A 03/04-24

Legislative Council

Agenda

Wednesday 21 April 2004 and
Thursday 22 April 2004 at 2:30 pm respectively

I. Tabling of Papers

Subsidiary Legislation / Instruments L.N. No.
1.Designation of Libraries Order 200447/2004
2.Antiquities and Monuments (Declaration of Historical Building) Notice 200448/2004
3.Federation of Hong Kong Industries (Addition of a Scheduled Group) Notice 200449/2004
4.Construction Industry Levy (Miscellaneous Amendments) Ordinance 2004 (3 of 2004) (Commencement) Notice 200455/2004
5.Prisons (Hostel) (Amendment) Order 200456/2004

Other Papers

1. No.76 -Report No. 42 of the Director of Audit on the results of value for money audits - March 2004
(to be presented by the President)

2. No.77 -Approved Estimates of Income and Expenditure for financial year 2004/2005, Securities and Futures Commission
(to be presented by Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury)

II. Questions for Written Replies

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

The Lands Department is responsible for land control for unleased Government land and enforcement of lease conditions in respect of leased land. In view of a series of recent revelations about illegal extraction of pebbles from river beds, unlawful occupation of unleased land and construction waste being deposited on private land, etc., will the Government inform this Council of:
    (a)the respective establishments and numbers of officers of the Land Executive and Land Inspector grades undertaking the above duties in the Lands Department;

    (b)the respective numbers of inspections conducted and prosecutions recommended in the past three years by such officers in their discharge of the above duties, as well as the number of suspected cases of unlawful acts which were still outstanding after six months; and

    (c)the review measures to ensure that suspected cases of unlawful acts in this respect have been duly dealt with?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands

2. Hon HUI Cheung-ching to ask:
(Translation)

Many members of the public have reflected to me that when they cross the boundary via Lok Ma Chau Control Point during peak periods on weekends, they often have to wait for more than half an hour before immigration clearance procedures are completed, and as there is insufficient room for queuing in the passenger hall, some passengers have to wait outside the passenger hall. Moreover, no special arrangements have been made to facilitate the elderly and the mobility-handicapped to undergo immigration clearance procedures. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the number of immigration counters at the control point which are open on weekends and public holidays; the circumstances under which all immigration counters will be open; whether it adjusts the relative proportions of the number of arrival and departure immigration counters in the light of the passenger traffic, or diverts passenger by their category to improve and speed up the flow of passenger; if not, of the reasons for that;

    (b)of the maximum capacity of the passenger hall of the control point; of the arrangements when the capacity is exceeded; whether it has considered providing additional passenger queuing areas; and

    (c)whether it plans to provide preferential arrangements (e.g. special passageways) for the elderly and the mobility-handicapped to undergo immigration clearance procedures at this control point, particularly during peak periods, so that they do not have to wait outside the passenger hall; if so, of the details of such plan; if not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

3. Dr Hon YEUNG Sum to ask:
(Translation)

Regarding the improvement measures formulated by the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority to deal with the loss of examination scripts, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:
    (a)the details of such measures, particularly in relation to the prevention and investigation of the loss of scripts, the penalty imposed on the persons held responsible as well as the remedies (including the arrangements of a re-sit and the resources involved); and

    (b)if such measures will apply to the Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination and the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination to be held this year, and if the arrangements of a re-sit will apply to school candidates; if not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Civil Service
(in the absence of Secretary for Education and Manpower)


4. Hon Miriam LAU to ask: (Translation)

Regarding two-way flyovers with no central divider either on part or the whole of their lengths, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the number of traffic accidents involving head-on collisions of vehicles which occurred on such flyovers, the resultant casualties, as well as the percentage of such accidents in the territory-wide figure, in each of the past three years;

    (b)whether it plans to retrofit central dividers on such flyovers; if so, of the details of the plan; if not, the reasons for that; and

    (c)whether it plans to convert the traffic on such flyovers to one-way operation so as to minimize traffic accidents involving head-on collisions of vehicles; if so, of the details of the plan; if not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works

