A 04/05-25
Legislative Council
Agenda
Wednesday 27 April 2005 at 11:00 am
I. Tabling of Papers
| Subsidiary Legislation / Instruments | L.N. No.
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| 1. | Consular Relations (Additional Privileges and Immunities) (United Kingdom) Order | 51/2005
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| 2. | Consular Relations (Additional Privileges and Immunities) (United States of America) Order | 52/2005
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| 3. | Administration of Estates by Consular Officers Ordinance (Amendment of Schedule) Order 2005 | 53/2005
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| 4. | Consular Conventions (Application of Section 3) Order 2005 | 54/2005
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| 5. | Consular Relations (Additional Privileges and Immunities) (Vietnam) Order | 55/2005
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| 6. | Administration of Estates by Consular Officers Ordinance (Amendment of Schedule) (No. 2) Order 2005 | 56/2005
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| 7. | Consular Conventions (Application of Section 3) (No. 2) Order 2005 | 57/2005
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Other Papers
| 1. No.83 | - | Annual Report 2003-2004 of the Hospital Authority, which contains Statement of Accounts and Auditors' Report
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(to be presented by Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food)
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| 2. No.84 | - | Report and Statement of Accounts of the Samaritan Fund, together with the Director of Audit's Report, for the year ended 31 March 2004
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(to be presented by Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food)
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| 3. No.85 | - | Approved Estimates of Income and Expenditure
for the financial year 2005/2006,
Securities and Futures Commission
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(to be presented by Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury)
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| 4. No.86 | - | Annual Report 2004
Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation
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| (to be presented by Financial Secretary)
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II. Questions for Written Replies
1. Hon James TIEN to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that due to manpower shortage in the Government, there is a heavy backlog of applications made under the Capital Investment Entrant Scheme, causing delays in processing such applications. Also, there has been little external publicity of the Scheme. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the number of those applications, since the launch of the above Scheme in October 2003, the processing time of which has failed to meet the target set in the Performance Pledge, their percentage in all the applications received, as well as the total amount of investments involved;
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| (b) | of the number of officers responsible for vetting and approving the applications, and the reasons for the delays in such work; and
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| (c) | whether it will step up the publicity of the Scheme; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply
: Secretary for Security
2. Hon LEUNG Yiu-chung to ask: (Translation)
Will the Government inform this Council, among the applicants for financial assistance (including grants and loans) under the various schemes administered by the Student Financial Assistance Agency, of the respective numbers of persons who were eligible for the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance payments and received such payments, in each of the past three years?
Public Officer to reply
: Secretary for Education and Manpower
3. Hon CHEUNG Hok-ming to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that the Hong Kong North West Express Limited ("North West Express") which was originally granted the right to operate the cross-boundary ferry terminal in Tuen Mun has recently sold the operating right of the ferry terminal to another company. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | apart from the North West Express, of the number and names of the organizations which submitted tenders for the operating right of the above ferry terminal;
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| (b) | of the authorities' criteria for assessing the tenders for the operating right of the above ferry terminal, and whether such criteria include those relating to the tenderers' financial position and experience in operating the same type of ferry terminals;
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| (c) | whether it will make public the contents of the tenders submitted by the tenderers, so that the public can assess whether the authorities' decision to grant the operating right to the North West Express is in line with the principles of fairness and impartiality; and
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| (d) | of the latest progress of the modification works of the terminal and its commissioning date?
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Public Officer to reply
: Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works
4. Dr Hon Fernando CHEUNG to ask: (Translation)
I have recently received a number of complaints alleging that the social workers ("SWs") employed by the Social Welfare Department ("SWD") on non-civil service contracts are paid salaries much lower than those of civil servants holding posts with similar entry requirements and duties. Moreover, SWD does not state in the job advertisements the ranks of such posts on non-civil service contracts. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the number of SWs on non-civil service contracts recruited by SWD in each recruitment exercise over the past five years, their salaries, the rank(s) of the civil service post(s) to which their duties correspond, and the differences between their salaries and the mid-point salary of the civil servant post(s) with similar duties;
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| (b) | of the number of SWs on non-civil service contracts currently employed by SWD, the rank(s) of civil service post(s) to which their duties correspond, their average length of service, and the number of SWs recruited on contract terms who were subsequently appointed as civil servants over the past five years;
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| (c) | of the criteria on which SWD based for determining the remuneration of such employees on non-civil service contracts;
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| (d) | whether SWD has assessed the adverse impact brought about by the disparity of pay between employees on non-civil service contracts and civil servants with similar duties, and how SWD will appease the employees on non-civil service contracts; and
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| (e) | why SWD has not stated the ranks of such posts on contract terms in the recruitment exercise, and whether SWD has considered the possibility that this may cause the length of service of the SWD employees concerned to be disregarded by social service organizations adopting civil service pay scales when these employees take up jobs in such organizations?
