A 04/05-20

Legislative Council

Agenda

Wednesday 2 March 2005 at 2:30pm

I. Tabling of Papers
Subsidiary Legislation / InstrumentsL.N. No.
1.Declaration of Markets Notice (Amendment) Declaration 200518/2005
2.Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance (Designation of Public Markets) (Amendment of Tenth Schedule) Order 200519/2005

II. Questions

1. Hon CHEUNG Hok-ming to ask: (Translation)

In November last year, the Government announced the implementation of a new nature conservation policy to enhance the conservation of ecologically important sites, particularly those under private ownership. Under the new policy, a pilot scheme will be implemented on 12 priority sites for enhanced conservation to assess the effectiveness of the two new conservation measures, viz. management agreements with landowners and public-private partnership ("PPP"). It has been reported that as the rights of landowners to use and develop the land under their ownership will be frozen as a result of the implementation of the new policy, some landowners have proposed to solve the problem by resumption, exchange or lease of the land concerned. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the percentages of the area of private land in the individual and the total areas of the priority sites; the percentage of the area of the land owned by individuals, with fragmented ownership and measuring less than 1 000 square feet in the area of each of the individual priority sites;

    (b)of the estimated expenses incurred in resuming the private land in the priority sites; based on the maximum domestic plot ratios applicable to new towns and rural areas respectively under the Hong Kong Planning Standards and Guidelines, the estimated area of land that has to be provided for making land exchange arrangements with the landowners concerned and the estimated expenses on the annual rental for leasing the land from them; and

    (c)how it can ensure the successful implementation of the pilot scheme for the above two measures; of the criteria for assessing if the scheme is successful or not; whether the government departments and participants of the pilot scheme concerned will be held accountable for failure of the scheme; if not, how the lack of accountability will affect the effectiveness of the measures, particularly PPP which allows participants to carry out development projects on the priority sites?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works

2. Dr Hon KWOK Ka-ki to ask: (Translation)

Part of the structure on the former Explosives Magazine site at Justice Drive at Admiralty is a Grade I historical building. The Executive Council resolved in December 2002 to give its support in principle for a private treaty grant ("PTG") of this site at a nominal premium to the Asia Society Hong Kong Centre (the Asia Society) for setting up an arts and cultural centre for multi-purpose uses. The estimated cost of this development project was $200 million, to be wholly funded by the Asia Society itself. It is noted that the confirmed donation to the project so far is a contribution of $102.5 million by the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust only, and all the contributions may eventually come from local donors. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the approaches the Asia Society said in 2002 it would adopt for raising funds for this project and whether the Asia Society undertook at that time to raise most of the funds from overseas; if the Asia Society gave such an undertaking, whether it has assessed if Asia Society's application to the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust for a donation of over $100 million constitutes a promise broken; and the latest progress of the relevant fund-raising efforts of the Asia Society regarding the development project;

    (b)of the progress of the development project, and how the Government monitors the implementation of the project by the Asia Society; and

    (c)whether the Government, when examining and approving the project for development and preservation of this historical building, provided all interested parties with equal opportunities for participation; whether it has reviewed the appropriateness of this arrangement; and whether it will adopt a fair and open approach instead of granting PTGs when handling, in future, development projects for other historical buildings?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs

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

It has been reported that the premiums paid by private medical practitioners for taking out professional indemnity insurance have risen considerably in recent months, with the premium payable by obstetric and gynecology doctors rising by up to 92%. Some private medical practitioners have indicated that they will consider ceasing the provision of the high-risk obstetric service in order to reduce insurance premium expenses. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)given that those medical practitioners who have turned to private practice soon after completing specialist training in public hospitals may not have a sizable income at the early stage of practice, whether it has assessed the impact of the increase in the insurance premiums on them, and whether it will offer assistance in this respect;

    (b)whether it has assessed the implications of some private medical practitioners' ceasing to provide obstetric service on the demand for that service in public hospitals, and whether there will be a shortfall in obstetric service in the future as a result; if so, of the assessment results; if not, the reasons for that; and

    (c)given that one of the factors contributing to the substantial increase in the insurance premiums has been the huge amounts of compensation awarded to several medical negligence claimants in recent years, whether it will consider legislative amendments to set a statutory ceiling on the amount of compensation for claims in medical negligence incidents, to curb the increase in the insurance premiums?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food

