 |
A 08/09-10
Legislative Council
Agenda
Wednesday 3 December 2008 at 11:00 am
I. Tabling of Papers
| Subsidiary Legislation / Instruments | L.N. No.
|
|---|
| 1. | Electronic Transactions Ordinance (Amendment of Schedule 3) Order 2008 | 249/2008
| | 2. | Tax Reserve Certificates (Rate of Interest) (No. 4) Notice 2008 | 250/2008
| | 3. | Dangerous Goods (Consignment by Air) (Safety) (Amendment) Regulation 2006 (Commencement) Notice 2008 | 251/2008
| | 4. | Dangerous Goods (Consignment by Air) (Safety) Regulations (Amendment of Schedule) Order 2006 (Amendment) Order 2007 (Commencement) Notice | 252/2008
|
Other Papers
| 1. | No. 32 | - | Audited Financial Statements of the Customs and Excise Service Welfare Fund for the year ended 31 March 2008 and its Summary, together with the Director of Audit's Report
| (to be presented by the Secretary for Security)
| | 2. | No. 33 | - | Ocean Park Corporation Annual Report 2007-2008
| (to be presented by Prof Hon Patrick LAU, who will address the Council)
|
II. Questions
1. Hon CHAN Kam-lam to ask: (Translation)
As accidents which involved the plunging of lifts and snapping of lift suspension ropes recently occurred one after another in public housing estates ("PHEs") - Fu Shin Estate, Wan Tau Tong Estate and Tsui Ping South Estate, public housing residents are very concerned about the safety of lifts in their PHEs. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the criteria adopted by the Housing Department ("HD") for selecting contractors for the installation and maintenance of lifts in PHEs; whether HD will revise such criteria in the wake of the above accidents; whether the housing estates under the Tenants Purchase Scheme ("TPS estates") which have not yet formed their owners' corporations are still using the same lift maintenance contractors originally engaged by HD;
| | (b) | given that HD would have handed over the estate management to the owners' corporations of TPS estates upon their establishment, whether HD has monitored the lift maintenance standards of such PHEs to safeguard the safety of tenants; if so, whether it has assessed effectiveness of the monitoring work; and
| | (c) | whether HD has any measure to ensure that the quality of lift maintenance service will not be affected by adopting the tendering practice of "the lowest bidder wins" when the TPS estates which have not yet formed owners' corporations are selecting lift maintenance contractors?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport and Housing
2. Hon Audrey EU to ask: (Translation)
Some members of the recycling industry have said that since the onset of the financial tsunami, the recyclable material market has shrunk rapidly, with orders for the export of recyclable materials such as waste metals and waste plastics decreasing significantly, and large quantities of recyclable materials may eventually be dumped at landfills. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the quantity of local recyclable materials exported in each of the past three months;
| | (b) | whether it has assessed the impact of the recent situation of the recyclable material market on the territory-wide Programme on Source Separation of Domestic Waste implemented by the Environmental Protection Department; if it has, of the outcome; if not, the reasons for that; and
| | (c) | given that the recyclable material market was affected for several times in the past by external market conditions and fluctuated significantly, whether the Government has taken any new measure to improve the business environment of the recycling industry?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment
3. Hon LEE Wing-tat to ask: (Translation)
It has reported that recently, under the impact of the financial tsunami, quite a number of middle-class people are facing economic difficulties, and the aspiration of the general public for home ownership has declined. Cases of premium payments made by owners of Home Ownership Scheme ("HOS") flats have also decreased significantly, with the number of such cases in October plunging by 38% as compared to the same period last year. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it will:
| (a) | introduce measures to assist owners of Sandwich Class Housing Scheme ("SCHS") flats in solving their cash flow problems or alleviating their mortgage burden, such as allowing them to refinance, remortgage or change the mortgage of their flats or let out their flats without paying the premium; if it will, of the details;
