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A 09/10-12
Legislative Council
Agenda
Wednesday 6 January 2010 at 11:00 am
I. Tabling of Papers
| Subsidiary Legislation / Instruments | L.N. No.
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| 1. | Patents Ordinance (Amendment of Schedule 1) Order 2009 | 252/2009
| | 2. | Registered Designs Ordinance (Amendment of Schedule) Regulation 2009 | 253/2009
| | 3. | Trade Marks Ordinance (Amendment of Schedule 1) Regulation 2009 | 254/2009
| | 4. | Layout-design (Topography) of Integrated Circuits (Designation of Qualifying Countries, Territories or Areas) (Amendment) Regulation 2009 | 255/2009
| | 5. | Hawker (Permitted Places) Declaration Order 2009 | 256/2009
| | 6. | Import and Export (Strategic Commodities) Regulations (Amendment of Schedule 1) Order 2009 (Commencement) Notice | 260/2009
| | 7. | Prisons (Amendment) (No. 2) Oder 2009 | 261/2009
| | 8. | Drug Addiction Treatment Centre (Hei Ling Chau Addiction Treatment Centre) (Amendment) Order 2009 | 262/2009
| | 9. | Drug Addiction Treatment Centre (Nei Kwu Correctional Institution) Order | 263/2009
| | 10. | Tax Reserve Certificates (Rate of Interest) (No. 6) Notice 2009 | 264/2009
| | 11. | Domestic Violence (Amendment) Ordinance 2009 (Commencement) Notice | 265/2009
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Other Papers
| 1. | Report No. 2/09-10 of the House Committee on Consideration of Subsidiary Legislation and Other Instruments
| (to be presented by Hon Miriam LAU, Chairman of the House Committee)
| | 2. | Report of the Bills Committee on Inland Revenue (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2009
| (to be presented by Hon Paul CHAN, Chairman of the Bills Committee)
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II. Questions
1. Hon CHAN Hak-kan to ask: (Translation)
At present, the Environmental Protection Department makes use of the data collected by three roadside and 11 general air quality monitoring stations ("AQMSs") to compile the Air Pollution Index and publish the relevant summary for reference of the public. There have been comments that AQMSs fail to comprehensively reflect the air pollution situation in Hong Kong as their number is inadequate. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether the Government will, before deciding whether or not to install additional AQMSs, consult green groups and people in the districts; if it will, of the details of consultation; if not, the reasons for that, and whether it will consider setting up such a consultation mechanism;
| | (b) | given that roadside AQMSs are set up only in Central, Causeway Bay and Mong Kok at present, whether the Government will reconsider installing roadside AQMSs in other busy districts and if so, of the details of consideration, including the districts and locations at which the additional roadside AQMSs are to be installed, as well as the installation timetable and the methods of collecting data; if not, the reasons for that; and
| | (c) | whether it will consider the provision of at least one general AQMS in each of the 18 districts in Hong Kong, so as to facilitate members of the public to have a better grasp of the air pollution situation in the various districts; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment
2. Hon Audrey EU to ask: (Translation)
Article 68 of the Basic Law provides that all Members of the Legislative Council ("LegCo") will ultimately be elected by universal suffrage. The Bar Association of Hong Kong, The Law Society of Hong Kong and 19 members of the Legal Subsector of the Election Committee have recently pointed out that the LegCo seats for Functional Constituencies ("FCs") do not conform with the universal and equal principle and such a mode of election should be abolished completely. Yet, the Government has proposed, in its Consultation Document on the Methods for Selecting the Chief Executive and for Forming the Legislative Council in 2012 ("Consultation Document") released on 18 November last year, addition of LegCo seats for the District Council FC. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether it has studied the criteria and methods for abolishing the FC seats of LegCo either progressively or at one go; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
| | (b) | given that the Government has indicated in the Consultation Document that regarding the electorate base of the FCs in the methods for forming LegCo in 2012, the Government "is inclined not to adopt the method of replacing 'corporate votes' with 'director's/executive's/association's/individual votes'. This is because the process would be too complicated and involve the interests of many different sectors and individuals", how the Government ensures that the problem of FC seats can be resolved in 2020, so as to achieve the target of implementing universal suffrage for LegCo in that year; and
| | (c) | given that some political parties have proposed the designation of one Member from each of the five Geographical Constituencies of LegCo to resign and the adoption of "implementation of genuine universal suffrage and abolition of FCs" as the subject for a de facto referendum, whether the Government will undertake to abolish all FC seats of LegCo not later than 2020, so as to avoid this de facto referendum; if not, of the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs
3. Hon Tanya CHAN to ask: (Translation)
Recently, the share price of a company listed by way of introduction was abnormally volatile on the first trading day, resulting in quite a number of small investors suffering losses. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:
| (a) | if the Administration, the Securities and Futures Commission ("SFC") and The Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited ("HKEx") have received complaints from small investors regarding the aforesaid incident; if they have, of the number of such complaints, whether SFC and HKEx have commenced investigation regarding these complaints or taken the initiative to investigate the incident, and the latest progress of such investigations; if investigation has not been conducted, of the reasons for that;
