A 07/08-20

Legislative Council

Agenda

Wednesday 5 March 2008 at 11:00 am

I. Tabling of Papers

Subsidiary Legislation / InstrumentsL.N. No.
1.Public Revenue Protection Order 200833/2008
2.Rating (Exemption) Order 200834/2008
3.Revenue (Reduction of Business Registration Fees) Order 200835/2008
4.Schedule of Routes (Citybus Limited) Order 200836/2008
5.Schedule of Routes (Citybus Limited) (North Lantau and Chek Lap Kok Airport) Order 200837/2008
6.Schedule of Routes (Kowloon Motor Bus Company (1933) Limited) Order 200838/2008
7.Schedule of Routes (Long Win Bus Company Limited) Order 200839/2008
8.Schedule of Routes (New Lantao Bus Company (1973) Limited) Order 200840/2008
9.Schedule of Routes (New World First Bus Services Limited) Order 200841/2008
10.Trade Descriptions (Definition of Fei Cui and Natural Fei Cui) Regulation42/2008
11.Trade Descriptions (Definition of Diamond) Regulation43/2008
12.Fugitive Offenders (Terrorist Bombings) Order44/2008
13.Fugitive Offenders (Maritime Safety) Order45/2008
14.Tax Reserve Certificates (Rate of Interest) (No. 2) Notice 200846/2008
15.Copyright (Amendment) Ordinance 2007 (Commencement) Notice 200847/2008
16.Copyright (Amendment) Ordinance 2007 (Commencement) (No. 2) Notice 200848/2008

Other Paper

No.76-Consolidated Summary of Estimates and Revenue Analysis by Head, General Revenue Account,
Estimates for the year ending 31 March 2009
(to be presented by the Financial Secretary)

II. Questions

1. Hon Mrs Anson CHAN to ask: (Translation)

The 18 Elderly Health Centres ("EHCs") under the Department of Health currently provide such services as physical check up, health education, etc. for their elderly members. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the current number of elderly people aged 65 or above, together with a breakdown by districts;

    (b)in respect of each EHC, of the number of elderly people serviced and their total attendances last year, the current number of persons waiting for enrolment as members and their average waiting time, as well as the resources and manpower allocated to the EHC each year; and

    (c)given that the population continues to age, whether it will increase or redistribute the resources allocated to EHCs, including manpower and supporting facilities, and increase the quota for the relevant services; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health

2. Hon Emily LAU to ask: (Translation)

Regarding the cultivation of cultural literacy at schools and in the community, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council:
    (a)given that the domestic pay television programme service licence issued to the Hong Kong Cable Television Limited stipulates that it shall, within six months upon receipt of written notice, make available to the Government not more than three channels free of charge and expense, whether the Government will exercise this right in the near future to launch an arts and cultural channel, so as to provide a platform for practitioners in the arts and cultural sectors to perform and to provide more cultural programmes for the enjoyment of the public;

    (b)of the new measures concerning the arrangements for the curricula and extra-curricular activities of primary and secondary schools, to be put in place to encourage students, teachers and parents to attach greater importance to arts and cultural studies in primary and secondary schools; and

    (c)whether the relevant authorities will review if the number of places of the relevant courses provided by the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and other publicly-funded tertiary institutions and the resources available to them are sufficient, in the hope that the graduates of these courses can assist primary and secondary schools in enhancing education which aims at promoting performing arts and culture?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs

3. Hon Margaret NG to ask: (Translation)

The media have recently reported that when the Town Planning Board ("TPB") granted planning permission for the development project of Times Square in Causeway Bay ("the Square"), it had imposed some additional conditions, one of which required that a public open space be set aside at the street level of the Square. However, the area concerned has never been open for public use since the completion of the Square, and the property management company of the Square even charge venue rental for the commercial activities organized by commercial organizations in that area. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the details of the additional conditions specified in the planning permission granted by TPB for the development project of the Square;

    (b)whether it has assessed the rights and responsibilities of the owner or management company of the Square in respect of the area, and to which party the income derived from the area should belong; and

    (c)of the policies or measures in place to ensure that real estate developers will comply with the condition on the provision of public open space as stipulated in the land leases?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Development

