A 06/07-11

Legislative Council

Agenda

Wednesday 13 December 2006 at 11:00 am

I. Tabling of Papers

Subsidiary Legislation / InstrumentsL.N. No.
Air Pollution Control (Emission Reduction Devices for Vehicles) (Amendment) Regulation 2006270/2006

Other Papers

1. No.34-Queen Elizabeth Foundation for the Mentally Handicapped Report and Accounts 2005-2006
(to be presented by Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food)

2. No.35-Audited Statement of Accounts of the Director of Social Welfare Incorporated together with the Director of Audit's Report for the year ended 31 March 2006
(to be presented by Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food)

3. No.36-Forty-fifth Annual Report on the Social Work Training Fund by the Trustee of the Fund for the year ending on 31 March 2006
(to be presented by Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food)

4. No.37-Estate Agents Authority Annual Report 2005-2006
(to be presented by Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands)

5. No.38-Police Welfare Fund Annual Report 2005-2006
(to be presented by Secretary for Security)

6. No.39-Annual Report on the Police Children's Education Trust and the Police Education and Welfare Trust for the year 2005-2006
(to be presented by Secretary for Security)

II. Questions

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

Regarding the management of the Fu Shan Crematorium and Kwai Chung Crematorium under the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department ("FEHD"), will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)given that FEHD plans to transfer in January next year the management, including such duties as receiving coffins, handling ashes and cleaning the premises, of the aforesaid crematoria to the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department ("EMSD"), which is currently responsible for the operation and maintenance of cremators, whether EMSD will reconsider taking over the FEHD staff who are familiar with the above work and giving up the plan to outsource such duties; if it will not consider, of the reasons for that;

    (b)given that FEHD staff pointed out recently that the new-type cremators acquired by EMSD may have the ashes of different dead bodies mixed together, and the authorities concerned have yet to propose any solution to this problem, whether the Government has assessed if the public have confidence in EMSD's ability, upon taking over the full duties of cremation, to effectively monitor compliance with the relevant codes of practice by the contractors of the outsourced services, prevent bribery and avoid dead bodies being swapped or ashes being mixed together; and

    (c)given that FEHD staff have alleged that the Fu Shan Crematorium do not have sufficient fire escapes, of the date on which FEHD learnt of this and why it has not yet solved the problem; what remedial measures FEHD have and whether it will implement such measures before transferring the management of the Crematorium to EMSD?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food

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

Regarding the press reports that the situation of marine sand loss at Cheung Sha Beach has been deteriorating since 2002, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the data, with beach length expressed in metres and sand height in centimetres, collected from monitoring the fluctuation in the sand volume of the beach and the situation of sand loss at Cheung Sha Beach in each of the past four years; if monitoring exercises have not been conducted annually, the reasons for that;

    (b)whether it has studied the reasons for the continuous increase in marine sand loss; of the authorities' remedial measures, the timing and estimated costs for implementing such measures; and

    (c)whether the authorities' plan to set up a five-star spa resort on Lantau will be affected by the problem of marine sand loss at Cheung Sha Beach or even shelved as a result?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs

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

The Implementation Framework for Digital Terrestrial Television Broadcasting, promulgated in July 2004 by the Government, stipulates that the two terrestrial television stations are required to start simulcasting both analogue and digital television services by 2007 at the latest. The Government also advised that by the end of 2006, the two television stations would submit to the Government a proposal on the broadcasting standard to be adopted in Hong Kong, and they would adopt the European DVB-T standard if the relevant Mainland authority had not promulgated a national standard on digital terrestrial broadcasting by that time. It has been reported that the relevant Mainland authority promulgated in late August this year the national standard on digital terrestrial broadcasting to be adopted, and the two television stations and the relevant Mainland authority are jointly conducting technical tests on the broadcasting standard. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:
    (a)it knows the progress of the two television stations in determining the broadcasting standard to be adopted;

    (b)it knows if the two television stations can submit the proposal to the Government by the end of this year as scheduled; if they cannot, of the submission date which the Government will specify; and

    (c)it has assessed if the two television stations can launch their digital terrestrial broadcasting services within next year as scheduled; if they cannot, of the time to launch the services?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology

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

It has been reported that quite a number of trees have been damaged or have withered as a result of improper trimming. Moreover, I have learnt that in a paper provided to the Sha Tin District Council on the construction of Trunk Road T4, the Government proposes extensively trimming four trees along Chung Ling Road in Sha Tin which have been listed on the Register of Old and Valuable Trees compiled by the Government. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the measures it has taken, including whether guidelines have been formulated, to enable people who are engaged in tree care or tree trimming to acquire the relevant knowledge and skills; if there are no guidelines, of the reasons for that, and whether it will formulate such guidelines;