| | (b) | relax the existing procedure for vetting and approving the applications by HOS flats owners for refinancing without paying the premium, so as to help them to borrow cash to meet their needs; and
| | (c) | explore the relaxation of existing premium arrangements (such as providing concessions to owners of SCHS and HOS flats), so as to encourage them to pay the premium and hence boost the number of those flats put up for sale?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport and Housing
4. Hon Emily LAU to ask: (Translation)
At present, all of the 405 elected members of the 18 District Councils ("DC"s) in Hong Kong were returned by a "single seat single vote" system, and the population of each constituency was just over 17 000 on average. There have been comments that due to the small population sizes of constituencies, certain DC members often discuss public policies and community issues from a narrow perspective and fail to balance the interests of different sectors, and some DC members only care about the views of their several thousand electors to the extent that they even object to the provision within their constituencies of some unpopular facilities which are necessary for the community. In this connection, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council whether:
| (a) | they have assessed if the population of existing DC constituencies is so small that DC members lack representativeness, and that their perspective and experience in handling district administration affairs cannot be enhanced effectively; and
| | (b) | they will consider raising the population quota of DC constituencies and adopting the proportional representation system for returning DC members of the next term, so as to make DC members answerable to electors of larger constituencies and hence better balance the interests of various parties in the district, and to allow the political party or alliance holding a majority of seats to be responsible for promoting the district administration of the entire DC district?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs
5. Hon LEE Cheuk-yan to ask: (Translation)
The financial tsunami has struck the catering, retail, financial, real estate and commercial service sectors, resulting in waves of business closures and layoffs in these sectors occurring one after the other. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether it will make reference to the provisions of the Termination of Employment Convention 1982 (i.e. International Labour Convention No. 158) and introduce legislation to require enterprises to consult relevant trade unions or staff representatives before laying off staff; and
| | (b) | what specific measures are in place to create job opportunities in order to address the employment problems of the unemployed workers in the above sectors?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Labour and Welfare
6. Hon Paul TSE to ask: (Translation)
Some members of the tourism trade have related to me that Repulse Bay, being a major tourist attraction, should be provided with comprehensive supporting facilities. However, after the demolition and redevelopment of the Repulse Bay Shopping Arcade, the owner of the premises has yet to arrange for leasing the shopping arcade to tenants, and the tourism business in the locality is thus adversely affected. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:
| (a) | it has assessed if the building being left vacant for a prolonged period of time has caused inconvenience to tourists and adversely affected the other tourist attractions in Repulse Bay and its vicinity; if it has, of the assessment results;
| | (b) | it has found out the reasons for the building being left vacant for a prolonged period of time; if it has, of the details; and whether the Government will provide assistance to the owner concerned so that the building can be leased by shops and eateries expeditiously, with a view to improving the supporting tourist facilities in the locality and catering for the needs of the tourists; if it will, of the details; and
| | (c) | any short-term and long-term plans are in place to enhance the supporting tourism facilities in Repulse Bay and its vicinity; if so, of the details of such plans?
