A 05/06-6

Legislative Council

Agenda

Wednesday 9 November 2005 at 11:00 am

I. Tabling of Papers

Subsidiary Legislation / InstrumentsL.N. No.
Tax Reserve Certificates (Rate of Interest) (No. 8) Notice 2005194/2005

Other Paper

No.27-Hong Kong Sports Development Board Report for the period from 1.4.2004 to 30.9.2004
(to be presented by Secretary for Home Affairs)

II. Questions

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

The China Motor Bus Company Limited ("CMB") applied to the Administration earlier for modifying the lease of a site located on Kam Hong Street in North Point so as to change the permitted use from provision of staff quarters to commercial/residential use. In August this year, the Government and the CMB reached an agreement on the amount of the land premium payable. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the uses of the site since the CMB terminated its bus operation in 1998, and whether it has been left vacant since then;

    (b)given that the CMB has terminated its bus operation for many years, of the reasons for not resuming the land and putting it up for bidding by interested property developers; and

    (c)of the number of applications approved in the past ten years for modifying the land use of a site from the provision of community or communal facilities to industrial/business or residential use, together with a list of these sites detailing their location, area and original permitted use, as well as the name of the grantee and the amount of land premium for each site?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands

2. Hon Albert CHAN to ask: (Translation)

I note that in recent years some note-issuing banks have ("NIBs") closed their local branches in a number of public housing estates ("PHEs"). For instance, the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation ("HSBC") has closed its local branches in Lei Muk Shue Estate, Shek Wai Kok Estate, On Ting Estate, Yau Oi Estate and Tai O, and reduced the service hours of its local branch in Mui Wo. On the other hand, residents of some newly completed PHEs, such as those in Tin Shui Wai and Tung Chung, have repeatedly requested the HSBC to set up branches or teller machines in their estates, but such requests have been refused. As the reduction in the number of local branches by NIBs has caused great inconvenience to many people, especially recipients of Comprehensive Social Security Assistance, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the number of branches set up by each NIB in Hong Kong in each of the past five years, and whether these banks have an obligation to provide basic services for the public;

    (b)whether it will consider revoking the NIB status of banks if they keep scaling down the services of their local branches; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and

    (c)whether it will consider granting the NIB status to banks whose services can serve the needs and interests of the general public better than NIBs; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury

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

In his Policy Address announced last month, the Chief Executive pointed out that for selected ecologically important areas, a pilot scheme involving management agreements and public-private partnership ("PPP") would be carried out as a priority and that under the scheme, land owners would participate voluntarily and non-governmental organizations would provide the funding for conservation work. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)as the Environment and Conservation Fund Committee has approved an allocation of $4.6 million for the implementation of three pilot management agreement projects at Fung Yuen and Long Valley, of the respective amounts of funds committed in respect of such projects by the non-governmental organizations responsible for managing the land concerned;

    (b)of the implementation timetables for such pilot projects, and whether the authorities have any measures to monitor their progress; and

    (c)as an inter-departmental Task Force is studying six PPP proposals, when the authorities expect such studies to be completed and whether they will brief the public on the evaluation work and results?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works

4. Hon Audrey EU to ask: (Translation)

On 30 August this year, two health inspectors of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department ("FEHD") removed their uniform caps and epaulettes upon the request of the Hong Kong Disneyland ("HKD") staff before entering HKD to perform their duties. On 6 September, however, another health inspector rejected the same request when he performed duties at HKD, and reported the incident to his supervisor. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council of:
    (a)the existing legislation which provides that it is unlawful for a person to refuse or obstruct the entry of FEHD staff into premises for law enforcement purposes; and the usual practice of FEHD staff in such circumstances;

    (b)the details on how FEHD took the matter up with the HKD authorities after learning about the incidents and the follow-up actions taken; and

    (c)whether the Administration has decided to initiate prosecution against the persons concerned, and the rationale for the decision?
Public Officer to reply :Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food
Secretary for Justice

5. Hon LEUNG Yiu-chung to ask: (Translation)

While Article 159 of the Basic Law provides for the power of amendment of the Basic Law and the power to propose bills for such amendments, it does not clearly set out a specific amendment mechanism. Although the Government said in July 2001 that it would study, analyze and conduct extensive consultations on the matter, discuss with the Legislative Council ("LegCo") and the Central Authorities, and then put forward the proposals, no specific proposal has been presented so far. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the details and progress of the study, analysis and consultations;

    (b)whether it will arrange for LegCo to have exchanges and discussions with the National People's Congress and the relevant authorities of the Central Government regarding this matter; if so, of the details of the arrangements; if not, the reasons for that; and