    (b)how the Government promotes tree care knowledge among owners' associations and property management companies, and the expenditure incurred in this respect last year; and

    (c)whether prior approval is required for any person to trim any tree already listed on the Register of Old and Valuable Trees; if so, of the vetting and approving authority and procedure?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works

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

The Social Welfare Department ("SWD") launched in April this year an employment assistance trial project, which is called the New Dawn Project ("the ND Project"), to assist single parents and child carers on Comprehensive Social Security Assistance ("CSSA"), with the youngest child aged between 12 to 14, to seek employment. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the factors taken into consideration in determining which of the above persons should participate in the ND Project; and apart from assisting them in seeking employment to leave the CSSA net, whether the objectives of the ND Project include helping lift them from poverty; if so, of the means to do so;

    (b)regarding the press reports that as at August this year, more than 2 000 persons had $200 deducted monthly from their CSSA payments by SWD because they failed, without good reasons, to fulfil the obligations under the ND Project (such as attending Work Plan Interviews or participating in an Intensive Employment Assistance Project), whether it can provide a breakdown of these persons in table form by their background information, such as age, household size and number of children, as well as the reasons for their not fulfilling the obligations; and

    (c)of the support it will provide to those persons mentioned in item (b) to assist them in solving their problems and fulfilling the obligations imposed by the ND Project?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food

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

When heavy goods vehicles transport goods longer or wider than their goods compartments (such as iron poles, bamboo poles or heavy works machinery), such goods need to be placed at a slanting angle in the goods compartments or to overhang the vehicles and they can only be fastened with makeshift methods. This is dangerous, especially when these vehicles are travelling on steep roads. Such ways of loading vehicles pose hazards to other road users, and have caused traffic accidents. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the respective numbers of accidents which involved heavy goods vehicles transporting goods longer or wider than their goods compartments and the casualties resulted in each of the past two years;

    (b)whether it has reviewed if the existing regulation on loading of vehicles is adequate and if there is a need to strengthen such regulation; if it has, of the results of the review; and

    (c)whether it will consider stipulating that when heavy or huge goods are being transported, suitable goods vehicles (such as those with goods compartments longer and wider than the goods) must be used and that the goods must be fastened with proper and not makeshift methods, so as to minimize the hazards caused to other road users?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works

*7. Hon LAU Wong-fat to ask: (Translation)

Will the Government inform this Council of the titles of the District Minor Works/Rural Public Works projects which have commenced or are scheduled to commence in the current financial year in each of the 18 districts in Hong Kong, the number of such projects which involve land resumption and the justifications used, as well as the respective numbers of projects for which the consent of the land owners concerned cannot be obtained or has been withdrawn? Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs

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

It has been reported that the number of community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections has been on the rise in recent years. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the respective numbers of reports on such infections received by the Government last year and so far this year, with a breakdown by month and source of infection;

    (b)whether the Government will classify such infections as one of the notifiable infectious diseases; if it will, of the implementation timetable; if not, the reasons for that; and

    (c)of the measures in place to prevent an outbreak of such infections in the community?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food

*9. Hon CHEUNG Man-kwong to ask: (Translation)

In reply to my question at the Council meeting on 6 July 2005, the Secretary for Education and Manpower said that for the Education and Manpower Bureau, "ethnic minority children" generally refer to South Asian (mainly Indian, Pakistani and Nepalese) children who currently reside in Hong Kong. Regarding their schooling, will the Government inform this Council of:
    (a)the number of ethnic minority students in Hong Kong in the 2006-2007 school year, and among them, the respective numbers of primary and secondary school students; and

    (b)the respective current numbers of secondary and primary schools in Hong Kong which admit ethnic minority children, together with the names of these schools by districts and their intake of ethnic minority children?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education and Manpower

*10. Hon Margaret NG to ask:

It has been reported that currently there is mass culling of dogs, irrespective of whether they have been vaccinated against rabies or not, in various Mainland provinces in response to recent rabies outbreaks. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council of its contingency plan to deal with the cats, dogs and wild animals in both rural and urban areas when there is an outbreak of rabies in Hong Kong, and whether the plan involves culling or destroying of animals; if so, whether dogs and other pets, with valid rabies vaccination certification, will be exempted? Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food

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

It has been reported that a train compartment with a history of almost a hundred years, which was originally arranged to be displayed at the Hong Kong Museum of History, is placed on a derelict open site in Cha Kwo Ling. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)how it will deal with the train compartment;

    (b)whether it has formulated any guidelines on the handling of large heritage items, so that they will not be left unattended on open land without proper maintenance;