4. Hon WONG Kwok-hing to ask: (Translation)

Earlier, a branch of the Wishing Tree in Lam Tsuen, Tai Po snapped off because too many incense papers with tangerines were thrown onto the tree. It has been reported that the tree has only 30% of its vitality. Moreover, there are often reports that improper care, trimming and relocation have adversely affected the growth of trees and, in some cases, even led to their death. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the differences between the protection and conservation measures adopted for trees on the register of old and valuable trees and those for other trees, and the number of trees on the above register which have been felled since the compilation of the register and the reasons for their felling;

    (b)whether it will enact legislation for the protection of trees; if not, the reasons for that; and

    (c)whether it will set up a dedicated department to protect and conserve trees in the territory, as the work currently shared among a number of government departments, with a view to stepping up efforts of greening promotion as well as carrying out the tree protection and conservation work and the relevant law enforcement actions more effectively?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works

5. Hon Albert Jinghan CHENG to ask: (Translation)

To improve air quality in Hong Kong, the Government has introduced liquefied petroleum gas ("LPG") as fuel for vehicles for a number of years. However, the use of LPG vehicles is not popular and government's vehicle fleet does not use LPG vehicles. LPG taxis often have to take a long time, sometimes up to an hour, waiting at LPG filling stations for gas refilling. The inadequacy of ancillary facilities for LPG vehicles has also discouraged vehicle owners who wish to switch to LPG vehicles from doing so. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)how the ratio between LPG vehicles and LPG filling stations compares to that between petrol and diesel vehicles and petrol filling stations, as well as the number of additional LPG filling stations planned and the timetable for providing them;

    (b)whether the use of LPG as fuel for vehicles is more environmentally friendly and more cost-effective; and

    (c)whether the authorities will, in addition to subsidizing taxi and light bus owners who use LPG vehicles, organize promotional and educational activities as well as offer concessions in duty or other subsidies to attract more vehicle owners to switch to using LPG vehicles; and whether the Administration will take the lead in replacing all vehicles in its fleet with LPG vehicles?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works

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

With respect to smart Hong Kong identity cards ("ID cards"), will the Government inform this Council of:
    (a)the total number of forged smart ID cards seized so far and, among the illegal workers arrested last year, the percentage of those who held forged smart ID cards;

    (b)the respective numbers of persons who have reported loss of non-smart ID cards and those of smart ID cards since the issuance of the smart ID cards, and whether such cases have been on the rise, as well as the number of persons who more than once reported loss of ID cards last year; and

    (c)the measures in place to teach the public, especially employers, how to distinguish authentic smart ID cards from forged ones?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

*7. Dr Hon Fernando CHEUNG to ask: (Translation)

I have received a letter from a prisoner complaining that the Correctional Services Department ("CSD") has recently installed closed circuit television ("CCTV") cameras in all custodial ward of the prison in which he is detained. As a paraplegic, he has to clean his private parts under the surveillance of CCTV, and he feels that this hurts his dignity. Regarding the installation of CCTV cameras in the custodial wards in penal institutions by CSD, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the functions of the CCTV systems installed, the penal institutions in which such systems have been installed in their custodial wards, and the respective commencement and completion dates of the relevant installation works;

    (b)whether prisoners and relevant organizations have been consulted before the decision was made to install the systems; if so, of the results of the consultations; if not, the reasons for that;

    (c)whether it has assessed if the installations constitute an intrusion into the privacy of prisoners; if it has, of the assessment results; if the assessment result is in the negative, of the justifications for that; and

    (d)of the number of complaints received by CSD in the past three years about the intrusion into the privacy of prisoners by such installations and how CSD has dealt with the complaints?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

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

According to the findings of a test on pre-packed vegetarian food products, published by the Consumer Council in mid-January this year, 14 out of the 18 test samples were found to contain one or two species of animal genes. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)whether it has studied the sources of animal genes in such vegetarian food samples;

    (b)of the measures in place to protect vegetarians from unknowingly purchasing vegetarian food products carrying animal genes; and

    (c)whether it will expedite the implementation of a genetically-modified food labelling system, so as to protect consumers' right to information?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food

*9. Dr Hon Fernando CHEUNG to ask: (Translation)

In reply to my question on 26 January, the Government indicated that the Link Management Limited ("the Link"), responsible for managing the commercial and car-parking facilities to be divested by the Housing Authority ("HA"), had agreed with HA that rent concessions would continue to be given to social welfare agencies and kindergartens who are sitting tenants. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:
    (a)the above rent concessions apply only to such sitting tenants when they renew the tenancy immediately upon the expiry of the leases concerned;

    (b)the Link has plans to provide rent concessions in the following cases:

    (i)social welfare agencies and educational organizations who are not sitting tenants when renting units under its management; and