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| Public Officer to reply | : | Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development
Secretary for Development
|
*7. Hon LEUNG Yiu-chung to ask: (Translation)
Will the Government inform this Council of:
| (a) | the number of inspections conducted and the number of prosecutions instituted since January this year by the authorities to enforce the provision against the sale of tobacco products to persons under the age of 18; and
| | (b) | the current number of government personnel responsible for enforcing the above provisions?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health
*8. Hon Mrs Sophie LEUNG to ask: (Translation)
The Air Pollution Control (Fuel Restriction) (Amendment) Regulation 2008 (Cap. 311 sub. leg. I) provides that only ultra low sulphur diesel ("ULSD") with a sulphur content of not more than 0.005% by weight may be used in industrial and commercial processes. Quite a number of owners of garment bleaching and dyeing factories have relayed to me that since the commencement of the Regulation on 1 October this year, their monthly expenditure on fuels has increased by 50%. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | given that only ULSD with a sulphur content of 0.001% is on sale in the market at present, whether the Government will require oil companies to introduce ULSD which has a higher sulphur content but still meets the above provision for the above factory owners to choose to buy; and
| | (b) | whether it will consider providing subsidies for a period of at least one year for the above factory owners to purchase ULSD with a sulphur content of 0.001%; if it will not, whether it will implement other measures to alleviate the plight of such factory owners?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment
*9. Hon LEUNG Kwok-hung to ask: (Translation)
The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department ("FEHD") told me that, owing to an insufficient number of Workman II ("WMII") in FEHD, the cleansing services for Clear Water Bay Peninsula, Tseng Lan Shue and Kowloon Peak in Sai Kung District had been outsourced to cleansing contractors starting from September this year. There have been comments that the freeze on recruitment of WMII by FEHD will make the department unable to cope with an epidemic outbreak (such as the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome in 2003), or a sudden surge in service demand upon termination of outsourced cleansing contracts. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | why FEHD has not employed sufficient WMII to provide cleansing services in the above areas;
| | (b) | given that despite the Government's recruitment freeze on the civil service in recent years, a department may apply for exemption if there are operational needs, whether FEHD has made such an application; if not, of the reasons for that;
| | (c) | of the total current number of WMII employed by all government departments, together with a breakdown by department;
| | (d) | of the current number of WMII working in FEHD, together with a breakdown by reason (such as retirement and transfer of job) of the change in such numbers over the past three years; and
| | (e) | of the current ratio between WMII working in FEHD and cleansing workers employed by outsourced service contractors, and whether it will set the relevant target ratio?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health
*10. Hon Cyd HO to ask: (Translation)
The functions of the Public Records Office ("PRO") of Hong Kong include examining government records and materials with due care and transferring those with historical value to its special repositories for proper preservation. However, it has been reported that some government departments have not only refused to transfer records and materials of enduring value as requested by PRO, but have also destroyed the records concerned. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | in the past five years, which government departments and bureaux had refused request(s) for transferring records and materials; of the records and materials involved; the justifications for their refusals; the records and materials having been destroyed and those not yet destroyed; the reasons for destroying them; the ranks of the government officials who were authorized to decide on the destruction of such records and materials, whether any politically appointed officials were included; and whether the government departments and bureaux concerned will transfer to PRO those records and materials not yet destroyed after the files concerned have been closed;
| | (b) | whether it allows other departments and bureaux to hinder PRO from acquiring and appraising records and materials of enduring value for the people of Hong Kong; if so, of the reasons; if not, how it facilitates PRO to obtain such records and materials from those departments and bureaux;
| | (c) | whether at present it has any plan to introduce legislation for preserving government records and materials with historical value for public perusal; if not, of the reasons for that; and
| | (d) | whether it has any guideline instructing government departments and bureaux on how to cooperate with PRO to ensure proper preservation of records and materials with historical value; if so, of the details; if not, whether it will formulate such guidelines?
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Public Officer to reply : The Chief Secretary for Administration
*11. Hon Vincent FANG to ask: (Translation)
