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A 02/03-7
Legislative Council
Agenda
Wednesday 13 November 2002 at 2:30 pm
I. Tabling of Papers| Subsidiary Legislation / Instruments | L.N. No.
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| 1. | Shipping and Port Control (Closure of Waters) (No. 2) Notice 2002 | 164/2002
| | 2. | Waste Disposal (Designated Waste Disposal Facility) (Amendment) Regulation 2002 (L.N. 118 of 2002) (Commencement) Notice 2002 | 165/2002
| | 3. | Waste Disposal (Refuse Transfer Station) (Amendment) Regulation 2002 (L.N. 119 of 2002) (Commencement) Notice 2002 | 166/2002
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Other Papers | 1. No.20 | - | Report by the Trustee of the Customs and Excise Service Children's Education Trust Fund for the year ending 31 March 2002, together with the Director of Audit's Report and the Audited Statement of Accounts
| (to be presented by Secretary for Economic Development and Labour, in the absence of Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology)
| | 2. No.21 | - | Summary of the Statement of Accounts of the Customs and Excise Service Welfare Fund together with the Director of Audit's Report and the Audited Statement of Accounts
| (to be presented by Secretary for Economic Development and Labour, in the absence of Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology)
| | 3. No.22 | - | The Government Minute in response to the Fourteenth Annual Report of the Ombudsman issued in June 2002
| | (to be presented by Chief Secretary for Administration, who will address the Council)
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II. Questions
1. Hon LAU Wong-fat to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the surface of pavements using paving slabs, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the life expectancy of such slabs and whether they are made of recycled materials;
| | (b) | given that the surface of these pavements will become rugged or even subside suddenly after prolonged use, of the measures in place to ensure that, for the safety of pedestrians, these pavements are properly maintained; and
| | (c) | of the channels currently available to members of the public for lodging complaints or reporting to the authorities in respect of uneven pavement surface; whether it will draw up a performance pledge that the pavements concerned will be repaired within a certain number of days after receiving complaints or reports?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works
2. Hon SZETO Wah to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that the Secretary for Education and Manpower has publicly stated that the Government will conduct a pilot scheme on "teaching in small classes". In this connection, will the Government inform this Council of:
| (a) | the commencement and completion dates of the pilot scheme, the participating schools and the districts in which they are located, the class levels of target students, as well as the criteria for selecting the schools;
| | (b) | the mode in conducting the pilot scheme, phases of implementation and the relevant details, the scope of the pilot scheme (including the subjects and interdisciplinary subjects to be taught), the training provided for the teachers involved, the support given by the Education Department, as well as the resources required for conducting the scheme; and
| | (c) | the methods and criteria for evaluating the scheme, and whether it will, based on the evaluation results, formulate a long-term policy on "teaching in small classes"?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education and Manpower
3. Hon James TO to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the making of legislation to implement Article 23 of the Basic Law, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | as it is stated in the "Consultation Document on the Proposals to Implement Article 23 of the Basic Law" that prior to the Re-unification, information relating to the relationship between Hong Kong and the Mainland was protected under the rubric of "international relations", the Administration now proposes to protect information relating to the relationship between the Central Authorities of the state and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region ("HKSAR") under the rubric of "relations between the Central Authorities of the People's Republic of China and HKSAR" ("relations between the Central Authorities and HKSAR"); however, the relationship between China and Hong Kong was that between China and the United Kingdom prior to the Re-unification and, following the Re-unification, this has become the relationship within the same country, why the Administration proposes to create a new class of protected information - relations between the Central Authorities and HKSAR;
| | (b) | as the Secretary for Justice stated at the luncheon meeting of the Newspaper Society of Hong Kong on 17 October this year that information relating to the relations between the Central Authorities and the HKSAR "is merely an adaptation of the provision on 'relations between the United Kingdom and Hong Kong' as originally contained in the part on 'international relations'"; however, prior to the Re-unification, the relationship between the United Kingdom and Hong Kong was that between a suzerain state and a colony from a legal perspective whilst following the Re-unification, the relationship between China and Hong Kong was that between the Central Authorities of the state and its special administrative region, why the Secretary for Justice considers that the proposed new class of relations between the Central Authorities and HKSAR to be an adaptation of laws; and
