A 04/05-18

Legislative Council

Agenda

Wednesday 2 February 2005 at 2:30pm

I. Tabling of Papers

Subsidiary Legislation / Instruments L.N. No.
Official Languages (Alteration of Text under Section 4D) (Medical Officer of Schools) Order9/2005

Other Papers

1. No.53-Occupational Safety and Health Council
Annual Report 2003-2004
(to be presented by Secretary for Economic Development and Labour)

2. No.54-Report by the Controller, Government Flying Service on the Administration of the Government Flying Service Welfare Fund for the year ended 31 March 2004
(to be presented by Secretary for Security)

3. No.55-Report by the Commissioner of Correctional Services of Hong Kong Incorporated on the Administration of the Correctional Services Department Welfare Fund for the year ended 31 March 2004
(to be presented by Secretary for Security)

II. Questions

1. Hon Audrey EU to ask: (Translation)

The Hong Kong and China Gas Company Limited will introduce natural gas as a feedstock for town gas production in 2006. Regarding the introduction of natural gas to enhance competition in the gas fuel market, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)how the use of town gas produced from natural gas compares with the direct use of natural gas in terms of energy efficiency;

    (b)whether it has regulated the use of natural gas in Hong Kong and formulated policies to encourage the introduction of natural gas; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and

    (c)whether it has formulated measures to enhance competition in the local gas fuel market; if it has, of the details of such measures; if not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Economic Development and Labour

2. Dr Hon Joseph LEE Kok-long to ask: (Translation)

It has been reported that there had been cases where medical devices intended for single use were reused in public hospitals. The reuse of such devices may enhance the cost-effectiveness but at the same time will increase the risk of infection on patients. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:
    (a)the total number of times the public hospitals reused such devices in the past four years, together with a breakdown by the types of devices;

    (b)the procedures for sterilizing the devices in question for reuse and the results of risk assessment on patients becoming infected due to the reuse of these devices; and

    (c)whether the patients will know before receiving treatment that it involves the reuse of such devices; if not, the reasons for that, and whether they have the right to choose whether or not to accept the reuse of such devices; if they do not have such right, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food

3. Hon TSANG Yok-sing to ask: (Translation)

It has been reported that in the middle of last month, some mass media organisations received a video clip showing a male psychiatric in-patient of Kwai Chung Hospital massaging a male nurse. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)when the Hospital Authority ("HA") learnt of the incident;

    (b)whether HA has investigated the incident; if so, how the investigation was conducted and whether it will release the findings; and

    (c)whether HA will review the operation of Kwai Chung Hospital, and of the mechanism for safeguarding psychiatric in-patients against unreasonable treatments?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food

4. Hon LEUNG Kwok-hung to ask: (Translation)

It has been reported that in order to achieve savings, the Education and Manpower Bureau has not only outsourced the provision of government evening school courses since 2003, leading to substantial increase in tuition and reduced enrolment in the courses, but also has not decided whether or not to continue subsidizing such courses in the next school year. Some students taking such courses have proposed that the Bureau should revert to subsidizing the relevant courses directly, or include the evening secondary school courses, evening primary school courses and evening English courses in the Reimbursable Courses List of the Continuing Education Fund. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the tuition levels as well as the numbers, genders and age groups of the students enrolled in government evening schools in each of the past three years;

    (b)when it will decide whether or not to continue subsidizing the relevant courses in the next school year; and

    (c)whether it will accept the above proposals; if not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply :Secretary for the Civil Service
(in the absence of Secretary for Education and Manpower)

5. Hon James TO to ask: (Translation)

On the 18th of last month, the Deputy Director of the State Council's Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office said in public that, in his opinion, the Legislative Council ("LegCo") would violate the Basic Law if it paid tribute to Mr ZHAO Zi-yang, who passed away recently. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:
    (a)it has contacted the above official or other officials of the Central Government to find out the justification for stating that paying such tribute would violate the Basic Law; if it has, of the justification; if not, the reason for that;

    (b)it is aware of any legal advice to the effect that paying tribute to the late state leaders at meetings of the LegCo or District Councils will violate the Basic Law or go against public interest; and

    (c)it is aware of any legal advice to the effect that the LegCo should not carry out activities not stated in the Basic Law, or else will violate the Basic Law?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Constitutional Affairs