I have received complaints from members of the public alleging that a number of old trees were unnecessarily removed by the authorities immediately after a fatal accident caused by the collapse of an old tree in Stanley on 27 August this year. Regarding the Government's efforts in caring of trees, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the total number of trees removed, which were aged 20 years or above, by various departments since the above tree-collapsing accident; whether the number has increased when compared to that of the same period last year; and among the trees removed, the number of those which had been inspected upon receipt of complaints from members of the public that the trees had problems;
| | (b) | whether the Leisure and Cultural Services Department ("LCSD") has conducted any internal investigation into the above tree-collapsing accident; if it has, whether the investigation result indicates any dereliction of duty on the part of its staff or procedural problems; and whether it has, in view of this incident, reviewed the procedure and the time required for handling complaints of the public regarding potential hazards posed by trees;
| | (c) | given that LCSD has a Tree Team comprising 110 staff specially charged with tree management work, of the reasons why tree experts from the United States have been employed to assist in the inspection work, and what professional services have been provided by them; and
| | (d) | whether it will set up a dedicated team or assign one single department to be responsible for coordinating such work as tree inspection, examination and caring?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs
*12. Dr Hon Joseph LEE to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the hospice centres under the Hospital Authority ("HA"), will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:
| (a) | the types of hospice care services currently provided by various hospice centres;
| | (b) | in respect of each type of hospice care service, the service quota and the respective numbers of patients currently using and waiting for such service;
| | (c) | the respective numbers of allied health professionals and nurses who are providing hospice care services; whether HA has any plan to increase the manpower concerned; if so, of the details of the plan; if not, the reasons for that;
| | (d) | if appropriate training had been provided to such healthcare professionals in the past three years to ensure that they have sufficient knowledge and skills to provide care for terminally-ill patients; if so, of the training details; if not, the reasons for that; and
| | (e) | if any review had been conducted in the past three years on the way forward for the provision of hospice care services at patients' homes to enable them to enjoy a peaceful home life; if so, of the details of the review; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health
*13. Dr Hon LAM Tai-fai to ask: (Translation)
To enhance support and services for exporters, in particular, small and medium enterprises, the Hong Kong Export Credit Insurance Corporation ("ECIC") has recently reviewed the situation of 15 emerging markets and lifted the ratings for six of them. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:
| (a) | the current ratings and contents of the ratings of all markets, including the 15 emerging markets mentioned above;
| | (b) | the total value of goods exported, the total value of the policies approved by ECIC and the gross claims concerned in respect of each emerging market in each of the past three years;
| | (c) | the respective reasons for ECIC not lifting the ratings of nine emerging markets after the review;
| | (d) | ECIC's current factors for consideration in determining the ratings of emerging markets and the weightings of such factors;
| | (e) | the respective services provided by ECIC to markets with different ratings; and
| | (f) | if ECIC has conducted regular reviews on the ratings of emerging markets; if so, of the review timetable; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development
*14. Hon Fred LI to ask: (Translation)
The auctions of 2009 Lunar New Year Fair stalls at the Victoria Park were held last month. This year, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department ("FEHD") introduced for the first time eight thematic stalls, each of which was double the size of a dry goods stall. However, only one of such stalls was let at the opening price, while the rest could only be successfully let when put up for auction as smaller stalls. It has been learnt that the opening prices of various stalls this year are the same as those of last year and, hence, some people who took part in the auctions criticized FEHD for not adjusting the opening prices downwards in the light of the financial tsunami. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether FEHD had publicized the thematic stalls before the auctions; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
| | (b) | whether it has looked into the reasons for the poor response in the auction for the thematic stalls; if so; of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
| | (c) | what mechanism is presently in place to ensure that the opening prices of New Year Fair stalls in the auctions reflect the actual economic conditions, so as to avoid the situation of having no one participating in the auctions because the opening prices have been set too high?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health
*15. Hon Albert CHAN to ask: (Translation)
Since November 2000, the Government has implemented a new policy whereby engineering solutions (i.e. by way of retrofitting of barriers and enclosures, and resurfacing with low noise material) will be implemented where practicable at existing excessively noisy roads in order to address the noise impact of existing roads on residents in the neighbourhood. Yet, some members of the public have pointed out that the progress of such works is so slow that presently many residents are still affected by the nuisance of traffic noise. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the names of the roads at which such works have been completed, and the completion dates of these works;