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

It has been reported that concerning the recent incidents of photos on the Internet purported to be of artistes, the Commissioner of Police said last month that people in possession of obscene or indecent photos might commit an offence; an Assistant Commissioner of Police, however, said that the transmission of obscene photos among friends was not a contravention of the law, but these explanations of the law were challenged by the legal sector. On the other hand, any person who possesses for the purpose of publication an indecent article under the circumstances as referred to in section 27A of the Control of Obscene and Indecent Articles Ordinance commits an offence. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)whether it has examined the accuracy of the above explanations of the law; if it has, of the outcome of the examination; and

    (b)of the respective numbers of prosecutions and convictions under the above Ordinance in the past three years; and, among them, the respective numbers of those involving possession of obscene or indecent articles in a computer for publication on the Internet, as well as the prosecution policy and investigation method of the Police Force in those cases?
Public Officers to reply :Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development
Secretary for Security

5. Hon James TO to ask: (Translation)

It has been reported that in the recent incidents of photos on the Internet purported to be of artistes, a member of the public was charged with the publishing of obscene articles. The magistrate, at the request of the prosecution, ordered that the member of the public be on remand for eight weeks. Subsequently, after the photos concerned had been classified by the Obscene Articles Tribunal ("OAT") as indecent but not obscene articles, the Police quashed the indictment against that member of the public, but said that in handling the case, the Police did not make any mistake or were not negligent. There have been comments that it is improper for the Police to institute prosecution before submitting the photos concerned to OAT for classification, and there have also been comments that in the above case, the prosecution action taken by the Police against publishing obscene articles on the Internet may arouse suspicion of selective law enforcement. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)why the above case, in which a member of the public was wrongfully charged and detained, had happened when the Police did not make any mistake or were not negligent; and how it ensures that "prosecuting the innocent" will not happen again under similar circumstances in future;

    (b)whether an apology and compensation will be made to the above member of the public who has been wrongfully charged and detained; and

    (c)whether it will formulate anew the law enforcement policy in relation to publishing obscene articles on the Internet, in order to ensure that prosecutions are instituted justly?
Public Officers to reply :Secretary for Security
Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development

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

It has been reported that earlier, a newly discharged offender, allegedly because he was unable to contact over the weekend the charity organization which assisted discharged offenders, and had lost contact with his family, and in a state of being homeless, cold and hungry, stole a meal pack in a convenience store to satisfy his hunger and was caught on the spot. The surveys conducted by some organisations also show that such persons often face immediate financial and housing problems after discharge. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)whether it has drawn up any rehabilitation programme for individual inmates due to be discharged, including persons serving short term or long term imprisonment, and whether it will assign social workers to continue to follow up, in a case management approach, their lives after discharge; and

    (b)whether it has drawn up any special measure to help offenders discharged at weekends or on public holidays solve their immediate financial and housing problems; if it has, how the authorities ensure that such persons are aware of the channels for seeking assistance; if not, of the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

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

Regarding the use of paper by the Government, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)since 2000, of the respective quantity and weight of paper consumed annually by the Printing Division (the former Printing Department) of the Government Logistics Department ("GLD") for printing the Policy Address, the Budget and the Hong Kong Yearbook for the relevant year, as well as publications, government forms, paper stationery and other printed matters for various government departments, broken down by the type and the recovered fibre content percentage of the paper used;

    (b)whether the Government has defined the meaning of "renewable forests" when procuring paper made from woodpulp derived from renewable forests from its suppliers; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;

    (c)of the names of the suppliers which had supplied paper made from woodpulp derived from renewable forests to the Government since 2000, as well as the places of origin of their woodpulp;

    (d)whether it has any plan to revise the post-consumer waste ("PCW") content requirement of the recycled photocopying paper procured by the Government by increasing from the current minimum levels of 80% recovered fibre content or 40% post-consumer fibre to 100% of such materials; if it has such a plan, of the estimated implementation time; if not, the reasons for that;

    (e)whether it has any plan to require all government departments to accord priority to the use of recycled paper with a PCW content containing 100% recovered fibre for the printing of printed matters; if it has such a plan, of the estimated implementation time; if not, the reasons for that; and

    (f)whether the Printing Division of GLD has any plan to seek the Chain of Custody certification issued by the Forest Stewardship Council ("FSC") to facilitate the Government in using FSC certified paper for the printing of printed matters; if it has such a plan, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury

*8. Hon Andrew CHENG to ask: (Translation)

Will the Government inform this Council whether:
    (a)it knows, in the past three years, the respective numbers of non-residents of Hong Kong using the in-patient services of the private hospitals and public hospitals in Hong Kong as well as their total bed-days; whether it has assessed if the use of the medical services in Hong Kong by such people has affected the demand for health care manpower in both the private and public sectors in Hong Kong and the use of such services (including the waiting time and charges) by Hong Kong residents; if it has, of the detailed figures concerned; and whether it will consider commissioning academic institutions to conduct an in-depth study and assessment on the issue; and

    (b)it has assessed the trend in the use of medical services in Hong Kong by non-residents of Hong Kong in the next five years and its impact on the demand for health care manpower, and whether it will therefore be necessary to train more health care personnel?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health

*9. Hon Martin LEE to ask: (Translation)

Regarding the services provided for street sleepers, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the estimated current number of street sleepers;

    (b)whether it knows the number of street sleepers who had, in the past three years, taken refuge in the shelters run by non-governmental organizations and their average length of stay; and during the period when the cold weather warning issued by the Hong Kong Observatory was in effect for 25 consecutive days early this year,

    (i)the respective person-times of street sleepers who had taken refuge in the above shelters and the temporary cold shelters run by the Home Affairs Department;

    (ii)the average daily occupancy rate of such shelters during that period;

    (iii)the measures in place to encourage the street sleepers to take refuge in such shelters, and whether it has taken the initiative to provide assistance to those who remain on the street; and

    (c)of the burial arrangements provided by the relevant departments for the street sleepers who died on the street?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Labour and Welfare

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

In connection with the prevention and control of communicable diseases spreading in residential care homes for the elderly ("RCHEs"), will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the number of RCHE staff who were provided, in the past three years, with training and guidance on the prevention and control of communicable diseases spreading in RCHEs by the Visiting Health Teams of the Elderly Health Service under the Department of Health ("DH"), with a breakdown by the ranks of these staff;

    (b)whether it has carried out any study to see if the number of cases of elderly RCHE residents contracting communicable diseases has dropped after the staff of the RCHEs concerned have received the aforesaid training and guidance; if it has, of the results; and

    (c)given that Infection Control Nurses ("ICNs") are currently appointed in public hospitals, whether DH will appoint ICNs in each district to coordinate and monitor the work of the RCHEs within the district in the prevention and control of communicable diseases spreading in RCHEs; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health

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

A property management company has pointed out that the Police had earlier conducted inspections at video game rooms in clubhouses of private housing estates in various districts, and said that such clubhouses must apply for a licence for amusement game centre ("AGC") from the Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority, and could continue to use video game machines only after they had been granted the licence. The company has also pointed out that the approval criteria adopted by the authorities for AGC licence applications are very stringent. For example, AGCs can only be located in commercial buildings and properties for commercial purposes, and cannot be established within a radius of 100 metres from an educational institution. Therefore, most of the video game rooms in clubhouses of housing estates can hardly meet the licensing conditions. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)whether it knows the current total number of housing estates in Hong Kong the clubhouses of which are provided with video game rooms, and the number of video game machines involved; and among such housing estates, the number of those the clubhouses of which are granted with an AGC licence;

    (b)given that the facilities in clubhouses of housing estates are provided exclusively for use by resident card holders as well as their relatives and friends, and are not open to the public, and the video game machines in the clubhouses are provided for use free of charge, why the video game rooms in such clubhouses are subject to the same set of licensing conditions as other commercial AGCs; and

    (c)given that the video game rooms in the above clubhouses are clearly shown in the building plans and deeds of mutual covenant of the housing estates concerned, why the various relevant government departments, knowing that the surrounding land usage and the geographical context of such facilities do not comply with the relevant licensing conditions, still approved the relevant plans and legal documents?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs

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

In recent years, quite a number of drivers of public light buses ("PLBs") complained to me that they were often harassed by triad members, who extorted money from them in the name of "terminal fees", intimidated them to join associations connected with triad societies and claimed that only members of these associations were permitted to drive their PLBs into certain PLB terminals. Drivers refusing to give in were often assaulted and their PLBs were often vandalized. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the number of cases reported in each of the past three years by PLB drivers who alleged that they were harassed by triad members and, among such cases, the respective numbers of cases involving extorting "terminal fees" and intimidating drivers to join certain organizations;

