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A 03/04-32
Legislative Council
Agenda
Wednesday 16 June 2004 at 2:30 pm
I. Tabling of Papers| 1. No.90 - | Report of changes to the approved Estimates of Expenditure approved during the fourth quarter of 2003-04 (Public Finance Ordinance : Section 8)
| (to be presented by Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury)
| | 2. Report of the Bills Committee on Inland Revenue (Amendment) Bill 2000
| (to be presented by Dr Hon Eric LI, Chairman of the Bills Committee)
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II. Questions
1. Hon James TIEN to ask: (Translation)
Residents in Sha Tau Kok have reflected to me that they have been asking for opening up the Frontier Closed Area ("FCA") over the years to alleviate their inconvenience and facilitate public access to the area, with the aim of improving the economy and employment of the local people. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:
| (a) | it has considered a total or partial opening up of the Sha Tau Kok FCA; if it has, of the details and timetable, if not, the reasons for that;
| | (b) | it has assessed the impact of opening up Sha Tau Kok FCA on its economy, employment and tourism etc; if it has, of the assessment results; if not, the reasons for that; and
| | (c) | it has considered developing Sha Tau Kok into a recreational and diversified transit town, so as to relieve the pressure of passenger flow in other immigration control points?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security
2. Hon Michael MAK to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that while the total number of complaints about insurance claims received by the Insurance Claims Complaints Bureau ("ICCB") decreased by 12% over the previous year, the number of complaints in respect of claims on medical insurance and personal accident insurance increased by about 30% respectively. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:
| (a) | it has assessed the cause of the rise in the number of complaints about the above two types of insurance claims;
| | (b) | it knows the number of complaints, broken down by the cause of complaints, about medical insurance claims received by ICCB in each of the past three years and, among them, the number of cases in which the insurance companies were ordered to pay compensation to the complainants; and
| | (c) | the Office of the Commissioner for Insurance has discussed with trade organizations of the insurance industry ways to reduce complaints about the two types of insurance claims?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
3. Dr Hon TANG Siu-tong to ask: (Translation)
Regarding smoking among young people, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the current number of young people who smoke regularly;
| | (b) | given that during the period from February 2001 to April this year, the relevant authorities received a total of six complaints about the sale of tobacco products to minors, of the actions the authorities have taken to follow up these complaints, and whether they have assessed if the figure reflects the actual situation; and
| | (c) | of the channels through which the authorities monitor the sale of tobacco products to young people by shops and newspaper vendors?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food
4. Hon TAM Yiu-chung to ask: (Translation)
With regard to improving the tourism facilities in outlying islands, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether it has plans to set up a water recreation centre at Silver Mine Bay, conduct environmental improvement works at Silver Mine Bay Beach, including removing rubbles, planting more trees and dredging the brooks flowing to the Beach and to restore the deserted Silver Mine Cave and provide tourist facilities near the cave; if it has such plans, of their details; if not, the reasons for that; and
| | (b) | of the plans to develop tourism in other places of outlying islands?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Economic Development and Labour
5. Ir Dr Hon HO Chung-tai to ask: (Translation)
The Financial Secretary pointed out in this year's Budget Speech that the Government had just completed the preliminary feasibility study on the reprovisioning of the Sha Tin Water Treatment Works ("STWTW") through Public Private Partnership ("PPP"), and the results were encouraging. However, in Australia and the United States, there have been unsuccessful cases of private sector participation in the provision of utility services, or cases in which the services provided have seriously affected the local people's livelihood. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether staff of the Water Supplies Department were involved in the study; if so, of the details of their involvement; if not, the reasons for that;
| | (b) | of the basis for drawing the conclusion that the study results are encouraging; and
| | (c) | whether it has assessed the implications of the plan for the reprovisioning of STWTW through PPP on public health, as well as the economy and employment situation of Hong Kong; if it has, of the assessment results?
