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A 08/09-30
Legislative Council
Agenda
Wednesday 27 May 2009 at 11:00 am
I. Tabling of Papers
| Subsidiary Legislation / Instruments | L.N. No.
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| 1. | Air Pollution Control (Volatile Organic Compounds) (Amendment) Regulation 2009 | 107/2009
| | 2. | Prevention and Control of Disease Ordinance (Amendment of Schedule 2) Notice 2009 | 108/2009
| | 3. | Fixed Penalty (Smoking Offences) Ordinance (Commencement) Notice | 109/2009
| | 4. | Fixed Penalty (Smoking Offences) Regulation (Commencement) Notice | 110/2009
| | 5. | Fixed Penalty (Smoking Offences) (Specification of Authorities and Public Officers) Notice (Commencement) Notice | 111/2009
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Other Papers
| 1. | No. 94 | - | Report by the Trustee of the Correctional Services Children's Education Trust for the period from 1st September 2007 to 31st August 2008
| (to be presented by the Secretary for Security)
| | 2. | No. 95 | - | Broadcasting Authority Annual Report 2007-2008
| (to be presented by the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development)
| | 3. | No. 96 | - | Report of changes to the approved Estimates of Expenditure approved during the fourth quarter of 2008-09 Public Finance Ordinance: Section 8
| | (to be presented by the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury)
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II. Questions
1. Hon WONG Ting-kwong to ask: (Translation)
Earlier, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council ("TDC") organized more than 250 companies of Hong Kong brands to participate in Hong Kong Consumer Products Expo, held for the first time in Guangzhou. There were more than 30 000 visitors on the first day of the event, which reflected the immense appeal of Hong Kong brands to mainland residents. Some members of the business sector have pointed out that with increasingly frequent exchanges between Hong Kong and the Mainland, it is now an opportune time for Hong Kong brands to develop the mainland market. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether it knows the number of trade fairs organized by TDC on the Mainland in each of the past three years to promote Hong Kong brands, the cities in which such fairs were held, and the major categories of the products being promoted; whether the effectiveness of such fairs has been assessed; if such an assessment has been made, of the outcome; if not, the reasons for that;
| | (b) | whether it knows if TDC has any plan to organize similar fairs in various mainland cities in the next two years; if TDC has such a plan, of the details; and
| | (c) | whether the Government has enhanced discussions with the relevant mainland authorities on specific policies, so as to proactively assist Hong Kong products in developing the mainland market?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development
2. Hon Miriam LAU to ask: (Translation)
Under section 39 of the Road Traffic Ordinance, a person who drives a motor vehicle while he is under the influence of drink or drugs to such an extent as to be incapable of having proper control of the motor vehicle commits an offence. While the law, as far as drink driving offence is concerned, has now set out clearly the upper limit on alcohol concentration and the arrangements for conducting screening breath tests etc., no relevant standards and arrangements are provided in the law in respect of drug driving offence. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the number of traffic accidents caused by drug driving and the resultant casualties, as well as the number of cases of motorists being convicted of drug driving, in each of the past five years; the penalties imposed on them by the court and the types of drugs involved;
| | (b) | how law enforcement officers currently detect whether a motorist is driving under the influence of drugs, and how they prove such an offence; and
| | (c) | whether it knows how overseas countries regulate drug driving behaviours; if it knows, of the details?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport and Housing
3. Hon CHEUNG Man-kwong to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that the Pre-primary Education Voucher Scheme ("the Scheme") implemented by the Education Bureau since the 2007-2008 school year has many problems, which include: the abolition of paying kindergarten teachers according to the Recommended Normative Salary Scale has deprived kindergarten teachers of remuneration protection and dealt a heavy blow to their morale; the self-evaluation and quality review ("SQR") required of kindergartens, as well as the trivial and tedious administrative work of the Scheme, have greatly increased the work pressure of kindergarten teachers; using the number of pupils as the basis for calculating the amount of subsidies provided under the Scheme to kindergartens, regardless of whether they are whole-day or half-day, is unfair to whole-day kindergartens; the introduction of a ceiling on fee remission which is fixed for five years renders many low-income families having to pay more school fees than the amount payable before the Scheme was implemented. The pre-primary education sector and parents have relayed to me their strong dissatisfaction with the Scheme. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether it will follow the practice of the Macao Government and provide qualification subsidies to kindergarten teachers immediately, to give basic respect for their qualifications;