| | (b) | of the names of the roads at which such works are in progress, and the expected completion dates of these works; and
| | (c) | whether such works will be implemented at other roads; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment
*16. Hon CHEUNG Man-kwong to ask: (Translation)
The Education Bureau provides a special grant of $300,000 per annum to each designated school which admits non-Chinese speaking students (including ethnic minority students), and the amount of grant will increase according to the number of non-Chinese speaking students. However, some non-designated schools which also admit non-Chinese speaking students have not been provided with the special grant. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the annual amount of special grant received by each designated school, the annual number of non-Chinese speaking students admitted (with a breakdown by race and grade), and the percentage of such students among all students of the school in each of the past three years;
| | (b) | of the names of non-designated schools which have admitted non-Chinese speaking students, broken down respectively by the intake of such students (less than 10, 10 to 19, 20 to 29 and 30 or above) and the percentage of such students among all students of the school;
| | (c) | whether it has provided additional resources and manpower to non-designated schools, so as to facilitate the counselling of such students and enhance the efficacy of teaching in Chinese;
| | (d) | as section 49 of the Race Discrimination Ordinance (Cap 602) stipulates that if special measures that are reasonably intended to ensure that persons of a particular racial group have equal opportunities with other persons or to meet their special needs, then such measures shall not be rendered unlawful, whether the authorities concerned have assessed if the provision of special grant only to designated schools is against the spirit of that section; and
| | (e) | whether it will consider providing reasonable resources to schools according to the number of non-Chinese speaking students enrolled, e.g. providing additional teachers to non-designated schools with an intake of 10 or more non-Chinese speaking students, so as to help such students to integrate into mainstream schools and enable them to learn subjects taught in Chinese more effectively?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education
*17. Hon Starry LEE to ask: (Translation)
Will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the respective numbers, according to the Buildings Department's information, of dangerous and abandoned signboards in each District Council ("DC") district at present;
| | (b) | in respect of each DC district, of the respective numbers of signboards inspected, removal orders issued, prosecutions instituted and signboards removed by the authorities since January this year; the average and longest time taken between inspection and removal of the signboards; the expenditure involved in the removal operations and the total amount recovered by the authorities from the signboard owners or landlords concerned;
| | (c) | how the figures in (b) compare with those of last year;
| | (d) | for cases in which the signboards are potentially dangerous but the owners or landlords concerned cannot be contacted, whether an approach of "remove first and investigate later" will be adopted for safety's sake; and
| | (e) | given that the financial tsunami has led to an increase in unemployment, whether the authorities will allocate more resources to remove dangerous and abandoned signboards, thereby creating employment opportunities and ensuring public safety; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Development
*18. Hon CHAN Hak-kan to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that under the impact of global financial tsunami, quite a number of people who used to go to private medical institutions for treatment have turned to public medical institutions due to deteriorating financial situation, which will aggravate the imbalance in demand between the public and private medical services. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:
| (a) | it knows the overall monthly occupancy rates of beds in public hospitals since September last year, and whether the occupancy rates of beds for September and October this year have risen when compared to those of the corresponding period last year;
| | (b) | it knows the overall occupancy rate of beds in public hospitals forecast for next year; and
| | (c) | it has any plan to allocate additional resources to cope with the shift in demand for services from the private medical sector to the public medical institutions; if so, of the details of the plan and the relevant amount of additional funds; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health
*19. Hon CHEUNG Hok-ming to ask: (Translation)
The report of a recent study points out that as the number of arbitration cases handled in Hong Kong has been on the rise in recent years, coupled with the availability of professionals in this area, Hong Kong possesses the conditions for developing into an international arbitration centre. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:
| (a) | it will consider financing the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre to set up a database on arbitration cases in Hong Kong, in collaboration with local tertiary institutions, so as to assist new entrants to the profession or those currently enrolled in the related programmes in expeditiously familiarizing themselves with the procedures and the actual process of local arbitration; and
| | (b) | it will explore adopting appropriate measures for facilitating the trade to open up the Mainland and overseas markets for arbitration business?