    (b)of the number of prosecutions instituted in each of the past three years against persons who claimed to be triad members and harassed PLB drivers; and

    (c)whether it will consider stepping up patrol of PLB terminals and detection of the crimes concerned, so as to prevent PLB drivers from being harassed and extorted by triad members; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

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

Following an increasing number of occupational medical studies on different types of asbestos carried out in the international community, quite a number of countries have banned the import, export and use of various kinds of asbestos to protect the health of their workers and people. Yet, Hong Kong still allows the import of some asbestos products and their sale in the territory. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)whether it knows, in each of the past five years, details (including the types and quantities) of the import into Hong Kong, re-export from Hong Kong, sale, usage and storage in Hong Kong of various kinds of asbestos materials and wastes, as well as materials and wastes containing asbestos;

    (b)whether it has conducted any territory-wide survey to find out if buildings in Hong Kong contain asbestos and inform their users of the survey results;

    (c)of the average number of inspections conducted by the authorities in the past five years on the projects undertaken by individual registered asbestos contractors, and whether any case of non-compliance was found during the inspections; if so, what follow-up actions had been taken;

    (d)whether it has educated property owners about how to distinguish if their properties, which are to be demolished, contain asbestos, so that they can take suitable precautionary measures; and how the authorities ensure that after demolition of the buildings, the wastes which may contain asbestos will be properly disposed of; and

    (e)whether it has any plan to impose a total ban on the use of products containing asbestos and the trading of such products in Hong Kong?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment

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

It has been reported that some countries have implemented classification systems for electronic toy products whereby manufacturers classify products according to their contents and affix classification labels on them to indicate the age groups for which the products are suitable. However, a similar classification system is not implemented in Hong Kong. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:
    (a)it will require sellers to retain the classification labels on electronic toy products imported from foreign countries and assist them in providing Chinese explanations of such labels; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and

    (b)it will make reference to overseas experience and set up a classification system for electronic toy products that suits the circumstances in Hong Kong; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development

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

Accidents of children being left at home alone are not uncommon in Hong Kong. The United Kingdom ("UK") formulated a 10-year child care strategy as early as 2004 to enable all families with children under the age of 14 to have access to an affordable, flexible and high quality child care service by establishing children's centres in all local communities, and at the same time enabling parents to balance work and family life, in order to raise the quality of life. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)given that in reply to a question raised by a Member of this Council at the Legislative Council meeting on 7 November last year, the Secretary for Labour and Welfare said that the overall utilization rates of child care centres subvented by the Social Welfare Department and of those operated by kindergartens under the purview of the Education Bureau in 2006-2007 were 91% and 62% respectively, whether the authorities have conducted studies to find out the reasons why those child care centres still have spare capacity, whether the provision of and the publicity for child care services are adequate in districts with more accidents of children being left at home alone, and whether the existing child care services can satisfy the needs of parents; if they have, of the outcome of the study;

    (b)whether it has assessed the social and economic benefits to be brought by the enhancement of child care services (especially the impact on women and children, such as whether it will increase the motivation for women to participate in the labour market, whether the percentage of poor children can be reduced because parents are able to go to work, and how quality child care services will affect the growth of children, etc.);

    (c)apart from providing financial support for mutual help child care centres, foster homes and some small group homes so as to increase child care services, whether it will consider further enhancing the existing child care services (e.g. allocating additional resources to mutual help child care centres to recruit more staff and improve the quality of services, substantially increasing the number of child care places with fee assistance, providing 24-hour child care services and increasing child care services for children aged between zero and two); and

    (d)whether it will consider making reference to UK's successful experience and according priority to providing comprehensive, affordable, flexible and high quality child care services in districts with more poor children or the districts mentioned in (a)?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Labour and Welfare

*16. Dr Hon Fernando CHEUNG to ask: (Translation)

