 |
A 09/10-6
Legislative Council
Agenda
Wednesday 11 November 2009 at 11:00 am
I. Tabling of Papers
| Subsidiary Legislation / Instruments | L.N. No.
|
|---|
| 1. | The Ombudsman Ordinance (Amendment of Schedule 1) Order 2009 | 217/2009
| | 2. | Census and Statistics (Annual Survey of Economic Activities) Order | 218/2009
| | 3. | Census and Statistics (Quarterly Survey of Service Industries) (Amendment) Order 2009 | 219/2009
| | 4. | Antiquities and Monuments (Declaration of Historical Buildings) Notice 2009 | 220/2009
| | 5. | Employees Retraining Ordinance (Amendment of Schedule 2) (No. 2) Notice 2009 | 221/2009
|
Other Papers
| 1. | No. 25 | - | Hong Kong Productivity Council
Annual Report 08/09
| (to be presented by the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development)
| | 2. | No. 26 | - | Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation
Annual Report 2008/2009
| (to be presented by the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development)
| | 3. | No. 27 | - | Hong Kong Housing Authority
Annual Report 2008/09
| (to be presented by the Secretary for Transport and Housing)
| | 4. | No. 28 | - | Hong Kong Housing Authority Financial Statements for the year ended 31 March 2008
| (to be presented by the Secretary for Transport and Housing)
| | 5. | No. 29 | - | The Government Minute in response to the 21st Annual Report of The Ombudsman 2009
| (to be presented by the Chief Secretary for Administration, who will address the Council)
| | 6. | Report of the Bills Committee on Immigration (Amendment) Bill 2009
| (to be presented by Hon Miriam LAU, Chairman of the Bills Committee)
| | 7. | Report of the Bills Committee on Bunker Oil Pollution (Liability and Compensation) Bill
| | (to be presented by Hon Fred LI, Chairman of the Bills Committee)
|
II. Questions
1. Hon CHEUNG Kwok-che to ask: (Translation)
To tackle the increasingly serious problem of youth drug abuse, the Government is implementing an anti-drug policy to fight against drug with a five-prong approach spanning publicity and education, treatment and rehabilitation, legislation and law enforcement, external cooperation and research. In addition, the Government has launched the Community Programme against Youth Drug Abuse in all the 18 districts in Hong Kong one after another since August this year, and $500,000 is allocated to each district to fund the programme. At present, various anti-drug programmes have started and the schools in the Tai Po district have even taken the lead to undertake the Trial Scheme on School Drug Testing ("drug testing scheme") launched by the Government. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether the authorities will allocate additional resources for the service of residential drug treatment, for example Hong Kong Christian Service Jockey Club Lodge of Rising Sun, Caritas Wong Yiu Nam Centre and Christian Zheng Sheng College, and help resolve the relocation problem of the College;
| | (b) | what precautionary measures the authorities will adopt to ensure that the students found to have taken drugs will not be stigmatized by the schools concerned under the drug testing scheme; whether the Education Bureau will instruct the schools concerned to ensure that such students will not be expelled from schools; of the disciplines of the persons who will join the multi-disciplinary case conferences; and when the authorities will review the effectiveness of the drug testing scheme and whether they will formulate new measures to further combat drug at schools; and
| | (c) | given that many community organizations are raising funds for the activities under the Community Programme against Youth Drug Abuse, of the names, coorganizing organizations, amount of allocation from the Government, amount raised from the community, target and number of participants of the activities, contents and objectives of each of the relevant approved activities (list out in table form by District Council districts); whether the Government will monitor the implementation of the various activities and review their effectiveness?