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Public Officer to reply : The Secretary for Justice
*20. Hon James TO to ask: (Translation)
The Government commissioned a consultancy review on the administration of Internet domain names in Hong Kong in 2006, and conducted a public consultation exercise on the review results and reform proposals in 2007. At its extraordinary general meeting held in August 2008, the Hong Kong Internet Registration Corporation Limited ("HKIRC") adopted the Government's reform proposals, including restructuring the Board of HKIRC by changing its composition of 13 non-executive, part-time directors (including 12 directors elected by members of the company and one government-appointed director) to four Government-appointed directors and four directors elected by members of the company, and introducing a Nominations Committee with participation from the industry to oversee the appointment process for directors. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | why the Government has not reported again to this Council after mentioning the progress of the above work in reply to a question raised by a Member of this Council on 25 June 2008;
| | (b) | given that the Government Chief Information Officer wrote a newspaper article on 22 November 2008 saying that "Internet domain names are public resources and the top level domains of various regions are administered or supervised by the governments concerned. Hong Kong is of no exception", but the report of the above consultancy review and government papers have indicated that Internet domain names in most countries in the world are presently administered by non-profit-making organizations composed of members from the industry with limited participation of the governments concerned, how the situation in Hong Kong differs from that in those countries which causes the Government to consider it necessary to introduce more Government-appointed representatives to the Board of HKIRC;
| | (c) | given that I have learnt that over 90% of the current members of HKIRC are service users, but the percentage of directors representing such members on its Board has dropped from 46% (six in 13 directors) to 16% (two in eight directors), whether the Government has assessed if this situation will give rise to any problem;
| | (d) | of the details of the above Nominations Committee, and whether the Government has assessed if the operation of the mechanism is transparent;
| | (e) | whether the Government attended in the past three years any meeting of the Governmental Advisory Committee of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, which is the global organization for the administration of domain names; if not, why it is necessary to increase the number of directors appointed by the Government on the Board of HKIRC so as to increase the Government's participation, and whether the Government will take the initiative to liaise with relevant international organizations to explain the reform; and
| | (f) | given that there have been comments claiming that the restructuring of the Board of HKIRC will have an impact on the freedom of speech (e.g. the Government may restrict the registration of politically sensitive domain names through the directors appointed by it), what measures the Government has put in place to dispel the doubts of the public in this regard?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development
*For written reply.
III. Motions
| 1. | Proposed resolution under the Criminal Procedure Ordinance
The Chief Secretary for Administration to move the following motion:
RESOLVED that the Criminal Procedure (Witnesses' Allowances) (Amendment) Rules 2008, made by the Criminal Procedure Rules Committee on 27 October 2008, be approved.
| | (The Criminal Procedure (Witnesses' Allowances) (Amendment)
Rules 2008 were issued on 11 November 2008
under LC Paper No. CB(3) 131/08-09)
| | 2. | Proposed resolution under the Coroners Ordinance
The Chief Secretary for Administration to move the following motion:
RESOLVED that the Coroners (Witnesses' Allowances) (Amendment) Rules 2008, made by the Chief Justice on 22 October 2008, be approved.
| | (The Coroners (Witnesses' Allowances) (Amendment) Rules 2008
were issued on 11 November 2008
under LC Paper No. CB(3) 131/08-09)
|
IV. Members' Motions
- Alleviating the disparity between the rich and the poor and assisting the grassroots in facing up to economic adversities
Hon Frederick FUNG: (Translation)
That, as the growth in Gross Domestic Product for the third quarter has slackened to 1.7%, the effects of the financial tsunami have gradually surfaced, the risk of the economy entering into recession has substantially increased, layoffs and pay cuts take place one after another, the unemployment rate has rebounded but there is no notable downward adjustment in the prices of goods, causing people's livelihood to become more difficult; moreover, a latest report of the United Nations points out that Hong Kong ranks first among all Asian cities in the disparity between the rich and the poor, with the Gini Coefficient which reflects the inequality of income distribution rising to a record high of 0.533, indicating that the disparity between the rich and the poor is increasingly serious, this Council therefore urges the Government to re-establish the Commission on Poverty to explore and recommend focused measures to assist the grassroots in facing up to economic adversities and to formulate comprehensive and long-term policies to effectively allocate community resources and narrow the gap between the rich and the poor, thereby protecting the basic livelihood of the grassroots and promoting harmonious social development.