| | (b) | given that there have been comments that the company arranged for stock split only after it had submitted the listing application, and as the process of listing by way of introduction does not require the company to undergo the public offering procedures, it is relatively difficult for small investors to have access to the information of the company, whether SFC and HKEx will consider reviewing the existing mechanism for listing by way of introduction to tighten the restrictions on companies undertaking major actions after submission of listing applications and raise the requirements on disclosure of information; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
| | (c) | given that members of the industry have criticized that the share price of the company in the Pre-opening Session on the first trading day had already been marked to an unreasonably high level, which reflected that the share prices of securities with relatively small capitalization or low liquidity are more vulnerable to manipulation in that Session, whether SFC and HKEx will consider reviewing the arrangements for the Pre-opening Session, including the restrictions on the securities permitted for transaction during the Session; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
4. Hon Emily LAU to ask: (Translation)
It has recently been reported by the media that the Government welcomes any company to apply to the authority concerned for a domestic free television programme service licence ("free TV licence"), and a local pay TV company intends to submit an application. The results of an opinion poll conducted by the Democratic Party in August 2009 indicate that 76.3% of members of the public agree to the addition of one free TV station so as to introduce more competition. However, under the Broadcasting Ordinance, pay TV companies are disqualified from holding free TV licences because they already hold television programme services licences. In this connection, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council:
| (a) | whether public dissatisfaction with the performance of the existing free TV stations is the reason for the Government welcoming applications from other companies for a free TV licence;
| | (b) | whether it is the Government's stance to support the addition of free TV stations; and
| | (c) | whether it will propose to amend the Broadcasting Ordinance in order to facilitate the development of free TV programme services and enhance competition, so as to raise the quality of programmes?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development
5. Hon IP Wai-ming to ask: (Translation)
In recent years, fatal industrial accidents happened one after another in Hong Kong, and some of them involved employees working during inclement weather. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the number of industrial accidents, in each of the past three years, which involved employees working when typhoon or rainstorm warning signals were in force, the resultant casualties and causes of the accidents, as well as the number of employers who were convicted because their fault caused such accidents and the penalties imposed on them;
| | (b) | whether it will amend the relevant legislation to prohibit employees from performing certain or all high-risk duties (e.g. working on outdoor scaffoldings and performing cleaning work, as well as carrying out maintenance, alteration and extension works on external walls of buildings) under typhoon or rainstorm warnings; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
| | (c) | given that the Code of Practice in times of Typhoons and Rainstorms of the Labour Department stipulates that when Typhoon Warning Signal No. 8 or above is in force, employers should only request essential staff to stay on duty when there is an absolute need, and non-essential staff should not be required to report for duty or should be released from work in stages, and yet I have learnt that many employers still request employees to report for or stay on duty (e.g. waiters, security guards and shop salespersons, etc.) when Typhoon Warning Signal No. 8 is in force, whether the Government will amend the relevant legislation to prohibit employees from reporting for or staying on duty when Typhoon Signal No. 8 or above is in force, so as to safeguard their safety; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Labour and Welfare
6. Ir Dr Hon Raymond HO to ask: (Translation)
Since the delivery of the Policy Address in October 2007 which put forward the implementation of 10 major infrastructure projects, professionals and construction workers have repeatedly relayed to me that the tens of thousands of jobs which they have been expecting to be created by such projects have yet to appear. At present, many of such projects are still at the planning and technical study stages. Regarding the implementation of infrastructure projects, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the latest progress of the aforesaid 10 infrastructure projects, as well as the expected commencement dates for the works;
| | (b) | whether it has any plan to coordinate the commencement dates for the works of the aforesaid 10 infrastructure projects, so as to ensure that the industries concerned will have sufficient and stable employment opportunities on a long-term basis, and avoid the situation of labour shortage; and
| | (c) | what infrastructure projects will be launched after the completion of the aforesaid 10 projects?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Development
*7. Dr Hon Priscilla LEUNG to ask: (Translation)
At present, the Government conducts a review of the criteria for assessing the financial eligibility of legal aid applicants every five years. The Home Affairs Bureau ("HAB") indicated at the meeting of the Panel on Administration of Justice and Legal Services of this Council on 30 March 2009 that it was unable to report its recommendations from the latest review and it has still not reported the relevant recommendations to this Council to date. Moreover, during the debate at the meeting of this Council in February 2009 on the Member's motion on "Relaxing the eligibility criteria for legal aid", the Government stated that it would not extend legal aid service to the Mainland. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the latest progress of the aforesaid review; when the review results will be announced;
| | (b) | whether it will reconsider the proposal to extend the scope of legal aid service to cover litigation cases on the Mainland involving Hong Kong people, as well as discuss the matter with the relevant mainland authorities; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