|
| Public Officers to reply | : | Secretary for Security
Secretary for Home Affairs
|
2. Hon LAU Kong-wah to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that nowadays new concealed video-recording and telephone tapping devices keep replacing the old ones on the market, and such kinds of devices look the same as common items and accessories (such as watches, fountain pens, spectacles, electronic key-holders of cars, etc.). Members of the public may at any time buy the relevant products at a few hundred dollars only in the shopping centres for electronic products in Hong Kong or on the Internet. Moreover, it has also been reported that the proliferation of sales and use of these concealed video-recording and telephone tapping devices is increasingly serious, which not only infringes upon personal privacy, but also poses a heavy psychological burden on members of the public in their daily lives. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the number of complaints received by the authorities from members of the public in respect of acts of concealed video-recording or telephone tapping by individuals or organizations in the past three years, as well as the venues where such acts took place and the devices used;
| | (b) | whether legislation is currently in place to regulate the sale, possession and use of concealed video-recording and telephone tapping devices; if so, of the number of cases in which prosecution was instituted in the past three years against contraventions of the relevant legislation; if not, whether it will enact legislation to carry out the monitoring; and
| | (c) | given the continual advances in science and technology, concealed video-recording and telephone tapping devices have become more sophisticated, and the privacy of members of the public can easily be infringed without their being aware of it, how the Government ensures that the personal privacy of members of the public will not be violated because of the development of science and technology?
|
| Public Officers to reply | : | Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs
Secretary for Security
|
3. Hon CHEUNG Hok-ming to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that Chinese leaders have recently advocated raising the development of football to a level reflecting the soft power of sports and culture in China. The report has also pointed out that the full house attendance at the match between South China Football Team and Kuwait Football Team at the Hong Kong Stadium on 21 October this year, which was a grand occasion rarely seen in recent years, reflected that local people have not abandoned their support for football. As to how the development of local football is to be promoted to foster interface with football in China, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether it has explored suitable measures for the reform and sustainable development of football in Hong Kong; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
| | (b) | focusing on the raising of the standard of football by our country to a level reflecting its soft power, whether the Hong Kong SAR Government has adopted corresponding measures to complement; whether at present the authorities have provided any direct funding support for the development of football teams; if they have, of the details; if not, whether they will consider providing funding support, and in the long run, whether they will consider setting up different levels of subventions in accordance with the performance of football teams, thereby encouraging football teams to enhance their strength; and
| | (c) | of the details of the in-and-out mechanism for the selection of elite sports under the current subvention policy for elite training, and the eligibility criteria for football to become an elite sport?
|
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs
4. Hon LEUNG Yiu-chung to ask: (Translation)
At the Council meeting on 2 July 2008, the Administration pointed out in its reply to my question on inmates' requests for Chinese medical treatments that if any inmate requested to receive medical treatments beyond the existing services, the Correctional Services Department ("CSD") would consider it on a case-by-case basis in consultation with the Medical Officers. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether any inmate has been allowed to receive Chinese medical treatments since January 2008; if so, of the number of such inmates; if not, the reasons for that; and
| | (b) | given that some inmates have relayed to me that since the Medical Officers consulted by CSD are mostly western medicine practitioners, the advice obtained is usually that Chinese medical treatments are not necessary for the patients concerned, whether the authorities will conduct a review of this situation and seek professional advice from Chinese medicine practitioners when necessary; if such a review will be conducted and Chinese medicine practitioners will be consulted, of the relevant plan; if not, the reasons for that?
|
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security
5. Hon KAM Nai-wai to ask: (Translation)
In recent years, the community is very concerned about the granting of gross floor area ("GFA") concessions to developers in their property developments and the accuracy of the information (including the floor areas of the properties concerned, their transacted prices and the number of transactions) provided by the developers during the sale of properties. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the total number of private residential projects completed up to the end of 2008 since 2001, when the various GFA concession measures were introduced; in respect of each of these projects, the name, whether it is a single block project or a housing estate project, the total area of GFA concessions (commonly known as "inflated area") (including the exempted gross floor area, disregarded gross floor area and bonus gross floor area), the respective percentages of such area in the gross floor area of the project concerned and in the gross floor area set out in the land lease concerned, as well as the value of the total area of GFA concessions based on the average price of the projects in the year in which the project concerned was completed; the total area of GFA concessions granted during these eight years, and its respective percentages in the total gross floor area of all the projects concerned and in the total gross floor area set out in all the land leases concerned;
| | (b) | of the breakdown of the area of GFA concessions in (a) by the source of land (i.e. sale of land by private treaty, acquisition of land through the Application List system and integration of sites by the developers themselves), and the impact of such area on the planning of public facilities by the authorities in the districts concerned; and
| | (c) | how the Government verifies whether developers have released false transaction information for the purpose of creating the impression of a robust market by talking up property prices and sales, and how it ensures the flow of accurate information in the market to avoid the public being misled and housing demand affected as a result?
