A 01/02-12

Legislative Council

Agenda
Wednesday 9 January 2002 at 2:30pm

I. Tabling of Papers

Subsidiary Legislation / Instruments L.N. No.
1.Electronic Transactions (Exclusion) (Amendment) (No. 2) Order 2001282/2001
2.Hotel Accommodation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Ordinance 1998 (39 of 1998) (Commencement) Notice 2001283/2001
3.Hotel and Guesthouse Accommodation (Fees) (Amendment) Regulation 2001 (L.N. 212 of 2001) (Commencement) Notice 2001284/2001
4.Securities and Futures Commission (Levy) (Futures Contracts) (Amendment) (No. 3) Order 2001296/2001
5.Banking Ordinance (Declaration under Section 2(14)(b)) Notice 2001297/2001
6.Companies (Amendment) Ordinance 2001 (27 of 2001) (Commencement) Notice 2001298/2001
7.Animals and Plants (Protection of Endangered Species) Ordinance (Amendment of Schedules) Notice 2001 (L.N. 237 of 2001) (Commencement) Notice 2001299/2001
8.Companies (Summary Financial Reports of Listed Companies) Regulation (L.N. 249 of 2001) (Commencement) Notice 2001300/2001
9.Commodities Trading (Contract Levy) (Amendment) (No. 3) Rules 2001301/2001
10.Tax Reserve Certificates (Rate of Interest) Notice 20021/2002


Other Paper

No.49-Legal Aid Services Council Annual Report 2000-2001
(to be presented by Chief Secretary for Administration)


II. Questions

1. Hon Eric LI to ask: (Translation)

A total of $200 billion will be invested in various railway projects in the next 15 years. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of a breakdown of the estimated costs of each railway project, including the costs of construction works, tracklaying and installation of signalling equipment, the purchase of train compartments, and other specific items;

    (b)of the increase in length in kilometres of the rail network upon the completion of these railway projects and the average construction cost per kilometre of the railways, expressed in Hong Kong dollars; how this compares to the construction cost of the existing railways; and

    (c)how the respective construction costs per kilometre of the new railways and the existing railways compare to the relevant costs in the neighbouring territories, including the Mainland?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport

2. Hon LAU Ping-cheung to ask: (Translation)

It was reported that the Secretary for Housing had indicated that the Government had planned and reserved a sufficient number of produced and formed sites to meet the additional housing demand arising from the population growth in the coming eight years. Regarding the sale of these sites, will the Government inform this Council of:
    (a)the total land area, capacity for housing production and other details of the sites, together with a breakdown of the data by district;

    (b)the respective criteria for determining the lots to be included in the List of Sites for Sale by Application, the timing for such inclusion, and whether unsold lots on the List at the end of a financial year should again be included in the following year; and

    (c)the channels through which developers may purchase unsold lots on previous Lists?
Public Officers to reply :Secretary for Housing
Secretary for Planning and Lands

3. Hon Martin LEE to ask: (Translation)

In October last year, the Planning Department awarded an 18-month consultancy contract for a study on the Landscape Value Mapping of Hong Kong. The main objective of the study is to collect information on the geographical distribution and other basic features of landscapes in Hong Kong to facilitate future assessment of the impact of major projects on such places. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the reasons for conducting this study; whether it is because quite a number of landscapes are threatened by development projects; if so, of the places at which the landscapes are under threat;

    (b)of the short-term measures in the interim to protect various landscapes before the study is completed and relevant measures are drawn up; and

    (c)why this study requires 18 months to complete and does not include a consultation exercise; whether it will consider creating temporary posts such as researchers so that the study can be completed as early as possible?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Planning and Lands

4. Hon Mrs Selina CHOW to ask: (Translation)

Regarding crackdowns on the sale and purchase of duty-not-paid cigarettes, will the Government inform this Council of:
    (a)the respective numbers of persons arrested, prosecuted and convicted last year for selling duty-not-paid cigarettes, and how such numbers compare with those of the preceding year;

    (b)the respective numbers of persons prosecuted and convicted last year for buying duty-not-paid cigarettes; and

    (c)the measures the Customs and Excise Department will take to prevent the resurgence of the sale of duty-not-paid cigarettes?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Treasury