    (c)how it deals with donated heritage items which are not suitable for use as museum exhibits; and

    (d)whether it will consider setting up a Transport Museum for presenting the history of Hong Kong's public transport?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs

*12. Hon TAM Heung-man to ask: (Translation)

I have received complaints alleging that some marketing staff of subscription television companies, after entering residential buildings on the pretext of repairing the facilities concerned, approached individual flats to conduct sales activities, causing nuisance to the residents. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the total number of complaints received in the past three years by the relevant authorities about the unscrupulous or harassing practices adopted in selling subscription television services, and the results of the follow-up actions regarding these complaints;

    (b)whether it will consider enacting legislation to curb the unscrupulous or harassing sales practices; if it will, of the details of its consideration; if not, the reasons for that; and

    (c)whether it will require the companies concerned to strictly monitor the practices adopted by their staff in sales activities?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology

*13. Hon James TO to ask: (Translation)

A recent study conducted by academics finds that the ambient sulphur dioxide concentration above the sea of West Kowloon opposite to the Kwai Chung Container Terminals ("KCCT") is abnormally high on certain days, and the black smoke emitted from cargo ships using high-sulphur diesel is suspected to be the main source of pollutants. The Government informed the Panel on Economic Services of this Council in February this year that the Administration planned to enact three pieces of subsidiary legislation under the Merchant Shipping (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Ordinance (Cap. 413) in order to implement the requirements on regulating the emission of pollutants from vessels as stipulated in the relevant international covenants. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)as there are many screen-like buildings on both sides of the Victoria Harbour ("the Harbour"), whether the general and roadside air monitoring stations currently set up on land by the Environmental Protection Department can accurately measure the concentration of pollutants over the Harbour; if not, how the Government monitors the situation of pollution over the Harbour;

    (b)whether the Government has studied the air pollution problem arising from the operation of KCCT and that caused by vessels in the Harbour; if it has, of the results of its study;

    (c)of the earliest time the Government expects that the subsidiary legislation will be gazetted; and

    (d)whether, before enacting the subsidiary legislation, the Government will reduce the emission of air pollutants from vessels by administrative means?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Economic Development and Labour

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

Will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)whether it monitors the operation and quality (such as the criteria for selecting exhibitors) of international exhibitions held by the private sector in Hong Kong; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and

    (b)of the assistance, provided by the relevant authorities, to local exhibitors to help them compete with their overseas counterparts for opportunities to participate in international exhibitions held in Hong Kong to promote their products and services?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology

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

Last month, doctors of the Caritas Medical Centre mistakenly used surgical knives which had not been thoroughly sterilized to perform eye operations on 13 patients, and not until a few days later was the incident discovered. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:
    (a)the number of medical incidents involving surgical instruments or tools which occurred in public hospitals in each of the past three years, and the causes of these incidents;

    (b)the results of the investigation carried out by the Hospital Authority ("HA") into the incident, and the improvement measures in this respect; if it has been assessed whether the manpower for the sterilization of medical equipment is inadequate, and whether the inadequacy has contributed to the incident; if the assessment result is that manpower is inadequate, of the solution for that; and

    (c)if HA has reviewed the entire procedure for the sterilization of surgical tools; if it has, the results of the review
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food

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

Many people have complained to me that in recent years banks have continually raised their service fees and charges, and a bank has even increased its charges on dishonoured cheques thrice in a year. As the Hong Kong Monetary Authority has indicated openly that it is the banks' business decision to revise their fees and charges, and the Authority is not in a position and has no right to interfere, it causes the public to worry that there is no effective mechanism to regulate the adjustment of fees and charges by banks. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the number of complaints received, in each of the past three years, about banks' upward adjustment of fees and charges, together with a breakdown by the banks involved in these complaints;

    (b)whether there is a policy on the regulation of fees and charges levied by banks; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and

    (c)whether it will consider strengthening the regulation of banks to ensure that they will not levy unreasonable fees and charges, thereby safeguarding the interests of small depositors; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury

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

Will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the number of abandoned babies born to Mainland women in Hong Kong over the past five years, with a breakdown by their gender and health conditions; and

    (b)how the authorities take care of these abandoned babies and the relevant public expenditure incurred each year?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food

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

According to the Hospital Authority ("HA"), the attendance at the departments of psychiatry in public hospitals in Hong Kong is on the rise in recent years. Some psychiatrists have relayed to me that the resources allocated to the psychiatric services of public hospitals are far from adequate. Patients have to wait as long as one year for their first appointments but each consultation lasts for only a few minutes. The drug cost for each patient is only two dollars a day. The resources allocated to child psychiatric service are also limited. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)whether it knows the amount of funding and other resources allocated by HA to the department of psychiatry in each public hospital in each of the past three years, with a detailed breakdown by expenditure items, including the salaries of health care personnel and other staff, as well as expenses on drugs and medical facilities, etc;