|
| Public Officers to reply | : | Secretary for Development
Secretary for Transport and Housing
|
6. Hon Cyd HO to ask: (Translation)
In recent years, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region ("HKSAR") Government jointly formulated quite a number of regional cooperation plans and agreements with the provincial and municipal governments on the Mainland and the Macao Special Administration Region ("MSAR") Government (including the Letter of Intent in Taking Forward Co-operation on Modern Service Industries between Hong Kong and Shenzhen in Qianhai signed recently with the Shenzhen Municipal Government). In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the number of cooperation plans and agreements jointly formulated by the HKSAR Government and the provincial and municipal governments on the Mainland as well as the MSAR Government in each of the past five years, together with the respective breakdowns, by policy area (including finance, commerce and trade, environment, education, welfare, planning of frontier areas and infrastructure, etc.), of the cooperation plans and agreements that have been confirmed and those that were signed, as well as providing summaries of the contents and complete copies of the confirmed cooperation plans and agreements; whether the authorities have made public all the signed documents; if not, of the reasons for that, together with a list of the titles of the plans and agreements that have not been made public;
| | (b) | what mechanism the authorities have followed to deliberate and discuss with the provincial and municipal governments on the Mainland the aforesaid plans and agreements, of the names of the joint conferences and other related working meetings which were set up under the mechanism; whether and how the authorities have consulted the Legislative Council, the public and the various trades prior to the implementation of the plans and agreements reached with the various Mainland places; and
| | (c) | in the course of implementing the aforesaid cooperation plans and agreements, whether the authorities have looked into how the differences in the legal systems of two places are to be dealt with; what mechanism the authorities have in place to ensure that the relevant acts of corruption committed outside Hong Kong will not undermine the public interests of the HKSAR, and to ensure that public money will be put to reasonable use; how the authorities curb such acts of corruption committed outside Hong Kong?
|
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs
*7. Hon LAU Wong-fat to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the situation of Hong Kong residents not being able to use their Smart Identity ("ID") Cards for immigration clearance through the Automated Passenger Clearance System ("e-Channels") due to fingerprint recognition problem, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the existing number of Smart ID Card holders who cannot use the e-Channel for immigration clearance due to fingerprint recognition problem, and its percentage in the total number of Smart ID Card holders;
| | (b) | how much more time (including waiting time) on average these people take to complete immigration clearance procedure at the traditional counters for immigration clearance as compared with the time taken by those who use the e-Channel to complete the relevant procedure; and
| | (c) | whether the authorities have considered introducing the face recognition access control system used by the Beijing Capital International Airport in the e-Channel system in Hong Kong, so that the people concerned can use the e-Channel for immigration clearance?
|
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security
*8. Dr Hon Margaret NG to ask: (Translation)
Recently, there have been views that the jury system is a good tradition of common law, and as the maximum imprisonment term that may be imposed by the District Court in criminal cases is seven years, which is by no means light, the ideal arrangement is for juries to be formed to try cases in the District Court. Such views have also pointed out that as English was the official language used in court in the past, the number of members of the public eligible for serving as jurors was just sufficient for trying cases in the High Court and the Court of Final Appeal. However, since the use of Chinese as an official language in court, the number of members of public eligible for serving as jurors has grown significantly and hence the jury system should be extended to the District Court. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether it will consider implementing the jury system in the District Court; if so, of the work plan; if not, the reasons for that;
| | (b) | of the number of cases tried in the High Court in the past three years for which a jury was required to be formed, and the number of jurors and relevant resources involved; and
| | (c) | whether it has assessed how many cases tried in the District Court in 2008-2009 could have been tried before a judge with a jury, and the estimated additional number of members of the public needed to serve as jurors as well as the resources involved for the jury system to be implemented in the District Court?