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

The authorities concerned previously stated that foundation strengthening works for Block J of Tin Fu Court and Blocks K and L of Tin Chung Court in Tin Shui Wai were scheduled for completion by February, April and October 2002 respectively, while remedial works to repair the unusual cracks at two public rental housing blocks in Tin Yuet Estate were scheduled for completion by September 2000. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council of:
    (a)the progress and revised estimated expenditure of each of the above works;

    (b)the completion dates of the works for Tin Fu Court and Tin Yuet Estate; and

    (c)the reasons for any delays in such works?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Housing

6. Hon Frederick FUNG to ask: (Translation)

In his letter to the Panel on Planning, Lands and Works of this Council dated 8 March 2001, the Secretary for Planning and Lands indicated that the Administration would propose a series of recommendations to the Urban Renewal Authority ("URA"). Regarding the work of URA, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the progress of each recommendation mentioned in the above letter; how the Administration urges the URA to implement the relevant recommendations, and how it will deal with situations in which the URA decided not to implement the recommendations;

    (b)whether it is aware of the progress of the work of the URA and its future plan; and

    (c)whether the Government and the URA will regularly report to this Council on the progress of urban renewal; if so, of the timetable; if not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Planning and Lands

*7. Hon Michael MAK to ask: (Translation)

It is learnt that as at 1 December last year, among the 1 914 registered optometrists, 1 121 of them did not possess the professional training qualifications required for formal registration and were only provisionally-registered. The practice of optometrists under provisional registration is subject to restrictions, including the prohibition from using any diagnostic agent. However, it is difficult for the general public to distinguish provisionally-registered optometrists from the formally registered ones. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)whether it plans to implement measures to reduce the number of provisionally-registered optometrists gradually; if so, of the implementation schedule; if not, the reasons for that;

    (b)whether there are measures to assist provisionally-registered optometrists in obtaining the qualifications required for formal registration; if so, of the details; and

    (c)of the existing monitoring measures to ensure that the services provided by provisionally-registered optometrists meet the professional standard, in particular on the use of drug and preparation of contact lenses?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health and Welfare

*8. Hon James TO to ask: (Translation)

Regarding statistics on Mainland people settling in Hong Kong, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the number of Mainland people who came to Hong Kong for settlement under the Certificate of Entitlement ("C of E") Scheme during the period from 1 July 1997 to the end of December last year and, among them, the respective numbers of people who were "aged under 20" and "aged 20 or above" on arrival;

    (b)of the current number of people whose applications for C of E have been approved but are still residing in the Mainland and, among them, the respective numbers of people who are "aged under 20" and "aged 20 or above";

    (c)of the number of C of E applications referred by the Mainland Public Security Bureau Offices now being processed by the Administration and, among them, the respective numbers of applicants who are "aged under 20" and "aged 20 or above"; and

    (d)whether it knows the daily average number of One-way Exit Permit ("OEP") issued by the relevant Mainland authorities each year for the period 1998 to 2001, and the daily average number of OEP quota allocated to Mainland children of Hong Kong permanent residents which were utilised last year?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

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

It has been reported that in the light of the new situation arising from China's accession to the World Trade Organization, Mainland financial institutions are planning to employ talents from Hong Kong and Macau so as to enhance their competitiveness. Regarding the exchange of talents between Hong Kong and the Mainland, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)whether it plans to set up a Guangdong-Hong Kong human resources information exchange centre ("exchange centre") to complement and promote the exchange of talents between the two places; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;

    (b)as the Administration has indicated that the difficulty in verifying the background of the Mainland organizations offering employment has to be resolved before the exchange centre can be set up, whether the Administration has considered other alternative solutions, such as reminding the users of the information released by the exchange centre to verify such information by themselves;

    (c)of the details of other difficulties involved in the setting up of the exchange centre; and

    (d)whether the Guangzhou Economic and Trade Office of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government to be established this year will actively promote the exchange of talents between Guangdong Province and Hong Kong; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education and Manpower

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

Regarding the provision of education opportunities to persons educated up to Secondary 3 ("S3") or below, will the Government inform this Council of:
    (a)the respective numbers of young people aged between 15 and 25 who are not attending ordinary schools and have been educated up to Secondary 3, 2, 1, and below;

    (b)the total number of places offered in the full-time courses organized by the Vocational Training Council in the past three years for which those who have only completed S3 may apply, and the percentage of this number in the total number of places offered in all full-time courses in the same period; and

