A 01/02-14
Legislative Council
Agenda
Wednesday 23 January 2002 at 2:30 pm
I. Tabling of Papers| Subsidiary Legislation / Instruments | L.N. No.
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| 1. | Prisons (Amendment) Order 2002 | 4/2002
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| 2. | Drug Addiction Treatment Centre (Hei Ling Chau Addiction Treatment Centre) (Amendment) Order 2002 | 5/2002
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| 3. | Chinese Medicine Ordinance (Cap. 549) (Commencement) Notice 2002 | 6/2002
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Other Papers | 1.No.52 | - | Report by the Commissioner of Correctional Services of Hong Kong Incorporated on the Administration of the Correctional Services Department Welfare Fund for the year ended 31 March 2001
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| (to be presented by Secretary for Security)
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2.Report of the Bills Committee on Public Health and Municipal Services (Amendment) Bill 2001
(to be presented by Hon Fred LI, Chairman of the Bills Committee )
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II. Questions
1. Hon LEUNG Fu-wah to ask: (Translation)
From April to June 2001, the Census and Statistics Department conducted a special enquiry on casual employment and published its report at the end of last month. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the average number of hours of work per week of the causal employees interviewed;
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| (b) | of the current number and percentage, as projected by the data collected from the enquiry, of casual employees in the territory who fall within the definition of employees on continuous contracts in the Employment Ordinance; and
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| (c) | as the enquiry report has pointed out that the number of casual employees in the construction sector decreased by 25 300 whereas the number of self-employed persons in the same sector increased by 11 900 as compared to last year, whether the Government has studied the causes of the shift in the numbers; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that, and whether it will conduct a study in this regard?
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Public Officer to reply
: Secretary for Education and Manpower
2. Hon Albert HO to ask: (Translation)
The housing policies implemented by the Government in recent years have aroused criticisms from various sectors, and the findings of some opinion surveys even reveal that the public are most dissatisfied with housing policies. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:
| (a) | it has reviewed if it has made mistakes in housing policies over the past few years; if the review result reveals that mistakes have been made, whether the Chief Executive ("CE") and the officials concerned will apologize to the public; if the review result reveals that no mistakes have been made, of the justifications for that;
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| (b) | CE and the officials concerned will express regret to those people who have made decisions to purchase properties according to their comments and subsequently become negative-equity property owners with the depreciation of their properties; and
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| (c) | "achieving a home ownership rate of 70% by 2007" remains an objective of its housing policies?
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Public Officer to reply
: Secretary for Housing
3. Hon WONG Sing-chi to ask: (Translation)
The Chief Executive ("CE") pledged in the 1997 Policy Address to provide the elderly with "a sense of security, a sense of belonging and a feeling of health and worthiness". In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | in view of a report that one in every four elderly persons in Hong Kong is living below the poverty line, whether the Administration has assessed the reasons for its failure to achieve the objective of making the elderly feel secure;
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| (b) | as it is known that there are currently over 10 000 elderly households on the Waiting List for public rental housing, and as housing units specially for elderly households have been poorly designed (for example, they are not self-contained) and are remotely located, whether the Administration has assessed the reasons for not meeting the special housing needs of the elderly, and how it may honour the pledge to provide the elderly with a sense of belonging; and
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| (c) | as the suicidal rates among the elderly from 1998 to 2000 were higher than those of other age groups, whether the Administration has assessed if it has not effectively promoted the concept that "old age is the golden age in life", and has therefore failed to achieve the objective of fostering a feeling of health and worthiness among the elderly?
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| Public Officer to reply | : | Secretary for Health and Welfare
Secretary for Housing
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4. Dr Hon LO Wing-lok to ask: (Translation)
At present, a registered medical practitioner who wishes to become a specialist has to complete the relevant recognized training programme. I have recently received complaints from doctors appointed on contract terms in public hospitals that their departmental Chiefs of Services have stated that they would only be appointed for six years at the most (i.e. two three-year contract terms). Therefore, they have worries that they may not be able to complete the relevant specialty training programmes in time. In this connection, will the Government inform this council whether it knows:
| (a) | if the Hospital Authority's ("HA") policy on appointment of doctors is still that the appointment period should allow most medical practitioners receiving specialist training to complete their programme; if so, whether the appointment of such medical practitioners for only six years contravenes such policy; if not, the reasons for that;
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| (b) | given that some medical practitioners are deployed to perform duties which are not related to the recognized training programmes, whether HA will extend their appointment period so as to allow them sufficient time to complete their specialist training programmes; if so, whether their appointment period can be up to 12 years; and
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| (c) | the number of HA medical practitioners receiving specialist training at present and, among them, the respective numbers of those who are studying family medicine and other specialties, as well as breakdowns by their years of service so far; and, according to the HA's estimation and in respect of each specialty, the number and percentage of the medical practitioners among those receiving the relevant specialist training who can complete their training programmes within six years of service?