| | (c) | whether it will consider stipulating, by provisions of law or in other forms, that apart from requesting the Central Authorities to issue a formal notification regarding the question of fact on whether a Mainland organization has been proscribed by the Central Authorities on national security grounds, the HKSAR Government shall not, in respect of issues relating to "foreign political organizations" set out in Chapter 7 of the above Consultation Document, request the Central People's Government to issue a certifying document on questions of fact concerning acts of state such as defence and foreign affairs in accordance with Article 19 of the Basic Law; if it will, of the form of such stipulation; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security
4. Hon James TIEN to ask: (Translation)
Will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the changes in residential property prices, the relevant mortgage rates and the public's ability to repay mortgage loans, compared to the situation in 1997;
| | (b) | of the number of residential units taken possession of by authorized institutions in each of the past five years because the mortgagors have defaulted on mortgage payments, and its proportion to the cumulative number of mortgages of the year concerned; and
| | (c) | as the Hong Kong Monetary Authority ("HKMA") has indicated that it would not object if authorized institutions were to depart from the 70% loan-to-value guideline in processing applications for refinancing residential mortgage loans for homeowners in negative equity if they deem it commercially desirable to do so, whether HKMA will, in respect of other mortgage loan applications, similarly relax the 70% loan-to-value guideline, so that banks may process these applications with prudence and flexibility on the basis of the merits of individual cases; if not, of the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
5. Hon CHOY So-yuk to ask: (Translation)
Will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the criteria for determining whether or not government land should be granted at a nominal land premium to private groups or organizations for use as clubs or clubhouses;
| | (b) | of the present number and names of groups or organizations which have been granted land according to the criteria in (a), as well as the size, premium per square foot at the current market value, and the term of the lease of the land concerned; and
| | (c) | whether it has plans to review such criteria for land grants?
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| Public Officers to reply | : | Secretary for Home Affairs
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6. Hon Emily LAU to ask: (Translation)
Under the Basic Law, the Legislative Council ("LegCo") in the third term to be formed in 2004 will continue to comprise 60 Members, with half of them returned by functional constituencies ("FCs"). In this connection, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council:
| (a) | of the planned timing for consulting the public on the arrangements for LegCo FCs elections, including the delineation of functional sectors, eligibility of electors and voting methods; and
| | (b) | whether they will consider changing the eligibility criteria of functional sector electors with a view to enlarging the electorate, so as to tie in with the Administration's policy on a gradual and orderly democratization of the political system and to allow wider public participation in such elections?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Constitutional Affairs
*7. Hon LEUNG Fu-wah to ask: (Translation)
China Central Television ("CCTV") in the Mainland is the national television station and its channels can be watched in most areas in the Mainland. Up to the present, however, residents in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, which is part of the nation, fail to watch the respective CCTV channels. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the reasons for the failure of Hong Kong residents to watch the CCTV channels and whether it is related to the operation rights under the existing television licences; if so, whether the Administration will consider amending the relevant legislation so that Hong Kong residents may watch the television programmes of CCTV channels;
| | (b) | whether it has received any application or request from CCTV to broadcast its television programmes in Hong Kong; if so, whether the Administration has discussed the matter with the relevant authorities in the Mainland or CCTV, the details of the discussion and the results thereof; and
| | (c) | whether it will consider broadcasting television programmes of some of the CCTV's channels through Radio Television Hong Kong for viewing by Hong Kong people; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
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| Public Officer to reply | : | Secretary for Economic Development and Labour
(in the absence of Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology) |