    (ii)sitting agencies and organizations who are sitting tenants signing new leases for other units under its management;

    if it has, of the details of such plans; if not, the reasons for that;

    (c)the Link will set aside a certain proportion of its commercial facilities for application by social welfare agencies and educational organizations to lease at concessionary rents; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and

    (d)the Government will propose to the Link the formulation of rent concession policies; if so, of the details of its proposal; if not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands

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

It has been reported that the Government estimates that the economic growth in the current financial year would reach the target of 7.5%, and has pointed out that the acquisition of additional machinery and equipment for manufacturing production in the third quarter of that year grew by 33%, registering growth for three quarters in a row. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the sectors of the manufacturing industry contributing to the above rate of growth in the acquisition of production machinery and equipment, the categories of the machinery and equipment involved, as well as the respective contributions as a percentage from the creative industry, the environmental industry and traditional industries such as textiles and watches and clocks;

    (b)whether it has assessed the effects of the above growth on the local labour market, including whether this growth has helped low-skilled workers in obtaining employment, and whether the contribution of the manufacturing industry as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product will rebound; if assessment has been made, of the results;

    (c)whether incentive measures will be adopted to facilitate the development of the manufacturing industry in Hong Kong and progressively attract relocated industries to return to Hong Kong, so as to facilitate diversified development of the local economy and avoid an economic policy with too much emphasis on the financial services sector and the service industries; and

    (d)whether the authorities will, apart from currently providing land under short-term tenancies, offer other concessions in areas such as taxation and land leases or set up loan funds to foster the development of the environmental and recycling industries in Hong Kong?
Public Officer to reply :Secretary for Economic Development and Labour
(in the absence of Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology)

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

It is learnt that the Police's Third Generation Command and Control Communications System ("CC3") has come into operation by phases since the end of last year. As the CC3 is an encrypted system, journalists can no longer monitor the internal communications of the Police to obtain information on incidents which have occurred suddenly and rush to the scene for timely coverage of the incidents. In view of this, starting from 10 December last year, the Police Public Relations Branch has been disseminating from time to time, through the information system of the Information Services Department, to media organizations information on such incidents that may be of interest to the media. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council of:
    (a)the total number of times the Police have disseminated information on such incidents from 1 to 7 February this year, together with a breakdown by the time taken from the receipt of a report of an incident to the dissemination of information on it (less than 15 minutes, 15 to 30 minutes, 31 to 60 minutes and more than one hour), as well as the reasons for taking longer time to disseminate information on some of the incidents;

    (b)the basis on which the Police decide whether information on individual incidents should be disseminated; and

    (c)the number of complaints received so far by the Police from journalists about any failure or delay in disseminating information on particular incidents?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

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

Owing to a shortage of hotel rooms, arrangements were made for some visitors to Hong Kong to stay in resort houses and hourly hotels during last year's peak inbound tourism season. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the numbers of hotels of various star ratings to be completed and opened in each of the next five years, and the number of rooms to be provided each year by the hotels of each star rating;

    (b)of the measures to encourage developers to build more five-star hotels for receiving business travellers, the number of which has been increasing as a result of the implementation of the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement;

    (c)whether it will consider switching the mode of sale of hotel sites on the List of Sites for Sale by Application to sale by tender or regular auctions; if not, of the reasons for that; and

    (d)whether it will consider adjusting downwards the premium on the land concerned to encourage developers to apply for changing the land use to hotel purposes?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands

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

It has been reported that the Food and Drug Administration of the United States of America has recently confirmed the existence of PPAR, a carcinogenic substance, in certain diabetes drugs. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)among the drugs currently prescribed for diabetes patients in the territory, of the number of those which contain the above substance; and whether the authorities have tested the carcinogenic effect of these drugs; if so, of the test results; and

    (b)of the communication mechanism between the authorities and other countries regarding the exchange of information on drugs, so as to ensure that the latest information on drugs can be obtained expeditiously?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food

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

It has been reported that the central processing unit in the price dissemination system of the computer system of the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited ("HKEx") experienced a temporary slowdown for 28 minutes on 24 December 2004, resulting in the suspension of stock quote updates and the need to activate the backup system. During this period, the Third Generation Automatic Order Matching and Executive System and the Stock Exchange's information dissemination service were delayed. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:
    (a)the total number of computer failure incidents since the establishment of HKEx as well as the respective causes of the incidents and the types of services affected;

    (b)the measures taken by HKEx to reduce the frequency of computer failure so as to avoid adverse impact on the status of Hong Kong as an international financial centre; and