| | (b) | whether it will comprehensively review kindergarten teachers' work pressure and introduce measures (including reviewing SQR, streamlining the administrative work of the Scheme, as well as making available free periods to kindergarten teachers through improving the staffing ratio) with a view to alleviating kindergarten teachers' overall work pressure; and
| | (c) | when it will review the ceiling on fee remission and the problem of not distinguishing between whole-day kindergartens and half-day kindergartens in the calculation of the amount of subsidies provided under the Scheme, whether it will thoroughly consult the early childhood education bodies, and what the timetable for implementing the relevant improvement measures is?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education
4. Hon WONG Sing-chi to ask: (Translation)
Recently, a woman suspected to have a mental illness seizure was alleged to have killed her mother at home. In October last year, a mentally ill woman killed herself after killing her son and daughter. Although the mental patient in the latter case had been assessed to be of high risk by social workers, psychologists and occupational therapists, the attending doctor permitted the patient to be discharged without notifying the medical social worker concerned, which eventually led to the tragedy. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether it knows the current number of mental patients and, among them, the number of hospitalized patients; of the average cumulative duration of hospitalization of each patient (in terms of months); the respective current numbers of doctors, social workers, psychologists and occupational therapists in public medical institutions who provide services for mental patients; and the number of mental patients in the past five years who had killed themselves or committed the offences of inflicting harm on other people, murder or manslaughter within one year from discharge from hospital;
| | (b) | how the systems which respectively provide psychiatric treatment and social rehabilitation service coordinate with each other in making arrangements for mental patients about to be discharged, including the procedures involved, the criteria for determining whether the patients may be discharged, as well as the communication on the provision of the follow-up services needed by the patients; and how many mental patients who had been assessed to be of high risk were discharged from hospital in the past five years; and
| | (c) | given that in reply to a question raised by a Member of this Council on 4 February this year, the authorities advised that during the period from 2001-2002 to 2008-2009, the Government provided additional funding to the Hospital Authority and the Social Welfare Department to support a number of initiatives to improve the treatment and rehabilitation services for mental patients, of the relevant details and the number of personnel deployed to undertake the follow-up work; and the latest progress in the implementation of the policy decisions on the rehabilitation services for ex-mentally ill persons set out in the White Paper on Rehabilitation?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health
5. Hon WONG Kwok-hing to ask: (Translation)
It is learnt that currently there are only three suppliers supplying piped liquefied petroleum gas ("LPG") to 15 public rental housing ("PRH") estates, and the way they set the retail prices of LPG has all along been criticized to be lacking transparency. Due to insufficient market competition, the retail prices of LPG set by various suppliers and the extent of price adjustments they made are often very close to one another. Moreover, some residents of PRH estates and private housing estates have relayed to me that the retail prices of piped LPG were significantly higher than those of auto LPG, and the situation of quick-in-raising and slow-in-reducing often occurred when adjustments were made according to the import prices of LPG. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:
| (a) | it knows the average import prices and average retail prices of piped LPG and auto LPG as well as the respective percentage changes in such prices in each quarter of the past three years; and whether it has explored why the retail prices of piped LPG are significantly higher than those of auto LPG;
| | (b) | it will make reference to the arrangement of the Government signing an Information and Consultation Agreement with the Hong Kong and China Gas Company Limited, and enter into similar agreements with the piped LPG suppliers, so as to regulate the retail prices of piped LPG and enhance the transparency in price setting, in order to protect consumers' interests; and
| | (c) | the Environment Bureau will provide support to users of piped LPG to assist them in switching to using town gas; if so, of the number of cases last year of users switching to using town gas?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment
6. Hon IP Wai-ming to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that the Influenza A (H1N1) epidemic has spread to many countries and regions. As many students will return to Hong Kong for their summer vacation from countries such as the United States and Canada, where the epidemic is serious, it is anticipated that the epidemic situation in Hong Kong will deteriorate. Members of the labour sector have relayed to me that the situation will deal a blow to the tourism industry and the consumer market, and in turn aggravate the unemployment situation in Hong Kong further. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether it will employ more people to undertake anti-epidemic work (e.g. street cleaning, free household cleaning for the elderly and disabled persons in need, as well as checking whether arrivals have influenza symptoms at the airport and cross-boundary checkpoints), recruit more ward assistants, enhance medical appointment escorting service, and create temporary posts for environmental greening, community betterment and provision of tourism, leisure, and cultural and arts services; if it will, of the anticipated numbers of additional persons employed for the various jobs, as well as the respective monthly salaries of those posts; and
| | (b) | whether it will introduce new short-term training courses for the grass-roots and middle-level unemployed persons, and provide them with training allowance, so as to help them change occupation after training?
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| Public Officers to reply | : | Secretary for Labour and Welfare
Secretary for Food and Health |
*7. Hon Ronny TONG to ask: (Translation)
The Director of Audit's report on the results of value for money audits released in October 2003 pointed out that the vacancy rate of the market stalls of Luen Wo Hui Market had been on the high side since it was commissioned in July 2002. The major reason seemed to be that the market had to compete with Shek Wu Hui Market in Sheung Shui for patronage, and the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department had not conducted any viability study before the two markets were built. The aforesaid situation is similar to the complaints I received from the tenants of Luen Wo Hui Market, who indicated that despite the growth of population in the neighbouring districts, their business turnover had been decreasing instead of increasing, and the number of leased stalls had also continued to drop, hence making the business environment very difficult for them. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the relevant vacancy rates and the patronage of the two markets, set out in the table below:
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Shek Wu Hui Market |
Luen Wo Hui Market |
| Vacancy rate of market stalls |
Vacancy rate of cooked food stalls |
Average monthly patronage |
Vacancy rate of market stalls |
Vacancy rate of cooked food stalls |
Average monthly patronage |
| January 2003 to March 2004 |
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| April 2004 to March 2005 |
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| April 2005 to March 2006 |
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| April 2006 to March 2007 |
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| April 2007 to March 2008 |
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| April 2008 to March 2009 |
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| | (b) | given that the aforesaid report recommended the authorities to take remedial measures to reduce the vacancy rate of the market stalls, of the follow-up actions taken by the authorities and the effectiveness of such actions; and
| | (c) | of the authorities' specific plans to make Luen Wo Hui Market more appealing to residents in the vicinity, so as to improve the business environment for the tenants concerned?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health
*8. Hon Andrew CHENG to ask: (Translation)
I have learnt that in February 2009, the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department ("AFCD") gave an undertaking to the Animal Welfare Advisory Group that the authorities would formally implement the "trap-neuter-return" trial programme ("the trial programme") for stray dogs within this year provided that the programme had the support of the public. On the other hand, AFCD is now implementing a similar programme for wild monkeys. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | how it assesses if the public support the implementation of the trial programme;
| | (b) | which District Councils currently support the trial programme in principle, and whether it will implement the programme in the District Council districts concerned first; and
| | (c) | whether it has assessed the effectiveness of the similar programme implemented for wild monkeys; if so, of the assessment outcome; and the respective numbers of wild monkeys in each of the five years before and after the implementation of the programme concerned?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health
*9. Ir Dr Hon Raymond HO to ask: (Translation)
It is learnt that as the financial situation of the families of some of the students currently studying in overseas high schools or local international schools has deteriorated due to the financial tsunami, these students intend to abort their plan to study in overseas universities, and apply for admission to the local universities instead. However, since these students generally do not possess the qualifications required for taking the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination and the Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination, they are unable to apply for local universities through the Joint University Programmes Admissions System ("JUPAS"). In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:
| (a) | the respective numbers and percentages of JUPAS and non-JUPAS students admitted by local universities in each of the past five years;
| | (b) | given that the academic qualifications and achievements required by JUPAS and the non-JUPAS admission system are not the same, how the local universities can objectively choose between these two categories of applicants in making decisions on admitting students; and
| | (c) | whether students of local mainstream secondary schools (particularly those with examination results not meeting the JUPAS requirements) may be admitted by local universities through the non-JUPAS admission system?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education
*10. Hon LEUNG Kwok-hung to ask: (Translation)
Will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the respective quarterly median rent-to-income ratios of all public rental housing ("PRH") households and of PRH households by household size since the third quarter of 2007;
| | (b) | given that the Hong Kong Housing Authority ("HA") will conduct a review of the relevant rent next year under the Housing (Amendment) Ordinance 2007 and make adjustments to the relevant rent according to the rate of change in the income index (which reflects the level of the mean monthly household income of PRH tenants) for 2009 as compared to that for 2007, of the details of the data collected by HA for computation of the income index for 2007 (including the respective percentages of the number of PRH households with one person, two persons, three to four persons and more than four persons in the total number of PRH households); and whether HA has started collecting data for computing the income index for 2009; if so, of the data collected so far; and
| | (c) | of the respective numbers of PRH households who are currently receiving PRH rent assistance and Comprehensive Social Security Assistance, their respective percentages in the total number of PRH households, as well as the number of such households who are elderly tenants living in one-to-two-person flats?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport and Housing
*11. Hon Fred LI to ask: (Translation)
I have learnt that under the impact of wage reductions, layoffs as well as rising rents and prices, the grass-roots who are currently renting cubicles and bedspaces in private buildings as well as places in singleton hostels are in severe hardship. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the respective numbers of households and persons currently renting permanent rooms, cubicles, bedspaces and cocklofts in private buildings, together with a breakdown, by household size, of the number of such households and the average monthly rentals they are paying;
| | (b) | of the respective numbers of applicants currently on the Hong Kong Housing Authority's Waiting List for public rental housing ("PRH") who are living in the premises mentioned in (a) above, and their average waiting time for allocation of PRH flats;
| | (c) | of the current average waiting time for admission to singleton hostels set up by the Home Affairs Department, and whether there is a shortage of such hostel places; and
| | (d) | what measures are in place to ease the aforesaid difficulty of the grass-roots?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport and Housing
*12. Hon Abraham SHEK to ask:
While children and juveniles under the age of 18 are protected by the Protection of Children and Juveniles Ordinance (Cap. 213), so far there is no separate legislation protecting the welfare of elderly people. As most elderly people are financially dependent on their families, it can be expected that they have become more helpless since the onset of the financial tsunami. According to the Central Information System on Elder Abuse Cases, the number of reported abuse cases rose from 528 in 2005 to 612 in 2007 and 647 in 2008. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the number of elderly abuse cases in the past three years in which assistance had been sought, and the latest figures and details of such reported cases during the period from January to April 2009, including the gravity of the abusive acts, whether such acts have given rise to suicidal tendency among the elderly concerned, and how such cases were handled;
| | (b) | of the progress of the Pilot Neighbourhood Active Ageing Project, and whether the authorities have assessed the Project's effectiveness in curbing abuse of the elderly and promoting respect for the elderly in the community; if such an assessment has been conducted, of the outcome; and
| | (c) | whether it intends to study the enactment of legislation against elderly abuse, and consult this Council, the relevant professions and members of the community; if so, of the details, if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Labour and Welfare