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| Public Officer to reply | : | Secretary for Economic Development and Labour
(in the absence of Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works)
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6. Hon WONG Sing-chi to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the impact of the living environment on children, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the number of families on the Waiting List which have children family members and whose applications for public rental housing ("PRH") have been frozen due to failure to satisfy the residence rule; the number of children involved;
| | (b) | as Article 27 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which is applicable to Hong Kong, provides that State Parties should provide children in need with material assistance including housing, how the authorities will implement the provisions of the Convention in this regard; whether the existing housing policy will be revised to accord priority to the PRH applications by families with children; and
| | (c) | whether it has assessed the impact of a poverty-stricken living environment on the life of children after they have grown up, including the possibility of creating a poverty cycle; if so, of the assessment results?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands
*7. Hon WONG Yung-kan to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the assistance offered to Hong Kong ("HK") residents who run into trouble overseas, will the Government inform this Council of:
| (a) | the total number of cases lodged in the past three years with the Chinese consular offices in foreign countries and the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region ("HKSAR") in which assistance was sought by HK residents in overseas jurisdictions and, among such cases, the number of those in which the HK residents concerned were allegedly treated with violence by overseas law enforcement authorities, as well as the average time taken by the HKSAR Government to complete the handling of a case of this nature; and
| | (b) | the major types of assistance offered by the HKSAR Government to HK residents who run into trouble overseas; whether it has provided and will provide assistance to such HK residents jointly with the Chinese consular offices in foreign countries, and whether it will refrain from intervening if the relevant consular offices have already proceeded to handle the requests for assistance?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security
*8. Hon HUI Cheung-ching to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the setting up of offshore companies by Hong Kong enterprises, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the number of Hong Kong enterprises which set up offshore companies in Macao over the past two years, and the types of trades and businesses in which they are engaged;
| | (b) | whether it has assessed the impact of the relocation of business by Hong Kong enterprises overseas on Hong Kong; if it has, of the assessment results; if not, the reasons for that; and
| | (c) | whether it has studied or formulated any corresponding measures to prevent Hong Kong enterprises from relocating their business overseas, and whether it has considered offering tax incentives to new industries or new investment projects at or exceeding a specified amount of money, provided that this will not be unfair to local companies, so as to maintain Hong Kong's attractiveness?
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| Public Officer to reply | : | Secretary for Economic Development and Labour
(in the absence of Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology)
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*9. Hon CHAN Kwok-keung to ask: (Translation)
Since the launch of the Voluntary Departure Scheme ("VDS") in 2000, more than 3 000 staff of the Housing Department ("HD") have departed. Regarding the number of staff in HD and their workload, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the respective numbers of HD staff before and after the VDS was implemented and the extent of the change, in respect of each grade;
| | (b) | whether it has assessed if the workload of the remaining staff has increased due to the departure of their colleagues; if the assessment result is in the negative, of the justifications for that; and
| | (c) | whether HD plans to further reduce the number of staff deployed to manage public housing estates; if so, of the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands
*10. Hon Kenneth TING to ask: (Translation)
Will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether it has studied and predicted the development trend of e-commerce in Hong Kong within the next five years;
| | (b) | how the present pace and mode of Hong Kong's industrial and commercial enterprises in utilizing e-commerce for their business development compare to those of their counterparts in Europe, the United States of America and the Mainland; and
| | (c) | whether it has studied the monitoring of e-commerce development in Hong Kong through amending or enacting legislation?
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| Public Officer to reply | : | Secretary for Economic Development and Labour
(in the absence of Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology)
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*11. Hon Howard YOUNG to ask: (Translation)
Members of the tourism industry have reflected to me that traffic obstructions often occur at tourist spots such as the Peak, Temple Street and the "Ladies Market" and there is insufficient parking space in the vicinity. Coaches have to park closely one behind another at the roadside and vehicle bumping often occur when they pull off due to the limited manoeuvring space. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the respective numbers of complaints about the traffic obstruction and insufficient parking space at tourist spots received in each of the past five years;
| | (b) | whether it has put in place temporary measures to alleviate the problem of insufficient parking space at tourist spots; if it has, of the details of the measures; if not, the reasons for that; and
| | (c) | whether it has long-term plans to provide additional parking sites for coaches in the vicinity of tourist spots?