    (c)the measures taken by HKEx to ensure that its services will not be affected by computer failures?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury

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

Will the Government inform this Council of:
    (a)the figures on flight noise levels which reached 70 to 74, 75 to 79, and up to or over 80 decibels between 11 pm and 7 am each year, as recorded by various noise monitoring stations; and

    (b)the types of aircraft whose flight noise levels reached 80 decibels or above and their operating airline companies

    since the opening of the Chek Lap Kok Airport?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Economic Development and Labour

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

Some pieces of land have been granted by the authorities by way of private treaty, and it is stipulated in the land leases concerned that the land may be used for the provision of community or communal facilities only. The Government has the right to resume those pieces of land if they have ceased to be used as permitted for a certain period of time, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council:
    (a)of the number of pieces of such land resumed by invoking the above lease conditions over the past three years;

    (b)of the number of applications the authorities received in the past three years from the owners of such land for modification of land leases, for putting the land concerned to other uses, and the number of such applications approved; in respect of the land involved in each approved application, the original permitted use and the use permitted upon land lease modification as well as the ultimate amount of the land premium received by the authorities; whether they have assessed the amount of public revenue that could have been generated if the pieces of land concerned had been sold by tender, and how this amount compares to the amount of land premiums; and

    (c)given that some members of the public suspect the Government of having secret dealings with the owners of the land concerned and transferring benefits to them in negotiations over the land premiums, of the measures the authorities have in place to address this suspicion?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands

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

It has been reported that patients with leiomyoma in Hong Kong need to take expensive anti-cancer drugs for a long time, and quite a number of them have to live on borrowings. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:
    (a)the current number of patients with leiomyoma in Hong Kong, and whether the number has been on the rise;

    (b)if the Hospital Authority ("HA") has received complaints from such patients that they cannot afford the cost of medication; if so, of the number of complaints in each of the past two years; and

    (c)the details of the safety net currently provided by HA to assist those patients who have financial difficulties in buying the anti-cancer drugs?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food

*18. Hon WONG Kwok-hing to ask: (Translation)

Regarding the Re-employment Training Programme for the Middle-aged ("RTP") launched by the Labour Department in May 2003, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the number of persons who have secured employment through RTP, broken down by age group, industry and position;

    (b)of the number of persons who have completed the three-month on-the-job training included in RTP and, among them, the respective numbers of persons who were still employed by the relevant employers or organizations upon completion of their training, and three or six months thereafter;

    (c)of the number of persons failing to complete the on-the-job training, broken down by the reasons for their leaving (e.g. dismissal by the employer or leaving the organization on their own accord, etc);

    (d)whether it has received any complaints from the programme participants about abuse of RTP by employers; if it has, of a breakdown of such complaints by their nature;

    (e)of the number of participating employers and organizations, the number of the RTP participants employed by such employers or organizations, and whether the periods of employment offered by those employer or organizations which recruited several RTP participants overlapped, were interrupted or back-to-back; if the employment periods were interrupted or back-to-back, whether such employers or organizations employed different RTP participants; if so, whether participants who were first employed by the relevant employers or organizations through RTP could stay on their jobs; and

    (f)whether it will consider launching another round of RTP after completing the current programme?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Economic Development and Labour

*For written reply.

III. Members' Motions

  1. Expectations for the Commission on Poverty

    Hon Frederick FUNG: (Translation)

    That, as the Chief Executive announced in his Policy Address delivered early this year the establishment of the Commission on Poverty ("the Commission"), and the Commission, from its incubation to its present inception, lacks a clear positioning and specific plans in regard to the direction for alleviating poverty as well as its mode of operation, this Council urges the Government to vigorously adopt the following proposals regarding the Commission's direction, operation and efforts to promote community engagement:

    (a)setting a clear and definite direction for alleviating poverty, and defining the Commission's role and the values behind it;

    (b)establishing a benchmark for measuring poverty so as to accurately analyze and assess the problem of poverty in the community, and clearly defining the target recipients of assistance so as to enable a more effective use of resources;

    (c)studying the causes of poverty in Hong Kong, examining the overall social structure and existing systems, and identifying the areas of poverty that need to be studied, such as poverty among children and the elderly, working poverty, secondary safety net and the review of the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance Scheme, etc;

    (d)as the coverage of the Commission's present membership is inadequate, appointing to the Commission such additional members as representatives from policy bureaux and relevant executive departments responsible for the housing and transport portfolios, etc, as well as from public transport operators, so as to take account of the various aspects of the daily life of the poor;

