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A 07/08-9
Legislative Council
Agenda
Wednesday 28 November 2007 at 11:00 am
I. Tabling of Papers
| Subsidiary Legislation / Instruments | L.N. No.
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| 1. | Rating (Exemption) (No.2) Order 2007 | 221/2007
| | 2. | Tsing Sha Control Area (General) Regulation | 222/2007
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Other Papers| 1. | No.30 | - | Accounts of the Government for the year ended
31 March 2007
| (to be presented by Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury)
| | 2. | No.31 | - | Report of changes to the approved Estimates of Expenditure approved during the second quarter of 2007-2008 (Public Finance Ordinance : Section 8)
| (to be presented by Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury)
| | 3. | No.32 | - | Report of the Director of Audit on the Accounts of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region for the year ended 31 March 2007
| (to be presented by the President)
| | 4. | No.33 | - | Report No. 49 of the Director of Audit on the results of value for money audits - October 2007
| (to be presented by the President)
| | 5. | No.34 | - | Ocean Park Corporation
Annual Report 2006-2007
| (to be presented by Prof Hon Patrick LAU Sau-shing, who will address the Council)
| | 6. | No.35 | - | The Government Minute in response to the Nineteenth Annual Report of the Ombudsman issued in June 2007
| | (to be presented by Chief Secretary for Administration, who will address the Council)
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IA. Addresses
Hon Miriam LAU, Ir Dr Hon HO Chung-tai, Hon Albert HO, Hon Andrew CHENG, Hon WONG Kwok-hing and Hon Mrs Selina CHOW to address the Council respectively on the Rail Merger Ordinance (Commencement) Notice, which is subsidiary legislation laid on the Table of the Council on 31 October 2007.
II. Questions
1. Hon Albert CHAN to ask: (Translation)
In reply to my question at the Council meeting on 14 March this year, the Government said that it would continue to combat illegal practices employed by debt collection agencies ("DCAs"). Yet I have learnt that on 13th this month, a construction worker who owed a large amount of gambling debt was escorted back to his home by two men to collect the debt. The construction worker suddenly became agitated, climbed out of the window, and fell to his death on the podium. This incident indicates that there is a deteriorating trend in the harassment of members of the public by DCAs in recovering debts. Besides, some banks, finance companies, telecommunications companies, beauty service companies and even tutorial teachers have hired agencies similar to DCAs to collect money owed by their customers, causing many members of the public to suffer harassment. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the number of cases reported by the public to the Police since 1 January this year about harassment by DCAs, and the total expenditure incurred by the Government on handling such cases;
| | (b) | whether at this point in time, it will reconsider accepting the recommendations of the Law Reform Commission of Hong Kong made in 2002 of creating a criminal offence of harassment of debtors and others and introducing a statutory licensing system to regulate DCAs; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
| | (c) | whether it will consider taking new measures to step up law enforcement actions to curb the harassing practices of DCAs in recovering debts; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security
2. Hon LAU Kong-wah to ask: (Translation)
Regarding default payments of Mandatory Provident Fund ("MPF") contributions by employers, will the Government inform this Council if it knows:
| (a) | the total amount involved in the complaints received by the authorities concerned about employers defaulting on MPF contributions over the past three years, and the number of cases in which the amount defaulted have not been successfully recovered from the employers;
| | (b) | whether the authorities concerned have imposed heavier penalties on employers who have repeatedly defaulted on MPF contributions; apart from the plan to raise the maximum penalty for default payment on MPF contributions, whether the authorities concerned have other measures to stop the employers from defaulting payments on MPF contributions repeatedly; and
| | (c) | given that employers defaulting on MPF contributions will only be fined in most cases and are not required to pay any compensation to the employees concerned, whether the authorities concerned will conduct a study to see if it should be stipulated that employees have the right to recover from employers the employees' potential loss in investment returns arising from the default payments of MPF contributions by employers; if not, of the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
3. Dr Hon LUI Ming-wah to ask: (Translation)
While the economy of Hong Kong has been growing strongly in recent years with the year-on-year growth of Gross Domestic Product standing at around 6%, the unemployment rate is still around 4% with an increasing number of low-income earners, and the polarization of the rich and the poor is increasingly serious. Regarding the development of the local manufacturing industries to ameliorate the aforesaid situation, will the Government inform this Council whether:
| (a) | it has formulated any plan to revitalize the local manufacturing industries to make it a renewed pillar industry, so as to provide more job opportunities; if not, of the reasons for that; and
| | (b) | it has any plan to establish an independent industrial development council to spearhead and promote the development of the local manufacturing industries, provide services for the service industries operating outside Hong Kong, and to serve as an advisory body to be consulted by the Central Authorities on any enactment and amendment to legislation which concerns Hong Kong-owned factories on the Mainland; if not, of the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development
