A 06/07-4

Legislative Council

Agenda

Wednesday 25 October at 11:00 am,
Thursday 26 October and Friday 27 October 2006 at 9:00 am on each day

I.Tabling of Papers

Subsidiary Legislation / Instruments		L.N. No.
1.	Merchant Shipping (Local Vessels) (Fees) Regulation	212/2006
2.	Merchant Shipping (Local Vessels) (Amount of Insurance Cover) Notice	213/2006
3.	Designation of Museum (Dr Sun Yat-sen Museum) Order	214/2006
4.	Carriage by Air (Amendment) Ordinance 2005 (Commencement) Notice	215/2006
5.	Freight Containers (Safety) Ordinance (Commencement) Notice	216/2006
6.	Freight Containers (Safety) (Applications for Approval of Containers) Regulation (Commencement) Notice	217/2006
7.	Freight Containers (Safety) (Fees) Regulation (Commencement) Notice	218/2006
8.	Freight Containers (Safety) (Arrangements for Authorized Persons) Order (Commencement) Notice	219/2006
9.	Freight Containers (Safety) (Examination Procedure) Order (Commencement) Notice	220/2006
10.	Freight Containers (Safety) (Amendment) Ordinance 2006 (Commencement) Notice	221/2006

Other Papers

1.	No.15	-	Report by the Trustee of the Prisoners' Education Trust Fund for the period from 1 April 2005 to 31 March 2006
(to be presented by Secretary for Security)
2.	No.16	-	Audited Financial Statement of Accounts and Auditors' Report for the Fish Marketing Organization for the year ended 31 March 2006
(to be presented by Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food)
3.	No.17	-	Audited Financial Statement of Accounts and Auditors' Report for the Vegetable Marketing Organization for the year ended 31 March 2006
(to be presented by Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food)
4.	No.18	-	Marine Fish Scholarship Fund Trustee's Report and Audited Financial Statement of Accounts and Auditors' Report on the Fund for the year ended 31 March 2006
(to be presented by Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food)
5.	No.19	-	Agricultural Products Scholarship Fund Trustee's Report and Audited Financial Statement of Accounts and Auditors' Report on the Fund for the year ended 31 March 2006
(to be presented by Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food)
6.	No.20	-	Office of the Telecommunications Authority Trading Fund Annual Report for the year 2005/06, together with the certified statements and the report of the Director of Audit for the Fund
(to be presented by Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology)
7.	No.21	-	Post Office Trading Fund Annual Report for the year 2005/06, together with the certified statements and the report of the Director of Audit for the Fund
(to be presented by Secretary for Economic Development and Labour)

II. Questions for Written Replies

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

Regarding the operation of liquefied petroleum gas ("LPG") filling stations, will the Government inform this Council of:

(a)	the average time currently taken by LPG taxis waiting at LPG filling stations for gas refills during rush hours, and how it compares to that in October last year; and
(b)	the number of complaints received from taxi drivers in the past three months about prolonged waiting time for gas refill, and the follow-up actions taken?