    (c)the avenues for pursuing further education currently available to young persons who have not completed S3, the total number of places provided through such avenues each year, and whether the number of places is sufficient to meet the demand?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education and Manpower

*11. Hon Audrey EU to ask: (Translation)

The Chief Justice of the Court of Final Appeal appointed a Working Party on Civil Justice Reform in February 2000 to review the civil rules and procedures of the High Court. As stated in the Working Party's Interim Report and Consultative Paper published in November 2001, 40% to 50% of High Court civil cases in 2000 involved at least one unrepresented litigant. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:
    (a)it will study the reasons why litigants in some civil cases were unrepresented and how this might have affected their litigation;

    (b)it will consider taking measures to provide legal services to unrepresented litigants; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and

    (c)it will consider expanding the scope of the Supplementary Legal Aid Scheme and relaxing its eligibility criteria, so that more litigants in civil cases will have access to legal aid?
Public Officer to reply : Chief Secretary for Administration

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

This year's Youth Pre-Employment Training Programme offers four categories of modular training courses. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council of:
    (a)the total number of places as well as the number of applications so far received for each category of courses, and provide the over-subscription rate and the reasons for over-subscription for each over-subscribed courses;

    (b)the number of applications to enrol for courses under the "job specific skills training" category, broken down by trade; and

    (c)the current average unit cost of each category of courses?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education and Manpower

*13. Hon Albert HO to ask: (Translation)

With regard to the employment problem of the residents in Tuen Mun, Yuen Long and Tin Shui Wai, will the Government inform this Council of:
    (a)the respective unemployment and underemployment rates, the median income figures of the residents in Tuen Mun, Yuen Long and Tin Shui Wai for each of the last three quarters, and how these figures compare to those for the territory; and

    (b)the measures in place to alleviate the unemployment problems as well as enhance the employment competitiveness of the residents concerned, such as the introduction of incentive measures to boost investments, and hence the number of available jobs, within the districts and to upgrade the external transport facilities of the districts so as to shorten the commuting time of the residents?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education and Manpower

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

Regarding the employment of temporary staff by the Hospital Authority, public-funded residential care institutions and rehabilitation centres, on terms which do not fall within the ambit of continuous employment under the Employment Ordinance (Cap. 57), will the Government inform this Council of:
    (a)the respective numbers of temporary staff currently employed by the above-mentioned institutions, together with a breakdown by post and year of first appointment;

    (b)the criteria these institutions have adopted in deciding whether to offer a continuous contract of employment to temporary staff; and

    (c)the number of temporary staff who were offered a continuous contract of employment in the past three years, together with a breakdown by post?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health and Welfare

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

Regarding the traffic volume of the three cross-harbour road tunnels, will the Government inform this Council of:
    (a)the design maximum daily capacity of each tunnel;

    (b)the average daily number of vehicles using each tunnel per month in the past three years;

    (c)the average daily number of vehicles using each tunnel in each of the six months before and after the most recent toll adjustments of each of the tunnels; and

    (d)the measures to be taken to even out the traffic volume of the three tunnels?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport

*16. Hon Abraham SHEK to ask:

Developers for designated projects as listed in Schedule 2 of the Environmental Impact Assessment Ordinance (Cap 499), unless exempted, must undergo the statutory environmental impact assessment process and obtain environmental permits ("EPs") before the relevant construction works may commence. In granting such an EP, the Director of Environmental Protection may specify conditions, such as prescribing the construction methods and machinery to be used, so as to mitigate the adverse environmental impacts. Contractors often find the prescribed construction methods and machinery impractical, but have to oblige in order to avoid the penalty provision. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council of the measures it will take to address the predicament of the contractors?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment and Food

*17. Dr Hon David CHU to ask: (Translation)

It has been reported that in the middle of last year the authorities in Shanghai conducted laboratory tests on samples drawn from 53 tea leaves products distributed by 36 enterprises and found that 18 samples contained a lead content exceeding the national standard. As Hong Kong imports tea leaves from the Mainland, will the Government inform this Council whether the department(s) concerned regularly conducts laboratory sample tests on heavy metal content of tea leaves sold in Hong Kong; if so, of the number of samples tested last year and the test results; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment and Food

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

Regarding the English standard of university students, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the total financial resources allocated for enhancing the English standard of university students in each of the past five years, broken down by items;

