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A 07/08-30
Legislative Council
Agenda
Wednesday 28 May 2008 at 11:00 am
I. Tabling of Papers
| Subsidiary Legislation / Instruments | L.N. No.
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| 1. | Designation of Libraries Order 2008 | 145/2008
| | 2. | Education Ordinance (Amendment of Schedule 3)
Notice 2008 | 146/2008
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Other Papers| 1. | No. 97 | - | Annual Report 2006-2007
Broadcasting Authority
| (to be presented by Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development)
| | 2. | Report of the Bills Committee on Prevention and Control of Disease Bill
| | (to be presented by Hon Vincent FANG Kang, Chairman of the Bills Committee)
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II. Questions
1. Hon TSANG Yok-sing to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the leakage of personal data of the public by government departments and public organizations, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the total number of such cases in the past three years and the number of people whose data were involved in those cases; among such cases, the number of those in which the authorities concerned had informed the Police, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data and the people affected about the leakage;
| | (b) | whether various government departments and public organizations have issued to their staff guidelines, stipulating the restrictions on the access, downloading, copying and sending of personal data of members of the public through computers and their accessories (such as USB memory sticks and card readers), security standards and procedure on reporting loss of data; if they have, of the contents of such guidelines; if not, whether such guidelines will be issued; and
| | (c) | whether various government departments and public organizations have plans to review the existing information security measures and systems, and enhance staff awareness of information security; if they have, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development
2. Hon Daniel LAM Wai-keung to ask: (Translation)
Some members of the public have relayed to me that quite a number of traditional community events in various districts in the New Territories ("NT"), such as the Cheung Chau Bun Festival and the Tin Hau Festival Parade in Yuen Long, are very popular among members of the public in Hong Kong, and have even become one of the selling points used by the Hong Kong Tourism Board ("HKTB") in promoting Hong Kong to other places. These members of the public have also pointed out that similar ritual events can actually be found in many walled villages and villages in NT, and the fact that such traditional events have been held for hundreds of years without showing any sign of waning demonstrates that such customs are of great vitality and can also help promote the economy of the districts concerned. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the assistance the relevant government departments will provide to the organizations concerned in various districts in NT when such organizations are making preparations for the above events;
| | (b) | how the Government and HKTB will capitalize on the above events to strengthen the work on promoting Hong Kong to other places, so as to attract much more tourists from other places to Hong Kong; and
| | (c) | whether the Government will draw on the experience of the Macao Special Administrative Region Government in successfully bidding for the inscription of the Historic Centre of Macao on the World Heritage List, and promote the above events as cultural activities representative of Hong Kong?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs
3. Hon CHEUNG Hok-ming to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that the Hospital Authority ("HA") is planning to set up basic health and community health centres in all 18 districts in Hong Kong to provide one-stop medical and health care services. HA will first set up such centres at Tin Shui Wai and Fanling as trial points. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:
| (a) | the details of the above centres at the Tin Shui Wai and Fanling, including their location, scale, services to be provided, population that they can serve, expected time for official commencement of operation, and the number of consultation slots they can provide each day;
| | (b) | for how long the above centres will serve as trial points, and the criteria for assessing the effectiveness of the centres so as to finalize the timetable for setting up such centres in all 18 districts in Hong Kong; and
| | (c) | apart from the above two trial points, whether HA will consider setting up additional ones in other new towns (e.g. Tung Chung) where medical facilities are lacking?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health
4. Hon TAM Heung-man to ask: (Translation)
As reported, quite a number of road sections at which fatal accidents had repeatedly occurred have so far not been classified as traffic accident black spots ("TABSs") by the Transport Department, and very limited road improvement works have been carried out by the Government at these road sections after the occurrence of accidents. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether it will review the criteria adopted for classifying a road section as a TABS; if it will, of the details and timetable of the review; if not, the reasons for that;