*6. Hon Patrick LAU Sau-shing to ask: (Translation)

It has been reported that the Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works stated in late May last year that the Government would carefully study the project proposals submitted by the MTR Corporation Limited ("MTRCL") for the construction of the West Hong Kong Island Line and South Hong Kong Island Line respectively, and estimated that decisions on these projects would be made in five to six months. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council of:
    (a)the results of the studies on the above two projects; and

    (b)the decisions on the two projects; if the authorities decide to approve one or both of the two projects, whether they will consider requesting MTRCL to expeditiously implement the project(s) and publish the timetable for the construction works; if the authorities decide not to approve one or both of the two projects, the factors considered by them in making the decision?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works

*7. Hon Ronny TONG Ka-wah to ask: (Translation)

The Secretary for Economic Development and Labour advised in last December that the Competition Policy Advisory Group would commission an independent consultant to investigate the competition aspects in the local retail fuel market, with a view to identifying whether there was market monopoly by oil companies and determining whether it was necessary to promote competition in the fuel market through legislation or other means. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council of:
    (a)the respective commencement and expected completion dates of the above-mentioned investigation, and whether the Administration will publish the entire investigation report;

    (b)the criteria adopted for selecting the consultant, and whether a consultant has been commissioned; if so, of the name of the consultant and its relevant experience;

    (c)the directions the consultant will follow when conducting the investigation, and whether it will assess the competition in the fuel market from the perspective of fair competition; and

    (d)the scope of the investigation, and whether it will cover the overall operation of the market or be confined to issues relating to the pricing of oil products only?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Economic Development and Labour

*8. Hon Abraham SHEK to ask:

In December 2004, the Government proposed to gradually raise the fees for construction noise permits ("CNPs") in respect of percussive piling and other construction works in the next six years, in order to raise the cost recovery rates for issuing such permits from the existing respective levels of 33% and 27% to 100%. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the proposed increases in CNP fees in each of the next six years;

    (b)of the justifications for aiming at achieving full-cost recovery in six years' time;

    (c)whether it has consulted the construction industry on the pace of increases in CNP fees; if it has, of the consultation results; and

    (d)of the measures it will take to reduce the costs of issuing CNPs?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works

*9. Hon KWONG Chi-kin to ask: (Translation)

Some staff unions have reflected to me that various government departments, including those operating trading funds, adopt different methods for handling complaints against civil servants' performance. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the procedures for handling the above complaints;

    (b)whether government departments will handle anonymous complaints of the above nature; if they will, of the names of the relevant departments and the details of how they handle and follow up these complaints; and

    (c)whether it has a standardized mechanism applicable to all departments for handling complaints against civil servants' performance; if not, the reasons for not doing so, and whether it will consider putting in place the relevant mechanism?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Civil Service

*10. Hon Abraham SHEK to ask:

According to the statistics from the Census and Statistics Department, by 2033, persons who are 65 or over will account for 27% of Hong Kong's total population. On the other hand, the total fertility rate in Hong Kong in 2003 was at an extremely low level of 941 children per 1 000 women, well below the replacement level of 2 100 children per 1 000 women. It has been reported that due to the recent economic recession, some fertile couples have chosen not to raise children. But they may retire or lose their jobs in 20 years. By then, the shrinking young generations will have to shoulder a heavy tax burden to finance the provision of medical and social facilities. This will take away any incentive to raise children and the vicious cycle repeats. The Administration has set up a Task Force on Population Policy. However, apart from presenting a report of the Task Force, the Administration has not implemented any concrete measure to reverse such an unfavourable trend. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of its short-term and long-term plans to mitigate the above threat to Hong Kong's sustained development; and

    (b)whether there are interim measures to boost Hong Kong's fertility rate?
Public Officer to reply : Chief Secretary for Administration

*11. Hon LI Kwok-ying to ask: (Translation)

It has been reported that some hotels have used unscrupulous practices to promote their memberships. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the nature and number of complaints received by the authorities in the past year, and how they compared to those received in the previous two years;

    (b)how it has followed up such complaints, and what measures are in place to penalize the persons and organizations involved; and

    (c)whether it has studied measures to curb the above unscrupulous promotional practices, so as to protect the rights and interests of consumers?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Economic Development and Labour