    (c)how it will ensure that the wishes of the Hong Kong people will be given due consideration and respect, and the principles of "one country, two systems" and "a high degree of autonomy" will be given effect in the formulation of such a mechanism?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Constitutional Affairs

6. For Hon CHOY So-yuk,

Hon LI Kwok-ying to ask: (Translation)

Regarding the regulation of services provided by beauty salons, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)given that the Consumer Council received 50 complaints concerning intense pulsed light and laser cosmetic treatments in the first nine months of this year and, among these cases, after-effects such as colour change, blisters, burns and scars have appeared on the skins of 22 persons, whether it plans to regulate the provision of light-based cosmetic treatments by beauty salons, including the qualification requirements for practitioners; if so, of the details and timetable of such plans, if not, the reasons for that; and

    (b)whether it plans to regulate the provision by beauty salons of those services such as tattooing and ear-piercing which might cause pathogenic infections; if so, of the details of such plans; if not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food

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

It has been reported that there were cases in which existing local medical insurance providers were selective in accepting applications for insurance covers; and there are also complaints against insurance companies which set discriminatory terms and conditions in their medical insurance policies, and refuse to provide insurance covers for psychiatric patients and the chronically ill. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the number of insurance companies in Hong Kong which specialize in medical insurance and critical illness insurance at present, the coverage of the insurance policies concerned and the illnesses and medical services which fall outside such coverage; and the number of such companies which offer comprehensive medical insurance and accept applications for covers for all types of illnesses without setting any restrictive terms;

    (b)of the statistics on the risk assessment of medical insurance, including the number of psychiatric patients and the chronically ill admitted by public hospitals over the past three years, the average health care cost and amount of public funding involved, and the estimated expenses that might have incurred if such patients had received treatments in private hospitals; and

    (c)whether it will consider reviewing and enhancing the regulation of medical insurance coverage in order to recommend insurance scheme choices to the public more specifically when proposing practicable options for financing health care in future, so that the public may enjoy medical protection?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food

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

It has been reported that the Housing Authority ("HA") has so far not provided lifts or escalators for access to some or all floor levels in the housing blocks of its old public housing estates aged under 40 years, nor has it inspected the facilities in those housing estates and reviewed the need for alteration or addition works to facilitate the mobility of the elderly and disabled residents in such housing blocks. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the names of the public housing estates in which no lifts have been installed for access to some or all floor levels in the housing blocks, the number of floor levels concerned, the districts where such housing estates are situated and the years of completion of those housing blocks; the number of public housing estates in which ramps or stepways have been provided, the length of the ramps and the number of stepways concerned; as well as the number of escalators available;

    (b)of the respective numbers of elderly persons and people having mobility problem (such as disabled persons, mentally retarded persons and chronic patients) living in the above housing estates; and

    (c)why lifts and escalators have so far not been provided in those housing estates; and whether there are plans to install such facilities to meet the needs of the residents?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands

*9. Hon LEE Wing-tat to ask: (Translation)

According to the internal guidelines issued in May 2004 by the Government, government departments and trading funds may consider a tender bid for service contracts (excluding construction services) which rely heavily on the deployment of non-skilled workers only if the monthly wage rates undertaken to be offered by the tenderer to such workers are not lower than the average market rates. Besides, The Link Management Limited ("The Link") has taken over from the Housing Authority the day-to-day management of 180 retail and car-parking facilities since 1 March this year. After the listing of The Link Real Estate Investment Trust ("The Link REIT") in the next few months, The Link will become an independent private company and thus will not have to follow the above guidelines. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)among the non-skilled workers currently employed by contractors of The Link, of the number of workers whose monthly wage rates are higher than the average market rates, and the number of those with monthly wage rates lower than the average market rates, together with a breakdown by job type of the latter's average monthly wages; and

    (b)whether, after the listing of The Link REIT, The Link will be required to fulfil its corporate social responsibility by engaging only those contractors who offer wage rates not lower than the average market rates to their non-skilled workers; if not, of the justifications for that, and the other measures to ensure that the wages of such workers will not be lower than those offered to workers employed by contractors of government departments and trading funds?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands

*10. Hon Bernard CHAN to ask: (Translation)

Will the Government inform this Council of the average academic results in the Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination attained by the students who were admitted by University Grants Committee-funded institutions in 2005 to read undergraduate programmes majoring in studies relating to Chinese Language or English Language, and the average academic results in the relevant language subjects in the Examination attained by the students of such programmes in the past three years? Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education and Manpower