| | (b) | of the road sections not classified as TABSs at which four or more fatal accidents had occurred in a period of 12 months; whether the Transport Department will consider classifying such road sections as TABSs and carry out road improvement works there; if it will, of the relevant details; if not, the reasons for that; and
| | (c) | of the measures in place to enhance drivers' awareness of safe driving so that they will drive with care no matter whether they are driving through a TABS or not?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport and Housing
5. Hon CHAN Yuen-han to ask: (Translation)
International crude oil price, which has continued to rise over the past few years, recently reached a record high of US$127 per barrel. Moreover, oil companies in Hong Kong have raised the selling prices of motor vehicle fuels for five times since the beginning of the year, resulting in an accumulated increase of more than 5%. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:
| (a) | it has assessed the impact of persistently high fuel prices on the competitiveness of the relevant trades in Hong Kong, such as logistics, transport and tourism industries; if it has, of the findings; if not, whether it will conduct such an assessment;
| | (b) | it knows which countries currently do not impose duties on motor vehicle fuels or had abolished such duties in the past two years; whether it will consider abolishing the fuel duty, which accounts for 10% of the diesel retail price, so as to reduce the impact of high oil price on the relevant trades; if not, of the justifications for that; and
| | (c) | it knows which places, apart from the Mainland, have provided subsidy on the retail price of diesel; whether it will consider providing such subsidy?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport and Housing
6. Dr Hon Fernando CHEUNG to ask: (Translation)
Will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether it has collected statistics on the number of disabled persons among registered electors; if it has, of a breakdown of the number of such electors by type of disability; if not, whether the Government has any plan to set up such a database;
| | (b) | given that of the 501 polling stations for the 2004 Legislative Council ("LegCo") Election, 287 were accessible polling stations suitable for use by disabled persons, representing 57% of the total number of polling stations, how many accessible polling stations does the Government plan to set up for the 2008 LegCo Election to facilitate disabled persons in casting their votes; and
| | (c) | whether it has enhanced dissemination of information to disabled persons regarding voting at the 2008 LegCo Election (e.g. when disabled persons are disqualified from being registered as electors, and points to note when they go to polling stations to cast their votes); if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and whether the Government has formulated clear guidelines to instruct Presiding Officers how to assist those electors who are unable to complete the voting procedure on their own because of physical disabilities; if it has, of the details of the guidelines; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs
*7. Ir Dr Hon HO Chung-tai to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that last year, the Independent Commission Against Corruption ("ICAC") received over 2 000 private sector corruption reports, of which 40% were related to building maintenance works. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the number of private sector corruption reports involving building maintenance works received by ICAC in the past three years;
| | (b) | whether the works referred to in (a) will be inspected afresh; if so, of the details; and
| | (c) | apart from amending the relevant provisions of the Building Management Ordinance (Cap. 344) and implementing the Building Management (Amendment) Ordinance 2007 (Ordinance No. 5 of 2007), whether the authorities had formulated any other measures in the past three years for monitoring the tendering procedures on private building maintenance works undertaken by owners' corporations and preventing malpractices; if so, of the details?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs
*8. Hon Andrew CHENG to ask: (Translation)
Regarding franchised bus services, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the reasons for the substantial reduction over the past two years in the annual numbers of new buses approved, by the Transport Department ("TD"), to be purchased under the Forward Planning Programme by the Kowloon Motor Bus Company (1933) Limited;
| | (b) | whether it knows the reasons for the substantial reduction over the past two years in the numbers of buses decommissioned annually by most of the franchised bus companies;
| | (c) | of the utilisation rate of the buses of each franchised bus company in each of the past three years; and
| | (d) | of the following details of the Bus Route Development Programme submitted recently by each franchised bus company to TD?