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

2. Hon Margaret NG to ask:

From time to time, there were reports on incidents regarding the loss of government records or the failure of government departments to provide access to certain information upon request because it has not been documented or the records could not be located. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	given that many countries have enacted legislation to ensure that government activities and transactions are adequately and properly documented, that government records are properly managed and disposed of, that records of enduring value are selected for transfer to the archives, and that public access is provided for reasons of accountability and transparency, of the reasons for the absence of similar legislation in Hong Kong;
(b)	whether there is any official definition of "archival records", and whether it is the same as "public records" as defined in the laws of Hong Kong;
(c)	given that the Public Records Act of the United Kingdom has a long history, the Mainland authorities enacted an archival law in 1987 and Macau also has such a legislation, whether it has considered enacting an archival law or plans to do so; if so, of the relevant timetable; and
(d)	as there is no archival law in Hong Kong, how the Government ensures proper management of its active, inactive and archival records in terms of:
	(i)	the number of government records created in each of the past seven years;
	(ii)	the number of government records appraised for destruction in each of the past seven years;
	(iii)	the number and major types of government records identified as archival records in each of the past seven years;
	(iv)	the current respective numbers of these records in the Government and the management programmes applied to them;
	(v)	the mechanism and arrangement for identifying government records as archival records;
	(vi)	the places and means by which archival records are preserved;
	(vii)	the places where and the means through which the public can access open or closed archival records;
	(viii)	the persons who decide on the preservation of and the granting of public access to archival records;
	(ix)	the mechanism for ensuring archival records are properly identified and preserved in the archives even when government bureaux or departments may refuse to have their records appraised or transferred to the archives;
	(x)	the mechanism for appeal when members of the public are denied access to archival records; and
	(xi)	the resources, in terms of funding and personnel (number of government officers, their professional qualifications, ranking and area of expertise), made available annually for managing active, inactive and archival records?

Public Officer to reply : Chief Secretary for Administration

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

During a trial run of the Ngong Ping 360 cable car system in June this year, many people were trapped in the cable cars as a result of a suspension of operation due to strong wind. Moreover, a number of problems were also identified. The commissioning of the system was consequently postponed. Since its commissioning in last September, the operation of the cable car system has been suspended on a number of occasions due to strong wind, and cracks were also found on the crossbeam of the lowest level of Tung Chung Station and at Nei Lak Shan Angle Station. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:

(a)	it has conducted an investigation to ascertain if a faulty design of the cable car system has necessitated the suspension of the system in strong wind conditions; if so, of the investigation results, as well as the improvement measures to ensure the safe operation of the cable car system in strong wind conditions (except when a tropical cyclone warning signal No. 3 or above is in force);
(b)	it has looked into the causes of the above cracks, and come up with the remedial measures;
(c)	it has assessed the losses suffered by the operator of the cable car system, shop operators at Ngong Ping Village and the tourism industry as a result of the suspension of operation and discovery of cracks; if so, of the amount of losses; and
(d)	it knows if the authorities concerned have conducted an investigation to establish if the cracks were caused by the negligence of the contractor; if such negligence of the contractor has been established, whether compensation will be sought from the contractor; if so, whether the amount of compensation to be sought will cover the various losses mentioned in (c) above?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Economic Development and Labour

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

It is learnt that an increasing number of Mainland women come to Hong Kong to give birth in order to enable their new born babies to have the right of abode in Hong Kong or evade the family planning policies of the Mainland authorities. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the number of Mainland women who gave birth in Hong Kong in each of the past five years, with a breakdown by the sectors (i.e. public or private) of the hospitals which provided the obstetrics services; and
(b)	whether it has conducted any study on the impact, of such Mainland women giving birth in Hong Kong and their babies returning to settle in Hong Kong in the future, on various public services in Hong Kong; if it has, of the study results; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

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

The Medical Council of Hong Kong ("the Medical Council") handles the registration, examination and disciplinary matters of medical practitioners in accordance with the Medical Registration Ordinance. Among the 28 council members of the Medical Council, half of them are appointed by the Chief Executive. Other professional bodies, such as The Law Society of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Bar Association, the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants, The Hong Kong Institute of Architects, The Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors and The Hong Kong Institution of Engineers, are all independent of the Government and have the same basic function of handling registration, examination and disciplinary matters. Most, if not all, of their council members are elected on a one-member-one-vote basis. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the reasons for the Medical Council to have a statutory framework different from those of other professional bodies and for half of its council members being appointed by the Chief Executive; and
(b)	of the number of staff members, remuneration, income and other expenses related to the following functions of the Medical Council in the past three years;
	(i)	registration of medical practitioners;
	(ii)	licensing examination;
	(iii)	handling complaints and conducting disciplinary inquiries about medical practitioners;
	(iv)	continuing professional development programme; and
	(v)	other administrative matters?