*12. Hon Frederick FUNG to ask: (Translation)

Regarding the services provided by the Social Welfare Department ("SWD") and non-governmental organizations to low-income families and women, will the Government inform this Council of:
    (a)the usage rates of the day nurseries and cr?ches subvented by SWD in the past three years, and the usage of such services by low-income families, including the number of persons who received financial assistance through the Fee Assistance Scheme for Child Care Centres and the total amount of assistance granted;

    (b)the number of persons participating in the subsidized After School Care Programme in the past three years and, among them, the percentage of those from low-income families, as well as the respective numbers of participants who were granted full fee and half fee remission; and

    (c)the total number of participants in the Capacity Building Mileage Programme jointly launched by the Women's Commission and other organizations in March 2004 and, among them, the percentage of low-income women?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food

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

Regarding the measures to support the development of the software industry in Hong Kong, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)as The Government Procurement Law of the People's Republic of China provides that, except for specific circumstances, governmental bodies in the Mainland should purchase our own country's goods and services, but the software produced in Hong Kong does not fall within the scope of the above goods and services, whether the Hong Kong authorities will, in the discussions on the third phase of the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement beginning early this year, strive for the inclusion of the software produced by software developers in Hong Kong in the above scope or for the enjoyment of zero tariff treatment by such software;

    (b)given that the Mainland Government has been actively promoting the applications and development of open source software in recent years, whether the Hong Kong authorities will take corresponding measures, allocate resources to encourage the software industry in Hong Kong to develop the above software and strengthen the related manpower training; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and

    (c)in order to strengthen the partnership relationship between the software industries in the Mainland and in Hong Kong, whether the Hong Kong authorities will establish a software centre in Hong Kong to provide software quality testing services and develop the "software development process improvement" technology, so as to support the development of Hong Kong as a collecting and distributing hub of software for the Mainland and overseas regions as well as cooperate with software enterprises in the Mainland to secure orders for outsourced software from all over the world; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology

*14. Hon Howard YOUNG to ask: (Translation)

I have received complaints from members of the tourism industry that the problem of insufficient parking spaces for coaches in the vicinity of popular tourist spots is deteriorating with the growing number of inbound tourists. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)whether it will consider relaxing the prohibition on coaches picking up or setting down passengers at certain restricted zones and allowing them to park and wait on a short-term basis at vacant government lands with no concrete development plans (such as those in North Point and Kowloon Tong) lest they may increase the traffic load on the roads by looping around the tourist spots while waiting to pick up passengers; and

    (b)given that the Administration had advised in its reply to my question on 16 June last year that it would continue to identify additional sites for coach parking and pick-up/set-down, of the latest progress of the site identification exercise concerned?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works

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

It has been reported that industrial pollution in Chiwan of Shekou, which is close to the New Territories, has been serious in recent years. Moreover, the dark smoke dust emitted from the power stations, refuse incineration plants and factories there may drift to the New Territories with the wind and affect the health of local residents. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)whether any air quality monitoring stations have been established in locations within Hong Kong which are close to Chiwan of Shekou; if so, of the recorded air pollution level; if not, how the authorities monitor the situation of the above pollution problem;

    (b)of the months and areas of Hong Kong which are most affected by the dark smoke dust, as projected from wind directions; and

    (c)whether it has discussed with the Shenzhen Municipal Government the options for solving the above pollution problem; if it has, of the progress and results of discussion; if not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works

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

Regarding the management of civil servants' work performance, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the following in each of the years since 2001 -

    (i)the number of civil servants who were not granted an increment as a result of their work performance being assessed as unsatisfactory, with a breakdown by their departments, ranks, years of service and the manners in which the increment was not granted (i.e. stoppage or deferment of increment); the specific circumstances in which their performance was unsatisfactory; and the resultant amount of savings in remuneration expenses; and

    (ii)the number of appeals received from such civil servants against their not being granted an increment, with a breakdown by their departments, ranks, years of service, and the outcome of such appeals;

    (b)in addition to stoppage or deferment of increment, of the alternatives for handling cases in which a civil servant's work performance is assessed as unsatisfactory; the number of civil servants who were subject to each of these alternatives in the past three years, with a breakdown by their departments, ranks and years of service for each of these alternatives; and the number of appeals lodged by the civil servants against the penalties imposed on them, as well as the outcome of these appeals;