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

Recently, I have received complaints from members of the public alleging that the immigration control officers in other countries or regions had found fault with them when they entered with Hong Kong travel documents on which only their years of birth but not the months and the days were shown. Regarding the use of Hong Kong travel documents, will the Government inform this Council of:
    (a)the current number of Hong Kong people whose Hong Kong travel documents only show their years of birth broken down by age, gender and type of travel documents;

    (b)the respective numbers of complaints or requests for assistance received from Hong Kong people who could not enter other countries or regions successfully because of problems in their Hong Kong travel documents in each of the past three years, broken down by country or region; the details of the complaints involved and the follow-up actions taken by the government departments concerned regarding such complaints, including whether they had enquired with the countries or regions concerned about the details of such complaints; and

    (c)the measures to prevent Hong Kong people from facing the same situation when entering other countries or regions?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

*12. Hon Abraham SHEK to ask:

It has been reported that 71 families with blind and visually impaired children, who had been overpaid the disability allowance as they had not reported their children's admission to special boarding school, have been asked to return the overpaid allowance. In one case, the parents of a visually impaired child had been overpaid $160,000 in the past 12 years, and were asked to return that amount by a one-off payment or installments. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:
    (a)it has thoroughly investigated each of the above cases to ascertain whether the disability allowance applicants intended to cheat or the Social Welfare Department ("SWD") should take the blame for its unclear application procedures;

    (b)SWD will conduct a comprehensive review on its mechanism for approving disability allowance applications; if not, the reasons for that; and

    (c)it has assessed the adverse impact of the repayment on the quality of life of the affected blind and visually impaired children, and whether it will consider waiving the repayment if there is adverse impact?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food

*13. Hon CHAN Yuen-han to ask: (Translation)

Regarding the efforts to curb the reception of inbound tours by people without the local Tourist Guide Pass ("the Pass"), including tour escorts accompanying tour groups to Hong Kong, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the legislation under which the departments concerned are empowered to check the documents of persons serving as tour guides and prosecute those without the Pass;

    (b)of the number of law enforcement actions taken by the departments concerned over the past two years; and the respective numbers of persons arrested and prosecuted for serving as tour guides without the Pass; as well as the number of warnings issued by the Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong to travel agents employing tour guides without the Pass;

    (c)whether it will consider enacting legislation to require travel agents to employ local tour guides with the Pass for the reception of inbound tours; if it will not, of the reasons for that; and

    (d)whether it will consider assigning to one single department the work of issuing the Pass, regulating tour guides' work and taking law enforcement actions, so as to safeguard the quality of the service of tour guides?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Economic Development and Labour

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

Currently, patients of general out-patient clinics who cannot afford the fees for health care services can apply for a fee waiver, but they are required to apply to the Medical Social Workers ("MSWs") on each occasion. They have criticized that the arrangement not only causes inconvenience to needy patients, in particular the elderly persons, but also increases the workload of MSWs and results in a waste of resources. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it will review the medical fee waiver mechanism and make improvements in this respect; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that? Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food

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

Regarding the assistance provided to Hong Kong people doing business in the Mainland, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council of the respective numbers of cases of Hong Kong businessmen seeking assistance which the Office of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region ("HKSARG") in Beijing and the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Guangdong of the HKSARG have referred to the relevant departments in the Mainland as well as the government departments and statutory bodies of the HKSAR in the past three years; the number of such cases that have been settled; the reasons for not settling the outstanding cases, and the other assistance that will be provided by the two Offices to the Hong Kong businessmen concerned? Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Constitutional Affairs

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

Under the notification mechanism set up by the law enforcement authorities of the Mainland and Hong Kong, the Immigration Department will pass to the Mainland authorities information about Mainlanders convicted on offences or breaching conditions of stay in Hong Kong, so that the authorities concerned may consider prohibiting these persons from coming to Hong Kong again within a certain period of time. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the number of Mainlanders with previous convictions in Hong Kong who were convicted again in each of the past three years, after entering the territory again through legal or illegal means, together with a breakdown by category of the offences they last committed, as well as the average interval between the two most recent offences committed by them; and

    (b)whether it has discussed with the relevant Mainland authorities the issuing of travel documents or endorsements to certain Mainlanders to Hong Kong despite their repeated convictions in the territory; if so, of the outcome of the discussion?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

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

It has been reported that there were cases of match-fixing and the use of forbidden drugs by athletes in the 10th National Games. A player of the Hong Kong badminton team was wrongly ruled several times by the umpire in the Women's Singles Semi Final match and subsequently lost the match, which seriously affected her performance in the remaining matches. She later gave up early in the match for the bronze medal in that event in protest of the unfair umpiring. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)whether it has enquired about the truth of above incident involving Hong Kong athletes; if the incident is true, whether it has discussed with the Mainland authorities and lodged a complaint so as to uphold the spirit of fair play and doing one's best to win in sports competitions; if it has not discussed or complained, the reasons for that, and whether it is partly attributable to the Hong Kong authorities' tolerance of such match-fixing activities;

