A 08/09-19

Legislative Council

Agenda

Wednesday 25 February 2009 at 11:00 am

I. Tabling of Papers

1.	No. 67	-	Education Scholarships Fund Audited Statement of Accounts together with the Auditor's Report and Trustee's Report on Administration of the Fund for the year ended 31 August 2008
(to be presented by the Secretary for Education)
2.	No. 68	-	Estimates for the year ending 31 March 2010 Volume IA - General Revenue Account Volume IB - General Revenue Account
(to be presented by the Financial Secretary)
3.	No. 69	-	Estimates for the year ending 31 March 2010 Volume II - Fund Accounts
(to be presented by the Financial Secretary)

II. Questions for Written Replies

1. Hon Mrs Regina IP to ask: (Translation)

Since 1997, the Central Government, various provinces, cities, autonomous regions and municipalities on the Mainland have presented a number of reunification and anniversary gifts with native characteristics to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the current maintenance condition of such gifts and whether they are separately or centrally kept;
(b)	of the storage place, the degree of damage and whether it is publicly displayed at present, in respect of each gift; and
(c)	given that the Government plans to develop a cultural institution with museum functions entitled M+ in the West Kowloon Cultural District, whether it will consider handing over all the aforesaid gifts to M+ for management, and setting up an exhibition gallery for commemorating Hong Kong's reunification with China to centrally display such gifts for public appreciation; if it will not, of the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : The Chief Secretary for Administration

2. Hon WONG Yuk-man to ask: (Translation)

At present, adults enrolled in approved continuing education and training courses may apply for subsidies from the Continuing Education Fund ("CEF"). Each applicant may only obtain such subsidy once in a lifetime, with the amount capped at 80% of the course fees or HK$10,000, whichever is the less. It is noted that master degree and postgraduate diploma courses, the fees of which (especially the self-financed ones) are very high, are not included in the list of approved courses. As a result, many of those who aspired to pursue further studies have given up the idea. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	whether it will increase the maximum amount of subsidy receivable by each applicant and extend the scope of CEF to cover higher education courses;
(b)	what mechanism is in place to monitor the quality of the approved courses; and
(c)	what mechanism is in place to safeguard CEF against deception by unscrupulous people?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Labour and Welfare

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

At present, the two major units providing outreaching sex education in schools are the Adolescent Health Programme under the Department of Health, and the Family Planning Association of Hong Kong ("HKFPA"). However, I have learnt that, due to resource constraints, they cannot provide such services in languages other than Chinese, and non-Chinese speaking students are therefore unable to benefit from the services. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:

(a)	it has assessed if the above situation constitutes a breach of the provisions in the Race Discrimination Ordinance (Cap. 602); and
(b)	it has any plan to provide outreaching sex education for non-Chinese speaking students (including allocating additional resources to HKFPA for organizing sex education seminars in English and producing more sex education resource materials in English); if so, of the details of the plan; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health

4. Hon IP Kwok-him to ask: (Translation)

After last month's meeting of the Task Force on Economic Challenges, the Chief Executive said that the Lands Department had compiled a list of vacant government sites throughout the territory which might be made available for short-term use by non-governmental organizations, and that if the sites were for use in community projects and support of District Councils and government departments had also been obtained, the sites would only be charged a nominal rent. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the information about the aforesaid vacant sites (including the location, area, and the community purposes for which the sites have been/are to be approved); and
(b)	what plans are in place to foster the effective utilization of the aforesaid vacant sites by various District Councils, so as to increase community facilities and create more employment opportunities?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Development

5. Hon WONG Yung-kan to ask: (Translation)

Regarding illegal discharge of firecrackers and fireworks, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the number of reports of illegal discharge of firecrackers or fireworks received in each of the past three years, the number of persons convicted for such acts, and the penalties imposed on them;
(b)	of the quantities of firecrackers and fireworks seized in each of the past three years, the number of persons convicted of the related offences, and the penalties imposed on them; and
(c)	whether measures are taken to curb the smuggling of firecrackers and fireworks into Hong Kong whenever the Chinese New Year is approaching; if so, of the details of measures; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs

6. Hon Paul CHAN to ask: (Translation)

I have received complaints that a particular brand of medicated oil containing chloroform (i.e. trichloromethane) may cause skin irritation or burns, or even intoxication of users, and the Canadian Government prohibits the sale of the product in that country. However, as the chloroform content of the product does not exceed 5%, the sale, supply, labelling and storage of the product are not subject to the restrictions imposed by the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance (Cap. 138) on pharmaceutical products containing substances listed in the First Schedule to the Pharmacy and Poisons Regulations. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:

(a)	it had received reports from the public in the past five years that symptoms of irritated or burnt skin or intoxication appeared after using pharmaceutical products containing chloroform; if so, of a breakdown of such cases by the name of the products involved, their chloroform content and the age group of the members of public affected;
(b)	the Government had made reference to the practices in other places when setting the above statutory ceiling on chloroform content; if so, whether it knows the number of places where non-prescription pharmaceutical products containing chloroform are totally banned and list the places where non-prescription pharmaceutical products containing chloroform are allowed according to the statutory ceiling on chloroform content prescribed; and
(c)	it had reviewed the above statutory ceiling on chloroform content in the past five years; if it had, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health

7. Hon Albert HO to ask: (Translation)

Regarding the regulation of developments in country parks and marine parks, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	as it has been reported that in recent months, some people have felled trees in Tai Lam Country Park on the pretext of agricultural land rehabilitation, and the area of the land involved (part of it being Government land) is close to 20 000 square metres, whether the authorities have followed up the case; if so, of the details (including whether prosecution has been instituted against any person);
(b)	of the number of complaints received by the authorities about illegal felling of trees in country parks and marine parks, the area of land damaged, the respective numbers of persons who were prosecuted and convicted, as well as the penalties imposed on those convicted, in the past three years;
(c)	in respect of each country park and marine park, of the total area of private lands and the area of such lands being covered by development permission area plans/outline zoning plans made under the Town Planning Ordinance (Cap. 131);
(d)	whether private lands in country parks and marine areas are subject to the regulation of the Country Parks Ordinance (Cap. 208) ("CPO") and Marine Parks Ordinance (Cap. 476) ("MPO"); if not, of the existing ordinances which govern the change of the use of such lands;
(e)	of the number of complaints about illegal change of the use of land within country parks and marine areas received by the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department in the past five years; among such complaints, the number of those involving unlawful acts, as well as the respective numbers of those in which the persons concerned were prosecuted and convicted;
(f)	whether, in the past decade, the Director of Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation, as the Country and Marine Parks Authority ("the Authority"), had requested under section 16 of CPO the Director of Lands, as the Land Authority, to exercise the powers conferred by that section to have any use or proposed use of any land within the precincts of a country park that would substantially reduce the enjoyment and amenities of the country park discontinued; if so, of the details of each case;
(g)	of the number of new private development projects within marine parks approved in the past five years by the Authority in writing under section 10 of MPO, together with the nature of such projects; and
(h)	whether, in the past five years, the Government had assessed if the existing CPO and MPO were effective in protecting the ecology of the lands concerned; if so, of the assessment results?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment

8. Hon LEUNG Yiu-chung to ask: (Translation)

The Government released in 2007 two television announcements in the public interest ("APIs") on the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance Scheme ("CSSA Scheme"), entitled "Welfare cheats are liable to prosecution" and "Strive to move from welfare to self-reliance" respectively. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the date on which each API was first broadcast, and whether they are still broadcast at present; if they are not, of the dates on which they went off the air; if they are, whether there is any plan to discontinue their broadcast;
(b)	of the respective numbers of times each API has been broadcast on various types of media so far, with a breakdown by the different hours of a day;
(c)	of the production cost of each API;
(d)	whether it has assessed the effectiveness of the APIs and received any comments on them; if it has conducted such an assessment and received such comments, of the details; and
(e)	whether it has any plan to produce new APIs on the CSSA Scheme; if so, of the details?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Labour and Welfare

9. Hon Paul TSE to ask: (Translation)

It is learnt that the financial tsunami has dealt a severe blow to the tourism industry. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it will:

(a)	consider waiving the travel agents' licence fee this year;
(b)	immediately review the existing mechanism under which travel agents shall pay levies to the Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong upon receipt of outbound tour fares from travellers, and consider lowering the rate of levy; and
(c)	in view of the huge reserve of the Travel Industry Compensation Fund at present, suspend the collection of levies from travel agents in respect of the Fund, and extend the coverage of the Fund to cover those travellers who purchase only air tickets from travel agents, so that travellers will use the service with ease?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development

10. Hon WONG Sing-chi to ask: (Translation)

Recently, a sex crime occurred in a small group home ("SGH") operated by a non-governmental organization ("NGO") which involved a 15-year-old girl being alleged of having indecently assaulted a 10-year-old boy staying at the same institution. Regarding the monitoring of the operation of such institutions by the Social Welfare Department ("SWD"), will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the number of reports received by the authorities in the past three years of crimes in SGHs, broken down by the type of offence involved as well as the gender and age group of the children involved;
(b)	of the average ratio of boys to girls as well as the average staff-to-child ratio in various SGHs at present;
(c)	whether each SGH must have a resident social worker; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
(d)	whether NGOs operating SGHs are required to draw up guidelines on regulating the behaviour of children staying at such institutions; if so, how SWD monitors the implementation of such guidelines; if not, of the reasons for that; and
(e)	whether SWD has deployed staff to regularly inspect various SGHs; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Labour and Welfare

11. Hon KAM Nai-wai to ask: (Translation)

Since 1972, the Government has implemented an administrative moratorium ("the Moratorium") to restrict building developments in Mid-Levels to ease traffic congestion. On the other hand, a property developer plans to merge three sites on Seymour Road, Castle Road, and Castle Steps of Mid-Levels West for developing a residential skyscraper. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the latest situation of implementing the Moratorium in the vicinity of Seymour Road;
(b)	given that the Office of The Ombudsman had pointed out in its direct investigation report published in September 2006 that the government departments concerned had not effectively implemented the Moratorium and suggested that if the need for the continuation of the Moratorium was established, the authorities "should give clear guidelines to the bureaux and departments concerned for proper implementation and close cooperation in coordination", whether the Government has formulated such guidelines as suggested; if so, of the application of the guidelines in the vicinity of Seymour Road; and
(c)	given that the completion of the above skyscraper may increase the traffic load at Mid-Levels, affect the view of nearby buildings and heighten the residential density of the area, whether the Government has formulated remedial measures and how it ensures the full implementation of the Moratorium in the future?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Development

12. Hon Miriam LAU to ask: (Translation)

It is learnt that as the road and railway networks have been improving gradually in recent years, and the outlying island ferry piers in Central have been moved to a more remote location, the number of passengers of outlying island ferry routes has continued to decrease. The ferry operators concerned are facing operating hardship caused by a persistent decrease in fare box revenue and a continuing increase in operating expenses. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the respective patronage of various outlying island ferry routes in the past five years;
(b)	given that the existing and proposed connecting transport facilities and pedestrian linking facilities around the ferry piers in Central are quite far away from the outlying island ferry piers, whether the Government will extend these facilities to Central Pier No. 1 or introduce new measures, so as to assist the ferry operators concerned in alleviating the problem of the decline in patronage as a result of the ferry piers being remotely located;
(c)	given that the authorities have proposed in the Urban Design Study for the New Central Harbourfront to include Central Piers No. 4 to 6 as part of the comprehensive development area, refurbish Pier No.7 and reconstruct Pier No. 8, why the Government has not considered the option of a comprehensive development of Central Piers No. 1 to 10 under the same concept; and
(d)	apart from implementing the proposals in the Urban Design Study for the New Central Harbourfront (including the addition of a floor at Central Piers No. 4 to 6 for use by the ferry operators concerned for commercial or retail purposes), what new measures the Government has put in place to assist the ferry operators concerned in increasing non-fare box revenue, so as to subsidize their ferry operations for the sustainable development of the ferry services (e.g. whether it will enhance the revitalization of the areas around the outlying island ferry piers in Central, and set up open air cafes or holiday art markets to make the areas a new landmark, so as to increase the pedestrian flows to the ferry piers)?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport and Housing

