Council Meeting ( Agenda ) 18 June 2003

A 02/03-32

Legislative Council

Agenda

Wednesday 18 June 2003 at 2:30 pm

I. Tabling of Papers

1.	No.89	-	Report of changes to the approved Estimates of Expenditure approved during the fourth quarter of 2002-03 (Public Finance Ordinance : Section 8)
(to be presented by Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury)
2.	Report of the Finance Committee on the examination of the Estimates of Expenditure 2003-04 (June 2003)
(to be presented by Dr Hon Philip WONG, who will address the Council)
3.	Report of the Bills Committee on Stamp Duty (Amendment) Bill 2002
(to be presented by Hon SIN Chung-kai, Chairman of the Bills Committee)

II. Questions

1. Hon LEE Cheuk-yan to ask: (Translation)

According to a report in Wen Wei Po dated 11 October last year, the Chief Executive ("CE") pledged "not to force any single civil servant to be made redundant" within his five-year term of office. However, at the meeting of this Council's Panel on Public Service on the 19th of last month, the Secretary for the Civil Service remarked that a responsible government would not rule out the possibility of redundancies. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	whether the CE still honours his pledge; and
(b)	of the reasons for the contradiction between the CE's pledge and the Secretary's remark?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Civil Service

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

In reply to my question in February this year, the Administration indicated that signboards overhanging from buildings would constitute a form of occupation of unleased government land if they protruded over the streets, and the owners of such signboards were required to obtain relevant licences under the law. However, the Administration advised that it had no plan to enforce such a requirement. At the meeting of the Traffic and Transport Committee of the Central and Western District Council on the 22nd of last month, a government official revealed that the Administration intended to impose charges on the relevant property owners of the World Wide House and the Queen's Theatre in Central for the huge electronic advertisement signboards on the exterior walls of the two buildings, which have occupied government land. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	given that there are numerous huge signboards in Wan Chai District which occupy government land and the Government has not imposed charges on their owners, of the reasons for its planning to selectively impose charges on the relevant property owners of the two buildings mentioned above; and
(b)	whether it will expeditiously conduct a study on imposing charges on the owners of huge signboards which occupy government land; if it will not, of reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands

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

It has been reported that the facilities and office premises of the Hong Kong Science Park Phase 1 have not yet been fully rented out. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the total number of tenants with whom the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation has signed tenancy agreements or letters of intent as at May this year; and whether these tenants have asked for surrender of tenancy or cancellation of tenancy agreements because of the recent epidemic in Hong Kong; if so, of the details;
(b)	of the vacancy and occupancy rates, rental income and operating expenses of the facilities and office premises of the Science Park Phase 1 each month since becoming available for occupation; and whether concessions such as rent-free period or rent exemption have been offered to tenants by the Science Park with a view to improving its tenancy position; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
(c)	although the authorities were allocated funds in 2001 for the construction of the Science Park Phase 2 and will arrange for the construction of Phase 3 later, in view of the continued unsatisfactory tenancy position of Phase 1, whether the authorities will consider shelving the construction plans for Phases 2 and 3 in order to avoid wastage of resources; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology

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

Regarding patients infected with the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ("SARS"), will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the number of cases in which the patients who had recovered were discriminated against and forced to take no pay leave or dismissed by their employers; how the authorities assisted them in resuming work or claiming financial compensation;
(b)	whether financial assistance other than Comprehensive Social Security Assistance has been provided to SARS patients who have recovered but are not yet physically fit to resume work; if so, of the details; if not, whether it will consider establishing a fund specially for providing financial assistance to them; and
(c)	regarding the health care personnel infected with SARS at work, how the authorities calculate the amount of compensation for injury at work payable to those who have recovered but have part of their bodily functions permanently damaged, and the amount of compensation payable to those who died of such infection at work; whether the authorities have provided them with compensations other than those stipulated in the legislation; and whether they will increase the insured amounts for the compensations concerned?

