A 02/03-9

Legislative Council

Agenda
Wednesday 27 November 2002 at 2:30 pm

I. Tabling of Papers

Subsidiary Legislation / Instruments L.N. No.
1.Immigration (Amendment) Ordinance 2002 (31 of 2002) (Commencement) Notice 2002172/2002
2.Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes (Amendment) (No. 2) Ordinance 2002 (29 of 2002) (Commencement) Notice 2002173/2002
3.Massage Establishments (Amendment) Ordinance 2001 (28 of 2001) (Commencement) Notice 2002174/2002
4.Places of Public Entertainment Ordinance (Amendment of Schedule 1) Regulation 2002 (L.N. 120 of 2002) (Commencement) Notice 2002175/2002


Other Papers

1. No.26-Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation Annual Report 2001/2002
(to be presented by Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology)

2. No.27-Hong Kong Productivity Council Annual Report 2001/2002
(to be presented by Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology)

3. No.28-Police Welfare Fund Annual Report 2001/2002
(to be presented by Secretary for Security)

4. No.29-Estate Agents Authority Annual Report 2001/2002
(to be presented by Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands)

5. No.30-Secretary for Home Affairs Incorporated Audited Statement of Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2002
(to be presented by Secretary for Home Affairs)

6. No.31-Report of the Brewin Trust Fund Committee on the Administration of the Fund for the year ended 30 June 2002
(to be presented by Secretary for Home Affairs)

7. No.32-Occupational Deafness Compensation Board Annual Report 2001-2002
(to be presented by Secretary for Economic Development and Labour)

8. No.33-Annual Report of the Protection of Wages on Insolvency Fund Board 2001-2002
(to be presented by Secretary for Economic Development and Labour)

9. No.34-Pneumoconiosis Compensation Fund Board Annual Report 2001
(to be presented by Secretary for Economic Development and Labour)


II. Questions

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

Will the Government inform this Council:
    (a) of the number of complaints lodged about contravention of the Control of Obscene and Indecent Articles Ordinance (Cap 390) in each of the past three years; among these cases, the number of prosecutions instituted and their outcome; and

    (b) whether it will amend the Ordinance to increase the penalty for contravention in order to deter the mass media from selling obscene and indecent articles; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology

2. Hon CHAN Kam-lam to ask: (Translation)

I notice that the surface of many carriageways become damaged and rugged shortly after maintenance and resurfacing, which may affect traffic safety. In this regard, will the Government inform this Council of:
    (a) the average life span of the surface of various categories of carriageways;

    (b) the average interval between two rounds of maintenance and resurfacing works on busy carriageways; and

    (c) the mechanism in place for monitoring the quality of road maintenance and resurfacing works?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works

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

Regarding the measures taken by the Government to implement its housing policy, including recommending to the Housing Authority that the production of Home Ownership Scheme ("HOS") flats should cease indefinitely from 2003 onwards, halting all scheduled land auctions, suspending the Application List system until the end of 2003, co-ordinating the pace of property developments by the two railway companies and so on, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a) of the numbers of jobs in the construction and related industries arising from the production of public rental housing, HOS housing and private domestic housing respectively, in each of the past three years;

    (b) whether it has assessed the number of jobs in the construction and related industries that will be reduced as a result of the implementation of the above measures; if so, of a breakdown of the jobs that will be reduced by industries and types of work; if not, whether it plans to make such an assessment; and

    (c) of the ways to alleviate the impact of the above measures on the employment market in the construction and related industries?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands

4. Hon Martin LEE to ask: (Translation)

Regarding the staging of petitions outside the Main Wing and East Wing of Central Government Offices, will the Government inform this Council of:
    (a) the number of petitions staged at the above location each year since 1995;

    (b) the criteria for vetting and approving applications for staging petitions at that location; and

    (c) the stipulations on the detailed arrangements for staging petitions at that location?
Public Officer to reply : Chief Secretary for Administration

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

Regarding gas leakage incidents in residential units, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a) how, according to the Code of Practice issued by the Fire Services Department, fire officers should handle incidents of suspected gas leakage in residential units;

    (b) whether it is provided in the Code that, in handling incidents of serious gas leakage in residential units, fire officers should advise residents of the neighbouring units to stay indoors or evacuate from the scene as quickly as possible, and should advise residents to avoid acts that may cause an explosion; and

    (c) whether it will step up publicity to educate the public about matters that they should pay attention to in case of suspected gas leakage in neighbouring residential units?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