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Public Officer to reply
: Secretary for Health and Welfare
5. Ir Dr Hon HO Chung-tai to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the 400 infrastructural projects currently under planning and design, will the Government inform this Council of the following:
| (a) | a breakdown of these projects by category;
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| (b) | the job opportunities expected to be created; and
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| (c) | the annual project estimates for the coming three years?
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Public Officer to reply
: Secretary for Works
6. Hon LAU Kong-wah to ask: (Translation)
On 30 December last year, a worker of the Lion Rock Tunnel management company who was crossing the vehicular lane between toll booths at the tolling plaza was injured by a van that did not stop in front of an ordinary toll booth, reportedly because its driver had mistaken the toll booth for an autotoll one. Regarding road safety at road tunnels, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the respective numbers of traffic accidents which took place within the tolling plazas of the various road tunnels, as well as the respective numbers of the resultant casualties, in the past three years;
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| (b) | whether it knows if the various tunnel management companies have issued guidelines to their employees on how they should place traffic cones and cross the vehicular lane between toll booths safely; and of the safety measures or facilities now in place to ensure the safety of their employees; and
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| (c) | whether it will request all tunnel management companies to review and improve the arrangements of traffic lanes leading to the tolling plazas, and to erect more directional signs on approach roads to the tunnels so that drivers can select their lanes early according to the ways they pay the tolls, in order to avoid the occurrence of similar accidents?
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Public Officer to reply
: Secretary for Transport
*7. Hon Henry WU to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the Admission of Mainland Professionals Scheme which came into operation on 1 June 2001, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the following details of the entry applications for employment received so far, broken down according to the result and trade of these applications:
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| (i) | the highest, lowest and average monthly salaries offered to the applicants by local employers; and
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| (ii) | the types of posts to be taken up by the applicants and the number of applications for each type of posts;
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| (b) | of the achievements of the Scheme so far, and how it compares with its expected achievements when the Scheme was launched; and when the Scheme will attain the expected achievements; and
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| (c) | in view of the current deteriorating unemployment situation among securities practitioners, whether it will advance the review to examine the suitability of the Scheme in particular trades?
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Public Officer to reply
: Secretary for Security
*8. Hon Frederick FUNG to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that several hundred female maladjusted primary students have not yet been re-allocated to social development schools set up for such children. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the supply and demand of places for female students in primary social development schools; and
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| (b) | whether such places will be increased; if so, of the timetable; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply
: Secretary for Education and Manpower
*9. Hon NG Leung-sing to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the payment of contract gratuities to government employees appointed on non-civil service contract terms, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether, in drawing up the employment contracts for such employees, reference has been made to the practice of the private sector in determining whether contract gratuity should be included in the remuneration package and the formula for calculating the gratuity payable; if so, of the details, together with illustrations by examples;
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| (b) | of the criteria adopted for determining whether individual employees should be paid the contract gratuity as provided for in their employment contracts; and whether it has assessed how the criteria are applied; if so, of the details;
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| (c) | of the total amount of contract gratuities paid to such employees in each of the past three financial years; and
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| (d) | of the number of such employees who were not paid the gratuity as provided for in their contracts upon the completion of the contracts and the total amount involved, in each of the past three financial years, and the reasons for not paying them the gratuity?
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Public Officer to reply
: Secretary for the Civil Service
*10. Hon Michael MAK to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the staffing arrangement of the nursing grade in public hospitals, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether it knows:
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| (i) | the public hospitals' departments which are now suffering from the most severe shortage of nursing grade staff, and how the Hospital Authority ("HA") relieves the pressure of work on the nursing grade staff in these departments;
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| (ii) | the respective current actual and target numbers of nursing grade staff at various ranks in public hospitals; whether HA plans to recruit additional staff to achieve the manpower targets; if not, of the reasons for that; and(iii) the breakdown by ranks and duties of the 500 additional posts for qualified nurses who will be recruited this year, and the estimated number of staff reporting for duty each month; and
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| (b) | whether it plans to introduce legislation to stipulate the methods for calculating the manpower targets for nursing grade staff in public hospitals; if not, of the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply
: Secretary for Health and Welfare
*11. Hon James TO to ask: (Translation)
The Court of Final Appeal ("CFA") made a judgement on 20 July 2001 that a Chinese national born in Hong Kong had the right of abode ("ROA") in Hong Kong, although neither of his parents had been settled or had the ROA in Hong Kong at the time of his birth or at any later time. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the current number of people who have been affirmed the ROA in Hong Kong in accordance with this judgement; and of the formalities they need to go through for confirmation of their ROA; and
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| (b) | whether it has assessed if the existing provisions in the Immigration Ordinance (Cap. 115) (including the schedules) are consistent with the judgement made by the CFA; if the assessment concludes that is the case, of the justifications for that; if the assessment concludes otherwise, of the provisions that should be amended, how they should be amended, and the timetable for such legislative amendments?