4. Hon Andrew CHENG to ask: (Translation)
During the scrutiny of the Smoking (Public Health) (Amendment) Bill 2005 by this Council last year, the Government accepted my relevant suggestion and decided to empower the Director of Health to designate public transport interchanges ("PTIs") as statutory no smoking areas. However, the Government proposed that the initiative would not be implemented until it had completed its work on setting up a fixed penalty system for smoking offence in 12 to 15 months' time following the enactment of the Bill. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | given that 13 months have lapsed since the enactment of the above Bill, when the Director of Health will designate PTIs as no smoking areas;
| | (b) | of the latest progress of the Government's work to demarcate the boundaries of no smoking areas in PTIs, and the respective situations in respect of the PTIs in covered premises and in the open air; and
| | (c) | whether it will introduce into this Council a bill on setting up a fixed penalty system for smoking offence within 2007; if not, of the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health
5. Hon CHAN Kam-lam to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that the contractor carrying out inspection works for Chung On Estate was recently found to have poked iron bars into the holes on the external walls of the buildings, intending to fake the exposure of reinforcement steel so as to defraud fees on maintenance works. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:
| (a) | it has discovered similar cases in the inspection works carried out in other public housing estates;
| | (b) | it will comprehensively review all the works undertaken or being undertaken by the contractor to see if any fraudulent acts have taken place; and
| | (c) | it will impose heavier penalties on defrauding contractors as a warning to others?
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| Public Officer to reply | : | Secretary for the Environment
(in the absence of Secretary for Transport and Housing)
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6. Hon LAU Wong-fat to ask: (Translation)
The MTR Corporation Limited has recently revealed that, upon the merger of the Mass Transit Railway ("MTR") and Kowloon-Canton Railway ("KCR") systems next month, the 50% discount on student fares currently provided by MTR will not be extended to the original KCR lines, and students travelling on the original East Rail, West Rail and Ma On Shan Rail networks will have to pay full fares. As it is expected that the potential property developments along the KCR lines and the high patronage of the KCR lines by mainland visitors under the Individual Visit Scheme will generate substantial revenue for the post-merger MTR Corporation Limited, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows the data used by the relevant authorities in their calculation and in arriving at the conclusion that with the offer of the general fare reductions as originally pledged, the synergies arising from the merger do not allow further room for providing a 50% discount on fares for students travelling on KCR?
| Public Officer to reply | : | Secretary for the Environment
(in the absence of Secretary for Transport and Housing)
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*7. Dr Hon Philip WONG to ask: (Translation)
Given that there are currently eight candidates running for the Legislative Council by-election for the Hong Kong Island geographical constituency to be held on 2 December this year, will the Government inform this Council whether it has assessed if the expenditure on this by-election will exceed the estimate of $26.6 million; if an assessment has been made, of the outcome; if the estimate will be exceeded, of the expected amount in excess, and whether sufficient resources have been set aside to cover the extra expenditure concerned?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs
*8. Hon CHAN Yuen-han to ask: (Translation)
Regarding pneumococcal diseases, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | given that the Scientific Committee on Vaccine Preventable Diseases under the Centre for Health Protection of the Department of Health pointed out in the Recommendations on the Use of Pneumococcal Vaccines issued in October this year that the average annual incidences of invasive pneumococcal diseases ("IPD") among children aged below two and elderly people above 65 years of age were 7.7 per 100 000 during the period from 2000 to 2004, whether the Government knows the specific method of computing such data and how such method compares with those adopted by other places for computing similar data;
| | (b) | of the incidences of IPD among children of different age groups (including below one year, one to under two, two to under five and five to seven years of age) during the period from 2000 to 2004;
| | (c) | in the past five years, of the respective numbers of children and elderly people infected with invasive Streptococcus pneumoniae together with the number of cases in which the infection had resulted in serious complications, broken down by the type of disease (including meningitis, bacteremia, pneumonia and otitis media), as well as the number of deaths caused by pneumococcal diseases;
| | (d) | whether it knows how the Streptococcus pneumoniae carriage rate among children in Hong Kong compares with those in countries such as the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia before and after they have carried out pneumococcal vaccination programmes on a national basis; and
| | (e) | whether the Government has analyzed the threat posed by Streptococcus pneumoniae to young children in Hong Kong; if it has, of the scope and findings of the analysis; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health
*9. Hon Fred LI to ask: (Translation)