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

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

At present, after a member of the public has lost or sold his mobile phone, the personal data in the phone may possibly be abused, for instance, being made public on the Internet, by the person who gets hold of the phone. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it plans to enact legislation to criminalize the act of abusing other people's data in mobile phones, so as to enhance the protection of individual privacy; if so, of the progress of its plan; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs

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

It is learnt that some refuse collection vehicles running on the road are filthy and stink with foul water dripping, becoming an eyesore to the public and affecting environmental hygiene. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:

(a)	the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, private contractors and private cleansing service providers are required to keep their refuse collection vehicles in good hygiene condition; if so, of the penalties which may be imposed on the parties concerned for the situation mentioned above;
(b)	prosecutions have been instituted in the past three years for the above situation; if so, of the number of prosecutions instituted; and
(c)	it will consider making it a mandatory requirement for the parties concerned to cleanse their refuse collection vehicles regularly, as well as providing car-wash facilities at landfills to offer refuse collection vehicles cleansing service at a charge determined on the cost-recovery basis?

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

8. Dr Hon Fernando CHEUNG to ask: (Translation)

At the Legislative Council meeting held on 26 April this year, the Government, in its answer to my question about the residential property projects that had been granted additional floor areas for green features since the implementation of the policy to promote the construction of green and innovative buildings, pointed out that 117 projects were involved. Will the Government provide information on those projects in the following table?

Project Name	Area of green features exempted from the calculation of gross floor area of the project (sq. m.)		Green features involved	Amount of premium that has been /will be paid for the green features ($)	Current market value of the additional floor areas ($)
	(premium payment required)	(no premium payment required）
1.
2.
3.
4.
117.

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

9. Hon Emily LAU to ask: (Translation)

Members of the public have complained to me that although international crude oil prices have recently fallen from the peak of US$70-odd to US$50-odd a barrel, representing a cumulative drop as high as 20%, the local oil companies have only slightly adjusted the pump prices downwards. In this connection, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council:

(a)	of the movements in international oil prices in the last six months, and whether the local pump prices were adjusted in line with the movements in international oil prices in the same period; and
(b)	whether it will enact legislation to regulate adjustments of pump prices by oil companies; if so, of the timing for legislation; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Economic Development and Labour

10. Hon WONG Ting-kwong to ask: (Translation)

It has been reported that the Guangzhou Municipal Government, having set down an objective to establish a regional financial centre with international influence by 2020 and proposed to inject RMB 180 billion for the development of the financial hub in Zhujiang Xincheng, intends to cooperate with Hong Kong in taking forward the plans for the financial industries concerned. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	whether the officials of the planning department of the Guangzhou Municipal Government have made any proposal to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government on cooperation in the financial domain in relation to the above plans;
(b)	whether it has conducted any study on how Hong Kong can effectuate a complementary function should Guangzhou become a regional financial centre with international influence; if so, of the details; and
(c)	whether it has conducted any study or assessment on the possible competition to and impact on Hong Kong arising from Guangzhou's enhanced efforts in developing its international financial business; if so, of the results?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury

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

Will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the number of under-age girls arrested by the police in each district for suspected prostitution, the number of such girls who had come to Hong Kong on Two-way Permits issued by the Mainland, and the number of convictions, as well as the penalty imposed, in each of the past three years;
(b)	whether it has discussed with the Mainland authorities the problem of Mainland under-age girls engaging in prostitution in Hong Kong and strengthened the cooperation with them with a view to further combating vice-operators; if it has, of the details of the discussion; if not, the reasons for that; and
(c)	whether it knows if the parents or guardians of those Mainland girls who have been discovered to have engaged in prostitution in Hong Kong will be penalised for child neglect?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