5. Dr Hon LO Wing-lok to ask:
(Translation)

The Administration informed this Council on 17 March that the Hospital Authority ("HA") had transferred to the other two Directors the professional services responsibilities of the post of Director (Professional Services and Human Resources). However, HA announced on 30 March the cancellation of the above arrangement, and the transfer of the incumbent Director (Professional Services and Public Affairs) to the above post with effect from 1 April. With regard to HA's staff planning for the work on human resources and public affairs, and the specification of responsibilities of senior management staff, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:
    (a)the respective total numbers of senior staff responsible for the work on human resources and public affairs in the headquarters of HA, hospital clusters and public hospitals at present, as well as their responsibilities and the total expenditures on the remuneration and benefits respectively;

    (b)if HA has assessed the need to have one Director and one Deputy Director concurrently for undertaking the work on human resources, given that the incumbent Deputy Director (Human Resources) who assumed duty on 25 November 2002 was appointed for a period of three years; if the assessment result confirms the need, the justifications for that; if the assessment result shows otherwise, whether HA has terminated the employment contract with the above Deputy Director prematurely; if it has, the time of such termination and the amount of compensation involved; and

    (c)the criteria and rules adopted by HA in determining the addition, deletion and merging of senior management posts, and in specifying the responsibilities of these senior staff?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food

6. Hon Abraham SHEK to ask:
(Translation)

It is learnt that one of the major co-operation programmes of the Expert Group on Co-operation in Education under the Hong Kong Guangdong Joint Co-operation Conference is to participate in the teaching programmes of the Guangzhou University Town. It is also reported that some Hong Kong tertiary institutions have been running teaching programmes jointly with Mainland institutions in the Mainland. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the content, purpose and approach of as well as the financial contribution arrangements for the co-operation programme in relation to the Guangzhou University Town teaching programme;

    (b)whether surveys have been conducted on the amounts of expenditures borne by Hong Kong tertiary institutions in running teaching programmes jointly with Mainland institutions in the Mainland over the past five years and whether they included funding from the University Grants Committee ("UGC"); if such surveys have been conducted, of the findings; if not, the reasons for that; and

    (c)if the expenditures mentioned in part (b) above included funding from UGC, whether the Hong Kong authorities have regulated such public-funded teaching programmes in the Mainland, and of the criteria adopted by the relevant Hong Kong institutions for determining that such teaching programmes are compatible with the interests or needs of Hong Kong, as well as the measures taken by the Hong Kong authorities to regulate the use of the public funds in the Mainland?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Civil Service
(in the absence of Secretary for Education and Manpower)


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

Regarding the contact and communication with members of the Election Committee, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the number of formal meetings it has held with members of the Election Committee in respect of public policy issues since the completion of election for the Second Chief Executive, as well as the details of the public policy issues discussed at such meetings;

    (b)in order to have a better grasp of the public opinion during the administration process, whether the authorities have assessed the necessity of keeping close contact with members of the Election Committee and the adequacy of the existing work in this regard; if so, of the assessment results; and

    (c)whether it has plans to enhance the contact and communication with members of the Election Committee; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Constitutional Affairs

8. Hon Andrew CHENG to ask:
(Translation)

Regarding traffic volume in the Central and Wanchai, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)how the actual volume-to-capacity (v/c) ratio of vehicular traffic at critical sections of Gloucester Road during peak hours in 2001 compares with the forecast ratio in respect of 2001 as stated in the Second Comprehensive Transport Study, which was completed in 1989; if these two ratios differ, of the reasons for that;

    (b)on the basis of the assumptions used in the Third Comprehensive Transport Study, which was completed in 1999, of the respective estimated v/c ratios of Connaught Road Central, Harcourt Road, Gloucester Road and Central-Wanchai Bypass in 2011 and 2016; and

    (c)of the forecast vehicular traffic arising from the completion of the developments on the reclaimed land earmarked for commercial uses under the Central Reclamation Phase III Project, as well as the impact of such vehicular traffic on the v/c ratios of the roads mentioned in (b) above in 2011 and 2016?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works

9. Hon LI Fung-ying to ask:
(Translation)

It is reported that the cleanliness of streets has been unsatisfactory after the outsourcing of street cleaning services by the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department. As a result, the Department has to deploy its workers of the Cleansing and Hygiene Section under the civil service establishment to render assistance, which may be tantamount to a waste of public money. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the number and names of the streets the cleaning services of which have been outsourced;