| | (c) | whether it will study setting up other mechanisms to provide legal aid service to Hong Kong people against whom criminal charges have been laid on the Mainland?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs
*8. Hon Mrs Sophie LEUNG to ask: (Translation)
Given that the exhibition entitled "Louis Vuitton: A Passion for Creation" which was jointly organized by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, Louis Vuitton and the Fondation Louis Vuitton pour la Cr?ation ("the Fondation") and held at the Hong Kong Museum of Art ("the Museum") between May and August 2009 had aroused the concerns of the local arts scene and the public, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | given that the Museum's vision includes raising the level of artistic appreciation of members of the public and broadening cultural horizons, how the Museum's procedure for exhibition planning ensures that such a vision can be realized;
| | (b) | of the total expenditure for the aforesaid exhibition, as well as the respective amounts of the expenditure borne by the Government and the Fondation; whether it has formulated any guidelines on public expenditure (such as the maximum percentage of subsidies in the total expenditure) regarding the exhibition projects jointly organized by the Museum and commercial organizations; and
| | (c) | given that the current members of the Museum's preparatory committee for exhibitions and programmes (including the Chief Curator, Curators from the various professional departments, Senior Managers and Senior Technical Officers) are all staff of the Museum, whether the authorities have considered adopting the views of the professionals in the relevant sectors during the process of selecting the exhibitions and programmes to be organized?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs
*9. Hon WONG Kwok-kin to ask: (Translation)
A spate of cases of residents of residential care homes for the elderly ("RCHEs") being abused have occurred in recent years. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the number of complaints received in each of the past three years by the authorities which involved residents of RCHEs being abused; the major types of such complaints; the respective numbers of subvented and private RCHEs as well as those which have participated in the Brought Place Scheme involved in such cases; among such cases, the numbers of those which had been substantiated, and whether the authorities had imposed penalties on such RCHEs; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
| | (b) | given that elder abuse cases have still occurred from time to time, whether the authorities will review afresh in what aspects the regulatory system for RCHEs are inadequate and adopt improvement measures; and
| | (c) | whether the authorities will request the various types of RCHEs to employ additional staff so as to improve the staff-to-resident ratio, with a view to upgrading the quality of services and reducing the occurrence of elder abuse cases?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Labour and Welfare
*10. Hon Ronny TONG to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the situation of the elderly applying for public rental housing ("PRH") flats under the Single Elderly Persons Priority Scheme and Elderly Persons Priority Scheme, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the following data of the aforesaid two Schemes last year, broken down by district;
| Name of the Scheme :_____ |
District |
| Urban |
Extended Urban |
New Territories |
Islands |
| Number of eligible applications |
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| Supply of PRH flats |
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| Number of applications for which PRH flats were allocated |
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| Average waiting time of applicants who were allocated PRH flats |
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| Number of applications which request for in-situ allocation of PRH flats |
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| Number of applications for which PRH flats in-situ were allocated |
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Average waiting time of applicants who were allocated PRH flats in-situ:
(i) less than two years: |
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| (ii) two years to less than three years: |
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| (iii) three years or above: |
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| | (b) | whether applicants who have declined the offers of PRH flats allocated to them under the above two Schemes are required to wait afresh for allocation of PRH flats, or wait for allocation through other ways; and
| | (c) | given that some elderly organizations have relayed to me that elderly applicants generally have a higher demand for PRH flats in-situ than PRH applicants of other age groups, what measures the authorities have in place to shorten the waiting time of elderly applicants for PRH flats in-situ?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport and Housing
*11. Hon Albert HO to ask: (Translation)
The Hong Kong Government strictly regulates the trade in endangered species through the Protection of Endangered Species of Animals and Plants Ordinance (Cap. 586), so as to enforce the requirements of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora ("CITES"). Any regulated species listed by the Conference of the Parties to CITES will be correspondingly brought under the regulatory control of the local legislation. It was reported last month that American scientists applied DNA forensic technology for the first time and uncovered that out of the 62 scalloped hammerhead shark fin samples taken from the Hong Kong market, 13 (i.e. 21%) came from sharks in the western Atlantic of the species scalloped hammerhead, an endangered species listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature ("IUCN"). Yet, this species of shark has not yet been listed by the Parties to CITES as one subject to restriction on import and export. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | apart from following CITES and list certain shark species as species subject to restriction on import and export, whether it will amend the aforesaid Ordinance to list those endangered species listed by IUCN as species subject to restriction on import and export; if so, of the details of the shark species to be so listed; if not, the reasons for that;