Proposed new routes:
| Service areas | Frequency | Operating hours | Fare and sectional fares (if applicable) | Implementation date |
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Routes proposed to be reorganized/cancelled:
| Route number | Service area | Details of changes in service | Implementation date |
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport and Housing
*9. Dr Hon Joseph LEE Kok-long to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the manpower position of allied health staff of the Hospital Authority ("HA"), will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:
| (a) | in the past five years, the respective numbers of allied health staff in various HA's hospital clusters who were newly employed, had departed and were promoted, and of those who were promoted, the average length of service in their previous ranks before promotion (please provide the figures in the following table);
| Allied health staff | Hong Kong East Cluster | Hong Kong West Cluster | Kowloon Central Cluster | Kowloon East Cluster | Kowloon West Cluster | New Territories East Cluster | New Territories West Cluster | | Physiotherapist |
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| | Occupational Therapist |
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| | Radiotherapist |
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| | Pharmacist |
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| | Optometrist |
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| | Dietitian |
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| | Clinical Psychologist |
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| | Medical Technologist |
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| | (b) | whether HA has filled all of the vacancies arising from the above departure or promotion of allied health staff; if not, of the reasons for that; and
| | (c) | the details of the training programmes to be provided by HA in the next five years for the above allied health staff?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health
*10. Hon James TO to ask: (Translation)
I often receive complaints from members of the public about the nuisance caused to them by lights from various venues managed by government departments. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the respective numbers of complaints, received by various government departments from members of the public over the past three years, about the nuisance caused to them by lights from various ball game pitches/courts managed by government departments, street lamps inside public housing estates, as well as lights from car parks inside public housing estates and those from other government facilities;
| | (b) | whether any designs (such as following overseas countries' practice of putting lampshades on street lamps) and operational guidelines relating to the street lamps inside public housing estates are in place to reduce the nuisance caused by lights from such street lamps to the households on the lower floors of nearby buildings, and whether the venues managed by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department and other government departments have adopted similar guidelines; and
| | (c) | while the Government has repeatedly indicated that it has no intention to legislate against light pollution, whether it has conducted studies in this regard, such as examining how the issue of light pollution is tackled in overseas countries; if not, whether it will conduct such studies?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment
*11. Hon Albert CHAN to ask: (Translation)
Recently, I have received complaints from members of the public that they often smelled stench when they were on a bus and passed by Siu Ho Wan. They suspected that the stench came from the nearby Siu Ho Wan Water Treatment Works. They have also pointed out that as members of the public and tourists must use the expressway near Siu Ho Wan to commute to and from the Hong Kong International Airport, the stench may affect public health and the image of Hong Kong. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:
| (a) | it knows the source of the above stench; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
| | (b) | it has measures to ameliorate the above stench problem; if so, of the details and when the problem is expected to be resolved; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment
*12. Hon CHOY So-yuk to ask: (Translation)
The equestrian events of the Games of the XXIX Olympiad will be held in Shatin in August this year. According to government records on the Air Pollution Index ("API") for August in each of the past four years, the API recorded in three of them reached the "very high" band which ranges between 101 and 200, and the Very Hot Weather Warning issued by the Hong Kong Observatory was also in force for nine episodes during that period. Some members of the public are therefore concerned whether the equestrian events will have to be rescheduled or even cancelled due to poor air quality or hot and stuffy weather. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:
| (a) | it has assessed the risk of postponement or cancellation of the equestrian events due to the impact of air quality and weather conditions; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
| | (b) | it will draw up objective standards to specify under what air quality and weather conditions the equestrian events will be rescheduled or even cancelled; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
| | (c) | it has drawn up any plan, including formulating collaborative measures in consultation with the mainland authorities concerned, to improve air quality during the equestrian events, so as to provide the best environment for the people and horses coming to Hong Kong to participate in the events; if it has, of the details, if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs
*13. Dr Hon KWOK Ka-ki to ask: (Translation)
Will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the respective current numbers of doctors and dentists employed by the Department of Health ("DH") on non-civil service contract ("NCSC") terms, their longest and average length of service, and their respective percentages in the staff of DH at their relevant ranks;
| | (b) | in the past three years, of the respective numbers of doctors and dentists who were employed by the Government on civil service terms of appointment, the respective numbers of serving doctors and dentists on NCSC terms who applied for such posts and, among them, the number of those who had successfully secured appointment;
| | (c) | of the measures in place to encourage or assist serving doctors and dentists on NCSC terms in applying for the relevant civil service posts; and
| | (d) | of the respective expected numbers of doctors and dentists to be employed by the Government in each of the coming three years, and whether all such doctors and dentists will be employed on civil service terms of appointment?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health
*14. Dr Hon David LI to ask:
Will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the number of building plans approved by the Building Authority between 1 January 2004 and 31 December 2007, in respect of which the permitted maximum building height prescribed in the relevant outline zoning plan ("OZP") was given in metres only, with no reference to the Hong Kong Principal Datum; and the following regarding such building plans:
| | (i) | the departmental guidelines regarding the base elevation from which the permitted maximum building height was calculated; and
| | (ii) | whether the plans have included usable floor area below the base elevation; if so, for each of them, the street address, the permitted building use, the permitted maximum building height prescribed in the relevant OZP, the height of the approved building both above and below the base elevation and, if the total height (including that both above and below the base elevation) of the approved building exceeds the permitted maximum building height under the relevant OZP, the specific conditions in the guidelines referred to in (i) under which the building plans were approved; and
| | (b) | given that the OZP approval process involves substantial public consultation, whether the Government has any plan to require that any building proposal, under which the total height of the building exceeds the permitted maximum height under the relevant OZP, should be published in an appropriate format for notification prior to approval, in order to put the calculation of the base elevation on the public record?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Development
*15. Hon SIN Chung-kai to ask: (Translation)
The provisions in the Copyright (Amendment) Ordinance 2007 that regulate the dealing in devices and provision of services which aim to circumvent technological measures applied in the protection of copyright works have come into operation since 25 April this year. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:
| (a) | the enforcement department has proactively inspected various shops for the purpose of enforcing the above provisions, or actions will be taken only upon receipt of complaints; if it has proactively conducted inspections, of the number of inspections so far; if it has not, the reasons for that;
| | (b) | the enforcement department has instituted any prosecutions or other enforcement actions since the relevant provisions have come into operation; if it has, of the relevant figures; and
| | (c) | measures have been adopted to intercept the import of circumvention devices into Hong Kong for sale or hire; if so, of the details?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development
*16. Hon Emily LAU to ask: (Translation)
At present, traffic is unevenly distributed among the three road harbour crossings. In this connection, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council whether:
| (a) | they have assessed the economic loss incurred by the society as a result of the traffic congestion problem arising from the above situation; if so, of the assessment results;
| | (b) | they have assessed the amount of money needed for the Government to buy out the franchises of the Eastern Harbour Crossing and the Western Harbour Crossing; and
| | (c) | they have drawn up specific measures to rationalize the utilization of the three crossings; if so, of the details?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport and Housing
*17. Hon Frederick FUNG to ask: (Translation)
At the meeting of this Council on 14 November last year, the Secretary for Home Affairs said that the Food and Health Bureau was reviewing the hawker licensing policy, and the outcome of the review was expected to be available in the middle of this year. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the progress of the above review and the preliminary outcome, as well as the specific date for making public the outcome of the review;
| | (b) | of the respective current numbers of licensed fixed-pitch hawkers and licensed itinerant hawkers, broken down by District Council ("DC") district;
| | (c) | if it has assessed whether or not facilitating hawking activities helps the work of the Government in alleviating poverty; and
| | (d) | whether it will consider re-issuing hawker licences, and entrusting the work on hawker control in various districts to the DCs concerned, so that the work in this respect may better address the needs of different districts?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health
*18. Hon LAU Kong-wah to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the issue of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region ("HKSAR") passports by the Immigration Department ("ImmD"), will the Government inform this Council of:
| (a) | the respective numbers of relevant applications received and HKSAR passports issued by ImmD in the past three years;
| | (b) | the trend of the number of relevant applications in the past three years;
| | (c) | the main grounds on which the applications concerned were rejected by ImmD; the number of applications rejected in the past three years, together with a breakdown by the grounds of rejection; and
| | (d) | the foreign passports the holders of which are eligible for the issue of a HKSAR passport and the reasons for that; whether HKSAR passport applicants are required to indicate if they are holding any foreign passport when they submit applications, and the number of persons currently holding both HKSAR and foreign passports?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security
*19. Hon TSANG Yok-sing to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that at present, public hospitals in the Hong Kong West, Kowloon West, New Territories East and New Territories West Clusters are using video conferencing systems to provide medical consultation service and nursing advice for the elderly in residential care homes for the elderly ("RCHEs"). Regarding this scheme, will the Government inform this Council whether:
| (a) | it knows the current numbers of public hospitals, RCHEs and elderly centres taking part in the aforesaid scheme;
| | (b) | the Government and the Hospital Authority have plans to
| | (i) | encourage and assist more hospital clusters, public hospitals, RCHEs and elderly centres to take part in the scheme; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
| | (ii) | extend the scheme to elders living alone; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
| | (iii) | extend the above scheme to residential homes operated by the Social Welfare Department and non-governmental welfare organizations; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health
*20. Hon Emily LAU to ask: (Translation)
The Kwun Tong Branch of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited ("HSBC") lost a computer server containing the data of 159 000 customers on 26 April this year when it was undergoing renovation. HSBC did not immediately make public the situation, and it was not until 7 May, which was several days after the media had made the relevant reports, did it issue a brief statement to confirm the matter. In this connection, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council whether:
| (a) | the authorities will investigate the causes of this incident; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
| | (b) | they will strengthen monitoring the work of banks in protecting the privacy information of customers; if so, of the details; and
| | (c) | they will stipulate that all banks, in the event of similar incidents in the future, shall immediately contact the customers affected and give an account to the public, and shall expeditiously make arrangements for the loss which may be incurred by the customers as a result; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
*For written reply.