The Hospital Authority ("HA") has fully implemented the Telephone Booking Service in general out-patient clinics ("GOPCs") since October 2006. In a paper provided for the meeting of the Panel on Health Services of this Council on 11 December 2006, the former Health, Welfare and Food Bureau pointed out that HA would offer appropriate assistance on a case-by-case basis to those who faced genuine difficulty in using the Telephone Booking Service, including individual patients with a disability or elderly patients with hearing impairment etc., such as arranging medical consultations for them directly without the need to use the Telephone Booking Service. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:
    (a)if HA has any specific publicity plan to publicize the above assistance which may be offered to the above persons; if there is such a plan, of the types of location, time and means for the publicity concerned (and the number of leaflets distributed if publicity is done through distribution of leaflets);

    (b)given that I have learned that there were patients with hearing impairment seeking treatment in person at HA's GOPCs, and among them, some were neither given assistance by the staff in booking consultation slots nor arranged to receive treatment on the same day, while others could receive treatment on the same day because the staff concerned had arranged to increase the consultation quotas for the day for them, whether HA has drawn up clear guidelines to specify, when the GOPC consultation quota for a particular session is full but patients with a disability or the elderly have sought immediate medical treatment in person at the clinics concerned, under what circumstances front-line staff should increase consultation quotas or assist patients in booking out-patient service for the following day; if such guidelines have been drawn up, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;

    (c)given that the authorities indicated in January this year that at this stage, HA had no plan to add a manually-operated telephone booking system, because such an arrangement would exert further pressure on the resources and manpower of the existing general out-patient service and was not cost-effective, whether HA has calculated the exact additional manpower and resources required for such an arrangement; if it has, of the details; if not, how HA assesses the cost-effectiveness of the arrangement; and

    (d)the number of complaints received by HA since October 2006 about the Telephone Booking Service and the reasons for such complaints?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health

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

Concerning new measures to safeguard the rights and interests of consumers, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)given that in January last year, the former Director-General of Telecommunications advised that discussions were underway with various major telecommunications operators on the establishment of a voluntary Consumer Dispute Adjudication Scheme, which was expected to start piloting in the second quarter of last year, and it has been reported that the Chief Executive of Consumer Council ("CC") mentioned in July last year that CC was drafting a standard contract for the provision of services, including the introduction of provisions on cooling-off period, of the progress of the aforesaid scheme and drafting work, as well as the estimated time for implementation of the scheme and completion of the drafting work; and

    (b)whether there are other new measures to safeguard the rights and interests of consumers?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development

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

The Stores and Procurement Regulations ("SPR") 280 stipulates that for procuring consultancy and other services with a value above $50,000 but not exceeding $1,300,000, departments must obtain written quotations from not less than five contractors. In cases where it is not possible to identify a sufficient number of contractors to obtain the minimum number of written quotations required, approval should be obtained from an officer of rank not lower than Chief Executive Officer or equivalent before inviting written quotations from contractors. He should write a brief explanatory note on the decision in the file and record on file the particulars such as the names of the contractors contacted. In cases where less than five written quotations are received, the acceptance of the offer concerned should be approved by an officer of rank not lower than Directorate Pay Scale Point 1 or equivalent. I wrote a letter to the Secretary for Food and Health on 28 January to enquire why, with only one written quotation received, the Food and Health Bureau ("the Bureau") had appointed the consulting firm set up by the Press Secretary for the former Chief Secretary for Administration to take up work relating to public consultation on health care reforms. The Bureau stated in its reply that the procurement had been made in full compliance with the above provision. In this connection, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council:
    (a)when and on what basis the above provision was made, and of the number of occasions on which the Government invoked the provision to appoint consulting firms in the past two years and the relevant details;

    (b)of the justifications for the Bureau's decision to invite a written quotation from only one contractor, and whether the Bureau can provide a copy of the brief explanatory note and particulars relevant to this decision as recorded on file;

    (c)whether, prior to the submission of a plan by the contractor, the Bureau had provided it with a work outline; if so, whether it can provide a copy of the relevant document, its date of issue and the date when the contractor submitted its plan;

    (d)of the rank of the officer who approved the acceptance of the offer concerned and when he gave the approval, and how long the entire procurement procedure lasted; and

    (e)whether the Bureau has followed the provisions set out in SPR Chapter IA (Avoiding Conflict of Interest in Government Procurement), and how it will, when conducting procurement activities in the future, avoid giving rise to allegations that the Government differentiates between close and distant relationships in handling matters or transfers interests to certain persons?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health

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

Regarding the donation of organs from deceased persons for transplant, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)whether it knows the criteria used by the Hospital Authority ("HA") to determine if the above persons are suitable for donating organs;

