Hon Fred LI to ask: (Translation)
In order to ease the service demand at the Accident & Emergency ("A&E") departments of public hospitals, the Hospital Authority ("HA") and the Hong Kong Medical Association ("Medical Association") jointly implemented a half-year pilot scheme in August last year for setting up private clinics next to the A&E departments of the Queen Mary Hospital and the Tuen Mun Hospital, so that A&E patients who were categorized as semi-urgent and non-urgent patients could choose to go to these clinics for treatment. However, as a result of the low attendance at those clinics, the pilot scheme was aborted in December last year. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the procedure adopted and factors considered by the authorities in determining which public hospitals should join the pilot scheme, and the reasons for not choosing public hospitals with high attendance at their A&E departments for the scheme;
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| (b) | how the authorities had publicized the pilot scheme;
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| (c) | of the time frame for HA and the Medical Association to complete the review of the pilot scheme; and whether similar schemes would be implemented in the light of the experience gained, if so, when such schemes will be implemented, if not, the reasons for that; and
(d) whether the authorities will consider implementing similar schemes at the four public hospitals which have both A&E departments and out-patient clinics (that is, St John Hospital, Caritas Medical Centre, Kwong Wah Hospital and Yan Chai Hospital); if not, of the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply
: Secretary for Health and Welfare
*15. Ir Dr Hon HO Chung-tai to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the education of persons with disabilities, will the Government inform this Council of:
| (a) | the average student-teacher ratio in special schools for persons with disabilities at present;
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| (b) | the support provided to the parents of disabled students; and
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| (c) | the measures in place to prevent discrimination against disabled students in ordinary schools; whether it has assessed the effectiveness of such measures and, if it has, of the results of the assessment?
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Public Officer to reply
: Secretary for Education and Manpower
*16. Hon Howard YOUNG to ask:
Will the Government inform this Council whether:
| (a) | it knows the number of accidents in the Mainland in the past three years which involved tour coaches carrying Hong Kong residents; and
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| (b) | it has urged the relevant Mainland authorities to take measures to prevent the occurrence of such accidents?
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Public Officer to reply
: Secretary for Economic Services
*17. Hon LAU Kong-wah to ask: (Translation)
On 7 January, a staff member of the Citybus Limited ("Citybus"), who did not wear a driver's uniform, took over the driving duty on a bus carrying passengers, after ordering its driver to leave the driver's seat because of the latter's uncooperative attitude towards his instructions. The Administration has accepted the report on the incident submitted by Citybus. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:
| (a) | it knows if Citybus has informed its newly-recruited drivers that staff members who are not drivers can take over the driving duty on a bus carrying passengers;
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| (b) | it has assessed if the staff member who took over the driving duty should have informed the passengers on the bus of the reasons for taking such action, so as to avoid misunderstanding; and
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| (c) | it knows if similar incidents have occurred in other franchised bus companies in Hong Kong over the past five years; if such incidents have occurred, whether the franchised bus companies concerned have subsequently submitted reports to the authorities?
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Public Officer to reply
: Secretary for Transport
*18. Hon Emily LAU to ask: (Translation)
Slip Road J22A of Trunk Road T7 in Ma On Shan, of which funding for its construction has already been granted, will be very close to several blocks of Monte Vista, a private residential development recently put up for sale. Upon completion, the highway will have noise and visual impacts on some residents of the development. In this connection, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council:
| (a) | given that the provision of the trunk road and its slip road had been planned for a decade ago, whether they had taken into consideration the alignment of the highway when vetting and approving the building plans of the development;
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| (b) | whether the developer of the development has been permitted to increase the plot ratio of the development; if so, of the details and whether the authorities have assessed if such permission is the cause of the aforesaid problems;
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| (c) | whether they have assessed if there is any maladministration on the part of the relevant government departments in handling the planning of the highway; if the assessment result is in the affirmative, of the follow-up actions the authorities will take;
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| (d) | whether they will conduct another environmental impact assessment ("EIA") of the slip road; if not, of the justifications for that;
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| (e) | whether the buffer distance between the slip road and the development is in compliance with the relevant standards laid down in the Hong Kong Planning Standards and Guidelines; if so, of the details; if not, the remedial measures in place; and
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| (f) | of the measures to allay the dissatisfaction and anxiety of residents in the development?
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Public Officer to reply
: Secretary for Housing
*19. Hon Ambrose LAU to ask: (Translation)
Regarding training for civil servants, will the Government inform this Council of:
| (a) | the total number of training courses organized in the past three years by the Civil Service Training and Development Institute and various departments, with a breakdown by contents of the courses;
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| (b) | the number of attendances by civil servants, broken down by grades or departments, in these courses in the past three years;
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| (c) | the grades or departments in which the staff had fewer training opportunities and the reasons for that; and
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| (d) | the measures to ensure that civil servants are available for training?