*8. Hon TAM Yiu-chung to ask: (Translation)
In order to increase the employment opportunities of local construction workers and reduce construction waste, some people in the trade have suggested developing precast concrete structure manufacturing industry in Hong Kong. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the major places of origin of precast concrete structures used in public and private construction works at present;
| | (b) | whether it has plans to provide tax and land concessions to attract enterprises to set up precast concrete structure production plants or casting yards in Hong Kong; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
| | (c) | whether it has plans to assist the trade in conducting research and testing on the production of precast concrete structures with recycled construction waste, so as to reduce production cost and construction waste; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works
*9. Hon CHOY So-yuk to ask: (Translation)
The Po Lin Monastery on Lantau Island, dissatisfied with the Government's tourism development project at Ngong Ping, had announced its plan to "seal off" the Monastery and the Big Buddha. It was only after negotiations between the Government and the Monastery that the plan was subsequently dropped. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the causes of the incident and whether an assessment has been made to find out who should be held responsible for the incident; if so, of the assessment results;
| | (b) | of the criteria used in striking a balance between developing tourism and protecting religious culture when formulating the development project in Ngong Ping; and
| | (c) | how it will improve the existing procedures for vetting and approving government development projects, so as to prevent the recurrence of similar incidents?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Economic Development and Labour
*10. Hon Michael MAK to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that the 300 or so Hospital Authority ("HA") staff who provide non-emergency ambulance transfer service ("NEATS") work overtime for 20 000 hours a year. To compensate them for their overtime work, HA pays out $2 million a year rather than grants time-off to them. In the connection, will the Government inform this Council of:
| (a) | the operational information of NEATS of each public hospital, including the size of its fleet, the respective numbers and terms of employment of its full-time and part-time ambulance staff, as well as its management staff;
| | (b) | the existing remuneration levels of the full-time and part-time ambulance staff;
| | (c) | the maximum number of patients which an ambulance can carry per trip;
| | (d) | the reasons for the ambulance staff having to work 20 000 hours overtime a year; and
(e) the demand for NEATS over the past three years; and the monthly average number of patient trips made by such service last year?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food
*11. Hon Frederick FUNG to ask: (Translation)
Will the Government inform this Council whether it knows the respective operating costs per kilometre, daily fare revenue, average patronage per hour and maximum carrying capacity per hour of the MTR Island Line, Tsuen Wan Line, Kwun Tong Line, Tung Chung Line and the Airport Express over the past three years?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works
*12. Hon Fred LI to ask: (Translation)
The technical study, commissioned in February 2001, on increasing the interconnection of the electricity supply systems of the two power companies was completed in mid-2002. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the reasons for not having released the results of the above study so far;
| | (b) | of the specific findings of the study; and
| | (c) | whether it has arrived at a conclusion on the feasibility of increasing the interconnection of the electricity supply systems; if so, of the conclusion; if the conclusion is that such interconnection is not feasible, of the justifications, and if no conclusion has been arrived yet, of the anticipated time when a conclusion may be reached?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Economic Development and Labour
*13. Hon SIN Chung-kai to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the Applied Science and Technology Research Institute ("ASTRI"), will the Government inform this Council if it knows:
| (a) | whether ASTRI, in the recruitment of Research and Development ("R&D") Directors and other posts such as technicians, will accord priority of employment to non-local talents or offer them more favourable remuneration and conditions of service, so as to attract overseas R&D professionals to take up these posts in Hong Kong;
| | (b) | of the respective numbers of local and non-local technological researchers who are working in ASTRI, broken down by the following profiles: the institutions from which they last graduated and the countries in which these institutions are located; their education levels (such as bachelor's degree, taught or research master's and doctor's degree); and their length of service in the field of technological research; and
| | (c) | whether ASTRI will draw up measures and plans for nurturing local researchers to reach the international level, so as to support and promote long-term development of local technological researches?