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

It has been reported that on several occasions an Executive Council ("ExCo") Member forecast the unemployment rate prior to the Government's releasing the monthly figure. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:
    (a) ExCo Members are in receipt of the relevant data prior to the release of the unemployment rate; if so, of the number of days prior to the Government's release do they receive such data in advance, and whether the ExCo Member making these comments is in breach of the rule of confidentiality imposed on ExCo Members;

    (b) taking forecast of unemployment rate as an example, it has assessed if the making of relevant comments by ExCo Members prior to the Government's releasing the unemployment rate is proper and may affect the financial and stock markets ("the markets"); if an assessment has been made, of the outcome; and

    (c) it has issued guidelines to ExCo Members about making sensitive comments which have a bearing on the markets; if so, how the guidelines concerned regulate the making of such comments and those who are in breach of the guidelines and how it assesses the effectiveness of such guidelines; if no guidelines have been issued, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Chief Secretary for Administration

*7. Hon Henry WU to ask: (Translation)

Will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:
    (a) the entry requirements and salary scales applicable to the various levels of staff (including senior and front-line staff) of the Intermediaries Supervision Department of the Securities and Futures Commission;

    (b) the rank structure and strength of the Department at present; and

    (c) under normal circumstances, the rank of staff deployed to intermediaries or intermediary organizations to carry out investigations or discharge duties; and their longest, shortest and average length of service?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury

*8. Hon Timothy FOK Tsun-ting to ask: (Translation)

Will the Government inform this Council whether:
    (a) it will consider reviewing the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (Cap. 486) to enhance the protection of public figures' privacy and clarify the relationship between the right to know and the right to privacy; if not, the reasons for that; and

    (b) it will strengthen communication with the media industry and encourage the industry to formulate a self-regulatory mechanism, so as to avoid producing press reports in breach of the community's ethical standards?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs

*9. Dr Hon LUI Ming-wah to ask: (Translation)

I have received complaints alleging that the Administration restrains the scope of operation of non-franchised bus services (including residents' bus, free shuttle bus and employees' bus services), by taking measures which include refusing or delaying the operators' applications for operating new routes, modifying the existing routings and establishing additional pick-up/drop-off points etc. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a) given that the above non-franchised buses have already been issued with the passenger service licence by the Transport Department ("TD"), of the reasons for requiring the operators to make individual applications for operating new service routes;

    (b) of the respective numbers of applications for operating new non-franchised bus routes received, approved and rejected by TD over the past five years, together with a breakdown of the rejected cases by the reasons for rejection;

    (c) whether it has undermined the role and scope of non-franchised bus services in the public transport system; if so, of the reasons for that, and whether it has held prior discussions with the trade;

    (d) whether it has assessed how the restrictions imposed on non-franchised bus services have affected the livelihood of the operators and their employees in the current critical economic environment, as well as the public's right to choose the means of transport; if it has, of the outcome of the assessment; and

    (e) whether it will consider relaxing the scope of operation of non-franchised bus services?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works

*10. Dr Hon LAW Chi-kwong to ask: (Translation)

It has been reported that a pharmaceutical firm is supplying Queen Mary Hospital with a new drug specially for treatment of chronic myelogenous leukaemia for free trial. While the trial period will expire next month, the Hospital Authority ("HA") has no plans to purchase the drug for the patients taking part in the trial. Also, some other patients of HA are paying $20,000 per month for purchasing the drug. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:
    (a) the countries in which the drug has been widely used by medical institutions;

    (b) if HA has statistics on the number of patients who were fit to take the drug last year; and, among them, the number of patients who experienced a deterioration or a relapse of the illness after taking other drugs or regimen;

    (c) if HA will negotiate with the pharmaceutical firm concerned, including requesting the continued supply of the drug free of charge to patients who have participated in the trial scheme until the completion of their whole regimen, or a reduction of the selling price of the drug; and, before the negotiation has been concluded, of the arrangements HA will make for those patients who are fit or need to take the drug; and

    (d) if HA will purchase the drug to supply to the patients in need, particularly those who have no improvement after changing medication and receiving other regimens; if so, of the implementation timetable; if not, of the treatment to be provided by HA to the patients concerned so as to honour the policy that "no patients will be deprived of appropriate medical care because of financial hardship"?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food

*11. Hon Miriam LAU to ask: (Translation)

It is learnt that some drivers transport inert construction waste, such as debris covered with refuse, to landfills for dumping. Such waste should have been dumped at designated public filling areas. Such a misuse of landfills will shorten their life. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a) of the number of such incidents detected in each of the past three years;

    (b) of the monitoring mechanism in place to prevent such misuse; and

    (c) whether it will consider improving the monitoring mechanism; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works