    (c)whether it has analyzed the overall work performance of civil servants in recent years; if it has, of the phenomena and problems identified by the analysis, and the follow-up actions to be taken; if not, whether it will consider conducting such an analysis; and

    (d)whether it has conducted a comprehensive assessment on the current management of civil servants' work performance; if it has, of the assessment results; and whether it has considered introducing improvement measures, including overhauling the work performance management system of civil servants; if it has not conducted such assessment, of the reasons for that, and whether it will do so, if it will, of the details and the implementation date?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Civil Service

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

Currently, the hilltops and slopes in many country parks do not have trees growing on them. Without the protection of plants, they are exposed to serious erosion, hence prone to landslips and soil loss, causing visual blights to the country parks. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the total number of trees planted by the authorities in the country parks in the past three years and the expenditure incurred; and

    (b)whether the authorities have plans to plant trees in the country parks over the next five years; if so, of the number of trees they intend to plant each year; if not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works

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

Regarding the enhancement of the professional competence of kindergarten ("KG") teachers, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council:
    (a)of the respective cumulative numbers of KG teachers who are holders of certificates, sub-degrees and degrees awarded by post-secondary institutions in each of the past three school years, and their respective percentages in the total numbers of KG teachers in the same periods;

    (b)whether they have studied ways to improve the training courses for KG teachers, including the provision of more training places; if so, of the results of such studies; if not, whether they will carry out such studies;

    (c)whether they have, as proposed by the Education Commission in September 2000, conducted a review to assess the feasibility of raising the entry qualification requirement of KG teachers to bachelor's degree level; if so, of the progress or outcome of the review; if the review outcome is in the affirmative, of the implementation timetable; if the review outcome is in the negative, the justifications for that; and

    (d)whether they will allocate additional resources to encourage post-secondary institutions to offer more training courses at certificate or degree levels for KG teachers; if so, of the criteria for allocating the resources; if not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply :Secretary for the Civil Service
(in the absence of Secretary for Education and Manpower)

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

It has been reported that cases of emigrating Hong Kong residents and expatriates who ceased working in Hong Kong not clearing their tax payments before departing Hong Kong have been rather common, resulting in substantial loss in revenue every year. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council of:
    (a)the respective numbers of persons and total amounts of taxes involved in the tax evasion cases mentioned above, in each of the past three years;

    (b)the existing mechanism to prevent such persons from evading tax and to recover the taxes in default; and

    (c)the new policies it may adopt to stop such persons from evading tax?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury

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

Students of the Hong Kong Shue Yan College registered in the 2000/01 academic year or before for full-time four-year diploma course may apply for financial assistance under the Student Finance Assistance Scheme. One of the requirements for loan repayment under this scheme is that, if a recipient fails to complete the course (including transfer to a publicly-funded university), he or she has to repay in one lump sum all the financial assistance provided, including grant, loan, interest, surcharge and any other outstanding amount. However, there is no such requirement under the Local Student Finance Scheme, which is open for application by students pursuing public-funded programmes in universities. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council of the rationale for the difference in loan repayment requirements between the above schemes, and whether it will consider removing the requirement in question?
Public Officer to reply :Secretary for the Civil Service
(in the absence of Secretary for Education and Manpower)

*For written reply.

III. Motions

  1. Proposed resolution under the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance

    Secretary for Economic Development and Labour to move the following motion:

    Resolved that the Employees' Compensation Ordinance (Amendment of Second Schedule) Order 2004, published in the Gazette as Legal Notice No. 213 of 2004 and laid on the table of the Legislative Council on 15 December 2004, be amended -

      (a)in section 1, by repealing "a day to be appointed by the Commissioner for Labour by notice published in the Gazette" and substituting "8 February 2005";

      (b)in section 2 -

      (i)in the new item B11, by repealing "頻繁地" and substituting "經常";

      (ii)in the new item B12, by repealing "頻繁地" and substituting "經常";

      (iii)in the new item B12, in paragraph (a), by repealing "remains, residues or" and substituting "uncooked remains or residues, or their".