Under the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance Scheme, the deceased recipient's family member or relative/friend may apply for burial grant. The amount of the grant payable is the actual expenses after deducting donations (such as the condolence money) made by relatives/friends or the prescribed maximum level, whichever is less. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the respective numbers of applications for burial grant received and approved in each of the past three financial years; among the approved cases, the number of those in which condolence money was deducted, as well as the average and total amounts of deduction; and
| | (b) | whether it will consider raising the maximum level of the burial grant, and abolishing the requirement to deduct donations from the grant payable; if not, of the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Labour and Welfare
*10. Hon LI Kwok-ying to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that some Chinese herbal medicine shops which provide Chinese herbal medicine decoction services for customers have illegally employed foreign domestic helpers to undertake the work of decoction of herbal medicines, causing concern about the hazards to public health posed by such an arrangement. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | in the past three years, whether it has uncovered any cases involving the above offence and instituted prosecutions as a result, and whether it has received complaints about malpractices of Chinese herbal medicine shops in handling Chinese herbal medicines; if so, of the details of the penalties involved in cases of conviction or substantiated complaints;
| | (b) | how the authorities enhance the training of Chinese herbal medicine dispensers and persons responsible for decoction of Chinese herbal medicines, so as to improve the quality of service; and
| | (c) | whether it will establish a registration system for people engaged in the Chinese herbal medicines retail trade, so as to strengthen the monitoring of Chinese herbal medicine shops; if so, of the relevant timetable; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health
*11. Hon LEE Wing-tat to ask: (Translation)
I have received complaints from members of the public pointing out that the Government has not fairly allocated the souvenirs and gifts for the 10th anniversary of Re-unification to local organizations for distribution to the public at the relevant activities. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the total value and quantity of such souvenirs and gifts allocated to various local organizations, as well as the relevant principles and mechanism for allocation;
| | (b) | whether it has informed all political parties, local organizations and District Council members that they may apply to the Government for the allocation of such souvenirs and gifts for distribution to the public during activities; if so, of the relevant details; if not, the reasons for that;
| | (c) | whether certain organizations and political parties which have come to know that such souvenirs and gifts are available for allocation had written to the relevant government department(s) on their own initiative, asking for the allocation of such items for distribution; if so and if such requests have been acceded to, whether the Government has assessed if such a practice is unfair, and if this may encourage local organizations to write to the Government on their own initiative to ask for the allocation of souvenirs and gifts, whenever such items are available for allocation;
| | (d) | whether it has received any complaints concerning members of political parties that they have taken the opportunity of distributing such souvenirs and gifts to promote the political parties to which they belong; if so, of the details; and
| | (e) | whether it will review the practice of allocating souvenirs and gifts to local organizations?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs
*12. Hon LEE Wing-tat to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the Government sponsoring activities held by local organizations to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Re-unification, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the amount of public money spent so far on sponsoring such activities held by local organizations;
| | (b) | of the criteria adopted for determining if an activity should be sponsored and the amount of sponsorship;
| | (c) | of the name, organizer and amount of sponsorship of each activity it has sponsored;
| | (d) | whether any annual activities (such as dragon boat races, mid-autumn night shows) named with additional wording such as "in celebration of the 10th anniversary of Re-unification" this year received an amount of sponsorship far more than that in previous years; and
| | (e) | whether it has reviewed the cost-effectiveness of the activities sponsored; if it has, of the results of the review; 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 whether it knows the following information concerning the Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital, Ruttonjee Hospital, Queen Mary Hospital, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, United Christian Hospital, Tseung Kwan O Hospital, Yan Chai Hospital, Caritas Medical Centre, Princess Margaret Hospital, Kwong Wah Hospital, Prince of Wales Hospital, North District Hospital, Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital, Pok Oi Hospital and Tuen Mun Hospital (to be listed in the tables below):
| (a) | the annual attendances of the following clinical departments in each of the past five years; and
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Clinical department | | Ear, Nose and Throat |
Medicine |
Orthopaedics |
Surgery | | Attendances at the relevant hospital
| Outpatient |
Outreach |
Outpatient |
Outreach |
Outpatient |
Outreach |
Outpatient |
Outreach | | Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital |
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| | (b) | the staff establishment of the above clinical departments in each of the past five years and their present strength?