    (b)whether it knows the operational details of the English proficiency tests to be organized by various public-funded tertiary institutions for their graduating students, and whether an inter-institutional body will be formed to coordinate the relevant work (such as setting and marking the test papers); if so, when such body will be formed and the resources required each year; and

    (c)whether it plans to stipulate the attainment of a certain level in the above English proficiency test as an entry requirement for the relevant grades in the Civil Service?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education and Manpower

*19. Hon Albert CHAN to ask: (Translation)

The drying racks for several Harmony-type public rental housing ("PRH") estates in Tin Shui Wai and Tung Chung have been installed outside the kitchen windows. As these racks are very close to the exhaust points of range hoods, the clothing hanging on the racks may be stained easily. Besides, residents have repeatedly reflected the defective design of the drying racks, such as the inappropriate height of kitchen windows, which makes it easy for them to lose balance when hanging out heavier clothing. In fact there have been accidents in which female residents fell from the buildings when hanging out clothing. Some residents have installed drying racks on the external walls of their living rooms or kitchens. However, the management companies of the housing estates have recently demanded the removal of these unauthorized drying racks, rendering it impossible for residents to dry their clothing. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council of:
    (a)the reasons for the Housing Department's ("HD") installing drying racks outside the kitchen windows of PRH estates, and whether HD has considered the danger posed to residents by the inappropriate height of kitchen windows; and

    (b)HD's specific solutions to the problem of the poor design of drying racks; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Housing

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

The Urban Renewal Authority Ordinance (Chapter 563) requires the Urban Renewal Authority ("URA") to follow the Urban Renewal Strategy set out by the Secretary for Planning and Lands when preparing its corporate plan. The Planning Parameters and Financial Guidelines of the Strategy stipulate that the URA has to operate on commercial principles. However, it has been reported that most of the redevelopment projects in the first five-year development plan of the URA, especially the 25 uncompleted projects of the Land Development Corporation, are anticipated to incur financial losses. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)whether the aforesaid commercial principles require the URA to make profits from redevelopment projects; if so, in view of the projected financial loss of a number of redevelopment projects, how the URA can meet the requirement to operate on commercial principles; and

    (b)how the URA can achieve the aims of heritage preservation and retention of the historical characteristics of different districts set out in the Strategy on the premise of operating on commercial principles?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Planning and Lands

*For written reply.

III. Bills

First Reading

1. Interest on Arrears of Maintenance Bill 2001

2. Registration of Persons (Amendment) Bill 2001

Second Reading (Debates to be adjourned)

1. Interest on Arrears of Maintenance Bill 2001:Secretary for Home Affairs

2. Registration of Persons (Amendment) Bill 2001:Secretary for Security


IV. Motions

Proposed resolution under the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance

Secretary for Commerce and Industry to move the motion to amend the Dutiable Commodities (Amendment) Regulation 2001 published in the Gazette as Legal Notice No. 248 of 2001 and laid on the table of the Legislative Council on 28 November 2001 V. Members' Motions
  1. Proposed resolution under the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance

    Hon Margaret NG to move the following motion:


    2. RESOLVED that in relation to the Attachment of Income Order (Amendment) Rules 2001, published in the Gazette as Legal Notice No. 260 of 2001 and laid on the table of the Legislative Council on 12 December 2001, the period for amending subsidiary legislation referred to in section 34(2) of the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance (Cap. 1) be extended under section 34(4) of that Ordinance to the meeting of 16 January 2002.

  2. Urban renewal projects

    Hon James TO:
    3. (Translation)

    That this Council strongly urges the authorities to honour and fulfil their pledges on urban renewal given to the Legislative Council and the residents; and to expeditiously announce the urban renewal projects.

    Amendment to Hon James TO's motion
    Hon Frederick FUNG:     (Translation)

    To delete "authorities to honour and fulfil their" after "That this Council strongly urges the" and substitute with "Government to impel the Urban Renewal Authority to adopt the Government's".

    Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Planning and Lands

  3. The Convention on the Rights of the Child

    Hon Cyd HO:
    4. (Translation)

    That this Council urges the Government to expeditiously harmonize legislation and policies with the Convention on the Rights of the Child so as to discharge the international obligations of Hong Kong as a territory to which the Convention applies.

    Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Home Affairs

Clerk to the Legislative Council