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| Public Officer to reply | : | Secretary for Economic Development and Labour
(in the absence of Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology) |
*14. Hon LAU Kong-wah to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the various student travel subsidy schemes, will the Government inform this Council whether:
| (a) | in view of the current economic downturn, it plans to review the eligibility and computation formulae for various travel subsidies; if not, of the reasons for that;
| | (b) | it has reviewed the effectiveness of the various travel subsidy schemes in alleviating the financial burden on parents; if so, of the details; and
| | (c) | it will consider reviving the pre-1988 Student Travel Scheme which required no means tests, so as to replace the existing Student Travel Subsidy Scheme for primary and secondary school students; if not, of the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education and Manpower
*15. Hon Albert CHAN to ask: (Translation)
At present, some parts of Sai Kung and Cheung Chau are not included in any statutory plan such as Outline Zoning Plans ("OZPs") and Development Permission Area Plans ("DPAPs"). In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the areas which are not yet included in any OZPs or DPAPs and the reasons for that;
| | (b) | whether the Administration consults residents of the area when it prepares the statutory plans; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
| | (c) | whether it has assessed if the lack of statutory plans for an area will hinder its new development and cause inconvenience to local residents; if it has made such an assessment and the conclusion is in the affirmative, of the measures the Administration will adopt to improve the situation; if the conclusion is in the negative, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands
*16. Ir Dr Hon HO Chung-tai to ask: (Translation)
It was reported that in handling a report of water leakage from a burst fresh water pipe at the rear lane of a building on Bedford Road in Tai Kok Tsui, staff of the Water Supplies Department ("WSD") stated that the water pipe was private property and only told the person responsible for the management of the building to arrange for repairs. However, a written application had to be made to the WSD for suspension of water supply before the repair works could be carried out. On the sixth day of the incident and upon receipt of the application, WSD sent its staff to disconnect the water supply, but they found valve of the water mains not functioning and could not be closed. Subsequently, it took another some ten days to have the malfunctioning valve repaired. The entire incident took more than 20 days to resolve, resulting in wastage of a large amount of fresh water. Regarding the wastage of fresh water due to the burst of water pipes, will the Government inform this Council whether:
| (a) | the WSD will take any follow-up action on cases of minor water leakage from private fresh water pipes where the owners concerned have not applied for suspension of water supply for repairs to the water pipes; if so, of the details;
| | (b) | there were incidents in the past three years in which the water supply could not be disconnected because of the malfunctioning valves of water mains; if so, the estimated quantity of fresh water wasted as a result; and
| | (c) | regular inspections have been conducted on the water mains valves of the public water supply systems; if so, of the details?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works
*17. Hon SZETO Wah to ask: (Translation)
It is learnt that the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority ("HKEAA") had a deficit of $30 million in the last financial year; the estimated deficit for the current year would amount to $17 million; and its accumulated surplus at the end of the year would only be about $17 million. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the items of revenue and expenditure of HKEAA and their respective amounts for the past three years and for the coming year and, among them, the new items of expenditure and their respective amounts, as well as those items which were launched at the request of the Administration;
| | (b) | whether HKEAA has taken any measures to curb its persistent financial deficit; if so, of the details; and
| | (c) | as HKEAA is an administratively and financially independent statutory body, whether the Administration will give financial assistance to HKEAA in case the latter has an accumulated financial deficit; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education and Manpower
*18. Hon Emily LAU to ask: (Translation)
To develop tourism, the Administration is planning to carry out a development project at Ngong Ping, Lantau Island but the Po Lin Monastery has recently expressed dissatisfaction with the project. In this connection, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council:
| (a) | of the number of discussions the Administration has held with the Monastery over the issue, with a view to striking a balance between the need to "protect religious culture" and the need to "develop Ngong Ping";
| | (b) | of the respective proposals put forward by the Monastery which the Administration has accepted and rejected in the course of the discussions, and the reasons for rejecting some proposals;
| | (c) | whether the Ngong Ping development project has been drawn up on the principle of sustainable development and preservation of the unique local culture and tradition; and
| | (d) | whether, following the discussion on 24 October with the Monastery, the Administration will modify the contents of the Ngong Ping development project; if so, of the details of and reasons for the modifications?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Economic Development and Labour