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

At its meeting on 28 June 2005, the Panel on Health Services of this Council discussed with the Administration the implementation of the separation of prescribing from dispensing of drugs ("SPD") and urged the Administration to proactively consider the promulgation of a policy on SPD. Given that recently there was another incident of dispensing error and suspected use of unregistered drugs by a doctor in private practice, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	whether it has drawn up guidelines for private clinics on the procedures of drug purchase and dispensing; if it has, of the contents of the guidelines, and whether it will review the effectiveness of such guidelines in view of the recurrence of the incident of dispensing error; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
(b)	whether it has studied a policy on SPD and formed an ad hoc group on SPD; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
(c)	whether it has considered the difficulties in meeting the short-term, interim and long-term targets in the future implementation of SPD, the ancillary measures required, and the corresponding solutions and arrangements; if it has, of the details?

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

13. Hon Frederick FUNG to ask: (Translation)

Regarding the promotion of breast-feeding of babies, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the number of breast-fed new-born babies, and its percentage in the total number thereof, in each of the past five years;
(b)	whether it has assessed the effectiveness of its efforts in promoting breast-feeding; if so, of the assessment results;
(c)	as the Consumer Council has pointed out that certain practices currently adopted by the marketing agents of some milk powder products (for example, using such promotional messages as "close to breastmilk" or "new formula even closer to breastmilk" on the packaging of baby milk powder products, or promoting their products through advertisements or other means) are not in compliance with the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes, whether the Government will consider implementing the provisions of the Code by way of legislation; and
(d)	as the absence of baby-sitting rooms in most shopping malls, parks and public facilities under the management of the Government is not conducive to the promotion of breast-feeding, whether it will comprehensively review the situation and consider providing baby-sitting rooms in the public facilities under its management and amending the legislation on buildings to require the provision of such rooms in public places?

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

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

It has been reported that a new strain of highly drug-resistant tuberculosis has emerged and spread extensively across the world, posing great treatment difficulties. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:

(a)	any cases of drug-resistant tuberculosis have been reported in Hong Kong; if so, of the percentage of such cases in the total number of tuberculosis cases; and
(b)	the authorities have formulated any measures to prevent drug-resistant tuberculosis from spreading in Hong Kong; if so, of the details of such measures?

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

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

The Education and Manpower Bureau ("EMB") issued a policy document entitled "Empowering Learning and Teaching with Information Technology" in July 2004 as the Second Information Technology (IT) in Education Strategy (the Second Strategy) for the three schools years from 2004/05 to 2006/07. In this regard, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	taking the IT grant allocated by EMB to schools as the base, of the respective percentages of average expenses by each school in the past two school years on purchasing or repairing IT hardware, employing IT Coordinators, developing or setting up e-learning platforms or associated systems, purchasing digital-learning materials, as well as daily expenses on other IT-related services and consumables;
(b)	given that the Second Strategy is drawing to its end, whether it will make reference to past experience and commission a research institute to conduct an overall study on the progress and effectiveness of the implementation of the Second Strategy;
(c)	whether it has any plan to implement the Third Strategy; if it has, how it will enhance the gauging of views, especially those from the IT sector, in the course of formulating the new strategy; and of the relevant details and timetable; and
(d)	whether it will devise a set of indicators to assess the adeptness of primary and secondary schools in applying IT in e-learning, use of digital teaching materials, and school management, so as to further assist schools in setting the directions and focuses for their IT education and e-leaning development plans; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education and Manpower

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

Regarding the regulation of disseminating on the Internet remarks advocating terrorist attacks or threatening public safety, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the existing legislation regulating such acts;
(b)	whether the authorities will consider amending legislation to step up efforts to combat such acts; if not, the reasons for that; and
(c)	of the countries which currently have legislation prohibiting such acts, and whether the authorities know the number of persons convicted of breaching the relevant legislation in these countries over the past three years, as well as the nature of such cases?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

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

The Hospital Authority ("HA") announced on 4th October the establishment of a Steering Committee on Doctor Working Hour to review the working hours of public hospital doctors. Some doctors have relayed to me that they are worried that without the Government's policy support, any effort in reviewing the matter would only be futile. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	whether it has set a target for doctors' working hours; if it has, of the target set and the grounds for setting such a target;
(b)	whether it will increase its funding allocation to HA in the coming year, so as to provide HA with more resources for recruiting additional staff to implement the reduction of public hospital doctors' working hours to a reasonable level; and
(c)	apart from the establishment of a committee to review doctors' working hours, whether any other policies are in place to facilitate the reduction of doctors' working hours to a reasonable level?