*13. Hon Tanya CHAN to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that recently some members of the public had spotted rats while visiting the Hong Kong Museum of History. The rats might scare visitors and staff and also damage the collections of the museum. Regarding rodent infestation in indoor premises managed by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department ("LCSD"), will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the number and details of the reports received by LCSD of rats being spotted in the indoor premises (including libraries, museums, civic centres and indoor stadia) under its management, as well as the number and details of the reports of facilities, exhibits or other items in the premises having been damaged allegedly by rats, in each of the past three years; and
| | (b) | whether LCSD has drawn up procedure and guidelines on the cleaning and anti-rodent work in various indoor premises; if it has, of the details and whether it will conduct a review in response to the aforesaid incident; if not, whether the authorities will consider drawing up the relevant procedure and guidelines expeditiously?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs
*14. Hon Audrey EU to ask: (Translation)
Under the reorganization of the policy bureaux of the Government Secretariat on 1 July 2007, the post of Permanent Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works was upgraded from D6 to D8 on the Directorate Pay Scale and re-titled as Permanent Secretary for the Environment. The post holder continues to assume the title of the Director of Environmental Protection for the purpose of carrying out statutory functions under various pieces of environmental protection-related legislation. Regarding the concern of the staff of the Environmental Protection Officer grade that it would be difficult for them to be promoted to this post in the future and their doubts over the management of the Environmental Protection Department ("EPD") by a person who was also a Permanent Secretary, the Government undertook at the meeting of this Council on 14 June 2007 to rationalise these problems in the latter half of 2007, and to consult the management and staff representatives of EPD. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the details of the views expressed by staff representatives of EPD on the aforesaid problems during consultation; and
| | (b) | whether the aforesaid problems have been rationalised; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that, and when and how the problems will be rationalised?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment
*15. Dr Hon LAM Tai-fai to ask: (Translation)
After meeting the Premier of State Council on 18 April of this year, the Chief Executive indicated that the Central Government would implement measures to further facilitate Hong Kong enterprises engaged in processing trades on the Mainland to sell their goods on the mainland market. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region ("HKSAR Government") will take new actions, apart from the existing measures or those under study, including organizing promotional activities such as exhibitions and symposiums on the Mainland, implementing the "single tax return for multiple domestic sales" arrangement, streamlining the procedures for opening shops and certification/inspection, expediting the approval process and simplifying the tax filing arrangements, etc., to complement the aforesaid measures to be introduced by the Central Government soon;
| | (b) | whether it has specially formulated specific policy (e.g. providing tax concessions by amending the Inland Revenue Ordinance (Cap. 112) or other means) to further strengthen the competitiveness on the Mainland market of the goods produced by Hong Kong enterprises; and assist Hong Kong enterprises in upgrading and restructuring so as to meet the relevant requirements of the Mainland market; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
| | (c) | whether the HKSAR Government will consider setting up, in addition to the Economic and Trade Office of the HKSAR Government in Guangdong and the Office of the HKSAR Government in Beijing, a dedicated department to focus on providing through-train services to Hong Kong enterprises and assisting them in developing the mainland market as well as upgrading and restructuring; if it will, when the department will be set up; if not, of the reasons for that;
| | (d) | whether it will consider amending the legislation, so that the existing arrangement of assessing Hong Kong profits tax on a 50:50 basis of apportionment, which is applicable to the profits from sale of goods processed by mainland factories through "contract processing", will also apply to profits from sale of products procured from mainland factories engaged in the "import processing" trade, so as to encourage the upgrading and restructuring of Hong Kong enterprises on the Mainland; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
| | (e) | given the difference in the trademark registration and intellectual property rights protection regime between the Mainland and Hong Kong, whether the HKSAR Government will negotiate with the mainland authorities more actively, so as to expeditiously strengthen the protection of the intellectual property rights such as brands, trademarks, designs and patented technologies of Hong Kong enterprises, and implement facilitation measures (e.g. studying the feasibility of "one-registration, two-uses" for trademarks with reference to overseas practices, establishing a mutual recognition regime for trademark registration for the Mainland and Hong Kong, and giving special protection to famous trademarks and brands); 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