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Public Officer to reply
: Secretary for the Civil Service
*20. Hon Kenneth TING to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the financing of small and medium enterprises ("SMEs"), will the Government inform this Council of:
| (a) | the amount of loans released to SMEs by financial institutions over the past six months and, among these loans, the amount of those secured against properties, and how these amounts compare to those of the preceding six months;
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| (b) | the progress of the study on the services provided by the Trade and Industry Department to assist SMEs in making financing and monetary arrangements; and
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| (c) | the recommendations of the Working Group on Small and Medium Enterprises Financing ("Working Group") under the Small and Medium Enterprises Committee ("SMEC") on assisting SMEs in preparing lucid financial reports, so that they can obtain loans from financial institutions; and the time when the Working Group plans to submit the relevant paper to SMEC?
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Public Officer to reply
: Secretary for Commerce and Industry
*For written reply.
III. Bills
First Reading
1. Dutiable Commodities (Amendment) Bill 2001
2. Fixed Penalty (Public Cleanliness Offences) Bill
3. Public Health and Municipal Services (Amendment) Bill 2001
Second Reading (Debates to be adjourned)
| 1. Dutiable Commodities (Amendment) Bill 2001 | :
| Secretary for Commerce and Industry
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| 2. Fixed Penalty (Public Cleanliness Offences) Bill | :
| Secretary for the Environment and Food
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| 3. Public Health and Municipal Services (Amendment) Bill 2001 | :
| Secretary for the Environment and Food
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IV. Motions
Proposed resolution under the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance
Secretary for Health and Welfare to move the following motion:
RESOLVED that the Pharmacy and Poisons (Amendment)(No. 2) Regulation 2001, made by the Pharmacy and Poisons Board on 2 February 2001, be approved.
(Pharmacy and Poisons (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulation 2001has been issued on 8 February 2001 underLC Paper No. CB(3) 394/00-01)
Amendment to Secretary for Health and Welfare's motion
Hon LAU Chin-shek / Hon James TIEN:
RESOLVED that the motion to be moved by the Secretary for Health and Welfare under section 29 of the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance (Cap. 138) at the Legislative Council meeting of 28 February 2001 be amended by deleting "approved" and substituting "approved, subject to the following amendment - by deleting section 2(a), (b) and (d)".
V. Members' Motions
1. Expediting the implementation of public works projects
Hon NG Leung-sing: (Translation)
That, in view of the Government's undertaking to launch public works projects costing $240 billion in the next few years, and in order to avoid any delays which will render the economy and people's livelihood not being able to fully benefit from the projects and cause difficulties to the relevant industries in matching their manpower supply with the implementation of projects, resulting in professionals and workers being confronted with problems such as wage reduction, redundancy and underemployment, this Council urges the Government to:
| (a) | adopt vigorous measures to expedite the implementation of infrastructural, construction and maintenance projects under planning and those previously undertaken by the two former municipal councils; and
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| (b) | formulate a reasonable and proper implementation schedule for the projects, so as to create ample and stable employment opportunities and facilitate the further recovery of Hong Kong's economy.
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Public Officer to attend
: Secretary for Works
2. Human resource policy
Prof Hon NG Ching-fai: (Translation)
That, as there are a lot of problems regarding the supply of human resources and related policies while Hong Kong is undergoing a new cycle of economic transformation, this Council urges the Government to expeditiously formulate a comprehensive long-term human resource policy that is able to keep pace with social and economic developments, with a view to enhancing the quality of local talents and Hong Kong's competitiveness, sustaining the development of the local economy, creating more employment opportunities, and narrowing the gap between the rich and the poor, so that people from all walks of life can benefit from economic prosperity; the policy should include:
| (a) | expeditiously implementing measures to improve basic education, reviewing university education and the research work of the universities to ensure that, with sufficient resources, they can nurture quality talents who meet the needs of the time, conduct researches of a high standard, and foster co-operation and development in researches among the industrial and commercial sectors, government departments and the universities;
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| (b) | reviewing the manpower training programmes currently provided by various government departments and subvented organizations, examining the directions of various types of manpower training, and strengthening the interaction and co-ordination between government departments and subvented organizations, so as to enhance the cost-effectiveness of training programmes and enable everyone to pursue life-long learning through different channels, thereby increasing their opportunities for horizontal and vertical mobility in the job market; and
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| (c) | without affecting the employment opportunities and remuneration of local people, improving the existing mechanism for admitting more effectively professionals from overseas and the Mainland, and correspondingly formulating complementary measures to attract talents to stay and develop their career in Hong Kong.
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Amendment to Prof Hon NG Ching-fai's motion
Hon CHEUNG Man-kwong: (Translation)
To add "providing additional resources for" after "(a) expeditiously"; to add "including reducing the class size in primary and secondary schools and subsidizing early childhood education," after "implementing measures to improve basic education,"; and to add ", and stopping curtailing the funding for universities" after "university education and the research work of the universities".
Public Officer to attend
: Secretary for Education and Manpower
Clerk to the Legislative Council