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

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

Some members of the public have reflected to me that in order to ease the traffic flow and increase the volume of vehicular flow in urban areas, pedestrians have to wait a long time for the change of traffic light signals in some districts, while the duration of the steady green signal of pedestrian traffic lights is too short. Moreover, there are safety islands in the middle of some roads, hence pedestrians have to wait for the change of traffic light signals twice before they can cross the entire road. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the number of complaints received in the past three years about the short duration of the steady green signal of pedestrian traffic lights;
(b)	whether it will consider shortening the time that pedestrians have to wait for the change of traffic light signals and extending the duration of the steady green signal of pedestrian traffic lights during off-peak hours; and
(c)	whether it will review the arrangements for pedestrian traffic light signals in districts with heavy pedestrian traffic, with a view to striking a more rational balance between easing the vehicular flow and facilitating pedestrian movement?

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

19. Hon Emily LAU to ask: (Translation)

Will the Executive Authorities inform this Council:

(a)	of the number of children under the age of 16 who were reported to have been sexually abused in each of the past three years, broken down by the offences involved;
(b)	of the number of persons convicted of sexually abusing children under the age of 16 in each of the past three years and, among them, the number of those who had been involved in sex crimes and the number of those who were engaged in work allowing close contacts with children when the crimes were committed; and
(c)	whether it has considered setting up a database on offenders of sex or paedophile crimes; if so, of the relevant details; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

20. Hon Frederick FUNG to ask: (Translation)

In his recently delivered policy address, the Chief Executive proposed a 30% reduction in first registration tax (subject to a ceiling of $50,000) for newly registered vehicles with low emissions and high fuel efficiency. It has been reported that some models of electric-petroleum hybrid saloon cars ("hybrid saloons") will be eligible for this tax concession measure. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the details of the measure and its implementation timetable, including how "low emissions and high fuel efficiency" is defined, the types and models of vehicles which are eligible, and the measures to ensure that the benefit to vehicle buyers from this tax concession measure will not be offset by a corresponding increase in vehicle prices by vehicle sellers;
(b)	whether it has assessed the impact of the tax concession measure on the competitiveness of hybrid saloons; if so, of the assessment results, including the results of a comparison in prices with traditional vehicles, and the estimated number of vehicle owners who will be attracted to switch to hybrid cars by the tax concession measure;
(c)	whether it has assessed the latest supply situation of hybrid saloons and their cost effectiveness; if so, of the assessment results; whether it will consider introducing other concessionary measures (for example, remission of the annual licence fees) to encourage members of the public to switch to these types of saloons; and
(d)	whether it will consider setting the respective target percentages of hybrid saloons in the saloons to be used by the Government and the community in the next few years; if so, of the targets; if not, the reasons for that?

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

III. Members' Motions

Motion of Thanks

Hon Miriam LAU: (Translation)

That this Council thanks the Chief Executive for his address.

Amendments to motion

(i)	Hon LEE Cheuk-yan: (Translation) To add ", but expresses deep regret at the Government's refusal to legislate for a minimum wage at this stage" after "his address".
(ii)	Hon Albert CHAN: (Translation) To add ", but expresses deep regret that the address fails to put forward any measure to alleviate the disparity between the rich and the poor and the problem of plutocratic monopoly" after "his address".

Public Officers to attend are listed in the Appendix

Clerk to the Legislative Council