III. Bills
Second Reading (Debates to resume), Committee Stage and Third Reading
| | 1. | Dutiable Commodities (Amendment) Bill 2008 | : | Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development
| | 2. | Dutiable Commodities (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2008 | : | Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development
| | 3. | Prevention and Control of Disease Bill | : | Secretary for Food and Health |
IV. Motions
- Proposed resolution under the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance
Secretary for Food and Health to move the motion in Appendix I.
- Proposed resolution under the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance
Secretary for Food and Health to move the following motion:
RESOLVED that the Food and Drugs (Composition and Labelling) (Amendment: Requirements for Nutrition Labelling and Nutrition Claim) Regulation 2008, published in the Gazette as Legal Notice No. 69 of 2008 and laid on the table of the Legislative Council on 9 April 2008, be amended, in section 10, in the new section 1 of Schedule 5, by adding -
"(6) If the content of trans fatty acids set out in the list of nutrients of a prepackaged food is expressed in a manner that complies with the law of any jurisdiction outside Hong Kong which requires the marking or labelling of trans fatty acids on prepackaged foods, this section, in so far as it relates to trans fatty acids, is deemed to be complied with in relation to the prepackaged food.".
- Proposed resolution under the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance
Hon Vincent FANG Kang to move the following motion:
RESOLVED that the Food and Drugs (Composition and Labelling) (Amendment: Requirements for Nutrition Labelling and Nutrition Claim) Regulation 2008, published in the Gazette as Legal Notice No. 69 of 2008 and laid on the table of the Legislative Council on 9 April 2008, be amended, in section 1, by repealing "1 July 2010" and substituting "1 July 2011".
- Proposed resolution under the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance
Hon Vincent FANG Kang to move the following motion:
RESOLVED that the Food and Drugs (Composition and Labelling) (Amendment: Requirements for Nutrition Labelling and Nutrition Claim) Regulation 2008, published in the Gazette as Legal Notice No. 69 of 2008 and laid on the table of the Legislative Council on 9 April 2008, be amended -
| (a) | in section 10, in the new section 1(3) of Part 2 of Schedule 6, by repealing "$345" and substituting "$80";
| | (b) | in section 10, in the new section 2(3) of Part 2 of Schedule 6, by repealing "$335" and substituting "$50".
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- Proposed resolution under the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance
Hon Fred LI to move the motion in Appendix II.
V. Members' Motions
- The 4 June incident
Hon CHEUNG Man-kwong: (Translation)
That this Council urges that: the 4 June incident be not forgotten and the 1989 pro-democracy movement be vindicated.
- Immediately improving the health care services in Hong Kong
Dr Hon KWOK Ka-ki: (Translation)
That, the Consultation Document on Health Care Reform has given rise to extensive discussion in the community since its publication, and no consensus has so far been reached on supporting any "supplementary financing" option requiring mandatory contribution or mandatory insurance, yet there are currently many problems in Hong Kong's health care services, thus this Council urges the Government to implement a series of measures to immediately improve Hong Kong's health care services; such measures must include:
| (a) | immediately using part of the $50 billion health care funding to improve Hong Kong's health care services, and using the remaining provision to set up a health care service fund, allocating part of the fiscal surplus to the fund in future, and making reference to the profit-sharing arrangement of the Exchange Fund, to provide stable funding for Hong Kong's public health care services;
| | (b) | the Authorities substantially augmenting the provision of resources to improve existing services, increasing the use of new psychiatric drugs and thoroughly considering the views of stakeholders in formulating long-term psychiatric treatment and rehabilitation policy, in view of the persistent lack of resources and long-term service planning for psychiatric treatment, rehabilitation and support services;
| | (c) | increasing the funding for the Hospital Authority (HA) to address the plight of persistent shortage of resources suffered by some hospital clusters or district hospitals, reducing the working hours of HA doctors, improving the promotion prospects of doctors and the situation of unequal pay for the same work, in order to retain experienced and middle-ranking doctors and health care workers as well as boost staff morale;
| | (d) | proactively allocating land for the construction of new private hospitals and assisting existing private hospitals in their extension, so as to increase the provision of beds in private hospitals;
| | (e) | increasing training resources and opportunities for specialists to enable various medical specialties to have sufficient room for development, thereby providing patients with the most suitable services;
