A 04/05-24

Legislative Council

Agenda

Wednesday 20 April 2005 at 11:00 am and
Thursday 21 April 2005 at 2:30 pm

Subsidiary Legislation / Instruments		L.N. No.
1.	Entertainment Special Effects (Fees) (Amendment) Regulation 2005	46/2005
2.	Country Parks and Special Areas (Amendment) (Fees Adjustment) Regulation 2005	47/2005
3.	Marine Parks and Marine Reserves (Amendment) (Fees Adjustment) Regulation 2005	48/2005
4.	Telecommunications (Telecommunications Apparatus) (Exemption from Licensing) (Amendment) Order 2005 (Commencement) Notice	49/2005
5.	Town Planning (Amendment) Ordinance 2004 (Commencement) Notice	50/2005

Other Papers

1. No.81	-	Report No. 44 of the Director of Audit on the results of value for money audits - March 2005
(to be presented by the President)
2. No.82	-	Investment in Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport by the Airport Authority Hong Kong
(to be presented by Secretary for Economic Development and Labour)

II. Questions for Written Replies

1. Hon LEE Cheuk-yan to ask: (Translation)

Regarding the continuing decline in Hong Kong's birth rate, will the Government inform this Council whether it:

(a)	has looked into the anxieties and obstacles experienced by Hong Kong people (working women in particular) in giving birth to children; and
(b)	will formulate labour policies that are conducive to achieving a balance between work and family commitments, such as extending the duration of paid maternity leave, introducing family commitment leave and reducing working hours, etc, so as to encourage Hong Kong people to give birth to children?

Public Officer to reply : Chief Secretary for Administration

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

The Continuing Education Fund ("CEF"), which provides continuing education and training subsidies for adults aspiring to pursuing their studies, does not accept applications by the elderly over 60 years of age. Moreover, the Adult Education Subvention Scheme does not cover any degree courses. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	how it encourages the elderly over 60 years of age to continue to study and work;
(b)	as Hong Kong's population is ageing steadily, whether it will review the eligibility criteria for CEF applicants in order to enable more elderly people to be provided with subsidy for continuing education; and
(c)	whether it will consider extending the Adult Education Subvention Scheme to cover degree courses?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education and Manpower

3. Hon Alan LEONG Kah-kit to ask: (Translation)

The land lease of Wu Chung House in Wanchai provides that the developer of the building ("the Developer") shall construct two pedestrian walkways at Wu Chung House connecting Hopewell Centre and private lot IL7781, and that the pedestrian walkway ("the Walkway") connecting Wu Chung House and the lot shall be completed within 12 months from the date of handover of the lot to the Developer by the Government. Such requirements are also included in the conditions to the planning permission ("planning conditions") for Wu Chung House. It is understood that the ownership of the lot has all along been held by a group associated with the Developer. However, the Walkway has not yet been constructed since the completion and occupation of Wu Chung House in 1992. In explaining the matter recently, the Lands Department pointed out that when the land lease of Wu Chung House was being drafted in 1990, the Department was also processing a land exchange application submitted by the group associated with the Developer for a proposed large hotel project at Wanchai. According to the then land exchange proposal for the hotel, the group would return the lot to the Government and take over the lot again from the Government for constructing the Walkway. However, the land exchange proposal has not been realized so far. The Department further pointed out that in order to implement the Walkway project, the Department will, in processing future land exchange applications, first require the Developer to revise the land leases of Wu Chung House and the lot to the effect that the Developer will undertake to complete the Walkway within a specified period. Regarding the compliance with the lease conditions and the planning conditions by the Developer, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	in approving the development plan of Wu Chung House, whether the authorities had granted a bonus plot ratio, additional gross floor area permissible or other preferential terms on account of the Developer's proposal to construct the above two pedestrian walkways to mitigate traffic congestion; if they had, of the details of such terms;
(b)	whether it has assessed if the existing land lease of Wu Chung House contains any loopholes which deprive the authorities of legal grounds to require the Developer to construct the Walkway and to execute the relevant lease conditions, if it has, of the assessment results;
(c)	whether the Walkway could have been constructed since 1992 without the handover of the lot;
(d)	whether the failure hitherto to implement the above large hotel project is a cause of the indefinite procrastination of the construction of the Walkway;
(e)	of the legal grounds for linking the construction of the Walkway to the hotel project concerned, given that Wu Chung House and the hotel project are two independent developments and that the land lease of Wu Chung House does not refer to the hotel project; and
(f)	of the reasons for issuing an occupation permit and a certificate of compliance for Wu Chung House when the Developer has not fully discharged the lease conditions and the planning conditions for the building; whether such reasons include dereliction of duty on the part of government departments, and the follow-up actions as well as remedial measures to be taken by the authorities in executing the relevant lease conditions and planning conditions?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands

4. Hon CHIM Pui-chung to ask: (Translation)

Will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	whether it will review the Co-operative Societies Ordinance (Cap. 33) with a view to promoting the development of community economy; if it will, of the time and scope of the review; if not, the reasons for that; and
(b)	how it monitors registered societies?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food

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

It has been reported that the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food has advised that a public consultation on providing tax concession for expenses on taking out medical insurance will be conducted at the end of this year. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	whether any reference to relevant experience in foreign countries has been made; if so, of the details;
(b)	of the consultation period for the above plan and the timetable for the implementation of the relevant policy;
(c)	whether it has assessed the impact of the implementation of the above plan on the development of public and private medical services, and whether the plan will address the problem that the majority of medical services are being provided by the public health care system; and
(d)	of the estimated annual tax revenue foregone due to the implementation of the above plan, and whether the demand on public medical services will thus be reduced; if so, of the estimated annual saving in this respect?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food

6. Hon TAM Yiu-chung to ask: (Translation)

Regarding the prevention and control of infectious diseases in residential care homes for the elderly ("RCHEs") to safeguard the health of elderly residents, will the Government inform this Council of:

(a)	the following in the past three years: (i) the five diseases with the highest incidence rates in RCHEs which fall within the meaning of infectious disease under the Quarantine and Prevention of Disease Ordinance, and the number of elderly residents infected with such diseases; and (ii) the respective numbers of elderly residents infected with viral gastroenteritis and myiasis in RCHEs;
(b)	the measures to strengthen the co-ordination among the Department of Health, the Hospital Authority and the Occupational Safety and Health Council, so as to avoid issuance of contradictory guidelines to RCHEs, and to enhance the effectiveness of such guidelines; and
(c)	its plans to facilitate the efforts of RCHEs in strengthening the prevention and control of infectious diseases to safeguard the health of elderly residents?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food

7. Hon Audrey EU to ask: (Translation)

Will the Government inform this Council of the respective average annual amounts of public subsidies provided to each primary school student, secondary school student and university student from the 2004-05 to 2009-10 school years?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education and Manpower

8. Hon Miriam LAU to ask: (Translation)

Will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the classes of vessels to which Speed Restriction Exemption Permits are currently granted by the Director of Marine and the grounds for granting such exemptions; and
(b)	whether it will make regulations to specify the maximum permitted speed for all vessels navigating during the hours of darkness or in poor visibility conditions so as to enhance safety at sea; if so, of the details of the regulations; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Economic Development and Labour

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

It has been reported that some offshore and local companies collect mobile phone numbers on the Internet and then send out short messages ("SMS") for which the fees will be charged to the subscribers of the phone numbers concerned. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the respective numbers of complaints and enquiries received in respect of the spamming of such chargeable SMS in each of the past three years;
(b)	how the spamming of such SMS is regulated under the existing legislation and whether it will consider amending the legislation to strengthen the regulation; and
(c)	whether it will urge the local telecommunications operators, based on their subscribers' preference, to stop offshore companies, which collect mobile phone numbers on the Internet, from sending out SMS chargeable to the subscribers of the phone numbers concerned, or request the overseas telecommunications regulatory authorities to curb such practice?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology

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

Regarding the operation of the MTR Corporation Limited and the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the respective numbers of staff of the two corporations each year during the period between 1 January 2002 and 31 March 2005, together with a breakdown by terms of employment; and among these staff, the number of those engaged in duties such as frontline train operations, logistics support in maintenance and inspection, and engineering services;
(b)	of the respective total numbers of outsourcing contracts for works and services awarded/to be awarded by the two corporations each year during the above period and in the coming year; and in relation to such contracts, the work and service items, the number of workers engaged in outsourced works and services, the contract periods and costs involved, the total number of affected railway corporation staff, and how the two corporations handled/will handle the problems concerning the affected staff;
(c)	whether it has conducted a comprehensive review on the adjustments to the terms of employment for staff made by the two corporations in recent years, and studied the impact of such adjustments on the overall rail operation; if it has, of the details and results of the study; if not, the reasons for that and whether it has any plan to conduct such review and study in future; and
(d)	whether any preliminary results regarding the impact of the merger on the staff were available from the merger study conducted by the two corporations; if they were, of the details; if not, the time when the staff and the public will be informed of such results?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works