13. Hon Audrey EU to ask: (Translation)

It has been reported that since the onset of the financial tsunami, the quantities of used clothing collected by non-profit-making organizations and recyclers have decreased substantially when compared with those in the past. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	whether it knows the total quantities of used clothing collected last year, and a breakdown by the type of clothing (i.e. men's clothing, women's clothing and children's clothing); if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
(b)	of the measures it adopted last year for encouraging participation by the public in used clothing collection activities; and
(c)	whether it has studied the introduction of new measures to encourage more non-profit-making organizations to participate in the used clothing collection work, so as to create more employment opportunities?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment

14. Hon CHEUNG Kwok-che to ask: (Translation)

Regarding the occupational retirement schemes ("ORSs") joined by staff of non-governmental organizations ("NGOs") under the Social Welfare Department, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:

(a)	the respective current numbers of NGO staff who are members of registered schemes and exempted schemes under the Occupational Retirement Schemes Ordinance (Cap. 426) and, among them, the respective numbers of staff who will reach the specified normal retirement age in the coming 12 months;
(b)	the number of ORSs which give their members the option to keep the balances in the schemes upon their retirement and to withdraw benefits at any time; and the total number of members of such schemes; and
(c)	the number of ORSs which stipulate that the trustee shall pay the full amount of the balances to the member concerned on the date of his retirement, and the total number of members of such schemes; given that the financial tsunami has caused huge losses to many retirement schemes, whether the Government will require or encourage NGOs or trustees to provide ways by which retiring staff can have the flexibility mentioned in (b) above?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury

15. Hon Starry LEE to ask: (Translation)

Under the existing Deposit Protection Scheme ("DPS"), in case of failure of a member bank, each affected depositor is entitled to compensation up to a maximum of HK$100,000. On 14 October last year, the Government announced that following the principles of DPS, all customer deposits held in authorized institutions in Hong Kong would be fully guaranteed ("full guarantee measure") with immediate effect until the end of 2010. However, it has been reported that when opening an integrated account for customers, some banks will provide "secured overdraft facility" for such account even though the customers have not requested for it. As such, deposits in the account will be treated as security, regardless of whether the customer has used the facility. According to the principles of DPS, deposits held as security are not protected by DPS and the full guarantee measure. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:

(a)	the types of bank accounts which are not protected by DPS and the full guarantee measure;
(b)	which banks provide integrated account service at present; the total number of such accounts and, among them, the respective numbers of those with overdraft facility and secured overdraft facility, as well as the respective total amounts of deposits in such accounts; and
(c)	since the implementation of the full guarantee measure, what measures various banks have taken to ensure that customers of integrated account with "secured overdraft facility" understand that their deposits are not protected by DPS and the full guarantee measure, as well as the respective numbers of enquiries and requests for cancellation of overdraft facility received by the banks?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury

16. Dr Hon Joseph LEE to ask: (Translation)

Regarding the Student Health Service implemented by the Department of Health ("DH"), will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the number of health education talks organized for secondary and primary schools by the Student Health Service Centres ("SHSCs") under DH in each of the past three years, and the numbers of participating schools and students each year;
(b)	of the numbers and percentages of secondary and primary school students who received services provided by SHSCs in each of the past three years;
(c)	why the Junior Health Pioneer Workshops organized by DH only targets Primary 3 students who have joined the Student Health Service, instead of all primary school students;
(d)	of the numbers of talks and activities organized under the Adolescent Health Programme implemented by DH in each of the past three years, and the numbers and percentages of participating schools and students each year; and
(e)	whether talks on health promotion had been organized at the district level for secondary and primary schools as well as pre-primary institutions in the past three years; if so, of the number of talks organized each year and the number of participants; if not, whether it will consider organizing such talks; if not, of the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health