  2. Proposed resolution under the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance

    Secretary for Economic Development and Labour to move the following motion:

    Resolved that the Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance (Amendment of Schedule 2) Order 2004, published in the Gazette as Legal Notice No. 214 of 2004 and laid on the table of the Legislative Council on 15 December 2004, be amended -

      (a)in section 1, by repealing "a day to be appointed by the Commissioner for Labour by notice published in the Gazette" and substituting "8 February 2005";

      (b)in section 2 -

      (i)in the new item 50, by repealing "頻繁地" and substituting "經常";

      (ii)in the new item 51, by repealing "頻繁地" and substituting "經常";

      (iii)in the new item 51, in paragraph (a), by repealing "remains, residues or" and substituting "uncooked remains or residues, or their".

  3. Proposed resolution under the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance

    Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology to move the motion to amend the Telecommunications (Method for Determining Spectrum Utilization Fees) (Third Generation Mobile Services) (Amendment) Regulation 2004 and the Telecommunications (Level of Spectrum Utilization Fees) (Second Generation Mobile Services) Regulation, published in the Gazette as Legal Notice Nos. 209 and 210 of 2004 and laid on the table of the Legislative Council on 15 December 2004.


(Contents of the motion are contained in the Appendix)


IV. Members' Motions

  1. Proposed resolution under the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance

    Hon Miriam LAU to move the following motion:

    RESOLVED that in relation to the -

      (a)Merchant Shipping (Prevention of Pollution by Sewage) Regulation, published in the Gazette as Legal Notice No. 7 of 2005; and

      (b)Merchant Shipping (Prevention and Control of Pollution) (Fees) Regulation, published in the Gazette as Legal Notice No. 8 of 2005,

    and laid on the table of the Legislative Council on 19 January 2005, the period for amending subsidiary legislation referred to in section 34(2) of the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance (Cap. 1) be extended under section 34(4) of that Ordinance to the meeting of 9 March 2005.

  2. Monitoring the post-retirement employment of the Chief Executive, principal officials under the accountability system and civil servants at directorate level with private-sector organizations

    Hon CHEUNG Man-kwong: (Translation)

    That, since the approval granted to Ms Elaine CHUNG Lai-kwok, former Deputy Director of Housing, for her post-retirement employment with a private-sector organization has aroused severe criticisms from the community and called into question the existence of a conflict of interest between her present job and her previous service in the Government, in order to restore the public's confidence in the retirement system of senior officials, this Council urges the Government to immediately amend, monitor the implementation of and strictly enforce the policies and measures governing the post-retirement employment of civil servants with private-sector organizations, which should include:

      (a)extending the present period of six months to two years the sanitization period for officers retiring at the rank of Administrative Officer Staff Grade A1 or above, and to one year for other directorate officers;

      (b)prohibiting directorate officers from taking up employment with private-sector organizations during their pre-retirement leave to guard against double pay;

      (c)expanding the regulation of business or employment locations to cover Mainland China and the Macao Special Administrative Region, in addition to Hong Kong;

      (d)identifying loopholes in the work of the Advisory Committee on Post-retirement Employment to prevent the Committee from becoming a rubber stamp which approves applications indiscriminately;

      (e)making public information on the approvals granted by the Government for civil servants at directorate level to take up post-retirement employment with private-sector organizations; and

      (f)closely monitoring the changes in the nature of post-retirement employment taken up by directorate officers with private-sector organizations after such approvals have been granted so as to ensure that there is no conflict of interest between their post-retirement employment and their previous service in the Government;

    furthermore, this Council also calls upon Mr Joseph WONG Wing-ping, Secretary for the Civil Service, to apologize for the mishandling of the incident of Ms Elaine CHUNG Lai-kok, and urges the Administration to amend the relevant policies by exercising appropriate and forceful regulation over the post-departure or post-retirement employment of the Chief Executive and the principal officials under the accountability system with private-sector organizations, so as to achieve the policy direction of "resolutely against collusion between business and the Government to eliminate any transfer of benefits" announced in the Chief Executive's 2005 Policy Address, thereby ensuring that upon the departure of the Chief Executive, principal officials and directorate officers, they do not enter into any business or take up any employment which may constitute a conflict of interest with their previous service in the Government or adversely affect the image of the Government.