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Public Officer to reply
: Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food
5. Hon LI Fung-ying to ask: (Translation)
It is learnt that the SME Training Fund will lapse following the exhaustion of the fund by the middle of this year. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the number of SME employees benefited since the introduction of the Fund in January 2002;
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| (b) | of the types of SMEs whose applications to the Fund were successful, and the types of training courses attended by SME employees subsidized by the Fund;
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| (c) | whether it has assessed the impact of the lapse of the Fund on the training of SME employees; if it has, of the assessment results; and
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| (d) | whether there are measures to ensure that the training and further education of SME employees will not be affected by the lapse of the Fund, such as increasing the types of programmes subsidized by the Skills Upgrading Scheme, the Continuing Education Fund and the Funding Scheme for Workplace English Training, and the number of SME employees to be benefited from these programmes; if so, of the details of such measures; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply
: Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology
6. Hon Abraham SHEK to ask:
It has been reported that the electronic wastes kept in the 91 sites in the New Territories for such storage purpose have been exposed to sun and rain. As a result, pollutants such as lead and brominated flame retardants have been washed into soil by rain water, thereby polluting the streams and farmlands in the vicinity. Such pollutants will find their way into human bodies after people have consumed the agricultural produce grown on the polluted farmlands in the New Territories. In view of such health hazards, will the Government inform this Council whether it:
| (a) | has any plan to stop the import of electronic wastes; if it has, of the details of the plan; if not, the reasons for that; and
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| (b) | will strengthen the existing measures for protecting the general public from such health hazards; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply
: Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works
7. Hon Frederick FUNG to ask: (Translation)
Will the Government inform this Council of the following in respect of the past five years:
| (a) | the respective annual numbers of work contracts outsourced by the Housing Department, the Department of Health, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department and the Leisure and Cultural Services Department; the total amount of contract value and the total number of workers employed by the contractors concerned, together with a breakdown of such figures by the type of outsourced works, as well as the list of approved contractors used by each department in vetting and approving tenders as well as the list of non-compliant contractors; and
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| (b) | the respective annual savings achieved by each of the aforesaid departments as a result of outsourcing and how the savings have been calculated?
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Public Officer to reply
: Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
8. Hon SIN Chung-kai to ask: (Translation)
In May 2000, the Finance Committee of the Legislative Council approved a provision of $718.6 million for developing the Third Generation Communication and Mobilising System in the Fire Services Communication Centre. It has been reported that the new system was officially launched last month in the New Territories, operating in parallel with the old system. However, a number of problems emerged and led to chaos in the deployment of ambulances. In this regard, will the Government inform this Council of:
| (a) | the problems that have occurred since the launching of the new system and their causes, and the remedial measures adopted;
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| (b) | the reasons for arranging parallel operation of the old and new systems; and given its problems, whether the full operation date of the new system will be postponed; if so, of the additional resources involved; and
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| (c) | the benefits brought about by the new system, and how they compare with the benefits originally anticipated?
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Public Officer to reply
: Secretary for Security
9. Hon Albert CHAN to ask: (Translation)
It is learnt that upon receiving an application from an indigenous villager for the construction of a small house in the New Territories, the authorities will post a notice in the village where the house is intended to be built, to give the villagers the opportunity to raise objections to the application. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the total number of applications received in the past three years from indigenous villagers for the construction of small houses, the number of such applications to which objections were raised and, in the circumstance where there were objections, the respective numbers of cases which were approved and rejected ultimately;
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| (b) | how the objections to the construction of small houses are dealt with; and
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| (c) | whether the objections raised by indigenous villagers and those by non-indigenous villagers are dealt with in the same manner; if not, how they are dealt with differently?