| | (f) | re-opening nursing schools and increasing the number of places for nursing degree programmes to boost nursing manpower;
| | (g) | through promoting various public-private partnership (PPP) projects on health care services to improve the imbalance between public and private health care services which has existed for a long time, and supporting PPP in dental services;
| | (h) | providing additional resources for HA or patients to purchase drugs, such as drugs for curing cancer, and immediately reviewing the Drug Formulary to avoid patients being denied effective drugs with little side effect due to financial difficulties and to reduce misunderstanding between doctors and patients;
| | (i) | through purchasing services from community doctors or increasing the manpower of general outpatient clinics to reduce the number of cases in each consultation session attended by outpatient doctors and shorten patients' waiting time, thereby enhancing service quality;
| | (j) | strengthening regulation of private medical insurance and encouraging the industry to provide medical insurance which is in line with public interest, such as insurance which does not discriminate against mental or chronic illness;
| | (k) | increasing the value of elderly health care vouchers to at least $1,000 a year and providing low-income families with such vouchers;
| | (l) | enhancing oral care education; and
| | (m) | providing dental care vouchers for young children, secondary students, low-income families and the elderly, so as to protect the oral health of the public.
| | Amendments to motion
| | (i) | Hon CHAN Yuen-han: (Translation)
To add "as health care expenditure continues to increase and Hong Kong faces the problem of an ageing population, and" after "That,"; to delete "supporting any 'supplementary financing' option requiring mandatory contribution or mandatory insurance" after "reached on" and substitute with "the issue of health care financing"; to add ", before implementing any health care financing option," after "urges the Government"; to add "and taking the demographic structures of hospital clusters as one of the criteria for resources allocation" after "the Hospital Authority (HA)"; to delete "and" after "oral care education;"; and to add "; (n) providing additional resources to enhance primary health care services and raising the health awareness of the public; (o) stepping up disease prevention work and increasing the provision of free vaccinations of various kinds for the public; (p) improving the telephone booking service for general outpatient clinics, arranging manpower to answer phone calls so that the elders who do not know how to use such system can also make use of the telephone booking service; (q) setting a timetable for improving the problem of excessively long waiting time for specialist outpatient clinics and surgeries; (r) extending free dental care service to all secondary students in Hong Kong; (s) setting up dental clinics with general public sessions and expanding their scope of services; and (t) providing additional evening and 24-hour outpatient clinic services in some remote new towns such as Tung Chung, Tin Shui Wai, etc, before the hospitals planned for construction are completed and commissioned" immediately before the full stop.
| | (ii) | Dr Hon YEUNG Sum: (Translation)
To add "with insufficient resources, public health care is plagued with problems, and the Government must launch health care reform to resolve the long-term problems faced by the health care system, however," after "That,"; to delete "immediately using part of the $50 billion health care funding" after "(a)" and substitute with "expeditiously increasing health care funding to 17% of the Government recurrent expenditure"; to delete "using the remaining provision to set up a health care service fund," after "health care services, and" and substitute with "setting up a fund to take forward health care reform, and in addition to the provision of the $50 billion funding this year, injecting half of the annual investment income of the Exchange Fund into the fund, as well as"; to delete "and making reference to the profit-sharing arrangement of the Exchange Fund," after "the fund in future,"; to delete "public health care services" after "stable funding for Hong Kong's" and substitute with "health care system, so as to ensure that even if there is a substantial increase in health care expenditure brought about by scientific advancement and an ageing population in future, the health care system can still provide essential services to the public, and should the contributory form of supplementary financing system be implemented in future, the amount of contribution can be maintained at a level affordable to the public"; to delete "and" after "oral care education;"; and to add "; and (n) in view of the problem of serious inadequencies in primary health services at present, setting up a seed fund to improve such services, so as to enhance people's health and quality of life, and reduce health care expenditure in the long run" immediately before the full stop.