Public Officers to reply

Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food
Secretary for Economic Development and Labour

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

Regarding reduction of classes in primary and secondary schools, which leads to an over-supply of teachers, will the Government inform this Council of:

(a)

the details of reduction of classes in primary and secondary schools, broken down by districts, in each of the two coming school years, including the numbers of redundant teachers resulting from the reduction, vacant teaching posts, and redundant teachers who are not employed by schools with vacant teaching posts; and the number of graduates from the Hong Kong Institute of Education ("HKIEd") during the same period; and

(b)

the measures to resolve the employment problems of redundant teachers and the HKIEd graduates?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education and Manpower

6. Hon Frederick FUNG to ask: (Translation)

Regarding the accumulation of miscellaneous objects by public rental housing ("PRH") tenants inside their units, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the number of complaints received by the authorities against PRH tenants about the accumulation of large quantities of miscellaneous objects inside their units causing environmental hygiene problems, the number of units repossessed by the Housing Department on the above ground, and the total weight of rubbish and miscellaneous objects cleared from such units, in each of the past three years, together with a breakdown by estates;
(b)	of the usual ways by which the Housing Department has followed up such complaints, and the time, manpower and detailed expenses used on average in handling each case; and
(c)	as tenants of the repossessed units can apply for PRH again, of the measures to ensure that such tenants will not slip back into the old habit after they have been allocated another PRH unit?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands

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

It has been reported that the High Court has recently ruled that a home for the elderly operating in a commercial/residential building falls into the category of "hostels" and thus violates the terms in the deed of mutual covenant of the building that no hostels shall be established in that building. The Court subsequently orders the home for the elderly to be vacated from the building. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council of:

(a)	the number of homes for the elderly currently operating in commercial/residential buildings in Hong Kong; and
(b)	the measures in place to address the situation in which the homes for the elderly referred to in (a) are forced to be relocated and consequently closed down as a result of the above court ruling?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food

*8. Hon Bernard CHAN to ask: (Translation)

It was reported that the coffins of persons who demonstrated bravery and died on duty could be covered with the national flag or the regional flag of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	since the reunification, of the respective numbers of persons who demonstrated bravery and died on duty and had their coffins covered with the national flag or the regional flag; and
(b)	of the criteria for determining whether the coffins of the persons who demonstrate bravery and die on duty should be covered with the national flag or the regional flag?

Public Officer to reply : Chief Secretary for Administration

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

Regarding the estimates of expenditure on future funding for University Grants Committee-funded institutions ("UGC-funded institutions"), will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the base for calculating the amount to be cut in reducing the funding for UGC-funded institutions;
(b)	of the following information regarding each UGC-funded institution in each year from 2003-04 to 2007-08:
	(i)	the percentage change in recurrent grant and the amount involved;
	(ii)	the number of courses for associate degree, higher diploma and master degree to be cancelled, the amount of grant involved and the percentage of the amount in the total funding;
	(iii)	the amount of grant for home financing and other benefits and the percentage changes thereof;
	(iv)	the expenditure for salaries and benefits and their percentages in the total funding; and
	(v)	of the percentage changes and the amounts involved in the other individual funding items; and
(c)	whether it has assessed the effects of the cuts in funding and grants for UGC-funded institutions on various courses, the number of academic staff and their salaries and benefits; if so, of the assessment results; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education and Manpower

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

With respect to the professional grades in the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation ("KCRC"), will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:

(a)	the KCRC's remuneration policy in respect of these grades;
(b)	the names of these grades and the ranks in each grade, those professional grades with entry qualifications and ranks comparable to those of the civil service, and how the two compare in terms of salary scales; and
(c)	the professional grades with duties and ranks not found in the establishment of the civil service, and the justifications for these grades' being classified as professional grades?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works

*11. Hon Cyd HO to ask: (Translation)

It has been reported that the Correctional Services Department has recently cancelled all night-time computer classes for inmates of correctional institutions on the grounds of the atypical pneumonia epidemic in Hong Kong. In this connection, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council:

(a)	of the number of staff members and inmates of the various correctional institutions and probation/residential homes under the Correctional Services Department and the Social Welfare Department who have been confirmed as or suspected of having contracted atypical pneumonia since 10 March this year;
(b)	of the number and contents of the classes provided for inmates of correctional institutions and probation/residential homes that have been cancelled to prevent the spread of atypical pneumonia, the dates when the classes ceased, the number of inmates affected, as well as the arrangements made in respect of the inmates' scheduled class hours during the cessation of classes; and
(c)	in addition to cancellation of classes for inmates, what other measures have the authorities adopted to prevent the spread of atypical pneumonia in correctional institutions and probation/residential homes; and whether they include special arrangements for visits to the inmates by their relatives?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

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

In its reply to my question on 18 December last year, the Administration indicated that it would review the Student Travel Subsidy Scheme and the Cross-net Travel Subsidy Scheme, and forecast that the review would be completed before the commencement of the 2003-04 school year. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:

(a)	the review will be completed on schedule; if so, of the completion date and the timetable for implementing the review results; if not, the reasons for that; and
(b)	the travel subsidy schemes for the 2003-04 school year will be affected by the review results; if so, of the details?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education and Manpower

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

It has been reported that the results of the study conducted by a consultant commissioned by the Government regarding the function of the Architectural Services Department ("ArchSD") show that the unit cost of the ArchSD is lower than those of the private sector contractors. Despite these results and repeated flaws in projects participated by private sector contractors, the Government still insists on reducing the functions of the ArchSD by outsourcing the supporting and follow-up projects in its charge in 2003-04. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council of:

(a)	the supporting and follow-up projects in the charge of the ArchSD in 2003-04, broken down by the categories of property maintenance and new construction projects, the costs involved and, among them, the respective amounts of expenses on staffing and project works;
(b)	the rationale for outsourcing the above projects; and
(c)	the latest position of the re-engineering of the ArchSD, including the number of posts to be deleted in each of the years between 2003-2004 and 2005-2006, the posts and job types involved and arrangements to be made for the affected staff?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works

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

To help people affected by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, various organizations have set up funds and organized fund-raising activities. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	how the present legislation regulates fund-raising activities launched openly for charitable purpose;
(b)	the measures in place to ensure that these organizations will use the fund raised for the purported purpose; and whether it will consider requiring these organizations to release details of the fund accounts on a regular basis; and
(c)	whether it will consider setting up a statutory body to co-ordinate and standardize the management of and payment from various non-governmental charitable funds; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food

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

Last month, the Consumer Council released the results of the tests for genetically-modified ("GM") ingredients it had conducted on a number of food products in the market. One of the findings revealed that three snack food products contain a GM corn ingredient known as Maximizer (also known as Bt176), which contains a gene that confers resistance to Ampicillin, an antibiotic commonly used to treat pneumonia, bronchitis, diphtheria, scarlet fever, whooping cough and other infectious diseases. Some environmentalists are thus concerned that for people who frequently consume such snack food, the effectiveness of the antibiotic for treating these diseases may be undermined. Besides, the Codex Alimentarius Commission ("Codex") has issued a guideline that food products should not have ingredients which contain genes that encode resistance to clinically used antibiotics. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:

(a)	it will consider banning the sale of food products which contain the above ingredient; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
(b)	it will, in accordance with the guideline of Codex, demand distributors to recall food products which contain such ingredient; if not, of the rationale; and
(c)	it will conduct a comprehensive survey on other food products for such ingredient; if it will, of the timing of the survey; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food

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

I have received complaints from the public about the excessive noise from the loading/unloading area at the shopping centre of Tin Shing Court, Tin Shui Wai. After investigation, the Environmental Protection Department ("EPD") has found that the noise level there exceeds the statutory standard, and has therefore issued noise abatement notices to the persons concerned. However, no improvement has been made yet. In connection with how the Housing Department ("HD") has followed up this case and the handling of noise problems by EPD, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	whether HD will install noise-abating facilities at the above location; if so, of the timing of the installation; if not, the reasons for that; and
(b)	of the respective numbers of complaints received and noise abatement notices issued by EPD; the number of cases in which the noise problem improved within one month after the issuance of abatement notices; and how EPD followed up the cases in which no improvement had been made, in each of the past three years?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works

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

Regarding the provision of Internet, phone and mobile banking services by licensed banks, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the number of complaints and reported crimes relating to the above banking services received by the authorities in each of the past three years and, among them, the number of cases in which service system audit and security problems are involved;
(b)	of the way in which the complaints mentioned in (a) were handled; how it differs from that for handling complaints relating to traditional banking services;
(c)	whether it has formulated measures and criteria to require that licensed banks must meet certain technical requirements before providing Internet, phone and mobile banking services; and
(d)	whether it has formulated measures to ensure that banks providing the services mentioned in (c) should maintain a steady level of system audit and security in a persistent manner, such as requiring banks to appoint qualified or certified information systems auditors to assess the audit and security level of their systems and to submit reports on a regular basis?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury

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

When attending the Question and Answer Session of this Council last month, the Chief Executive ("CE") said that as the CE, he had to "gauge public views at all times". In this connection, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council:

(a)	whether the CE frequently personally reads local newspapers, listens to and watches local radio and television news and current affairs programmes; if so, of the respective amounts of time he spends each day on average in these respects; if not, the reasons for that; and
(b)	of the avenues through which the CE directly gauges public views and the amount of time he spends each week on average in this respect?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs

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

As some cattle in Japan were suspected of having been infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (commonly known as the "mad cow disease"), the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department has prohibited the import of Japanese beef since September 2001. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:

(a)	it knows if there have been cases of cattle in farms in Japan being infected with the mad cow disease in recent months; if so, of the dates of their occurrence and their number; if there have been no such cases, of the reasons for continuing to ban the import of Japanese beef;
(b)	it knows the countries which are currently importing beef from Japan; and
(c)	it has recently discussed with the relevant authorities in Japan the resumption of the import of Japanese beef; if so, of the details of such discussions and the expected date to resume import of Japanese beef?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food

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

It has been reported that the lifts at Mongkok Government Offices previously operated on an intelligent system, but the public were not accustomed to the operation of the system. The intelligent system was subsequently removed and replaced by traditional lift operating devices. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	whether the authorities have assessed the degree of public acceptance of the intelligent lift since its implementation;
(b)	how intelligent lifts compare to traditional lifts in terms of the installation and maintenance costs as well as their service life; and
(c)	how the removed intelligent system has been disposed of?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works

*For written reply.

III. Bills

First Reading

1. Adoption (Amendment) Bill 2003

2. Supplementary Appropriation (2002-2003) Bill

Second Reading (Debates to be adjourned)

1.	Adoption (Amendment) Bill 2003	:	Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food
2.	Supplementary Appropriation (2002-2003) Bill	:	Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury

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

Stamp Duty (Amendment) Bill 2002

Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury

IV. Motions

Proposed resolution under the Fixed Penalty (Public Cleanliness Offences) Ordinance

Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food to move the following motion:

(a)	that Schedule 1 to the Fixed Penalty (Public Cleanliness Offences) Ordinance be amended in items 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 by repealing "$600" and substituting "$1,500"; and
(b)	that this Resolution shall come into operation on 26 June 2003.

Proposed resolution under the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance

Secretary for Constitutional Affairs to move the following motion:

RESOLVED that the District Councils (Subscribers and Election Deposit for Nomination)(Amendment) Regulation 2003, published in the Gazette as Legal Notice No. 120 of 2003 and laid on the table of the Legislative Council on 21 May 2003, be amended in section 3, by repealing paragraphs (c), (d), (e) and (f) and substituting -"

(c)	by adding - "(3A) A person whose signature as a subscriber to a nomination paper is in surplus having regard to the required number of subscribers for the purposes of subsection (1) shall be regarded as not having subscribed the nomination paper.".".

Proposed resolution under the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance

Secretary for Constitutional Affairs to move the following motion:

RESOLVED that the Legislative Council (Subscribers and Election Deposit for Nomination)(Amendment) Regulation 2003, published in the Gazette as Legal Notice No. 119 of 2003 and laid on the table of the Legislative Council on 21 May 2003, be amended in section 3 -

(a)

by repealing paragraphs (a)(iii) and (b)(iii);

(b)

by repealing paragraphs (c) and (d) and substituting -"

(c)	by adding - "(2C) A person whose signature as a subscriber to a nomination paper is in surplus having regard to the required number of subscribers for the purposes of subsection (1)(a) or (2)(a)(ii), as the case may be, shall be regarded as not having subscribed the nomination paper.".".

V. Members' Motions

Proposed resolution under the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance

Hon IP Kwok-him to move the following motion:

: Secretary for Constitutional Affairs

Proposed resolution under the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance

Hon IP Kwok-him to move the following motion:

(a)	Registration of Persons (Application for New Identity Cards) Order, published in the Gazette as Legal Notice No. 126 of 2003; and
(b)	Registration of Persons (Application for New Identity Cards) (Repeal) Order 2003, published in the Gazette as Legal Notice No. 127 of 2003,
and laid on the table of the Legislative Council on 21 May 2003, 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 9 July 2003.

Thanks for the Central Government's support

Hon NG Leung-sing:

Amendment to Hon NG Leung-sing's motion

Dr Hon LAW Chi-kwong:

: Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food

Revitalizing tourism and encouraging spending

Hon Howard YOUNG:

Amendment to Hon Howard YOUNG's motion

Dr Hon LAW Chi-kwong:

Amendment to Dr Hon LAW Chi-kwong's amendment

Hon Mrs Selina CHOW:

: Secretary for Economic Development and Labour

Clerk to the Legislative Council

Legislative Council

Agenda Wednesday 18 June 2003 at 2:30 pm

Agenda

Wednesday 18 June 2003 at 2:30 pm