|
Public Officer to reply : The Secretary for Justice
*9. Hon Emily LAU to ask: (Translation)
The Government signed the Letter of Intent in Taking Forward Co-operation on Modern Service Industries between Hong Kong and Shenzhen in Qianhai ("Letter of Intent") with the Shenzhen Municipal Government on 19 August this year, hoping to promote and enhance Hong Kong's service industries and foster long-term economic growth of Hong Kong by participating in the development of Qianhai in Shenzhen. In this connection, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council:
| (a) | of the reasons for the Government not consulting the Legislative Council and the public before signing the Letter of Intent, and when it will conduct the consultation concerned;
| | (b) | of the content of the Letter of Intent and the role played by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government;
| | (c) | whether public funds will need to be deployed and relevant legislation to be enacted for participation in the development of Qianhai in Shenzhen; and
| | (d) | what benefits Hong Kong may gain from participation in the development of Qianhai, and what sort of competition Hong Kong's service industries will face as a result?
|
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs
*10. Dr Hon David LI to ask:
In July this year, the Government Economist stated that the mortgage payment for a flat of 450 square feet then represented only 35% of the median household income whereas in 1997, the ratio was 90%. Taking the two periods from July 1996 to June 1997 and from July 2008 to June 2009 as reference, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether it knows the total new property mortgage loans granted respectively to end users and investors by month;
| | (b) | of the mortgage-to-income ratio in respect of new property mortgage loans granted by month;
| | (c) | whether it knows the ratio of average down payment to property value in respect of new property mortgage loans granted by month; and
| | (d) | of the factors, apart from the above parameters, that the Government considers when assessing the affordability of the buyers in the property market?
|
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport and Housing
*11. Hon LEUNG Kwok-hung to ask: (Translation)
It was reported that another tragedy involving a mental patient happened earlier in Hong Kong in which a mentally ill man stabbed his ex-wife to death at a Light Rail stop. A number of similar tragedies have happened since January this year, and after each incident, the authorities indicated that mental health services would be strengthened. However, it has been reported that the shortage of psychiatrists in Hong Kong will persist in the next five to 10 years. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether it knows the amount of funding and other resources allocated by the Hospital Authority ("HA") to the psychiatric department of each public hospital in each of the past three years, together with a detailed breakdown of the amount of funding by expenditure item, including the salaries of healthcare personnel and other staff, as well as the expenses on drugs and medical facilities, etc.;
| | (b) | whether it knows if HA has set any cap on the costs of psychiatric drugs to be provided by each hospital; if it has, of the details of such limits;
| | (c) | whether it knows the respective numbers, calculated on the basis of the needs of the current population in Hong Kong, of hospital beds and healthcare personnel needed in various specialties (including child and adolescent psychiatry, psychogeriatry, community psychiatry and forensic psychiatry) in the psychiatric departments of public hospitals, and how these numbers compare to the current numbers concerned;
| | (d) | whether it knows the proportion of the patients being re-admitted among those who were discharged in the past three years from the various specialties in the psychiatric departments in (c);
| | (e) | whether it knows the average number of hours spent in the past three years by the relevant healthcare personnel on following up each case of a mental patient after his discharge from hospital, and the average number of times and hours per week each case was followed up by community psychiatric nurses;
| | (f) | whether it knows the average number of ex-mental patients in the past three years whom each community psychiatric nurse needed to follow up;
| | (g) | of the respective numbers of meetings convened by the Working Group on Mental Health Services ("the Working Group"), which was set up by the former Health, Welfare and Food Bureau in August 2006, and its subgroup and expert groups, their latest membership lists and the attendance rates of their members; and
| | (h) | what mental health policy and specific recommendations have been proposed by the Working Group after working for more than three years, as well as of the resources needed and the timetable for implementing such policy and recommendations?