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| Public Officer to reply | : | Secretary for Economic Development and Labour
(in the absence of Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works)
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*12. Hon Emily LAU to ask:
Executive Council ("ExCo") Members are required to declare certain types of interests in a Register of Members' Interests, which is available for public inspection on request at the ExCo Secretariat. ExCo Members are also required to declare to the Chief Executive, on a confidential basis, additional information on financial interests relating to shareholdings in companies and beneficial interests in the form of contracts traded on the Hong Kong Futures Exchange, held either on their own behalf or jointly with a close relative, and currency transactions in the amount of HK$200,000 or more. In this connection, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council:
| (a) | of the reasons for not making the Register of Members' Interests available for public inspection on the Government web-sites; and
| | (b) | whether they have assessed if withholding from the public information on the aforesaid financial interests declared by ExCo Members is in compliance with the principles of enhancing the openness, transparency and accountability of their governance; and whether they plan to make public these financial interests declared by ExCo Members; if they have no such plan, of the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Chief Secretary for Administration
*13. Hon Henry WU to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the scheme to provide green corners at schools, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the total number of schools participating in the scheme so far;
| | (b) | of the details of the green corner facilities of various schools; and
| | (c) | whether it has carried out ongoing assessments to find out if the scheme has achieved the expected objectives; and whether it has reviewed if the schools have been provided with adequate ancillary support in this regard, including teachers and other supplementary software and hardware; if so, of the assessment and review results; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education and Manpower
*14. Hon Michael MAK to ask: (Translation)
In regard to the Advanced Practice Nurse ("APN") Pilot Scheme implemented by the Hospital Authority ("HA"), will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:
| (a) | the respective numbers of APNs employed on contract terms and fixed terms and, among them, the respective numbers of contract and fixed-term APNs who had civil servant status prior to their appointment to such posts, with breakdowns by whether they have given up or are retaining such status, or have not yet decided;
| | (b) | whether HA has issued guidelines to all nursing staff on the division of responsibilities and cooperation arrangements between APNs and other nursing staff; if it has, of the details of such guidelines; if not, the reasons for that;
| | (c) | the equivalent rank of APNs in the current nursing grade; and
| | (d) | if the promotion opportunities of other nursing staff not joining the APN Pilot Scheme will be affected; if so, of the details in this regard?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food
*15. Hon Albert CHAN to ask: (Translation)
I have recently received complaints from the public that some directorate grade civil servants spend several million dollars of public funds each year on attending meetings and activities held outside Hong Kong by international organizations. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | in respect of each bureau and department, of the total number of trips incurring public expenditure made by directorate grade officers last year for the purpose of attending meetings or activities held overseas by international organizations, and the total public expenditure; the top 50 officers who made the highest number of such trips, the number of trips made and the public expenditure incurred by each of them; and
| | (b) | whether the Administration has put in place measures to ensure that the participation of directorate grade officers in these meetings and activities conforms to the principle of proper use of public funds; if it has, of the details of these measures; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Civil Service
*16. Hon Emily LAU to ask: (Translation)
Recently, some members of the public called up radio phone-in programmes and Members' offices, claiming that some local people and Mainland officials or influential people had pressurised them or promised to offer them pecuniary benefits in an attempt to coerce or induce them into voting for candidates belonging to a particular political party in the Legislative Council elections to be held in September. Some members of the public even claimed that they had been asked to take photos of their ballot papers while voting to prove their voting decisions. In this connection, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council:
| (a) | whether they have received such complaints; if so, of the details;
| | (b) | whether they have assessed if electors will be perplexed by such incidents and even lose confidence in the integrity of the elections; if the assessment results are in the affirmative, of the measures in place to restore the confidence of electors and the details of such measures; if the assessment results are in the negative, of the justifications for that; and
| | (c) | of the relevant Mainland offices with which they have made enquiries on the above allegations which involved Mainland officials or people, and the specific responses received?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Constitutional Affairs
*17. Hon LAU Kong-wah to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the illegal trading of industrial diesel oil for use as motor vehicle fuel, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the number of prosecutions instituted against vehicle owners or drivers for such offence in each of the past three years, together with a breakdown of the classes of the vehicles involved;
| | (b) | whether the criteria for making a decision on forfeiture of the vehicles concerned include the number of occasions on which the vehicles have been involved in such offences; if so, whether it has assessed if the vehicle owners concerned can avoid the forfeiture of their vehicles by changing the vehicles' number plates, so as to conceal the vehicles' previous involvement in such offences; if the assessment result indicates that they can, whether such practice is common and how it will plug the loophole; and
| | (c) | of the number of enforcement actions taken by the relevant departments in each of the past three years against such offence, and whether it has assessed the effectiveness of such actions?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
*18. Ir Dr Hon HO Chung-tai to ask: (Translation)
Will the Government inform this Council of the total amount of public money spent for the purpose of capturing the crocodile at Shan Pui River?