    (b)of which of the above streets the cleanliness was complained about in the past year, and the number of such complaints in respect of each of these streets, grouped by districts in which they are situated; and

    (c)whether contractors of cleaning services have been penalized during the above period for violation of the terms and conditions of outsourcing contracts; if so, of the details of the violations and penalties?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food

10. Hon Bernard CHAN to ask:


Will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the categories and amounts of pollutants emitted by marine transportation vehicles, as well as the amounts of litter found in Hong Kong waters, in each of the past three years; and

    (b)what measures have been taken by the authorities to reduce the above emissions and dumping at sea; and what would be done by them to further reduce the pollution?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works

11. Hon Cyd HO to ask:
(Translation)

It has been reported that at about 4 am on 2 April this year, protesters and journalists at the Central Government Offices ("CGO") were removed by the Police and the security guards of CGO from the scene. The protesters were there opposing the move by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress to interpret the provisions of the Basic Law concerning the political structure of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, whereas the journalists were reporting at the scene. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether the Director of Administration who is responsible for the management of CGO:
    (a)was at the scene to personally look into and deal with the demonstration activities taking place inside and outside the precincts of CGO at that time; if not, the rationale for being able to handle such activities without being there;

    (b)made the decision to remove the protesters and journalists within the precincts of CGO, including using force to clear the scene; if so, of the rationale for making the decision; if not, who made the decision; and

    (c)has the duty to safeguard the public's right of peaceful expression and the press media's right to know within the precincts of CGO; if so, whether an assessment has been made to ascertain if she properly performed her duty when handling the above demonstration activities; if assessment has been made, of the results; if she has no such duty, whether the person(s) making the removal decision had consulted the Chief Executive and principal officials beforehand to ensure that the rights of the public and journalists were duly respected?
Public Officer to reply : Chief Secretary for Administration

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

It has been reported that on the evening of the 11th last month, temporary instability in the electricity supply from CLP Power Hong Kong Limited in some parts of the territory caused operational failure of at least 12 elevators, with some people trapped in them. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)whether it knows the causes of the incident;

    (b)of the number of incidents of interruption or instability in the electricity supply over the past three years, together with their causes;

    (c)whether it has reviewed the effectiveness of the measures adopted by the two power companies to prevent failure in the electricity supply systems; if it has, of the details of the review; and

    (d)of the mechanism to monitor that the technical people employed by the two power companies and their contractors of outsourced services possess the relevant trade skills, so as to ensure the reliability of the electricity supply systems?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Economic Development and Labour

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

English/Putonghua teachers in government, subsidized, Direct Subsidy Scheme, and private primary, secondary and special schools in Hong Kong are required to have attained the language proficiency requirement ("LPR") for teachers by 31 August 2006. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)among the English/Putonghua teachers in these schools in the current school year, of the respective numbers of teachers who

    (i)are exempted from LPR;

    (ii)have scored a pass or above in the Language Proficiency Assessment for Teachers ("LPAT");

    (iii)took LPAT held in March this year;

    (iv)have completed LPAT training courses;

    (v)are attending LPAT training courses;

    (vi)are attending relevant degree courses in order to be granted exemption;

    (vii)have enrolled in the LPAT training courses which have not yet commenced; and

    (viii)have enrolled in the relevant degree courses which have not yet commenced;

    (b)of the number of English/Putonghua teachers that these schools will need in the next three school years;

    (c)whether it has evaluated the number of English/Putonghua teachers who will not have attained the LPR after the above-mentioned deadline, if it has, of the method and outcome of the evaluation; and

    (d)if the evaluation outcome indicates that there will be teachers who will not have attained LPR, how the authorities will handle those teachers and of the measures to resolve the problem of inadequate English/Putonghua teachers who have attained LPR?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Civil Service
(in the absence of Secretary for Education and Manpower)


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

The Social Welfare Department standardized the handling of applications by the elderly for subsidized long term care ("LTC") services in November last year. Upon registration and completion of assessment on their care needs, applicants will be registered on the central waiting list ("CWL") to wait for appropriate services. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the following since the establishment of the CWL,

    (i)the respective numbers of newly registered cases the relevant authorities have received regarding application for residential and community care services;

    (ii)the number of cases on which assessment has been completed;

    (iii)the number of the elderly who have been assessed to be eligible for residential care services and, among them, of the number of those who are willing to continue to reside in the community and accept a switch to community care services;