Amendments to the motion
| | (i) | Hon TAM Yiu-chung: (Translation)
To delete ", as the growth in Gross Domestic Product for the third quarter has slackened to 1.7%," after "That"; to add "on the world" after "the effects of the financial tsunami"; to add "Hong Kong's" after "the risk of"; to delete "but there is no notable downward adjustment in the prices of goods" after "the unemployment rate has rebounded"; to delete "Hong Kong ranks first among all Asian cities in the disparity between the rich and the poor, with" after "a latest report of the United Nations points out that"; to delete "which reflects the inequality of income distribution rising" after "the Gini Coefficient" and substitute with "of Hong Kong has risen"; to add "take proactive actions to fully implement the recommendations in the Report of the Commission on Poverty released by the Financial Secretary on 14 June 2007, and when necessary," after "this Council therefore urges the Government to"; and to add "further" after "re-establish the Commission on Poverty to".
| | (ii) | Hon WONG Sing-chi: (Translation)
To delete "as the" after "That," and substitute with "being struck by the financial tsunami, Hong Kong's"; and to delete "re-establish" after "this Council therefore urges the Government to" and substitute with "adopt the following measures to alleviate the problem of disparity between the rich and the poor: (a) the Government should create new positions at the middle and low ranking levels to absorb those groups which have a more serious employment problem, such as young people and middle-aged low-skilled workers, etc; (b) expanding the Transport Support Scheme to cover the 18 districts in the territory to benefit people with low income and job-seekers; (c) encouraging Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) recipients to increase their income through employment, and assisting low-income or unemployed CSSA recipients who are employable to engage in employment and upgrade their skills in order to help them leave the CSSA net; (d) allocating funds to set up district poverty funds, and formulating focused proposals to alleviate poverty having regard to the poverty situation in various districts; and (e) expeditiously implementing all the recommendations in the Report of the Commission on Poverty, and re-establishing".
| | (iii) | Dr Hon Priscilla LEUNG: (Translation)
To delete "moreover," after "become more difficult;"; to add "; in this connection" after "increasingly serious"; to delete "therefore" after "this Council"; to add "; at the same time, focusing on the persistently high food prices, the Government should expeditiously implement short-term food assistance projects and study the further extension of their scope of implementation" after "narrow the gap between the rich and the poor"; and to add "; on the other hand, taking into account the fact that the unemployed population in Hong Kong may increase substantially, the Government should take precautionary measures to organize more training courses in collaboration with local tertiary institutions or training bodies and subsidize the unemployed to pursue continuing education to help them add value to and transform themselves, so as to soothe their emotions and restore their confidence in the future" immediately before the full stop.
| | (iv) | Hon LI Fung-ying: (Translation)
To delete "re-establish the Commission on Poverty to explore and recommend focused measures" after "this Council therefore urges the Government to" and substitute with "establish an unemployment loan fund to assist those employees who have been laid off; allocate additional resources to expedite the implementation of the recommendations in the Report of the Commission on Poverty; and suspend the collection of provisional tax, so as".
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Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Labour and Welfare
- Formulating new policies on public and public housing estate markets
Hon Tommy CHEUNG: (Translation)
That, as the Administration's approach in planning and managing public and public housing estate markets is very outdated, hence all along it is unable to boost customer flows effectively, and has even resulted in serious vacancy situation in some public and public housing estate markets, this Council urges the Administration to immediately formulate policies on public and public housing estate markets which meet the needs of a modern society, and particularly in view of the recent economic downturn and the worsening trend of the unemployment rate, it is necessary for the Administration to expeditiously enhance the competitiveness of public and public housing estate markets, and assist small traders in these markets in countering monopolization by supermarkets, so as to benefit the grassroots; the measures include:
| (a) | actively allocating resources to improve the business environment of markets, such as installing additional air-conditioning systems and escalators, thereby boosting customer flows to bring about long-term return;
| | (b) | analyzing in depth, from a market perspective, the needs of the districts to which the markets belong, and planning afresh the sizes, types of commodities sold, layout of stalls and ancillary measures of individual markets;
| | (c) | adopting proactive letting policies, such as offering short-term rent concessions to improve the situation of low occupancy and striving to assist traders in the markets in introducing new types of commodities or services, so as to inject new elements into the markets and bring into play their characteristics of trade mix; and
| | (d) | appropriately relaxing the tenancy conditions of market stalls so as to facilitate business operations as far as possible and enable traders to provide unique value-added services, thereby enhancing the attractiveness of the markets.