|
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health
*12. Dr Hon LAM Tai-fai to ask: (Translation)
On 7 May this year, the State Council issued "Several Opinions on Supporting and Promoting the Development of the Traditional Chinese Medicine Industry", which pointed out that support given to the Chinese medicine industry should be enhanced to build up a modern industrial structure for Chinese medicine, and clearly stated that equal importance must persistently be given to Chinese and Western medicine in the process of establishing the basic medicine system. It was reported that at the 2009 International Conference for Bioeconomy held in the end of June this year, the China National Center for Biotechnology Development under the Ministry of Science and Technology published a report pointing out that China would develop a $400 billion worth Chinese medicine industry in the coming 10 years. Regarding the development of the Chinese medicine industry in Hong Kong, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether it will seize the opportunity to formulate the outline of a long-term development plan for the Chinese medicine industry in Hong Kong, so as to tie in with the development of the Chinese medicine industry of our country and to capitalize on the opportunities offered by the progressive modernization of Chinese medicine in China; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
| | (b) | what form of assistance will be provided to the Chinese medicine industry, so as to expedite the modernization of Chinese medicine or substantially improve the diagnosis and treatment standards of Chinese medicine, so that more people will accept and adopt Chinese medicine technology;
| | (c) | how it encourages and assists the Chinese medicine industry in conducting regular tests on Chinese medicine products, so as to monitor the quality; whether it will consider providing the relevant tax deductions in respect of the expenses on the tests conducted for proprietary Chinese medicines; if not, of the reasons for that;
| | (d) | how it enhances training for talents in Chinese medicine; whether it will increase the number of places in degree and postgraduate courses in Chinese medicine as well as strengthen training for clinical internship;
| | (e) | of the latest situation of the implementation the cooperation agreement on the field of Chinese medicine signed by the authorities and the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine in 2007, with a breakdown of the relevant implementation situation in seven areas, namely strategy for the development of Chinese medicine, policy statutes on Chinese medicine, development of collaboration between Chinese and Western medicine, standards of Chinese medicine, training for Chinese medicine practitioners, hospital administration as well as organization of cultural exchange and science and technology activities in Chinese medicine; whether it will consider reviewing the content of the agreement to further strengthen cooperation;
| | (f) | whether it had, in the past three years, studied if it is necessary to establish an independent Chinese medicine hospital in Hong Kong; if it had, of the details; if it had not, the reasons for that; and
| | (g) | of the latest progress in establishing Chinese medicine clinics in the 18 districts by stages by the Government; whether it will consider setting up Chinese medicine clinics in the various public hospitals in Hong Kong; if it will not, of the reasons for that?
|
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health
*13. Hon Abraham SHEK to ask: (Translation)
Regarding mainland pregnant women giving birth in Hong Kong, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the respective numbers of babies born to Mainland women in public hospitals and private hospitals in Hong Kong each year since the handing down of judgment by the Court of Final Appeal on CHONG Fung-yuen's case in 2001, and how these numbers compare with the corresponding numbers of babies born to local women during the same period;
| | (b) | whether it had, in the past two years, assessed the intention of children born locally to non-Hong Kong residents to receive education in Hong Kong; if it had, of the details; if not, whether it will conduct the relevant assessment expeditiously; and
| | (c) | of the latest position of the implementation of the obstetric service arrangements for Non-eligible Persons?
|
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health
*14. Hon CHAN Hak-kan to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that in 1996 the Government granted a piece of land by way of private treaty to St. Teresa's Hospital and approved the construction of a new hospital building thereat, but requested that the Hospital should provide a certain number of low-charge beds which are of the same charges as the third-class beds in public hospitals, and such terms were added to the land lease. Yet, the Hospital has not provided an adequate number of low-charge beds as required under the land lease all these years since the completion of its new hospital building, and the authorities have only reminded the Hospital that it had to comply with the requirement. Regarding the provision of low-charge beds by private hospitals, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | apart from St. Teresa's Hospital, which other private hospitals were granted land by the authorities by way of private treaty for medical and health purposes since 1996; whether the authorities had requested such hospitals to provide a certain number of low-charge beds and other designated medical services, or stipulated the relevant fee levels; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
| | (b) | which government departments were responsible for drafting the relevant lease of the land granted by private treaty with St. Teresa's Hospital and signing the lease; whether they have set up any penalty mechanism; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
| | (c) | why the authorities have not requested St. Teresa's Hospital to provide an adequate number of low-charge beds under the terms of the land lease all these years; whether they have ascertained if the Hospital has violated the terms of the land lease; if the Hospital has violated the relevant terms, what follow-up actions the authorities will take (whether such actions will include the recovery of the difference in land premium from the Hospital); and
| | (d) | given that the Chief Executive has expressed support for the development of medical services in his latest policy address and allocated four sites for the construction of private hospitals, whether the authorities will sign agreements with the private hospitals to be awarded the sites requesting them to provide certain numbers of low-charge beds and other designated medical services, as well as stipulate the relevant fee levels; how in future the authorities monitor whether the hospitals concerned have complied with the terms of the agreements?