    (iv)the number of cases in which the applicants have rejected the services offered by the authority concerned and the reasons for rejection, with a breakdown by type of services;

    (v)the respective average waiting times for the elderly who have been offered residential and community care services;

    (vi)the number of cases in which applicants are assessed to be ineligible for the services applied and the reasons for ineligibility;

    (b)whether there have been any LTC service places not being utilized; if so, of the details;

    (c)given that prior to the implementation of the CWL, applicants for community care services could approach individual service units directly to enquire about the queuing situation, of the channels available to them to make such enquiries at present; and

    (d)whether the applicants can choose the organizations to provide community care services to them?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food

15. Hon Michael MAK to ask:
(Translation)

It is learnt that the Hospital Authority ("HA") is going to recruit a batch of doctors and nurses in this financial year to fill vacancies and maintain its level of services. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:
    (a)which departments of public hospitals are now suffering from the most severe shortage of nursing grade staff;

    (b)of the numbers of each rank of doctors and nurses to be recruited by HA, as well as their remuneration and conditions of service; and

    (c)whether HA plans to recruit staff of the allied health grades in this financial year; if so, of a breakdown by grades and ranks of the number, remuneration and conditions of service of these staff; if not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food

16. Hon Henry WU to ask:
(Translation)

Regarding licensed brokers' applications for approval by the Securities and Futures Commission ("SFC") in respect of subordinated loans or loans facilities obtained by them over the past five years, will the Government set out in chronological order the amount involved in and the time taken to process each of the approved and rejected applications; and the reasons for the rejection? Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury

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

It has been reported that to prevent crimes of clandestine photo-taking with mobile phones bearing built-in camera functions, the Police have sought views of the Department of Justice ("D of J") on instituting prosecution by invoking various ordinances. D of J has issued guidelines to the Police, suggesting that those who are suspected of general clandestine photo-taking with such phones should be charged with loitering and disorderly conduct, whilst repeat offenders should be charged with breaching public decency. Moreover, to address the problem of clandestine photo-taking, the South Korean government is considering stipulating that a beep sound of not less than 65 decibels shall be given off by such phones when their camera function is activated. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the details of the above D of J's guidelines; and

    (b)whether it will formulate measures, such as that being deliberated by the South Korean government, to prevent clandestine photo-taking with such mobile phones; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

18. Hon Albert CHAN to ask:
(Translation)

Regarding the West Rail Construction Project ("WRCP"), will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:
    (a)the respective total expenditures of the various projects under WRCP as at the end of last month and how they compare with the originally approved estimated expenditures; where there is over-spending, the organization(s) to shoulder the extra expenditures; and

    (b)the number and amounts of claims received by the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation from project contractors, and the number of such cases which have been settled; where there is over-spending, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works

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

It has been reported that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government and the Guangdong Provincial Government have reached a consensus in principle on the supply of Dongjiang water to Hong Kong. A water supply system with a limited degree of flexibility will be introduced under the new water supply agreement. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)when the above system will be implemented, of the minimum amount (in cubic metres) of Dongjiang water that the Hong Kong authorities will be required to purchase under the system, and how the system compares to the current one;

    (b)of the estimated amount of savings in expenditure that can be achieved annually from the implementation of the flexible water supply system, and how such savings will be put to use; and

    (c)whether it will continue to negotiate for greater flexibility in the water supply system; if so, of the details?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works

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

As unsolicited faxed advertisements are a nuisance to the recipients, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the respective numbers of complaints in this regard received last year by the Office of the Telecommunications Authority and fixed telecommunication network services operators, as well as the follow-up actions they have taken; and

    (b)whether it plans to legislate against junk faxed advertisements?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology

III. Bills

Second Reading (Debate to resume)


Appropriation Bill 2004 : Financial Secretary

IV. Motion on Adjournment

Hon Frederick FUNG:
(Translation)

That the Council do now adjourn for the purpose of debating the Report by the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on whether there is a need to amend the methods for selecting the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in 2007 and for forming the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in 2008.

Public Officer to attend : To be advised by the Administration

V. Motions

Proposed resolution under the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance

Secretary for Economic Development and Labour to move the motion in the Appendix.


Clerk to the Legislative Council