| Amendments to the motion
| | (i) | Hon Fred LI: (Translation)
To delete ", as" after "That" and substitute with "public markets perform the major function of supplying daily necessities to the public, yet"; to add "prior to the building of new public markets in the future, having to take into account the factor of whether the lack of public markets in the districts concerned may lead to monopolization by supermarkets; (b)" after "(a)"; to delete "thereby" after "escalators," and substitute with "improving the drainage design, etc, thereby facilitating the business operation of stall tenants and"; to delete the original "(b)" and substitute with "(c)"; to delete "," after "the sizes" and substitute with "of individual markets and installs, and"; to delete the original "(c)" and substitute with "(d)"; and to delete the original "(d)" and substitute with "(e)".
| | (ii) | Hon WONG Yung-kan: (Translation)
To delete ", as" after "That" and substitute with "public and public housing estate markets are facing keen competition from supermarkets, and"; to add "and improving the hygiene condition of markets," after "escalators,"; to delete "and" after "trade mix;"; and to add "; and (e) during times of economic downturn, reducing the rents of public and public housing estate markets by half for a period of one year, so as to relieve the operating difficulties of small traders" immediately before the full stop.
| | (iii) | Hon Alan LEONG: (Translation)
To delete "as" after "That," and substitute with "in the face of the impact of the financial tsunami, the business environment of small shop operators has become unfavourable, yet"; to delete "and" after "trade mix;"; and to add "; (e) according priority to small shop operators who are affected by the rent increases of The Link Management Limited and are unable to continue their business to rent public and public housing estate markets at concessionary rent; and (f) developing public and public housing estate markets into markets for organic agricultural produce, thereby providing room for the marketing of organic farm products" immediately before the full stop.
| | (iv) | Hon WONG Kwok-hing: (Translation)
To delete ", as" after "That" and substitute with "Hong Kong is facing the impact of the once-in-a-century financial tsunami, yet"; to add "policy and" after "the Administration's"; to delete "is" after "managing public and public housing estate markets" and substitute with "are"; to add "and have given rise to the situation of 'one market, two rent levels' in such markets," after "outdated,"; to delete "it is" after "along" and substitute with "they are"; to add "effectively" after "unable to"; to delete "effectively" after "boost customer flows" and substitute with "and attract traders to operate there"; to add "conduct a comprehensive review to" after "immediately"; to add "before the validity period of rental freeze for the markets under the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department expires on 30 June 2009, actively studying a package of feasible measures to reduce market rents across the board and improve their operation, so as to alleviate the burden of the public; (b) focusing on the unreasonable rental situation of 'one market, two rent levels' which presently exists in the markets concerned, studying the reduction of the rents of those tenants who pay higher rents as a remedy, so as to promote fair operation in the markets, thereby resolving the vicious cycle of vacant stalls not being able to be leased out over a long period of time because of discrepancy in rent levels, and even if the stalls are leased out for some time, the tenants would eventually have to close their business due to their inability to afford the unreasonably large discrepancy in rent levels; (c) monitoring the management of public housing estate markets (sold or unsold) by subcontractors and the determination of rents for such markets; (d)" after "(a)"; to add "and hygiene condition" after "the business environment"; to add "providing child care services at vacant stalls, centralizing the collection of sewage from the stalls to prevent its flow onto the ground and assisting in the installation of Octopus card system at the stalls," after "escalators,"; to delete the original "(b)" and substitute with "(e)"; to delete ";" after "individual markets" and substitute with ", and introducing courses into the courses for the market vending industry under the Skills Upgrading Scheme to enhance the sales techniques and competitiveness of stall operators who operate in a mode of family-based operation; (f) introducing the concept of environment-friendly markets, standardizing the use of degradable plastic bags and collecting food waste for environmental recycling;"; to delete the original "(c)" and substitute with "(g)"; and to delete the original "(d)" and substitute with "(h)".
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Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Food and Health
Clerk to the Legislative Council
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