|
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health
*15. Hon Miriam LAU to ask: (Translation)
The Government has implemented the Capital Investment Entrant Scheme since October 2003 to facilitate entry for residence in Hong Kong by capital investment entrants, i.e. persons who bring capital of not less than $6.5 million to Hong Kong but will not be engaged, in the context of the Scheme, in the running of any business in Hong Kong. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | up to September of this year, of the number of investors and their related dependants who have migrated to Hong Kong under the Capital Investment Entrant Scheme, the categories of the applicants involved, the total amount of capital they brought to Hong Kong, and the permissible investment asset classes;
| | (b) | whether it has estimated the economic benefits brought to Hong Kong by the above Scheme; if it has, of the results; if not, whether it will consider conducting such an estimation;
| | (c) | of the reasons for rejecting some of the applications submitted under the above Scheme, and the number of such unsuccessful applications;
| | (d) | given that the Capital Investment Entrant Scheme is currently open only to foreign nationals, residents of Macao and Taiwan as well as Chinese nationals with right of abode in a foreign country, etc., and is not applicable to ordinary mainland residents, whether the authorities have approached the mainland authorities concerned to strive for the inclusion of ordinary mainland residents in the Scheme; if they have, of the progress; if not, the reasons for that; and
| | (e) | what specific measures the authorities will implement in the future to enhance the competitiveness of the Scheme to attract more investors to invest in Hong Kong; whether they will consider afresh lowering the investment threshold of $6.5 million, relaxing the requirement of seven years of continuous ordinary residence in Hong Kong, and widening the permissible investment asset classes?
|
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security
*16. Hon WONG Yuk-man to ask: (Translation)
Some elderly groups have relayed to me that at present, the Social Welfare Department ("SWD") does not provide designated funding for the service of handling elder abuse cases. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether it will make reference to the existing arrangement of providing designated funding for the services of handling spouse battering and child abuse cases, and provide designated funding for the services of handling elder abuse cases, with a view to providing the same level of services; if it will, when the relevant arrangement will be made; if not, of the reasons for that;
| | (b) | of the respective numbers of elder abuse cases handled by each District Elderly Community Centre, Neighbourhood Elderly Centre and Social Centre for the Elderly, as well as the respective numbers of training courses organized by the Labour and Welfare Bureau, Elderly Commission and SWD for social workers responsible for handling elder abuse cases, their numbers of participants and training hours, in the past three years; and
| | (c) | whether it has assessed if the existing Crimes Ordinance (Cap. 200), Offences Against the Person Ordinance (Cap. 212), Theft Ordinance (Cap. 210) and Domestic Violence Ordinance (Cap. 189) are sufficient to protect victims of elder abuse; whether the Government will make reference to the Protection of Children and Juveniles Ordinance (Cap. 213) and enact an ordinance with the same legal effect to protect the legal rights of the elderly; if it will, of the relevant timetable; if not, the reasons for that?
|
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Labour and Welfare
*17. Dr Hon Joseph LEE to ask: (Translation)
Regarding appointments to the Supplementary Medical Professions Council, Nursing Council of Hong Kong, Chiropractors Council and Pharmacy and Poisons Board which were set up by the Government, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the respective years of service and titles of the various members who currently serve on the aforesaid Councils/Board (set out in table form), and the reasons why some of these members are re-appointed as chairmen or members of such Councils/Board or some members concerned have served for more than six years; and
| | (b) | whether the Government has considered returning some members of these Councils/Board by direct election, so as to enhance the credibility of the aforesaid Councils/Board; if it has, of the relevant details and the specific timetable; if not, the reasons for that?