*16. Hon Starry LEE to ask: (Translation)
Under the threat of human swine influenza, the Government has allocated a total of $10 million to the 18 District Councils to enhance the community cleansing campaign. Also, in support of the Clean Hong Kong Day, several senior government officials went to various districts to promote the environmental hygiene message. Yet, there are comments that such actions were just superficial acts. On the other hand, after the outbreak of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome in 2003, the Government installed closed-circuit television ("CCTV") cameras at various hygiene blackspots to monitor the hygiene conditions of districts, but those cameras have been removed one after another since 2007. Early last year, the Government also stopped the release of Community Cleanliness Index ("CCI"), which was introduced in 2004 to assess on a regular basis the cleanliness level of various districts in Hong Kong, and quite a number of hygiene blackspots relapsed. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the justifications for terminating the CCTV surveillance scheme and stopping the release of CCI; whether the authorities will launch the relevant schemes again given that the hygiene conditions of some places are still poor at present;
| | (b) | whether the authorities will set priority in dealing with hygiene blackspots according to how poor their conditions are and formulate a sustainable action plan for the cleansing campaign; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
| | (c) | whether the authorities will consider cleaning regularly those rear lanes and streets with poor hygiene conditions but are privately owned; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
| | (d) | whether it will launch activities, such as territory-wide campaigns for reporting hygiene blackspots, campaigns for reporting "Lap Sap Chung" in public housing estates, cleansing competitions in housing estates and a monthly home cleansing day for Hong Kong, as sustainable civic education to raise the public concern about hygiene conditions?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health
*17. Hon Paul TSE to ask: (Translation)
In reply to my written question on 25 February of this year, the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development pointed out that the travel agents' licence fee was drawn up on the basis of the "user-pay" principle, and aimed to recover the cost of the services provided. The Secretary also undertook to study carefully the proposal to waive the travel agents' licence fee. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | what cost items are involved in the licensing services for travel agents and the relevant details; whether it has regularly reviewed if the costs are properly spent; if it has, of the details of the review; whether it had streamlined in the past three years the procedure and manpower involved in the services concerned, so as to increase the room for lowering the licence fee;
| | (b) | of the progress of the study to waive the travel agents' licence fee; when the study outcome will be available the earliest; whether the Government has viewed the situation of the substantial decrease in the number of visitors to Hong Kong due to the financial tsunami and outbreak of human swine influenza as the prime factor of consideration in conducting the study; and
| | (c) | whether it has adopted more measures to assist the tourism industry in tiding over the double blows of the financial tsunami and human swine influenza; if it has, of the details, if not, whether it will expeditiously formulate and implement the relevant measures?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development
*18. Hon Emily LAU to ask: (Translation)
A paper provided by the authorities for the meeting of the Panel on Welfare Services of this Council on 23 October 2008 indicates that the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department ("FEHD") has, since April 2004, increased the female-to-male WC compartment ratio ("F/M toilet compartment ratio") from 1.5:1 to 2:1 in planning its public toilet facilities. Furthermore, the Buildings Department promulgated a new Practice Note in 2005 advising developers to provide female toilet compartments according to the increased F/M toilet compartment ratio in designing shopping arcades, cinemas and places of public entertainment. In this connection, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council:
| (a) | of the current average F/M toilet compartment ratio of public toilets under FEHD, and the respective numbers of public toilets that have reached the 2:1 ratio and those that have not;
| | (b) | whether they know the number of female toilet compartments that have been added to existing shopping arcades, cinemas and places of public entertainment since the aforesaid Practice Note was issued; whether such figures have met the authorities' expectation; if they have, of the details; if not, how the authorities will follow up; whether they will consult various women's groups on the implementation of the Practice Note; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