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Public Officer to reply
: Secretary for Security
*12. Hon Eric LI to ask: (Translation)
Will the Government inform this Council whether:
| (a) | it has taken part in promoting the establishment of the China - Association of South-East Asian Nations Free Trade Area ("FTA"); and
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| (b) | it has studied the positive and negative impacts of the establishment of the FTA on Hong Kong's economic development?
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Public Officer to reply
: Secretary for Commerce and Industry
*13. Dr Hon TANG Siu-tong to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the regulation of lard production plants, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the current daily weight of organic wastes suitable for lard production in the territory and their disposal methods at present, together with the percentage by weight of such wastes which are used for the production of lard;
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| (b) | of the number of lard production plants which currently possess licences for offensive trades and the total number of employees they have, as well as the number of plants which are required to apply for a licence issued under the Air Pollution Control Ordinance (Cap. 311) for conducting specified processes;
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| (c) | of the total number of air pollution abatement notices issued to operators of lard production plants in the past three years, the respective numbers of operators prosecuted and convicted for failing to make the required improvements stated in the notices, as well as the penalties imposed by the court on the convicted persons;
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| (d) | whether it plans to designate certain areas for use as sites for lard production plants and require that such plants may only operate on these sites, so as to facilitate the operation of the trade and regulation by the authorities; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
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| (e) | of the measures in place to eliminate unauthorized operation of lard production plants?
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Public Officer to reply
: Secretary for the Environment and Food
*14. Hon YEUNG Yiu-chung to ask: (Translation)
Will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether it has invited delegations comprising non-Hong Kong deputies to the National People's Congress to visit Hong Kong over the past five years; if so, of the respective numbers of delegations and deputies who visited Hong Kong each year, broken down by the contents of the visits; if not, the reasons for that; and
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| (b) | of the measures to enhance the deputies' understanding of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region ("SAR") and the SAR Government's communication with them?
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Public Officer to reply
: Secretary for Constitutional Affairs
*15. Hon Abraham SHEK to ask:
Regarding economic benefits brought by companies which are incorporated outside Hong Kong and have established either regional headquarters or offices in Hong Kong, will the Government inform this Council of:
| (a) | the total amount of local investment made by these companies in the past 12 months; and
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| (b) | the total number of local employees engaged as well as the respective areas of office space and staff quarters rented by these companies in Hong Kong as at 31 December 2000, and also those as at 31 December 2001?
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Public Officer to reply
: Secretary for Commerce and Industry
*16. Hon CHOY So-yuk to ask: (Translation)
Regarding environmentally-friendly lunch boxes, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether it has adopted measures to encourage caterers for primary and secondary schools to switch to the use of environmentally-friendly lunch boxes;
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| (b) | as the test report released last November by the Consumer Council on disposable environmentally-friendly lunch boxes has revealed that the rates of degradation of most samples were slower than the required standards specified in the Testing Guideline on the Degradability and Food Safety of Containers and Bags made by the Environmental Protection Department, whether it will review the required degradability standards stipulated in the Guideline; if so, of the review timetable; if not, the reasons for that; and
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| (c) | whether it plans to penalize suppliers who falsely claim that the lunch boxes sold by them comply with environmental standards, so as to protect the interests of consumers?
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Public Officer to reply
: Secretary for the Environment and Food
*17. Hon Fred LI to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that credit card issuing companies and banks calculate, at a conversion rate higher than the market exchange rate, the amount payable in Hong Kong dollars by their customers for overseas or Internet credit card transactions effected in foreign currencies, thereby imposing an additional charge equivalent to the conversion differential in these transactions, and credit card customers have never been informed of such a charging arrangement. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether it has assessed if the banks have breached the relevant requirements stipulated in the Code of Banking Practice by failing to disclose such arrangements to their customers; if they have, of the follow-up actions taken by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority ("HKMA"); and
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| (b) | of the measures HKMA will take to enhance the transparency of bank charges and prevent banks from charging their customers for unstated fees?