|
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health
*18. Hon Albert CHAN to ask: (Translation)
Recently, I have received complaints from a number of members of the public pointing out that they were charged by telecommunications service providers for services they did not apply for. In addition, some members of the public pointed out that the service charges of the telecommunications service providers were much higher than those they should actually pay, thus causing them to suffer huge losses. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether it knows the number of complaints, received respectively by the Office of the Telecommunications Authority and the Consumer Council in each of the past three years, which involved excessive fee-charging by telecommunications service providers, and the names of the service providers concerned, broken down by the type of telecommunications services (e.g. fixed-line telephones, mobile phones, external telecommunications and broadband Internet access, etc.) and the nature of complaints;
| | (b) | among the cases mentioned in (a), of the number of those in which the complainants recovered compensation successfully, as well as the names of the telecommunications service providers which were prosecuted and the number of prosecutions instituted against them; and
| | (c) | apart from continuing to implement the existing measures to regulate telecommunications service providers, whether the authorities will adopt new regulatory measures, so as to better protect consumers' interests; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
|
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development
*19. Hon Paul TSE to ask: (Translation)
Some cruise operators have relayed to me that at present, among the cruise vessels that come to Hong Kong, some of them cannot berth at Ocean Terminal ("OT") due to their sizes exceeding that can be handled by OT or conflicting schedule, and such vessels were left with no choice but to berth at the Kwai Chung Container Terminal. Yet, cruise operators have to pay a waiver fee for exemption from restrictions on land use, in addition to paying a high berthing fee, and they have expressed their dissatisfaction about this. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | what criteria the authorities have applied in determining the aforesaid waiver fee, as well as the justification for imposing such a fee on the cruise operators;
| | (b) | whether it has studied if the policy of collecting the aforesaid waiver fee in addition to the berthing fee will weaken the development, competitiveness and attractiveness of the local cruise industry; if it has, of the study outcome; if not, whether it will conduct the relevant study expeditiously; and
| | (c) | whether it will reduce or abolish the waiver fee from now until 2013 before the commissioning of the first berth of the new cruise terminal, thereby attracting more cruise vessels to call at Hong Kong and continuing to enhance the competitiveness of the cruise industry in Hong Kong in the interim?
|
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development
*20. Hon Frederick FUNG to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the Mandatory Provident Fund ("MPF") Scheme which has been implemented for almost 10 years, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether the authorities will comprehensively review and optimize the MPF System; if they will, of the scope of the review, whether it will include areas such as the functions and operation of the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority, reduction of management fees charged by trustees, maximum contribution and minimum level of income, failure of the system to protect low-income groups and the unemployed, as well as members of the public managing their own MPF accounts; of the general content and direction of each area under review, as well as the timeframe of the comprehensive review; if a comprehensive review will not be conducted, of the reasons; and
| | (b) | given that it was reported that the authorities would conduct a review on matters such as the feasibility of allowing members of the public to early withdraw their MPF and partially withdraw their contributions by instalments under certain conditions, of the relevant details?
|
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
* For written reply
III. Bills
Second Reading (Debates to resume), Committee Stage and Third Reading
| | 1. | Immigration (Amendment) Bill 2009 | : | Secretary for Security
| | 2. | Bunker Oil Pollution (Liability and Compensation) Bill | : | Secretary for Transport and Housing
| Secretary for Transport and Housing to move Committee Stage amendments
(The amendments were issued on 29 October 2009
under LC Paper No. CB(3) 101/09-10)
| IV. Motions
Proposed resolution under the Criminal Procedure Ordinance
Secretary for Home Affairs to move the following motion:
RESOLVED that the Legal Aid in Criminal Cases (Amendment) Rules 2009, made by the Criminal Procedure Rules Committee on 13 October 2009, be approved.
| (The Rules were issued on 21 October 2009
under LC Paper No. CB(3) 68/09-10)
|
V. Members' Motions
- Proposed resolution under the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance
Hon Miriam LAU to move the following motion:
RESOLVED that in relation to the Estate Agents (Licensing) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulation 2009, published in the Gazette as Legal Notice No. 181 of 2009 and laid on the table of the Legislative Council on 14 October 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 2 December 2009.
- Re-formulating the special education policy
Hon Cyd HO to move the following motion: (Translation)
That, pursuant to the directive of the Education Bureau, students with special education needs have to leave school once they reach the age of 18, and this measure reflects the Administration's failure to keep abreast of the latest development of special education; this Council urges the Administration to re-formulate the special education policy, which includes:
| (a) | to abandon the mindset of addressing special education from the welfare perspective;
| | (b) | to redeploy resources to commission tertiary education institutions to conduct research on the local needs for special education, which will serve as the basis for re-formulating the policy;
| | (c) | to comprehensively assess the number of students with special education needs in the territory;
| | (d) | to review the facilities of special education schools and upgrade them according to the latest service needs and actual operation of such schools;
| | (e) | to ensure that each student with special education needs has the opportunity to study in a school which offers the new senior secondary school curriculum, and provide subvented education to mentally handicapped students until they are 22 years old;
| | (f) | to review the programme contents of teacher training and continuing education for professionals, and provide suitable manpower training in accordance with the needs of special education schools and inclusive education; and
| | (g) | to conduct assessments on special education needs for all young children in the territory, and provide as early as possible suitable treatment and support services to students with such needs.