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

Regarding cases of unemployed persons receiving Comprehensive Social Security Assistance ("CSSA") payments, will the Government inform this Council of:
    (a) a breakdown of such cases by

    (i) recipients' age profile, in groups each covering five years,

    (ii) the trades, types and positions of jobs held as well as the monthly salaries they earned (in groups of $500 apart) prior to becoming unemployed; and

    (iii) their household size;

    (b) the average domestic expenses of the recipients, broken down by household size;

    (c) details of the assistance the Social Welfare Department and relevant agencies provided to the recipients last year in seeking employment, including the numbers of job interviews arranged and job placements provided, the trades to which such jobs belong and the average monthly salaries of such jobs; and

    (d) the number of recipients who stopped receiving CSSA payments last year after securing employment, and its percentage in the total number of CSSA cases of the "unemployed" category at the end of last year?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food

*13. Hon James TIEN to ask: (Translation)

Will the Government inform this Council:
    (a) of the quantity of wine imported to Hong Kong and the total amount of duty collected, as well as the quantity of wine which attracted duty of over $600 per bottle and the amount of such duty collected, in the last financial year and the current financial year up to the present; and

    (b) whether there is any difference between the four figures recorded in the current financial year up to the present, as referred to above, and the relevant figures in the same period in the last financial year; if so, of the details?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury

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

Regarding the arrangements for division of work after the implementation of the proposed merger of the Education and Manpower Bureau with the Education Department, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a) whether degree and sub-degree (including higher diploma and associate degree) programmes of universities will be supervised by statutory or government committee(s); if so, of the committee(s) concerned; and whether the Government has considered if the supervision by such committee(s) may undermine the academic autonomy of the universities; if it has, of the results;

    (b) whether courses of various levels run by the Vocational Training Council ("VTC") will be under the policy area of education or manpower, and supervised by statutory or government committee(s); if so, of the committee(s) concerned; whether such arrangements are different from the existing ones and, if so, of the reasons for such changes; and

    (c) whether the implementation of the arrangements mentioned in (a) and (b) above will affect the mode of funding from the Government for courses of various levels run by the universities and VTC; if so, of the details?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education and Manpower

*15. Hon CHOY So-yuk to ask: (Translation)

It has been reported that the Asia Society, with its headquarters in the United States, has applied to the Government for the grant of the site of the former British armoury at Admiralty by way of a private treaty, for setting up the Society's branch office in Hong Kong. Underneath the site is a military cable which was used for transmitting highly confidential information in the past. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a) whether it is aware of the existence of a military cable underneath the site; the present condition of the cable; and whether it is being connected to any apparatus;

    (b) in considering the above land grant application, whether it has consulted the Central Government's organ which is responsible for the defence of Hong Kong; if it has, when it was consulted and whether the Central Government has consented to the application; if it has not, how jeopardy to national security will be prevented; and

    (c) of the general procedures for processing applications for land grant by private treaty and the normal processing time for each procedure; and whether the Asia Society's land grant application is dealt with in accordance with these procedures?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs

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

A serious incident of gas explosion which caused a blaze took place at Tsui Chuk Garden on 30th last month. After the fire was put out, the Police sealed off the entire building temporarily, pending inspection on the structural safety of the building by staff of the Buildings Department ("BD"). I saw that the BD staff did not arrive at the scene until nine o'clock in the evening, which was six hours after the incident. Moreover, I learnt that such staff and the most senior police officers there were not of the ranks authorized to issue premises closure orders. In this regard, will the Government inform this Council of:
    (a) the reasons for the BD staff's taking as long as six hours after the incident to arrive at the scene;

    (b) the reasons for BD and the Police not having sent to the scene senior officers who were authorized to issue the relevant orders, so as to avoid delays in follow-up actions; and

    (c) the department responsible for on-site co-ordination that day; and the established mechanism for determining the department to be tasked with co-ordinating such unforeseen events?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands

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

Under the present arrangements of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre ("HKCEC") in relation to telecommunications network equipment, exhibitors who wish to install telecommunications facilities (e.g. telephone lines, fax lines and Internet access facilities) may apply for the services from any fixed network operators. The fixed network operators, upon their agreement to provide the services, are required to hire the interconnection facilities (e.g. copper cables and optical fibre) for telecommunications network from the management company of HKCEC to effect interconnection between their telecommunications network equipment and that in the exhibition venues. The management company of HKCEC requires that fixed network operators may not connect their telecommunications network equipment directly to the exhibition venues. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:
    (a) the reasons for the management company of HKCEC disallowing fixed network operators to connect their telecommunications network equipment directly to the exhibition venues, where technically feasible;