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Public Officer to reply
: Secretary for Financial Services
*18. Hon Albert CHAN to ask: (Translation)
The bus-bus interchange next to the tolling plaza of Tai Lam Tunnel is not provided with a toilet, thus causing inconvenience to the large number of passengers waiting there. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether it had reserved space for a toilet when it designed the interchange; if it had, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
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| (b) | of the specific measures and time to address the problem of the lack of toilets at the interchange; and
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| (c) | whether it will consider providing mobile toilets or constructing toilets at various bus-bus interchanges?
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Public Officer to reply
: Secretary for the Environment and Food
*19. Hon Emily LAU to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that the service of several principal officials who have reached the retirement age or whose employment contracts will soon expire have recently been extended. However, the Administration has not, immediately after making such decisions, announced its decisions to extend their service. In this connection, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council:
| (a) | of the principal officials whose service was extended in the past 12 months without immediate announcement by the Administration, as well as the original departure date and period of extension of each of these officials;
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| (b) | whether principal officials are subject to some open procedures before their service can be extended; if so, of the details of such procedures and whether the Executive Authorities have followed such procedures in extending the service of the officials mentioned above; if they have, of the details; if they have not, the reasons for that; and
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| (c) | whether they have assessed if the Administration's failure to immediately announce its decisions to extend the service of principal officials has contradicted the principle of enhancing the transparency of its governance?
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Public Officer to reply
: Secretary for the Civil Service
*20. Ir Dr Hon HO Chung-tai to ask: (Translation)
Under the current Primary One Admission System, the applications for admission from children with elder siblings studying or parents working in the schools concerned must all be accepted at the discretionary admission stage. Regarding the practice of according priority to admitting children in this category, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether, before adopting such a practice, reference had been made to the methods for allocating primary one school places adopted by overseas countries; if so, of the countries which adopt the same practice as Hong Kong's;
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| (b) | of the total number of complaints the Education Department ("ED") has received about the practice since its implementation, and how ED has handled these complaints; and
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| (c) | whether it plans to review the practice?
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Public Officer to reply
: Secretary for Education and Manpower
*For written reply.
III. Bills
First Reading
Prevention of Child Pornography Bill
Second Reading (Debate to be adjourned)
Prevention of Child Pornography Bill
: Secretary for Security
Second Reading (Debate to resume), Committee Stage and Third Reading
Public Health and Municipal Services (Amendment) Bill 2001
: Secretary for the Environment and Food
IV. Members' Motions
- Scheme of Control Agreement
Hon Fred LI: (Translation)
That, regardless of the sustained economic recession in Hong Kong, the two power companies have been reaping, year after year, huge profits equivalent to the maximum permissible returns under the Scheme of Control Agreement, and fail to share the public's hardship, this Council urges the Government to strive for a more reasonable rate of return when it conducts the interim review in 2003, expeditiously announce the findings of the study on power interconnection, and to prepare, as early as possible, for the opening up of the electricity supply market in the future.
Amendment to Hon Fred LI's motion
Hon James TIEN: (Translation)
To delete "regardless of the sustained economic recession in Hong Kong, the two power companies have been reaping, year after year, huge profits equivalent to the maximum permissible returns under the Scheme of Control Agreement, and fail to share the public's hardship," and substitute with "in order to improve Hong Kong's business environment and alleviate people's burden,"; to add ", subject to the principle of upholding the spirit of contract," after "the Government to strive"; to delete "a" before "more reasonable" and substitute with "fairer and"; to delete "rate" and substitute with "rates"; to add "and other terms" after "of return"; to add "in 2003" after "when it conducts"; to add "on the Scheme of Control Agreements signed with the two power companies," after "the interim review"; and to delete "in 2003," before "expeditiously announce".
Amendment to Hon James TIEN's amendment
Hon LAU Chin-shek: (Translation)
To delete "principle" and substitute with "principles"; and to add "protecting consumers' interests, ensuring that users are free from shouldering and guaranteeing absolutely the high profits of the power companies, and keeping the public informed of the timetable for the opening up of the electricity supply market," after "upholding the spirit of contract,".
Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Economic Services
- Promoting the use of Putonghua
Hon CHOY So-yuk: (Translation)
That, with China's accession to the World Trade Organization, coupled with the continued increase in the number of visitors from the Mainland, Taiwan and South East Asia, there is a need for Hong Kong's business sector and the community to be generally proficient in Putonghua so as to grasp business opportunities, enhance competitiveness and strengthen our communication power; to this end, this Council urges the Government to formulate effective measures to tackle the current shortage of Putonghua teachers, increase channels for broadcasting Putonghua programmes and improve the reception quality of Radio Television Hong Kong's Putonghua Channel so as to provide the public with more exposure to Putonghua, and encourage community organizations to organize more activities for promoting Putonghua with a view to creating a milieu that is conducive to Putonghua learning.
Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Education and Manpower
Clerk to the Legislative Council