| | (iii) | Hon Vincent FANG Kang: (Translation)
To add "as" after "That,"; to delete "immediately using part of" after "(a)" and substitute with "proper planning for"; to delete "improve Hong Kong's health care services, and using the remaining provision to set up a health care service fund, allocating part of the fiscal surplus to the fund in future, and making reference to the profit-sharing arrangement of the Exchange Fund," after "health care funding to" and substitute with "tie in with the future health care financing option, so as"; to add "catering for the actual situation of the districts, such as establishing psychiatric specialist out-patient clinic services in Tin Shui Wai, and at the same time" after "new psychiatric drugs and"; to add "discussing with the Medical Council the implementation of mutual recognition of professional qualifications by making reference to the practice of other professional bodies, with a view to attracting more non-locally trained outstanding doctors to practise in Hong Kong to address the problem of insufficient doctors in public hospitals; (e)" after "(d)"; to delete the original "(e)" and substitute with "(f)"; to delete the original "(f)" and substitute with "(g)"; to delete the original "(g)" and substitute with "(h)"; to delete the original "(h)" and substitute with "(i)"; to delete the original "(i)" and substitute with "(j)"; to delete the original "(j)" and substitute with "(k)"; to delete the original "(k)" and substitute with "(l)"; to delete the original "(l)" and substitute with "(m)"; to delete "and" after "oral care education;"; to delete the original "(m)" and substitute with "(n)"; and to add "; (o) expeditiously constructing hospitals in districts where medical resources are in serious shortage, such as Tung Chung and Tin Shui Wai, and providing additional services, including obstetrics, oncology and neurosurgery etc, in the Tseung Kwan O Hospital; (p) strengthening community-based primary health care services; (q) finding ways to improve the patients' waiting time for specialist out-patient services; (r) further incorporating Chinese medicine into the public health care system, measures including providing additional Chinese medicine out-patient clinic services in public hospitals etc; and (s) strengthening the protection of patients' rights and interests, effectively improving the procedures and codes for handling personal data of patients in public hospitals, and comprehensively enhancing staff training, so as to prevent repeated occurrence of medical incidents" immediately before the full stop.
| | (iv) | Hon LI Kwok-ying: (Translation)
To delete "no consensus has so far been reached on supporting any 'supplementary financing' option requiring mandatory contribution or mandatory insurance, yet there are currently many problems in Hong Kong's health care services," after "since its publication, and" and substitute with "presently there is public consensus hoping that the Government would strengthen the role of primary health care services, engage in closer public-private partnership (PPP) in health care, improve the current public health care services, etc. to resolve the existing problems in health care services,"; to add "allocate funding to" after "measures and immediately"; to delete "immediately using part of the $50 billion health care funding to improve Hong Kong's health care services, and using the remaining provision to set up a health care service fund, allocating part of the fiscal surplus to the fund in future, and making reference to the profit-sharing arrangement of the Exchange Fund, to provide stable funding for Hong Kong's public health care services" after "(a)" and substitute with "carrying out institutional reform to strengthen the role of primary health care in the overall health care services, and conducting detailed study on the institution of family doctor"; to delete "public-private partnership (PPP)" after "promoting various" and substitute with "PPP"; to add ", and providing tax incentive to encourage the public to purchase medical insurance" after "chronic illness"; to add ", lowering the eligibility age for such vouchers to 65" after "$1,000 a year"; to delete "and" after "oral care education;"; and to add "; (n) strengthening the role of paramedical professionals in the health care system, and promoting their links and cross-referral of patients with Western and Chinese medicine practitioners, so as to provide Hong Kong people with more efficient and better health care services through a team approach; (o) stepping up disease prevention work, such as expeditiously updating the vaccination programme and subsidizing people to receive preventive care services; and (p) using Chinese medicine more extensively to further enhance the quality of health care services" immediately before the full stop.
| | (v) | Dr Hon Joseph LEE Kok-long: (Translation)
To add "and enhancing community-based psychiatric rehabilitation and nursing services," after "new psychiatric drugs"; to add ", nursing" after "long-term psychiatric treatment"; to add "nursing," after "long-term service planning for psychiatric treatment,"; to delete "re-opening nursing schools and increasing the number" after "(f)" and substitute with "allocating more resources to universities for the provision"; to add ", setting up as soon as possible a nursing academy to expedite the development of clinical specialization of nurses, and formulating a long-term plan for nursing manpower resources" after "to boost nursing manpower"; to delete "and" after "oral care education;"; and to add "; and (n) optimizing the professional functions of community health care teams to enable them to contribute their expertise in primary health services, such as disease prevention, health promotion and education, so as to provide comprehensive health care services for the community" immediately before the full stop.
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Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Food and Health
Clerk to the Legislative Council
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