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Public Officer to reply
: Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands
10. Hon Frederick FUNG to ask: (Translation)
In its Investigation Report on Letting of Market Stalls by Auction released on 7 April this year, the Office of The Ombudsman pointed out that some tenants had taken advantage of the loopholes in the arrangements for letting stalls, by outbidding competitors in auctions to secure nearby stalls and then terminated the tenancy prematurely, with the intention of reducing competition. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the number of such cases in the markets managed by the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department ("FEHD");
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| (b) | whether it has received any complaints about the above phenomenon; if so, of the number of such complaints, and the reasons for not taking any measures at that time to plug such loopholes;
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| (c) | how FEHD will specifically implement the recommendations made by the Office of The Ombudsman on the arrangements for auctioning market stalls; and
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| (d) | whether it has investigated if the facilities managed by other government departments and their auctioning arrangements have similar problems; if it has, of the investigation results, and the measures in place to deal with such problems; if it has not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply
: Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food
11. Ir Dr Hon HO Chung-tai to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that incidents reflecting the inadequate English proficiency of jurors are not uncommon. As the jurors' level of English proficiency may have bearing on the fairness of the verdicts made, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the respective average numbers of persons who applied for and were granted exemptions from service as jurors in the past three years on grounds of unsatisfactory English proficiency and education standards, as well as the percentages of such persons in the total number of jurors summoned to form juries in the same period;
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| (b) | of the existing measures to ensure that the inadequate English proficiency of jurors will not lead to unfair verdicts; and
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| (c) | whether it will draw up new measures to enhance the English proficiency of jurors or remove the language barrier they may encounter during court proceedings because of their inadequate English proficiency; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply
: Chief Secretary for Administration
12. Hon LAU Kong-wah to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that a commercial group holding a portion of the interests in the Eastern Harbour Crossing and the Western Harbour Crossing put forward a proposal to the Government six years ago to form a holding company jointly with the Government, which would hold interests in the two said tunnels and the government-owned Cross-Harbour Tunnel, thereby facilitating the adoption of a unified mechanism for determining the tolls of the three tunnels. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the details of the above proposal; and
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| (b) | whether it has assessed the feasibility of this proposal; if it has and the assessment result is in the negative, of the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply
: Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works
13. Hon Emily LAU to ask: (Translation)
The 18 elderly health centres under the Department of Health provide their members with services of physical check up, health assessment, counselling, curative treatment and health education. In this connection, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council:
| (a) | of the number of new members enrolled at each centre in the past three years and the current number of members each centre has;
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| (b) | of the criteria for determining these centres' membership size, and whether such sizes are adjusted from time to time in accordance with the changes in the elderly population in the districts served by the centres; if not, the reasons for that;
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| (c) | of the number of persons waiting for enrolment as members at present, the average waiting time for enrolment at each centre as well as the average territory-wide waiting time;
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| (d) | whether they have reviewed the effectiveness of the services provided by the centres; if so, of the review results; and
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| (e) | whether they have plans to allocate additional resources, or re-deploy existing resources, for expanding the scope of services provided by the centres and shortening the waiting time for the elderly to enrol as members; if so, of the details of the plan; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply
: Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food
14. Dr Hon Fernando CHEUNG to ask: (Translation)
Earlier, a wheelchair-bound passenger, who had not made use of the restraint lap belt to hold herself and her wheelchair securely onto the back rest at the wheelchair parking space in a bus, lost balance and fell onto the deck floor along with her wheelchair when the bus was turning a corner. The passenger was injured and taken to hospital. In connection with the safety of people with disabilities on board buses, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the number of accidents involving passengers with disabilities on board the buses operated by each franchised bus company in each of the past five years, and the details of these accidents;
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| (b) | of the number and details of complaints involving passengers with disabilities against each franchised bus company received by the relevant authorities over the past five years; and
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| (c) | whether it knows if the franchised bus companies have:
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| (i) | issued guidelines to their drivers on how to provide assistance to passengers with disabilities; if they have, of the details; and
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| (ii) | made the requirement that drivers must ensure that the wheelchair-bound passengers and their wheelchairs are secured in place before starting the buses; if they have, of the details of the requirement; if not, how the bus companies can ensure the safety of these passengers, and whether the Government will request the bus companies to impose the requirement?
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Public Officer to reply
: Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works
15. Hon CHOY So-yuk to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that the increase in the number of cases of mosquito-borne diseases in recent years has prompted the Government to procure many mosquito traps, in addition to the anti-mosquito campaigns. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the total number, model types and prices of mosquito traps procured by the authorities over the past three years;
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| (b) | whether the authorities procured the relevant mosquito traps by way of tender or private agreement;
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| (c) | whether the authorities had compared the selling prices of similar mosquito traps in local and foreign markets before procuring the mosquito traps; if so, of the results; if not, how the authorities ensured that the procurement cost of the mosquito traps would not be higher than the cost of importing similar products from abroad; and
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| (d) | of the number of supplying agents from which the authorities procured the above mosquito traps, and whether they have assessed if there is any monopoly of mosquito traps in the local market; if it has, of the assessment results?
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Public Officer to reply
: Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
16. Ir Dr Hon HO Chung-tai to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that the large quantity of information technology equipment acquired for schools by the Government in recent years has become the coveted target of thieves and burglars, thus giving rise to a number of school burglary cases. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the year-on-year rate of increase in the number of schools burgled in each of the past three years;
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| (b) | whether it has studied the reasons for thieves and burglars successfully breaking into the schools concerned; if it has, of the findings; and
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| (c) | whether it has any plans to review the effectiveness of the existing anti-burglary measures for schools?