| Public Officer to reply | : | Secretary for Economic Development and Labour
(in the absence of Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works)
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*19. Hon WONG Yung-kan to ask: (Translation)
Regarding food safety, will the Government inform this Council of:
| (a) | the existing measures to regulate the safety of foods not imported through local dealers, and the percentage of the samples of such foods among all food samples taken in the routine sampling inspections of foods in the past three years;
| | (b) | the alert mechanism in place to enable the authorities to obtain information on such foods upon their importation, and whether such a mechanism includes a requirement for food importers to declare information on the imported foods; if so, how the authorities deal with the cases where the declared information does not conform to the facts; if not, the reasons for that; and
| | (c) | the specific details about the operation of the food safety notification mechanism set up by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the State General Administration for Quality Supervision and Inspection and Quarantine, and whether it has discussed with the Mainland government departments responsible for food quality inspection the recently disclosed incidents of substandard foods in the Mainland; if it has, of the discussion results; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food
*20. Hon Albert CHAN to ask: (Translation)
I have recently received a number of complaints that some public rental housing ("PRH") units are not installed with drain pipes for air-conditioners, causing water to drip from air-conditioners. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the names of the PRH estates not installed with drain pipes for air-conditioners and the numbers of buildings and residential units in each estate;
| | (b) | whether it has concrete measures to help the residents tackle the problem; if it has, of the details of such measures; if not, the reasons for that; and
| | (c) | of the number of complaints received in each of the past three years, and whether it has assessed the impact of the dripping on the environmental hygiene of the housing estates?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands
*For written reply.
III. Bills
First Reading
Supplementary Appropriation (2003-2004) Bill
Second Reading (Debate to be adjourned)
| Supplementary Appropriation (2003-2004) Bill | : | Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
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Second Reading (Debate to resume), Committee Stage and Third Reading
| Inland Revenue (Amendment) Bill 2000 | : | Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
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IV. Motions
- Proposed resolution under the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance
Secretary for Economic Development and Labour to move the motion in the Appendix.
- Proposed resolution under the Public Finance Ordinance
Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury to move the following motion:
RESOLVED, with respect to the Land Fund established by resolution made and passed by the Provisional Legislative Council on 23 July 1997 and published in the Gazette as Legal Notice No. 398 of 1997, that a sum of $40,000,000,000 be transferred from the Land Fund to the general revenue.
- Proposed resolution under the Airport Authority Ordinance
Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury to move the following motion:
RESOLVED that -
| (a) | the authorized share capital of the Airport Authority referred to in section 23(1) of the Airport Authority Ordinance (Cap. 483) be reduced by an amount of $6,000 million to $30,648 million;
| | (b) | the Airport Authority shall distribute to the Government in cash an amount of $6,000 million, such amount in the hands of the Government to be credited to the Capital Investment Fund established by resolution made and passed by the Legislative Council on 14 March 1990 under section 29 of the Public Finance Ordinance (Cap. 2); and
| | (c) | with effect from the date of receipt by the Government of the distribution referred to in paragraph (b), shares previously issued at par by the Airport Authority in accordance with section 23(3)(a) of the Airport Authority Ordinance (Cap. 483) and representing at the time of such issue a value of $6,000 million in total be cancelled.
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V. Members' Motions
- Review of land policy
Hon Abraham SHEK:
That, as land is a precious asset possessed by all people of Hong Kong and is also an important source of revenue for the Government, and given that the West Kowloon Cultural District development project involves substantial subsidy in the form of 40 hectares of land (as large as 50 standard soccer pitches), this Council urges the Administration to critically review its policy, which is a remnant of the colonial era, of subsidizing commercially operated infrastructural projects in the form of land, based on the principle that, apart from ensuring an adequate supply of land for public housing development, the supply of land should be determined by the market according to demands and prices, in order that the Government can, through fair market competition, gain the maximum financial benefits, avoid disorderly development and the loss of public funds, safeguard public interest and maintain market stability.
Amendments to Hon Abraham SHEK's motion
| | (i) | Hon IP Kwok-him:
To add "and other developments compatible with the public interest" after "public housing development".
| | (ii) | Hon WONG Sing-chi:
To add "and commercially operated infrastructural projects, including those involving land grants to public corporations such as the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation, MTR Corporation Limited and Airport Authority, should be subject to the approval of the Legislative Council," after "demands and prices,"; to add "open and" after "through"; to delete "and" after "avoid disorderly development" and substitute with ","; and to add "as well as disposal of land at low prices" after "the loss of public funds".
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Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands
- Promoting Hong Kong as a world-class financial services and asset management centre
Hon Ambrose LAU: (Translation)
That, to achieve the goal mentioned by the Chief Executive in this year's Policy Address to develop Hong Kong into an international financial services and asset management centre such as Switzerland, this Council urges the Government to expeditiously and widely consult the views of the industry and other sectors, and to implement a series of measures to strengthen the competitive edge of Hong Kong's financial industry, including enhancing manpower training, improving the English standard of Hong Kong people, upgrading the financial infrastructure, as well as studying the provision of more tax concessions, so as to provide the entire Asia with high value-added services in fund management, corporate investment management, personal banking, insurance sales and various investment and savings instruments.
Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
Clerk to the Legislative Council
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