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Ear, Nose and Throat | | Hospital |
Ranks of doctors |
Establishment |
Present
strength | | 2003 |
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2007 | | Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital |
Consultant
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Medical Officer/Resident
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| Ruttonjee Hospital |
Consultant
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Medical Officer/Resident
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health
*14. Dr Hon David LI to ask:
The Government has indicated in a press release dated 17 November 2006 that it will continue to work with the Mainland to improve the quality of the diesel sold there. On the other hand, it has recently been reported that the Government's $3.2 billion incentive scheme to encourage owners of older diesel vehicles to switch to Euro IV vehicles is not well supported by cross-boundary vehicle owners. These owners are concerned that the diesel sold on the Mainland does not meet the specifications required for Euro IV diesel engines. They prefer to use such diesel whenever possible, as it is significantly cheaper than that sold in Hong Kong. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the official framework under which the quality of diesel sold in both places is considered; the number of meetings held since 17 November 2006 to discuss diesel quality under this framework; the date of the next scheduled meeting; and the progress made last year on standardizing the quality of diesel sold in both places;
| | (b) | whether it knows the quantity of diesel produced by mainland refineries in 2006 that met the Hong Kong ultra low sulphur diesel ("ULSD") specification, the respective percentages of such quantity in the total diesel consumption in Hong Kong and in Guangdong Province in 2006, as well as the estimated capacity of mainland refineries to produce ULSD mandated in Hong Kong in 2007, 2008 and 2009; and
| | (c) | whether the Government has assessed if the above incentive scheme is not meeting its objectives and, if the assessment results indicate such failure of the scheme, whether it will consider withdrawing the scheme and replacing it with a subsidy on ULSD in Hong Kong for a period of two years, in order to maintain a price equilibrium with diesel sold on the Mainland, while at the same time greatly stepping up efforts to standardize the quality of diesel sold in both places?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment
*15. Hon SIN Chung-kai to ask: (Translation)
It is learnt that the diesel sold on the Mainland has a sulphur content higher than that of the diesel sold locally. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the current number of cross-boundary diesel vehicles, broken down by vehicle class;
| | (b) | whether there is a requirement that the fuel in the fuel tanks of cross-boundary diesel vehicles entering the territory must meet the stipulated specifications; if so, of the details; and
| | (c) | whether it will consider setting up inspection kiosks at boundary control points to restrict the entry of cross-boundary diesel vehicles whose fuel tanks contain mainland fuel that exceeds the specified quantity; if it will, of the details?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment
*16. Hon Frederick FUNG to ask: (Translation)
In his Policy Address delivered last month, the Chief Executive said that enterprises should fulfill their social responsibilities, and the business community and professionals should actively volunteer to participate in charity work. Yet, the results of a survey have indicated that the level of corporate social responsibility ("CSR") awareness among local companies was not particularly high, and companies' actions were mostly taken in compliance with the requirements of basic ethical norms or legal measures. Beyond that, these companies fulfilled their CSRs just because of the resultant commercial interests. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of its work plan for promoting CSR, and whether it will consider drawing up charters or guidelines for CSR and providing relevant training for companies, so as to increase the incentives for them to fulfill CSRs;
| | (b) | whether it will consider revising its procurement policy to require various government departments to give priority to procure the goods and services of those companies which fulfill their CSRs; and
| | (c) | given that the above survey focused specifically on four major dimensions of CSR, i.e. a corporation's commitment to ethical practices, minimizing negative impact, social contribution and improving employees' well-being, and it only covered local companies, whether the Government will consider establishing a mechanism to monitor the behaviour and practices of Hong Kong-based multinational enterprises with reference to these dimensions, in order to ascertain if these enterprises have fulfilled their CSRs?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development
*17. Hon LAU Kong-wah to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the annual provision of subsidies for mutual aid committees ("MACs") of public housing estates under the management of the Hong Kong Housing Authority, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the authorities' objectives of providing the above subsidies to MACs, and the major expenditure items funded by such subsidies in the past three years;
| | (b) | for how long the authorities have not made an adjustment to the current rate of such subsidies; and