    (b)whether it knows the number of cases relating to the donation of organs last year in which Transplant Coordinators took the initiative to follow up and, among them, the respective numbers of cases in which the deceased persons had, while they were alive, expressed clearly their wish to donate their organs, and those in which the deceased persons involved were suitable for donating organs but their family members refused to donate the organs concerned; the number of cases last year in which the family members of deceased persons took the initiative to offer the donation of organs, and the procedures adopted by HA staff to follow up such cases;

    (c)given that the authorities indicated in February last year that it was tentatively planned to complete by the end of last year the development of a centralized organ donation register for the registration, storage and retrieval, through a computer system, of the information on people who wish to donate their organs after death, whether the register has been established and in operation; if so, of the number of prospective organ donors whose information has already been stored in the system; if not, the reasons for that; and

    (d)given that in Singapore and some European countries, people are presumed to consent to their organs being used for transplant after their death unless they have objected before their death to donating their organs, whether the authorities have conducted any study to see if such practice is acceptable to Hong Kong residents; if they have, of the outcome of the study; if such a study has not been conducted, whether the study will be conducted?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health

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

It has been reported that certain radar detectors available on the market claim to be capable of detecting the presence of speed enforcement laser guns and cameras used by the Police as well as the locations of red-light cameras. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:
    (a)it has conducted tests on such devices to determine the validity of their claims;

    (b)it has investigated if the use of such devices by motorists has been on the rise in recent years; and

    (c)there is currently legislation regulating the sale and the installation of such devices on motor vehicles, and whether it will tighten up the regulation in this regard; if it will, of the details?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport and Housing

*For written reply.

III. Motions

  1. Proposed resolution under the Public Finance Ordinance

    Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury to move the motion in the Appendix.

  2. Proposed resolution under the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance

    Secretary for Transport and Housing to move the following motion:

    RESOLVED that the Road Traffic (Driving Licences)(Amendment) Regulation 2008, published in the Gazette as Legal Notice No. 3 of 2008 and laid on the table of the Legislative Council on 16 January 2008, be amended by repealing section 5(3) and substituting -

    "(3) Regulation 11(2) is repealed and the following substituted -

    "(2) The Commissioner shall issue a full driving licence (other than a full driving licence to drive a taxi, public light bus, private light bus, public bus, private bus, medium goods vehicle, heavy goods vehicle, special purpose vehicle or articulated vehicle) to an applicant to drive a motor vehicle of the class to which his application relates if the applicant holds a valid full driving licence for a class of motor vehicle which the Commissioner accepts as evidence of his competence to drive a motor vehicle of the class to which his application relates.

    (2A) The Commissioner shall issue a full driving licence to drive a taxi, public light bus, private light bus, public bus, private bus, medium goods vehicle, heavy goods vehicle, special purpose vehicle or articulated vehicle to an applicant for such a licence if -

    (a)the applicant -

    (i)is the holder of a permanent identity card; or

    (ii)is the holder of an identity card (other than a permanent identity card) and is not subject to any condition of stay other than a limit of stay as defined in section 2(1) of the Immigration Ordinance (Cap. 115); and

    (b)the applicant holds a valid full driving licence for a class of motor vehicle which the Commissioner accepts as evidence of his competence to drive a motor vehicle of the class to which his application relates.

    (2B) The Commissioner may waive the requirement of paragraph (2A)(a) if he considers it appropriate to do so.".".
IV. Members' Motions

  1. Promoting the introduction of monthly ticket and student fare concessions to all MTR lines

    Hon LAU Kong-wah: (Translation)

    That, in view of the fact that after the rail merger, the MTR Corporation Limited (MTRCL) has not introduced the monthly ticket concessions offered by the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation and the student fare concessions offered by the former MTR Corporation to all its rail lines, thus creating unfair situations, this Council urges the Government to discuss with MTRCL to promote the introduction of the above two types of fare concessions to all MTR lines, so as to eliminate the present unfair situations and benefit all passengers.

    Amendments to motion
    (i)Dr Hon Fernando CHEUNG: (Translation)

    To add "at present, cross-boundary students attending schools in Hong Kong every day have to pay the high fares of cross-boundary MTR lines and," after "the fact that"; and to delete "benefit all passengers" immediately before the full stop and substitute with ", when introducing such concessions, consider extending the concessions to cross-boundary students to alleviate their burden of travelling expenses, so as to benefit all passengers including cross-boundary students".