    (e)co-ordinating various policy bureaux and their departments in formulating specific plans for alleviating poverty, establishing feasible and clear objectives for alleviating poverty and setting specific implementation timetables, as well as requiring various departments to submit reports to the Commission on a regular basis, with the latter reporting to the public on the progress of its work and briefing the public after each of its meetings;

    (f)setting up an evaluation mechanism for assessing the implications of individual policies on the disparity between the rich and the poor in the community, whereby all new policies and initiatives launched by policy bureaux and departments must be subject to such assessment and be adjusted as appropriate before implementation, and all existing relevant legislation and policies must also undergo this assessment; and

    (g)promoting community engagement and the building of partnerships, encouraging the business sector to give support and fulfil their corporate social responsibility, and devolving powers and allocating resources to district organizations and, by making effective use of their flexibility, responding appropriately to the needs of various districts having regard to their different poverty situations, as well as holding regular public forums to enable public participation in the course of formulating the policies on poverty alleviation.

    Amendment to motion
    Hon Mrs Selina CHOW:     (Translation)

    To delete "the Commission, from its incubation to its present inception, lacks a clear positioning and specific plans in regard to the direction for alleviating poverty as well as its mode of operation" after "('the Commission'), and" and substitute with "in order that the work of the Commission can better meet the public's expectations"; to delete "establishing a benchmark for measuring poverty so as to accurately analyze and assess the problem of poverty in the community, and clearly" after "(b)" and substitute with "endeavouring to help those who are most in need when"; to delete "and relevant executive departments" after "representatives from policy bureaux"; to delete "and" after "responsible for the housing" and substitute with ","; to add ", and commerce and industry" after "transport"; to delete "as well as from public transport operators," after "portfolios, etc,"; to delete "community" after "(g) promoting" and substitute with "community-wide"; to delete "encouraging" after "building of partnerships," and substitute with "creating conditions for"; and to delete "give support and fulfil their corporate social responsibility, and devolving powers and allocating resources to district organizations and, by making effective use of their flexibility," after "the business sector to" and substitute with "actively participate in alleviating poverty and".

    Public Officer to attend : Financial Secretary

  2. Scheme of Control Agreements of the two power companies and the long-term energy policy

    Hon LEE Wing-tat: (Translation)

    That, as the Scheme of Control Agreements of the two power companies will expire in 2008, this Council requests the Government to seriously consider the following principles in order to decide on the way forward for the future development of the electricity market:

    (a)tariffs charged by the power companies should be reasonable;

    (b)the mechanism for tariff adjustments should be more transparent;

    (c)any new scheme of control agreements should have adequate flexibility and should allow for a review within a reasonable number of years;

    (d)more considerations should be taken into account in determining the rate of return; and

    (e)the stability and safety in the supply of electricity should be maintained;

    furthermore, the Government should also study the feasibility of establishing an energy authority with the responsibility of formulating a long-term and comprehensive energy policy.

    Amendments to motion
    (i)Hon CHAN Kam-lam: (Translation)

    To add ", and a study should be conducted on the introduction of a mechanism that allows both upward and downward tariff adjustments" after "should be more transparent"; to add "permitted" after "should be taken into account in determining the"; to delete "; and" after "rate of return" and substitute with ", and the rate should be reduced; (e) effective measures should be adopted to minimize the emissions of pollutants in the generation of electricity; (f) the power companies should be encouraged to develop and introduce the use of renewable energy; and"; and to delete the original "(e)" and substitute with "(g)".

    (ii)Hon Tommy CHEUNG: (Translation)

    To delete "and" after "the rate of return;"; and to add "(f) the full implementation of power interconnection should be actively studied; (g) the power companies should expeditiously reduce the emissions of such pollutants as sulphur dioxide, and use more environmentally friendly energy sources; and (h) enhanced efforts should be made in the research and development as well as application of renewable energy;" after "should be maintained;".

    Amendment to Hon Tommy CHEUNG's amendment
    Hon Fred LI:     (Translation)

    To delete "the full implementation of" after "(f)"; and to delete "actively studied" after "power interconnection should be" and substitute with "fully implemented so as to introduce competition".

    (iii)Hon WONG Kwok-hing: (Translation)

    To delete "and" after "the rate of return;" and substitute with "(e) the power companies must allow greater participation of staff unions in formulating their operation and development strategies, so as to tap the professional input from their staff; and"; and to delete the original "(e)" and substitute with "(f)".

    Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Economic Development and Labour

Clerk to the Legislative Council