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Public Officer to reply
: Secretary for Education and Manpower
17. Hon Emily LAU to ask: (Translation)
The Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority pointed out in his article, published on the 3rd of last month, that there was an oligopoly in the supply of landed property. Some real estate developers agree to this view and have pointed out that most of the private lands which are available for development are held by a few real estate developers. In this connection, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council:
| (a) | of the areas and amounts of the premiums of the various pieces of land sold by auction in the past three years, and the names of the successful bidders;
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| (b) | whether they know the numbers of pieces of land currently held by various real estate developers and the total areas of their respective land stocks; if so, of the details;
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| (c) | whether they have assessed the severity of the problem of oligopoly in the supply of landed property, and of the measures to prevent the problem from worsening; and
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| (d) | of the measures to address the problem of oligopoly, and whether a fair competition law will be enacted for this purpose?
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Public Officer to reply
: Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands
18. Hon LAU Kong-wah to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the impact on road traffic of the Ma On Shan Rail ("MOSR"), which was commissioned on 22 December last year, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the respective daily average numbers of vehicles using the Tate's Cairn Tunnel and the Lion Rock Tunnel on weekdays and holidays at present, and how such figures compare with the relevant figures prior to the commissioning of the MOSR;
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| (b) | whether it has assessed how far the MOSR has eased the traffic flows of the above two tunnels during rush hours; if so, of the assessment results; and
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| (c) | of the specific impact of the commissioning of the MOSR on the patronage of various bus and minibus routes serving Ma On Shan?
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Public Officer to reply
: Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works
19. Hon CHEUNG Hok-ming to ask: (Translation)
Regarding improvements to road parapets, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | given that the Tuen Mun Road Traffic Incident Independent Expert Panel recommended, in its Report on Enhancement of Highway Safety published in November 2003, that parapet enhancement works should be carried out as a matter of priority at 39 road sections, of the details and progress of the works completed and those underway;
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| (b) | as many professional drivers have reflected to me that the completed parapet enhancement works at the section of Tuen Mun Road between Belvedere Garden and Yau Kom Tau are not sufficient, whether the Administration will consider increasing the height of the parapets along that road section to prevent vehicles from rolling over the parapets in traffic accidents, as well as installing additional rails at the back of the newly-installed thrie-beam barriers to increase their containment capability; if not, of the reasons for that; and
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| (c) | apart from the above locations, whether the Administration has reviewed the design of the parapets along other bridges, viaducts and accident-prone road sections, particularly those to be installed along the Shenzhen Western Corridor under construction; if so, of the details of the review, including the road sections at which parapets enhancement work will be carried out and the details of such works; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply
: Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works
20. Hon Margaret NG to ask: (Translation)
Will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the total number of foreign passport holders who were detained while in transit in Hong Kong and prosecuted in the past three years, the number of such persons who were allowed to take out bails and, among the detainees whose applications for bail were refused, the respective numbers of those who had been detained pending trial for less than a month, one month to three months and over three months; and
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| (b) | as freedom of the person and presumption of innocence are basic human rights, of the measures adopted by the authorities to shorten the period in which foreign passport holders, who are detained while in transit and prosecuted, have to wait pending trial?
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Public Officer to reply
: Secretary for Security
III. Bills
First Reading
1. Building Management (Amendment) Bill 2005
2. Protection of Endangered Species of Animals and Plants Bill
3. Revenue (Allowances for Tax) Bill 2005
4. Immigration (Amendment) Bill 2005
5. Child Care Services (Amendment) Bill 2005
Second Reading (Debates to be adjourned)
| 1. | Building Management (Amendment) Bill 2005 | : | Secretary for Home Affairs
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| 2. | Protection of Endangered Species of Animals and Plants Bill | : | Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works
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| 3. | Revenue (Allowances for Tax) Bill 2005 | : | Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
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| 4. | Immigration (Amendment) Bill 2005 | : | Secretary for Security
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| 5. | Child Care Services (Amendment) Bill 2005 | : | Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food
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Second Reading (Debate to resume), Committee Stage and Third Reading
Appropriation Bill 2005
: Financial Secretary
| (i) | Proposed resolution under Rule 69(3) of the Rules of Procedure of the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
Hon Albert HO to move the following motion:
RESOLVED that head 122 be reduced by $45,530,000 in respect of subhead 000.
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| (ii) | Proposed resolution under Rule 69(3) of the Rules of Procedure of the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
Hon Albert HO to move the following motion:
RESOLVED that head 122 be reduced by $80,000,000 in respect of subhead 103.
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| (iii) | Proposed resolution under Rule 69(3) of the Rules of Procedure of the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
Hon CHEUNG Man-kwong to move the following motion:
RESOLVED that head 144 be reduced by $3,232,000 in respect of subhead 000.
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Clerk to the Legislative Council