*19. Hon Michael MAK to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that the Hospital Authority ("HA") will be in huge deficit this financial year. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:
| (a) | the current sources of HA's income other than from public funds;
| | (b) | the respective numbers, total amounts and causes of the write-off cases of HA in the past five years and to date this year; whether the Government will propose ways for HA to tackle the problem of bad and doubtful debts; and
| | (c) | HA's plans to create new sources of income and cut expenditure, for examples, by merging hospitals and increasing contracting-out jobs; the timetable for full implementation of such plans; and whether the Administration can ensure that HA will adequately consult its staff before it carries out such plans?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food
*20. Hon SIN Chung-kai to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the research work of the Applied Science and Technology Research Institute ("ASTRI"), will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:
| (a) | the universities with which ASTRI has established cooperative partnership;
| | (b) | the universities the facilities of which will be used by ASTRI for conducting its research projects before its own facilities are set up at the Hong Kong Science Park in 2005; whether the resources required will be research expenditures to be borne by ASTRI or the universities concerned;
| | (c) | as ASTRI has selected information technology, electronics, and biotechnology as its major research areas, whether ASTRI has drawn up criteria for the selection of its major research areas and set up a mechanism for approving and regulating its research projects; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
| | (d) | the respective numbers of long-term and short-term research programmes drawn up by ASTRI under the three major research areas mentioned in (c); and the amount of allocation and the progress of each programme; and
(e) as ASTRI will not initially perform contract research projects for industry, when ASTRI will review the need to perform such projects and the criteria to be adopted in the review?
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| Public Officer to reply | : | Secretary for Economic Development and Labour
(in the absence of Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology) |
*For written reply.
IIA. Statements
Government's policy on housing : Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands
III. Motions
Proposed resolution under the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance
Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food to move the following motion:
RESOLVED that - | (a) | the Pharmacy and Poisons (Amendment)(No. 4) Regulation 2002; and
| | (b) | the Poisons List (Amendment)(No. 4) Regulation 2002,
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made by the Pharmacy and Poisons Board on 22 October 2002, be approved.
(The two Regulations have been issued on 24 October 2002 under LC Paper No. CB(3) 85/02-03)
IV. Members' Motions
- Reducing electricity and gas tariffs
Hon Fred LI: (Translation)
That this Council urges the Government to expeditiously discuss with the two power companies and Town Gas and encourage them to take account of their respective operating conditions and reduce their tariffs or offer concessions to users, thereby alleviating the burden on the public and the commercial and industrial sectors.
Amendment to Hon Fred LI's motion
Hon NG Leung-sing: (Translation)
To add ", under the premise of safeguarding the rights of investors to operate in compliance with the law and to determine prices," after "That this Council urges the Government".
Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Economic Development and Labour
- Ageing of the population
Hon TAM Yiu-chung: (Translation)
That, in view of the ageing of the population in Hong Kong, this Council urges the Government to respond to the changes in the population profile and actively take the lead in promoting a proper perspective on ageing; encourage the public and private sectors to make the best use of the knowledge and experience of senior citizens; promote "lifelong learning" among the elderly; improve town planning and the design of public facilities and housing to create a "barrier-free" environment; provide sound primary health care services; promote a positive and healthy lifestyle; as well as encourage the commercial sector to establish an "elderly-friendly" service culture, thereby creating a favourable social environment for present and future senior citizens to keep on giving full play to their abilities.
Amendments to Hon TAM Yiu-chung's motion
| (i) | Hon Frederick FUNG: (Translation)
To add "actively consider the implementation of an old age pension scheme to safeguard the livelihood of the retired elderly;" after "this Council urges the Government to".
| | (ii) | Hon LEUNG Yiu-chung: (Translation)
To add "consider the financial needs of the elderly and ensure that any adjustments to the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance payment to the elderly will not result in payments that are lower than at the current level;" after "this Council urges the Government to respond to the changes in the population profile and actively take the lead in promoting a proper perspective on ageing;"; and to add "and exempt the elderly from paying the various new and increased fees and charges proposed for medical services" after "provide sound primary health care services".
Public Officer to attend: Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food
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Clerk to the Legislative Council
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