| | (c) | given that currently, the community in general desires that the spirit of good neighbourhood and mutual support and assistance be lifted, whether the authorities will consider increasing the rate of such subsidies to facilitate MACs in performing their functions (such as attending to the needs of households regularly through the introduction of floor wardens and block wardens, or even organizing recreational activities for households); if not, of the reasons for that; and whether the authorities will adjust the rate of such subsidies having regard to the factor of inflation?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs
*18. Hon LI Kwok-ying to ask: (Translation)
Regarding illegal piling of waste on agricultural land in the New Territories, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the details of the complaints received by the Government in the past two years about piling of waste on agricultural land in the New Territories, and the follow-up actions taken;
| | (b) | given that it has been reported that as the terms of the block leases under which old schedule agricultural lots were granted do not expressly prohibit the use of such lots as landfills, the authorities cannot take law enforcement actions against the activities of piling of waste on such agricultural land, of the ways currently adopted by the Government to resolve this problem; and
| | (c) | whether the authorities will consider amending the relevant legislation as soon as possible to curb the recurrence of the above situation of piling of waste?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Development
*19. Hon SIN Chung-kai to ask: (Translation)
Since 2004, the Government has conducted sector-specific e business promotion programmes for the small and medium enterprises in six business sectors, namely travel agents, private medical practitioners, drugstores, accountants, logistics companies, and beauty services. Another round of the programmes was launched in February 2007, which covered five business sectors (watches and clocks, beauty services, medical and health, social services and trade). In this regard, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the respective numbers and percentages of companies in the business sectors concerned participating in the aforesaid programmes;
| | (b) | whether it has conducted any interim reviews on the programmes, including their effectiveness and if the objectives have been achieved; if it has, of the criteria adopted and results of such reviews; if not, the reasons for that; and
| | (c) | whether it will, by drawing on the commercial sector's experience in promoting e-business, assist non-government organizations such as social welfare organizations in introducing e-business, so as to help these organizations to reduce operating costs and enhance efficiency; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development
*20. Hon Frederick FUNG to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that Hong Kong is one of the places in the world with an extremely high myopia rate, but very few members of the public have the habit of undergoing regular eye examinations. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether it has conducted a study to compare the respective percentages of children, adults and the elderly in Hong Kong who are suffering from myopia, hyperopia, amblyopia, squint or other eye diseases and need to wear glasses with the corresponding figures in other places, and whether it has assessed the expenditure related to such eye diseases and the possible economic losses as a result; if so, of the results; if not, whether the Government will consider conducting such a study and assessment;
| | (b) | given that some optometrists have suggested that both children and the elderly should receive primary eye care examinations annually, whether the Government will consider providing free eye examination services to all school children and the elderly, as well as reconsider providing a special grant to cover the costs of spectacles to children from families receiving Comprehensive Social Security Assistance;
| | (c) | whether it will consider increasing the number of educational places for optometry so as to train more qualified optometrists; and
| | (d) | of the current work plan for promoting eye care and the progress in this respect, and whether it will consider allocating additional resources to strengthen the promotion work to enhance public awareness of eye care?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health
*For written reply.
III. Members' Motions
- Maintaining the political neutrality of the civil service
Hon Margaret NG: (Translation)
That this Council urges the Government to adopt all measures to maintain a quality, professional, politically neutral, clean and public-spirited civil service, and to clearly delineate the division of powers, responsibilities and roles between the civil service and the politically appointed officials.
Amendment to motion
Hon Alan LEONG Kah-kit: (Translation)
To add ", as there are still loopholes in the accountability system for principal officials since its implementation, and the Government, before conducting a comprehensive review of the accountability system, has put forward the proposal to further develop the political appointment system," after "That"; to add "clearly delineate the division of powers, responsibilities and roles between the civil service and the politically appointed officials, in order to" after "adopt all measures to"; to delete ", and to clearly delineate the division of powers, responsibilities and roles between the civil service and the politically appointed officials" after "public-spirited civil service" and substitute with "; the relevant measures should include expeditiously commencing a review of the accountability system for principal officials before implementing the further development of the political appointment system".