| | (c) | whether they are aware that some shopping arcades have refused to let members of the public who are not their customers to use their toilets, which exacerbates the problem of shortage of female toilets; if so, of the details; and whether they will urge the shopping arcades concerned to allow the public to use their toilets; and
| | (d) | whether there is any plan to provide in busy districts additional public toilets or single toilets similar to the unisex ones provided for disabled persons at present to improve the situation that male toilets are oversupplied while female ones are insufficient; if they have, of the details; 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)
Regarding the Lands Department's processing of applications for construction of small houses, will the Government inform this Council of:
| (a) | the following details of the applications received by each district lands office in the past five financial years:
| Year |
2004-2005 |
2005-2006 |
2006-2007 |
2007-2008 |
2008-2009 |
| (a) | Number of applications received |
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| (b) | Number of processed cases in (a) |
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| (c) | Percentage of (b) in (a) |
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| (d) | Cumulative number of applications received since 2004-2005 |
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| (e) | Number of cases in (d) with small house documents executed |
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| (f) | Percentage of (e) in (d) |
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| | (b) | the number of applications the Lands Department expects to receive in each of the next five years, with a breakdown by district lands office; and
| | (c) | the respective numbers of applications currently being processed and yet to be processed by the Lands Department, as well as the respective numbers of such applications received in 2006 or before?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Development
*20. Hon KAM Nai-wai to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that several government departments will take turn to use, on a trial basis for a period of six months, an electric private car imported by a Japanese vehicle manufacturer, so as to complement the work to promote the use of electric vehicles ("EVs"). In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | how much more time, after completion of the aforesaid trial use, the Government expects it will need to complete the relevant review and use EVs extensively;
| | (b) | whether it has discussed with major developers the installation of charging facilities for EVs in the car parks within their properties, and whether it has started a study on the installation of roadside charging facilities; if so, of the details;
| | (c) | of the Government's estimated increase in electricity consumption of Hong Kong when EVs are widely used; given that the power companies of Hong Kong (especially the Hong Kong Electric Company Limited) still use coal to generate electricity, of the Government's strategies to deal with the relevant air pollution problem arising from the increase in electricity generation due to EVs being widely used;
| | (d) | whether it has plans to introduce other types of EVs (e.g. buses) for use in Hong Kong;
| | (e) | whether it will adopt measures to facilitate investors to set up vehicle battery factories in Hong Kong and develop Hong Kong into a production base for EVs; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
| | (f) | of the Government's estimated economic benefits and employment opportunities for Hong Kong to be brought about by the widespread use of EVs?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment
* For written reply
III. Bills
First Reading
| | 1. | Village Representative Election Legislation (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 2009
| | 2. | Merchant Shipping (Safety) (Amendment) Bill 2009
| Second Reading (Debates to be adjourned)
| | 1. | Village Representative Election Legislation (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 2009 | : | Secretary for Home Affairs
| | 2. | Merchant Shipping (Safety) (Amendment) Bill 2009 | : | Secretary for Transport and Housing
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IV. Motions
Proposed resolution under the Legal Aid Ordinance
Secretary for Home Affairs to move the following motion:
RESOLVED that the Legal Aid Ordinance (Cap. 91) be amended -
| (a) | in section 5(1), by repealing "$165,700" and substituting "$175,800";
| | (b) | in section 5A(b) -
| | (i) | by repealing "$165,700" and substituting "$175,800";
| | (ii) | by repealing "$460,300" and substituting "$488,400".
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V. Members' Motions
- Proposed resolution under the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance
Dr Hon Joseph LEE to move the following motion:
RESOLVED that in relation to the -
| (a) | Fixed Penalty (Smoking Offences) Regulation, published in the Gazette as Legal Notice No. 66 of 2009; and
| | (b) | Fixed Penalty (Smoking Offences) (Specification of Authorities and Public Officers) Notice, published in the Gazette as Legal Notice No. 67 of 2009,
| | and laid on the table of the Legislative Council on 29 April 2009, the period for amending subsidiary legislation referred to in section 34(2) of the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance (Cap. 1) be extended under section 34(4) of that Ordinance to the meeting of 17 June 2009.