17. Hon CHAN Hak-kan to ask: (Translation)

The vehicular traffic flow on the Shatin to Cheung Sha Wan section of Route 8 has been low since its commissioning on 21 March last year. Moreover, there are still neither franchised bus nor public light bus ("PLB") routes passing through that road section at present. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the respective average daily vehicular traffic flow of Lion Rock Tunnel, Shing Mun Tunnel, and Tate's Cairn Tunnel each month since the commissioning of the aforesaid road section and their trends; whether the commissioning of the aforesaid road section has the effect of diverting traffic;
(b)	of the projected increase in the average daily vehicular traffic flow on the aforesaid road section after the commissioning of the entire Route 8;
(c)	whether it will consider lowering the tolls for the aforesaid road section, so as to attract more motorists to use that road section;
(d)	whether it will discuss with franchised bus companies and green minibus operators the arrangement for certain existing bus and PLB routes to pass through the aforesaid road section; if so, of the routes involved, and whether it will request the franchised bus companies to offer bus-bus interchange concessions to the passengers concerned; if not, the reasons for that; and
(e)	whether it knows if the franchised bus companies and green minibus operators have plans to introduce new bus and PLB routes destined for West Kowloon and the Central and Western District respectively, which pass through the aforesaid road section?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport and Housing

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

On the 11th of this month, a fatal traffic accident occurred on an inclined section of Lam Kam Road near Ling Wan Monastery, arousing concern about the road safety of that road section. On the other hand, people and residents from the district have told me that the Highways Department ("HyD") plans to defer by one year the works to upgrade the remaining sections of Lam Kam Road, which have originally been scheduled to commence at the end of 2010. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the number of traffic accidents which occurred on Lam Kam Road and the resultant casualties in each of the past three years;
(b)	why HyD plans to defer the commencement of the upgrading works, the updated implementation timetable and estimated expenditure of the works, as well as what measures it will take to reduce traffic accidents before the works are completed; and
(c)	whether it will actively consider expediting commencement of the works, so as to improve the road safety of the road section concerned; if it will not, of the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport and Housing

19. Hon Frederick FUNG to ask: (Translation)

At the Question and Answer Session of this Council on 15 January this year, the Chief Executive stated that, in order to address the impact of the financial tsunami, every responsible government would re-examine the priority for policies currently in sight and defer dealing with those policies which were neither urgent nor related to countering the financial tsunami. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)

as the Legislative Programme submitted to this Council by the Government last October indicated that the Government intended to introduce 27 bills into this Council in the current legislative session, and four of the bills have been introduced so far, whether the Government will introduce the remaining bills into this Council within the current legislative session as scheduled; if not, whether it is due to the above reason; and

(b)

of the "policies in sight" originally scheduled for implementation this and next year, and the original implementation timetable; apart from the public consultation on constitutional development, of the other policy proposals the implementation of which will be deferred after re-examination, and the justifications for the deferral?

Public Officer to reply : The Chief Secretary for Administration

20. Hon James TO to ask: (Translation)

Regarding enhancement of efficiency in utilization of roads, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	given that in her reply to a question raised by a Member of this Council on 21 November 2007, the Secretary for Transport and Housing advised that the two key services (i.e. the Intelligent Road Network and the Public Transport Information Service), to be provided by the Transport Information System under development by the Transport Department ("TD"), were expected to be available to the public in phases starting from the latter half of last year, why such services have not yet been launched, and when the services are expected to be launched;
(b)	given that TD had advised on 18 January 2007 that the works to install six sets of journey time indicators in advance of the critical traffic divergent points at the approach roads on Kowloon to the road-harbour crossings were expected to be completed in the middle of this year, of the current progress of the works; whether it will make the indicators available for use in phases based on the progress of the works;
(c)	given that the Transport and Housing Bureau had advised in April last year that it would conduct a comprehensive traffic study for West Kowloon (including making recommendations on the road network for the district), and the first phase of the study would be completed in December last year, why the results of the study have not yet been announced, and when they are expected to be announced; and
(d)	whether it had conducted studies or had drawn up plans in relation to the development of an intelligent transport system last year; if so, of the details?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport and Housing

III. Bills

First Reading

Appropriation Bill 2009

Second Reading (Debate to be adjourned)

Appropriation Bill 2009 : The Financial Secretary

Clerk to the Legislative Council