Amendment to Hon Alan LEONG Kah-kit's amendment
Hon TAM Yiu-chung: (Translation)
To delete "there are still loopholes in the accountability system for principal officials since its implementation, and" after "That, as"; to delete ", before conducting a comprehensive review of the accountability system," after "the Government"; to delete "in order" after "the politically appointed officials," and substitute with "and"; and to delete "include expeditiously commencing a review of the accountability system for principal officials before implementing the further development of the political appointment system" after "the relevant measures should" and substitute with "ensure that the policies of the SAR Government can be fully implemented to achieve effective governance".
| Public Officers to attend | : | Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs
Secretary for the Civil Service |
- Responding to the problem of climate change
Hon CHOY So-yuk: (Translation)
That, as climate change has become an important issue in sustainable development worldwide, the United Nations will convene a summit on climate change in Bali in December this year, and many countries and places are working together to formulate effective measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; in this connection, this Council urges the Government to lead Hong Kong in shouldering its due responsibilities as an international city and take proactive actions to respond to the crisis of climate warming, which include:
| (a) | setting up an inter-departmental working group on climate change under the leadership of the Chief Executive to demonstrate the Government's determination to respond to climate change, as well as to more effectively coordinate the efforts of various departments in formulating emissions reduction and adaptation policies;
| | (b) | stipulating concrete targets in the reduction of total greenhouse gas emissions;
| | (c) | including the limits on the amount of greenhouse gas emissions in the terms of the new Scheme of Control Agreement with the two power companies;
| | (d) | proactively promoting territory-wide greening work, collaborating with District Councils and the private sector in expediting the development of Greening Master Plans, and actively adopting the concepts of vertical greening and rooftop greening etc. to facilitate three-dimensional development of greened areas and make available additional space for greening;
| | (e) | legislating for mandatory implementation of the Building Energy Codes;
| | (f) | expediting full implementation of the Mandatory Energy Efficiency Labelling Scheme; and
| | (g) | optimizing the use of greenhouse gas emitted from landfill sites.
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Amendments to motion
| (i) | Hon Miriam LAU: (Translation)
To add "climate abnormalities frequently occur in Hong Kong in recent years and" after "That, as"; to add "also" after "climate change has"; to add "(a) strengthening cooperation with the Mainland, particularly Guangdong Province, to work together to respond to the problem of climate warming;" after "which include:"; to delete the original "(a)" and substitute with "(b)"; to delete the original "(b)" and substitute with "(c)"; to delete the original "(c)" and substitute with "(d)"; to delete the original "(d)" and substitute with "(e)"; to delete the original "(e)" and substitute with "(f)"; to delete the original "(f)" and substitute with "(g)"; to delete and (g)" after "Mandatory Energy Efficiency Labelling Scheme;" and substitute with "(h)"; and to add "; and (i) enhancing publicity and education on energy conservation so that members of the public will start with themselves to reduce greenhouse gas emissions" immediately before the full stop.
| | (ii) | Hon Audrey EU: (Translation)
To add "expeditiously" after "various departments in"; to add "and strategies" after "adaptation policies"; to add "short-term and long-term" after "stipulating concrete"; to add "proactively developing renewable energy for electricity generation, including providing financial incentives and technical support to facilitate grid connection of small-scale renewable energy power systems; (e)" after "(d)"; to delete the original "(e)" and substitute with "(f)"; to delete the original "(f)" and substitute with "(g)"; to delete "and (g)" after "Mandatory Energy Efficiency Labelling Scheme;" and substitute with "(h)"; and to add "; and (i) enhancing the co-operation with neighbouring regions with a view to responding to the problem of climate change with a regional perspective" immediately before the full stop.
| | (iii) | Hon Jeffrey LAM Kin-fung: (Translation)
To add "only after extensive consultation" after "Building Energy Codes".
| | (iv) | Hon SIN Chung-kai: (Translation)
To delete "and" after "Mandatory Energy Efficiency Labelling Scheme;"; and to add "; (h) setting targets for local electricity supply to be provided from renewable energy sources, including achieving 5% of total electricity supply to local households from such sources by 2020; (i) establishing mandatory minimum energy efficiency standards for products and considering following the example of Australia to mandate the phasing out of tungsten light bulbs in the next five to 10 years; (j) taking proactive steps to compensate carbon emissions, including calculating the amount of carbon emissions generated from energy used within government departments in their daily activities and making a corresponding amount of donations for tree planting, with a view to meeting the target of 'zero carbon emissions' in the long run; (k) including carbon dioxide emission project in the emission trading pilot scheme in the Pearl River Delta region ; and (l) launching a 'dress casual in summer' campaign within government departments" immediately before the full stop.
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Public Officer to attend : Secretary for the Environment
Clerk to the Legislative Council
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