|
Amendment to the motion
Hon Tanya CHAN to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To delete ", pursuant to the directive of the Education Bureau," after "That" and substitute with "the education policy for students with special education needs has all along been unsatisfactory and the support for them is inadequate, such students are facing increasingly acute difficulties under the new education system and various educational reform policies; the Education Bureau will stop subsidizing"; to delete "have to leave school" before "once they reach the age of 18"; to delete "and" after "professionals,"; to delete "; and" after "special education schools and inclusive education" and substitute with ", and allocate additional resources to provide support for more teachers to receive special education training;"; and to add "; (h) to provide more resources to mainstream schools which offer places to students with special education needs, so that more dedicated staff members can be arranged to support such students to effectively integrate into school life and alleviate the pressure of teachers in their teaching work; (i) to provide additional resources to schools which offer places to students with special education needs and to non-government organizations which provide support services to such students, so as to enable them to provide better quality and more effective services, and formulate suitable mechanisms to ensure that such students can benefit; (j) to provide suitable learning environment for non-Chinese speaking students with special education needs, including the medium of instruction, facilities and other support; (k) to enhance public education to enable teachers and students of mainstream schools to gain a more in-depth understanding of students with special education needs, thereby creating an ideal environment for inclusive education; and (l) to provide more support for students with special education needs who are suffering from more than one type of disability" immediately before the full stop.
Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Education
- Requesting the Government to provide support services for men in Hong Kong
Hon WONG Kwok-hing to move the following motion: (Translation)
That, with the transformation of Hong Kong's economic structure and the change in the concept of family, both men and women in Hong Kong are facing the same difficulties in matters such as finance, health, marriage and family role, etc; however, as there is no men's policy in Hong Kong and due to the influence of traditional concepts, the quality and quantity of the social welfare and social services which are targeted at men's needs have failed to meet the demand, and as a result, men facing difficulties are often afraid to seek assistance, do not know how to seek assistance or have nowhere to turn to for assistance; in this connection, this Council urges the Government to:
| (a) | study the formulation of a men's policy which is forward-looking, comprehensive and has continuity;
| | (b) | recognizing men as a social group in need of services, set up a Men's Commission to specialize in studying, exploring and addressing men's problems;
| | (c) | face up to the problem of employment difficulties encountered by men, strengthen efforts to develop job types other than those in the service industry, enhance employees retraining services which are specifically targeted at the employment difficulties faced by men, and encourage and facilitate men to get employment or start their own business;
| | (d) | support divorced men on all fronts to cope with difficulties arising from mental stress, housing problem and breakdown of relationships with their children, and set up crisis centres for men which have the functions of providing temporary accommodation and counseling services;
| | (e) | set up men's specialist clinics modeled on gynaecological clinics, so as to provide treatment and health care services in respect of illnesses suffered by men only (such as prostatic disease) and provide health checks for men;
| | (f) | encourage men to consult professionals when they are troubled by family matters, set up a special hotline for men operated by trained personnel who understand men's needs to answer calls for assistance or complaint calls, and promote the provision of courses on counselling for men in the community;
| | (g) | give focused attention to the problem of suicide among middle-aged men, and enhance support for men who are at high risk of committing suicide and inflicting injuries to themselves;
| | (h) | improve the implementation of divorced men's right of access to or joint custody of their children;
| | (i) | enhance support for fathers to meet their needs in parenting their children and balancing work and life pressure, facilitate the provision of support for families on various fronts, and promote the introduction of paid paternity leave and family leave, etc; and
| | (j) | promote in-depth study of the existing education system, with a view to enhancing its constructive effects on the development of both sexes and bringing about positive social impact.
|
Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Labour and Welfare
Clerk to the Legislative Council
|
|
|
|