    Amendment to motion
    Hon TAM Yiu-chung:     (Translation)

    To delete "to Ms Elaine CHUNG Lai-kwok, former Deputy Director of Housing, for her" after "That, since the approval granted" and substitute with "in recent years to a number of civil servants at directorate level for their"; to delete "a" after "post-retirement employment with"; to delete "organization" after "private-sector" and substitute with "organizations"; to delete "severe criticisms from the community and called into question the existence of a conflict of interest between her present job and her previous service in the Government" after "has aroused" and substitute with "public concern"; to delete "restore the public's confidence in the retirement system of senior officials" after "in order to" and substitute with "fortify the prevention of civil servants at directorate level from taking up post-retirement employment that involves conflicts of interests with their previous service in the Government"; to delete "amend" after "the Government to immediately" and substitute with "tighten up"; to add "at directorate level" after "post-retirement employment of civil servants"; to delete "extending the present period of six months to two years the" after "(a)" and substitute with "imposing across the board a"; to delete "for officers retiring at the rank of Administrative Officer Staff Grade A1 or above, and to one year for other" after "sanitization period" and substitute with "of at least one year for"; to delete "(c) expanding the regulation of business or employment locations to cover Mainland China and the Macao Special Administrative Region, in addition to Hong Kong;"; to delete the original "(d)" and substitute with "(c)"; to delete the original "(e)" and substitute with "(d)"; to delete the original "(f)" and substitute with "(e)"; to delete "Mr Joseph WONG Wing-ping, Secretary for the Civil Service, to apologize for the mishandling of" after "this Council also calls upon" and substitute with "the Civil Service Bureau to expeditiously complete the investigation into"; to add "and publish the relevant report" after "the incident of Ms Elaine CHUNG Lai-kok"; and to delete "amend" after "urges the Administration to" and substitute with "strictly enforce".

    Public Officer to attend : Secretary for the Civil Service

  3. Opposing collusion between business and the Government and transfer of benefits

    Hon Emily LAU: (Translation)

    That, as the Chief Executive has stated in his 2005 Policy Address that while ensuring the efficiency of Hong Kong's free market and its capacity to create wealth, the Administration also seeks to properly balance the interests of different social strata and sectors, and is resolutely against "collusion between business and the Government" and will strictly enforce the monitoring systems to eliminate any "transfer of benefits", this Council urges the Administration to:

      (a)clearly define what constitutes "collusion between business and the Government" and "transfer of benefits", and elaborate on how the monitoring systems will operate;

      (b)review the existing political system and the procedure for allocating resources, and plug the loopholes;

      (c)open up the mechanism for nominating members to advisory and statutory bodies and enhance its transparency, strictly enforce the rules whereby a person should not serve as a member on more than six boards/committees and should not serve more than six years in any board/committee as well as the principle of "making appointments on the basis of merits", listen widely to the views of different sectors of the community, and avoid "cronyism" and "transfer of benefits"; and

      (d)implement the election of the Chief Executive and all Members of the Legislative Council by universal suffrage in 2007 and 2008 respectively to prevent the small-circle electoral system from continuing to give rise to problems of "collusion between business and the Government" and "transfer of benefits".

    Amendment to motion
    Hon Jeffrey LAM Kin-fung:     (Translation)

    To delete "define what constitutes" after "(a) clearly" and substitute with "explain how to prevent"; to delete "elaborate on how the monitoring systems will operate" after "and 'transfer of benefits', and" and substitute with "ensure that the normal partnering relationship between business and the Government is not undermined; and"; to delete "the existing political system and the procedure for allocating resources, and plug the loopholes;" after "(b) review" and substitute with "the procedure for determining business and Government partnership projects and to enhance its transparency,"; and to delete "(c) open up the mechanism for nominating members to advisory and statutory bodies and enhance its transparency, strictly enforce the rules whereby a person should not serve as a member on more than six boards/committees and should not serve more than six years in any board/committee as well as the principle of 'making appointments on the basis of merits', listen widely to the views of different sectors of the community, and avoid 'cronyism' and 'transfer of benefits'; and (d) implement the election of the Chief Executive and all Members of the Legislative Council by universal suffrage in 2007 and 2008 respectively to prevent the small-circle electoral system from continuing to give rise to problems of 'collusion between business and the Government' and 'transfer of benefits' " and substitute with "so as to safeguard public interest".

    Public Officer to attend : Financial Secretary
Clerk to the Legislative Council