    (b)whether it knows if HA has set any limit on the cost of psychiatric drugs to be provided by each hospital; if it has, of the details of the limit;

    (c)whether it knows the numbers of health care personnel required for various specialties in the departments of psychiatry (including child and adolescent, psychogeriatric, community and forensic psychiatric services) in public hospitals as calculated on the basis of the needs of the current population, and how these numbers compare to the current manpower of the existing health care personnel in these specialties; and

    (d)of the membership list, objectives and work progress of the working group on mental health services established by the Health, Welfare and Food Bureau this year, the date of announcing the work schedule, and whether the working group will review the manpower of health care personnel in the departments of psychiatry in public hospitals?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food

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

The Hong Kong WinterFest ("the WinterFest") organized by the Hong Kong Tourism Board ("HKTB") from the 24th of last month to the 1st of next month features, among others, a Santa's Town at the Statue Square in Central. In this regard, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:
    (a)the budget for the WinterFest, together with a breakdown of various items including, in particular, the budget for Santa's Town, and how HKTB determined this sum;

    (b)if HKTB has charged advertising fees for promoting the merchandise, food premises, shops and shopping malls on the web-pages for the WinterFest; if it has, of the details; if not, the criteria adopted by HKTB for selecting the merchandise and shops to be promoted; and

    (c)if HKTB has selected the contractor responsible for setting up Santa's Town through a tender process; if it has, of the tendering procedure, specific work to be undertaken by the contractor, and the number of bids received by HKTB; if it has not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Economic Development and Labour

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

Regarding financial security for the elderly, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the latest work progress, the preliminary findings and the anticipated completion dates of the two relevant studies currently undertaken by the Central Policy Unit, namely, the study on "Sustainability of the Three Pillars of Retirement Protection in Hong Kong" and the "Household Survey on the Financial Disposition and Retirement Planning of Current and Future Generations of Older Persons", as well as the government departments responsible for following up the findings of the studies;

    (b)whether it will consider providing more financial assistance to the elderly in need, for instance, by relaxing the asset limit for the elderly to apply for the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance ("CSSA"), raising the amount of CSSA payments for the elderly, relaxing the permissible periods of absence from Hong Kong under the CSSA Scheme and the Social Security Allowance Scheme, and extending the coverage of the Portable Comprehensive Social Security Scheme so that the elderly who have retired in places other than Guangdong and Fujian provinces can also apply for and receive CSSA payments;

    (c)whether it will consider providing more comprehensive retirement protection for the elderly, for instance, by implementing a universal retirement protection scheme, so that low-income labourers and housewives, who are currently not protected by the Mandatory Provident Fund Scheme, can enjoy a financially-secure life in their old age; and

    (d)whether it will consider adopting measures to increase the elderly's income, for instance, by allowing elderly property owners who have handed over their properties to non-governmental organizations for management on a trusteeship basis to apply for public rental housing units for residential purpose and use the rental income from their properties to meet daily expenses, and studying the introduction of reverse mortgage schemes so that the elderly owner-occupiers can mortgage their properties to obtain cash income?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food

*For written reply.

III. Bills

First Reading

Race Discrimination Bill

Second Reading (Debates to be adjourned)

Race Discrimination Bill : Secretary for Home Affairs

IV. Motions

Proposed resolution under the Dutiable Commodities Ordinance

Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury to move the following motion:

RESOLVED that Schedule 1 to the Dutiable Commodities Ordinance (Cap. 109) be amended, in paragraph 1A of Part III -

(a)in subparagraph (a), by repealing "31 December 2006" and substituting "31 December 2008";

(b)in subparagraph (b), by repealing "1 January 2007" and substituting "1 January 2009".

V. Members' Motions
  1. That this Council do now adjourn

    Dr Hon Fernando CHEUNG: (Translation)

    That this Council do now adjourn for the purpose of debating the following issue: Demolition of the clock tower at the Star Ferry Pier.

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

  2. Release of CHING Cheong

    Hon James TO: (Translation)

    That this Council urges the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government and other persons to make every effort to assist in bringing about the early release of CHING Cheong.

    Amendment to motion
    Hon Howard YOUNG:     (Translation)

    To delete "in bringing about the early release of" after "to make every effort to assist"; and to add "in obtaining medical parole on humanitarian grounds" immediately before the full stop.

    Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Security

Clerk to the Legislative Council