    (ii)Hon Andrew CHENG: (Translation)

    To add "and extend the student fare concessions offered by the former MTR Corporation to cover full-time students over 25 years of age; moreover, in addition to introducing the monthly ticket concessions offered by the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation to all its rail lines, such monthly ticket concessions should be made a standing arrangement" after "all MTR lines".

    Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Transport and Housing

  2. Rebuilding the local agriculture and fisheries industries

    Hon WONG Yung-kan: (Translation)

    That, as the HKSAR Government does not render support to the development of the local agriculture and fisheries industries and even continues to reduce their room for survival, causing Hong Kong to depend almost totally on the Mainland and other areas for its food supply; with the increased spending power of people on the Mainland, coupled with the tight supply of food due to various factors affecting food production, directly resulting in the decrease in the quantity of food supplied to Hong Kong, and as the role of local agricultural and fishery products as a supplementary source of food supply in the past has significantly diminished, people in Hong Kong are suffering severely from the recent substantial increase in food prices; as such, this Council urges the Government to seriously study the strategy on food supply to Hong Kong, redefine the appropriate role of the local agriculture and fisheries industries and put forward relevant measures, so as to ensure a stable supply of quality and safe food for the community; the relevant measures should include:

    (a)studying the zoning of designated areas for exclusive use by the agriculture and fisheries industries, once again enabling the agriculture and fisheries industries meeting hygiene and environmental requirements to develop in a sustainable manner, and further developing organic farming in Hong Kong;

    (b)formulating policies on the sustainable development of the agriculture and fisheries industries, assisting the local capture fishery to develop in the off-shore direction, developing the local quality aquaculture industry, and studying the development of Hong Kong into a distribution centre for aquatic products, so as to tie in with the development of the aquaculture industry;

    (c)keeping in tune with the major development trend of the international agriculture and fisheries industries, striving to improve the ecological environment in Hong Kong, and stepping up efforts to promote the development of the integration of agriculture and fisheries industries with leisure activities;

    (d)strengthening the quality management, integrated scientific research and development and professional training in the local agriculture and fisheries industries, so as to make available sufficient professionals for the industries and ensure that local agricultural and fishery products are of high quality and safe; and

    (e)establishing a fast-track vetting mechanism for providing emergency relief to operators in the industries affected by natural disasters, and taking into account the scale of operation and business-related price indexes in relaxing the restriction on the provision of relief to the industries and assisting those affected to resume operation, as well as setting the interest of various loans related to the agriculture and fisheries industries at a standardized low rate, so as to support the development of the industries.

    Amendment to motion
    Hon Fred LI:     (Translation)

    To delete "the HKSAR Government does not render support to the development of the local agriculture and fisheries industries and even continues to reduce their room for survival, causing" after "That, as"; to delete "to depend" before "almost totally" and substitute with "has to depend"; to delete "as the role of local agricultural and fishery products as a supplementary source of food supply in the past has significantly diminished," after "quantity of food supplied to Hong Kong, and"; to add "consult the public," after "urges the Government to"; to add "expeditiously introducing a bill on the protection of agriculture and fisheries industries," after "(b)"; to add "including setting timetables for the designation of 'fisheries protection areas' and 'no-take zones' in Hong Kong so that marine biodiversity in Hong Kong waters can be preserved in a state of respite," after "the sustainable development of the agriculture and fisheries industries,"; to add "in rebuilding" after "assisting"; to delete "to develop" after "the local capture fishery" and substitute with "and its development"; to add "protect and" after "striving to"; to delete "stepping up efforts to promote the development of the integration of agriculture and fisheries industries with leisure activities" after "the ecological environment in Hong Kong, and" and substitute with "setting up a fund to facilitate the transformation of the local agriculture and fisheries industries, and developing non-exploitative ecological and leisure activities"; and to delete "in relaxing the restriction on the provision of relief to the industries and assisting those affected to resume operation" after "price indexes" and substitute with ", and under the principle of effective utilization of public funds, in offering assistance to the industries prudently".

    Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Food and Health

Clerk to the Legislative Council