    (b)whether it has assessed the impacts of the incident on Hong Kong's athletes and the future development of sports; and

    (c)of the measures to prevent matching-fixing and the use of forbidden drugs in sports competitions to be held in Hong Kong (e.g. the equestrian events in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and the East Asian Games), in order to ensure that these competitions will be held in a fair and impartial manner?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs

*18. Hon Audrey EU to ask: (Translation)

Will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the current respective average teacher-student ratios, class sizes, the number of teaching sessions and average working hours per teacher per week in aided secondary and primary schools; and

    (b)how the above figures compare to those in Hong Kong five years ago and the corresponding current figures in the United States of America, the United Kingdom, the Mainland, Taiwan and Singapore?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education and Manpower

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

It has been reported that New World First Ferry Services Limited has recently applied to the Government to increase the fares of outlying island ferry services by an average of 9.4%. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the criteria it will adopt for vetting and approving the application, and whether it will consult this Council before making any decision;

    (b)whether it will consider taking measures to relieve the pressure of increases in ferry fares, such as by offering further tax concessions, and allowing more advertising space to be provided at ferry piers, etc.; and

    (c)whether it will consider opening up the ferry routes concerned to other operators, with a view to promoting competition and relieving the pressure for increases in the fares of ferry services?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works

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

Regarding the procurement of environmentally-friendly products by various government departments, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the respective total values of environmentally-friendly products, i.e. those conforming to the green product specifications, procured by each department in each of the past three years;

    (b)of the types of environmentally-friendly products procured by each department; and

    (c)whether it will set a target percentage of the total value of environmentally-friendly products to be procured in the total value of all procurements, together with an implementation timetable in this regard; if not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury

*For written reply.

III. Bills

Second Reading (Debate to resume), Committee Stage and Third Reading

Carriage by Air (Amendment) Bill 2005 : Secretary for Economic Development and Labour

IV. Members' Motions

  1. Proposed resolution under the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance

    Hon Fred LI to move the following motion:

    RESOLVED that in relation to the Harmful Substances in Food (Amendment) Regulation 2005, published in the Gazette as Legal Notice No. 137 of 2005 and laid on the table of the Legislative Council on 12 October 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 30 November 2005.

  2. Proposed resolution under the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance

    Hon Miriam LAU to move the following motion:

    RESOLVED that in relation to the Closed Area (Hong Kong Ministerial Conference of World Trade Organization) Order, published in the Gazette as Legal Notice No. 160 of 2005 and laid on the table of the Legislative Council on 12 October 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 30 November 2005.

  3. Minimum wage, standard working hours

    Hon CHAN Yuen-han: (Translation)

    That, as the working conditions of the grass-roots workers are worsening, their wages are low and their working hours are long, the low-income population is still increasing despite Hong Kong's substantial economic growth last year, and as some low-income families have to even rely on Comprehensive Social Security Assistance payment to eke out a living, this Council suggests that, to enable the grass-roots workers to share the fruits of economic growth which they deserve, the Government should encourage employers to increase the pay and improve the fringe benefits for their employees and, at the same time, urges the Government to expeditiously:

      (a)legislate for a minimum wage to safeguard the most basic living standard of the workers, with priority accorded to individual low-income industries and jobs, so that employers of private enterprises are required to take on the social responsibility they should shoulder, so as to prevent them from shifting their business operating costs to the Government and thereby increasing the expenditure on social welfare; and

      (b)regulate the number of working hours, reasonable rest breaks during working hours and overtime allowance, so as to ensure that employees have sufficient time for rest and studies.

    Amendment to motion
    Hon Andrew CHENG:     (Translation)

    To delete "regulate" before "the number of working hours" and substitute with "enact law for regulating"; and to add "the basis for calculating" after "during working hours and".

    Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Economic Development and Labour

  4. Constitutional reform proposal

    Hon Ronny TONG Ka-wah: (Translation)

    That this Council considers that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region ("HKSAR") Government is responsible for putting forward a constitutional reform proposal that is acceptable to Hong Kong citizens and which encompasses concrete democratization processes; such proposal should not confer upon the appointed District Council members the rights to select the Chief Executive or elect Members of the Legislative Council; furthermore, the HKSAR Government is also responsible for setting out in its proposal a roadmap and a timetable for achieving universal suffrage as well as the relevant details of the elections.

    Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Constitutional Affairs

Clerk to the Legislative Council