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- The 4 June incident
Hon LEE Cheuk-yan: (Translation)
That this Council urges that: the 4 June incident be not forgotten and the 1989 pro-democracy movement be vindicated.
| Amendments to the motion
| | (i) | Hon LEUNG Kwok-hung: (Translation)
To delete "and" after "the 4 June incident be not forgotten" and substitute with ", the responsibility for the crackdown be ascertained,"; and to add ", political prisoners be released, one-party dictatorship be ended, and democratic elections by universal suffrage be held for the whole nation" immediately before the full stop.
| | (ii) | Hon CHEUNG Man-kwong: (Translation)
To add ", and urges the Education Bureau to include the 4 June incident in 1989 in the junior secondary and new senior secondary curriculum guides for Chinese History" immediately before the full stop.
| | (iii) | Hon Albert HO: (Translation)
To add ", and urges the Central Government to endorse the principles and concepts of Charter 08, and stop detaining and keeping under surveillance the people who initiated and jointly signed the Charter, so as to prepare for the vindication of the 1989 pro-democracy movement" immediately before the full stop.
| | (iv) | Hon Tanya CHAN: (Translation)
To add "; at the same time, this Council considers that the remarks about the 4 June incident made by the Chief Executive at the meeting of this Council on 14 May 2009 cannot represent the opinion of Hong Kong people as a whole, and also expresses grave dismay and anger at such remarks" immediately before the full stop.
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- Implementation of One Country, Two Systems
Hon Emily LAU: (Translation)
That, it was reported in Wen Wei Po on 11 March 2009 that LI Guikang, Deputy Director of the Central Government Liaison Office ('the Liaison Office'), said at a group meeting of Hong Kong ('HK') members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference ('CPPCC') held in Beijing on 10 March 2009 that the Liaison Office and the Special Administrative Region ('SAR') Government had reached a 10-point agreement to allow HK members of CPPCC to participate in the political affairs of the SAR, which includes: should there be suitable talents among the HK members of CPPCC, the SAR Government may appoint them to public offices or award them Medals of Honour; the SAR Government should accord them treatment according to protocol and provide venues for them to hold activities; if conducting visits in the Mainland, the SAR Government officials may approach them for company, etc; moreover, in January last year, CAO Erbao, Head of the Research Department of the Liaison Office, published an article entitled 'Hong Kong's Governing Forces under One Country, Two Systems' in Study Times, pointing out that there are two governing teams in HK; one is 'a team of the establishment of the HKSAR', comprising the Chief Executive, principal officials, Executive Council members and civil servants of various ranks, judges and other judicial officers, etc, while the other is 'a team of the Central Government and Mainland cadres engaging in Hong Kong affairs', comprising competent authorities and representative offices of the Central Government responsible for Hong Kong affairs or specialized in work related to Hong Kong, competent authorities of the Central Government responsible for other national affairs and relevant policies, and party cadres of the relevant mainland provinces/regions/municipalities having close ties with the HKSAR, as well as government cadres responsible for matters involving HK, so as to rationalize the comments and acts of the Liaison Office and various provincial, municipal and local governments to interfere in the HKSAR affairs; in this connection, this Council urges:
| (a) | the Central Government and SAR Government to solemnly clarify whether there is such a 10-point agreement and whether two governing teams exist in HK;
| | (b) | the Central Government to strictly abide by the Basic Law and require that no Central Government departments and local governments may interfere in the affairs which the HKSAR Government administers on its own; and
| | (c) | the Central Government to restrain the Liaison Office and other mainland officials from making impudent comments, so as to avoid creating confusion in governance and causing the public to worry and panic;
| | thereby implementing 'One Country, Two Systems', 'Hong Kong people ruling Hong Kong' and 'a high degree of autonomy'.
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Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs
Clerk to the Legislative Council
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