    (b) the rentals of various interconnection facilities for telecommunications networks fixed by HKCEC and public exhibition venues in Hong Kong respectively and the revenue they received respectively from renting out these facilities, in each of the past three years; and

    (c) if any mechanism will be put in place for conducting regular reviews of the rentals of interconnection facilities for telecommunications networks in public exhibition venues, in order to prevent increasing the exhibitors' costs for hiring exhibition venues due to the high level of rentals for such facilities?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology

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

It is noted that, although the refuse collection rooms in some public rental housing ("PRH") estates are equipped with chutes connecting all floors of the block, some cleaners do not make use of the chutes to transport the collected refuse. Moreover, as the refuse collection rooms in some PRH estates are often locked, residents dump their rubbish into the collection bins at the lift lobbies or place it outside their units outside the specified refuse collection hours. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a) of the number of existing PRH estates that are equipped with refuse chutes, and their names by districts;

    (b) among the PRH estates listed in the reply to (a), of the PRH estates in which the refuse chutes are not fully utilized, and the reasons for that; and

    (c) whether it will consider allowing residents of the PRH estates to pour their rubbish into the chutes directly; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands

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

Regarding the problem of speeding among public light bus ("PLB") drivers, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a) of the number of prosecutions against PLB drivers for speeding in each of the past three years, together with a breakdown of such cases by the districts in which the offences were allegedly committed;

    (b) whether it knows the current number of PLBs throughout the territory which have been installed with speed warning devices ("SWDs"), and whether it has assessed the effectiveness of SWDs in deterring PLB drivers from speeding;

    (c) whether it will consider enacting legislation to make the installation of SWDs on PLBs mandatory; if not, of the reasons for that; and

    (d) whether, in vetting applications by operators to continue to operate green minibus routes, it will consider making reference to their drivers' record of conviction for speeding, so as to make them step up their supervision over the driving of their drivers?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works

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

Regarding the prevention and cure of cancer, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council of:
    (a) the membership list, terms of reference and work portfolio of the Cancer Co-ordinating Committee, and the efforts the Committee has made in the prevention and cure of breast cancer since its establishment last year;

    (b) the time currently taken by the Hong Kong Cancer Registry to compile statistics on the incidence rates of cancer, and the authorities' measures to assist the Registry in speeding up the processing of relevant information;

    (c) the annual expenditure on preventing breast cancer since the introduction of the Woman Health Programme, and its percentages in the overall expenditure of the Programme in the respective years; and the expenditure on the prevention of breast cancer under the Programme budgeted for the coming year; and

    (d) the respective numbers of women who were diagnosed as having developed breast cancer and those who died of the disease in the past two years?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food

*For written reply.

III. Members' Motions
  1. Teaching in small classes
    Hon CHEUNG Man-kwong:
    2.  (Translation)

    That, as the number of children of school age has been decreasing in recent years and it is the golden opportunity now for reducing the class sizes in primary and secondary schools, this Council urges the Government to implement, in a gradual and orderly manner and complementing with relevant teacher training, "teaching in small classes" in each grade of primary and secondary schools on a one-grade-per-year basis so as to achieve the ultimate target of 25 students per class, with a view to enhancing teaching efficacy, improving teacher-student relationship and providing counselling and teaching according to students' individual needs, thereby improving the quality of basic education and fulfilling the expectations of society and parents.

    Amendment to Hon CHEUNG Man-kwong's motion
    Hon Tommy CHEUNG:     (Translation)

    To add "to expeditiously study whether or not it is feasible, under the premise of proper deployment of resources," after "this Council urges the Government"; and to delete "so as to achieve the ultimate target of 25 students per class" after " 'teaching in small classes' in each grade of primary and secondary schools on a one-grade-per-year basis".

    Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Education and Manpower

  2. The public's mental health
    Hon Michael MAK:
    3. (Translation)

    That, as Hong Kong's economy remains in the doldrums, with incessant layoffs and pay cuts whilst there has been no real improvement in the negative equity situation, the mental stress on the public has increased tremendously, this Council urges the Government to face up to the mental health of the public and adopt the following measures:

    (a) to comprehensively promote mental health education among all members of the public;

    (b) to strengthen professional training on mental health for frontline health care personnel; and

    (c) to establish a proper triage mechanism for new cases of people seeking treatment at the psychiatric specialist outpatient departments of the Hospital Authority, so that appropriate professional services can be expeditiously provided to them.

Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food Clerk to the Legislative Council