11. Hon Abraham SHEK to ask:

As I have received many complaints from members of the tourism industry that there are insufficient three-star hotel rooms to meet the demand of an increasing number of Mainland tourists, will the Government inform this Council whether:

(a)	it has formulated short-term and long-term measures to increase the supply of three-star hotel rooms; if so, of the details of these measures; if not, the reasons for that; and
(b)	it will streamline the procedure for processing applications for development of hotels on sites originally designated for industrial use; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands

12. Hon Frederick FUNG to ask: (Translation)

Under the Eastern Harbour Crossing Ordinance (Cap. 215), the tolls for the Eastern Harbour Crossing ("EHC") may be varied by agreement between the Administration and the tunnel company. If an agreement cannot be reached, either party can submit the question of the variation of tolls to arbitration. The arbitrators shall be guided by the need to ensure that the carrying out by the tunnel company of its obligation, or the exercise of its rights under the Ordinance is reasonable but not excessively remunerative to the tunnel company, having regard to, inter alia, any material change in the economic conditions of Hong Kong since the enactment of the Ordinance or since the tolls were last determined. After its application for a toll increase was rejected by the Government last year, the tunnel company submitted the matter to arbitration. The arbitrators ruled in January this year that the level of reasonable but not excessive remuneration for the tunnel company was an internal rate of return ("IRR") on equity after tax of between 15% and 17% over the life of the franchise. The tunnel company was therefore entitled to increase the tolls in accordance with the arbitrators' ruling. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it has assessed if:

(a)

the IRR adopted in this ruling will become the only criterion for the EHC's future toll adjustments, making it a guaranteed rate of return in disguise, and hence rendering the legislative provision that the arbitrators shall, in making the arbitration award, have regard to the economic conditions of Hong Kong an empty clause; if it has made such an assessment, of the results and its measures to tackle the situation; if it has not made such an assessment, the reasons for that; and

(b)

the operators of other road tunnels can similarly apply for toll adjustments on grounds that the relevant IRR has not been achieved; if the assessment result is in the affirmative, of its measures to tackle the situation?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works

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

It has been reported that the problem of local Chinese restaurants closing down with wages in arrears has been serious these days and the catering industry accounts for the largest number of applications recently received by the Protection of Wages on Insolvency Fund ("PWIF"). Last year, the money involved in the applications received by PWIF amounted to $500 million, among which nearly $200 million involved those from the catering industry. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the number and details of successful prosecutions against eateries which abused PWIF over the past three years;
(b)	of the means to prevent eateries from abusing PWIF; and
(c)	whether it will consider scaling the levy rates of the business registration certificates by trades and charge a higher levy on the certificates for those trades which were often involved in arrears of wages; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Economic Development and Labour

14. Hon Albert CHAN to ask: (Translation)

I have received a number of complaints from residents of Harmony and Concord-type public rental housing ("PRH") blocks that, owing to the poor noise insulation capacity of their flats' wall partitions, which are made from prefabricated building components, they can clearly hear their neighbours' conversations and other household activities noises, and this has caused nuisances to their living. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the number of such complaints received by the Housing Department in each of the past three years, together with a breakdown by estates and types of housing blocks;
(b)	whether it has established any standards for the noise insulation capacity of the partition walls between PRH flats; if it has, of the details of the standards; if not, the reasons for that; and
(c)	whether it has measures to improve the noise insulation capacity of partition walls between the flats in the completed Harmony and Concord blocks; if so, of the details of the measures; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands

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

It has been reported that Greenpeace, a green group, discovered several electronic waste workshops in operation in Hung Lung Hang, Fanling, and collected soil samples from the site of one such workshop for laboratory test. The test results revealed that the soil contained the pollutants lead and brominated flame retardants. The Environmental Protection Department ("EPD") subsequently collected soil examples from six electronic waste workshops. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the test results of the soil samples collected from the above electronic waste workshops by EPD; if the results are not yet available, when they will be made public by EPD;
(b)	given the information of EPD which reveals that 91 electronic waste workshops are in operation in Hong Kong, whether EPD has any plan to conduct site inspection of them one by one to check if they have caused any environmental pollution; if it has, of the details of the plan; if not, the reasons for that; and
(c)	whether the Government has any plan to step up the regulation of the operation of electronic waste workshops; if it has, of the details of the plan; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works

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

It has been reported that since the Design Support Programme, set up by the Government with an allocation of $180 million, was open to applications in August last year, only four applications have been approved, involving grants of $12 million in total. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the total number of applications received so far and the reasons for approving only four applications;
(b)	whether it has reviewed how the assessment criteria and procedure may be improved; and
(c)	of the measures to promote the Programme?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology

17. Hon Emily LAU to ask: (Translation)

Will the Executive Authorities inform this Council of the number of times the Chief Secretary for Administration met the officials of the Central People's Government in the past two years while he was in the Mainland, together with the date of each meeting as well as the name(s) and rank(s) of the Mainland official(s) he met and the contents of discussion on each occasion? Public Officer to reply : Chief Secretary for Administration

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

It has been reported that some days ago, a taxi driver involved in a traffic accident was found to have come from the Mainland on an Exit-entry Permit for Travelling to and from Hong Kong and Macao (commonly known as "two-way permit"), but he was holding a taxi driving licence issued by the Transport Department. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the number of persons issued with taxi driving licences who are not holders of Hong Kong Identity Cards and, among such persons, the number of those from the Mainland;
(b)	whether any motor vehicles insurance policies (in particular those covering third party risks) taken out for a taxi will be invalidated for the reason that at the time of a traffic accident, the driver of the taxi is a non-Hong Kong resident working as a taxi driver or engaging in the taxi trade illegally;
(c)	whether it has looked into the problems relating to the issue of taxi driving licences to non-Hong Kong residents, and how this practice affects the policy that visitors are not allowed to take up paid or unpaid employment, or to establish or join in any business in Hong Kong; and
(d)	whether legislative amendments will be introduced to cease issuing taxi driving licences to non-Hong Kong residents; if not, of the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works

19. Hon TAM Yiu-chung to ask: (Translation)

I have received complaints from primary schools in a number of districts that, while there are surplus primary school places in the districts, the Government is still planning to build additional primary schools in the districts concerned, which will aggravate their under-enrolment situation and may be tantamount to a waste of public money. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the numbers of primary one classes reduced/expected to be reduced in various school zones in the past three school years and in the coming school year;
(b)	of the latest revised numbers of primary schools planned to be built in various school zones in the next three years;
(c)	whether any measures have been adopted in the past year to improve the accuracy of the projected supply and demand of primary school places, and to update the school building programme in a timely manner (for example by consulting schools in the districts concerned and conducting surveys to verify the latest district population data released by the Planning Department annually), so as to avoid building new primary school premises while there are surplus primary school places, and hence save public money from being wasted; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
(d)	whether it plans to review the procedures for allocating new primary school projects to school sponsoring bodies ("SSBs"), with a view to avoiding the abortion of the preparation work of selected SSBs in planning new primary schools when the originally planned school projects are shelved under an updated school building programme; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education and Manpower

20. Hon Audrey EU to ask: (Translation)

Will the Government provide this Council with the following statistics:

(a)

on teachers who joined the 2005 Early Retirement Scheme for Aided Primary School Teachers, the applications for which closed on 5 March this year: Number of Scheme participants Average age Shortest teaching experience Longest teaching experience Average teaching experience Number of degree holders Number of persons having passed the Language Proficiency Assessment for Teachers Highest amount of compensation and number of persons involved Lowest amount of compensation and number of persons involved Average amount of compensation Total amount of compensation ; and

(b)

on primary school teachers who are currently employed on contract terms: Number of persons Shortest teaching experience Longest teaching experience Average teaching experience Lowest salary Highest salary Average salary Number of degree holders Number of persons having passed the Language Proficiency Assessment for Teachers ?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education and Manpower

III. Bills

Second Reading (Debate to resume)

Appropriation Bill 2005 : Financial Secretary

Clerk to the Legislative Council