| | (b) | given that it has been reported that Hong Kong is one of the largest consumer markets for shark fins in the world, whether it will, apart from amending the relevant legislation, implement other measures to lower the demand for shark fins, so as to reduce the chance of sharks becoming extinct; if so, of the details; and
| | (c) | of the number of people prosecuted in the past three years for breaching the aforesaid Ordinance by illegally importing the endangered species concerned, as well as the penalties imposed on them in general?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment
*12. Dr Hon PAN Pey-chyou to ask: (Translation)
A staff member who had been employed on non-civil service contract ("NCSC") and worked for Radio Television Hong Kong for 21 years earlier died at work due to cerebral hemorrhages but the Government adamantly refused to grant death gratuity to his dependents on grounds that the employee was not a civil servant, and eventually only long service payment and mandatory provident fund ("MPF") were granted. I have learnt that the incident has aroused public concern about the support for NCSC staff and their families. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the current number of NCSC staff employed by the Government, with a breakdown by department and grade;
| | (b) | of the respective numbers of staff continuously employed at present by the Government on NCSC and other forms of contract, with a breakdown by year of continuous service (i.e. those below five years, and groups of five years each thereafter to 20 years and above);
| | (c) | of the respective numbers of cases reported to the Commissioner for Labour in the past five years which involved NCSC staff sustaining injuries at work and those in which such employees died at work; and
| | (d) | apart from granting long service payments and MPF to the dependents of those NCSC staff who died at work, whether the Government at present provides any substantive support to the dependents or NCSC staff who sustained injuries at work; if so, how such support compares with that provided to civil servants and their dependents?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Civil Service
*13. Dr Hon LEUNG Ka-lau to ask: (Translation)
Since 2001, a thematic arts festival has been organized by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department ("LCSD") every autumn, while the Hong Kong Arts Festival, funded by LCSD and the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, has been held between February and March every year since 1973. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the information on the various programmes in each of the aforesaid arts festivals in the past four years (set out in the table below);
| Name of the arts festival： |
| Year |
Name of programme |
Performance venue |
Number of performances |
Number of seats in the venue |
Total attendance |
Average occupation rate of the seats |
Number of tickets sold |
Total value of tickets sold ($) |
| Adult | Student |
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| | (b) | of the expenditure by item and in total of each arts festival held in the past four years (set out in the table below); and
| Name of the arts festival： |
| Expenditure items |
2008-2009 |
2007-2008 |
2006-2007 |
2005-2006 |
| Funding foreign art groups |
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| Funding local art groups |
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| Publicity and promotion |
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| Remunerations |
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| Others |
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| | (c) | given that major local art groups, Asian art groups and those of international standing are invited to perform in the Hong Kong Arts Festival every year, whether the Government has planned not to repeat such an arrangement when organizing the thematic arts festival each year, and utilize the resources earmarked for inviting overseas art groups entirely on inviting small and medium sized local art groups to perform instead, so as to alleviate the financial pressure of the latter and provide them with more development opportunities?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs
*14. Hon WONG Sing-chi to ask: (Translation)
It was reported that a woman who had a manic-depressive disorder seizure and killed her adoptive daughter was convicted last month of manslaughter. In this connection, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council whether they know:
| (a) | the number of Consultation Liaison Teams under the Hospital Authority ("HA"), as well as the respective attendances of the services of in-ward consultation and consultation at the Accident and Emergency Departments provided by the teams in each of the past five years;
| | (b) | the respective numbers of patients currently suffering from the various kinds of mental illnesses such as depression, mania and schizophrenia, etc.; if they do not know, of the reasons for that;
| | (c) | the respective average waiting time and the waiting time at the 99th percentile for the various types of psychiatric services at present (including specialist out-patient services, community psychiatric nursing services and occupational therapy); what measures are currently in place to shorten the waiting time; whether it will set a target waiting time; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
| | (d) | if HA has set up a mechanism to assist mental patients who are waiting for psychiatric services so that their clinical conditions can be alleviated or will not deteriorate; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health
*15. Hon CHEUNG Man-kwong to ask: (Translation)
In order to provide students with a broad and balanced curriculum, the New Senior Secondary ("NSS") academic structure involves a major curriculum integration. Under the NSS academic structure, apart from the four compulsory core subjects, namely Chinese Language, English Language, Mathematics and Liberal Studies, the other 20 subjects are electives. Generally, students may choose two to three elective subjects, and together with the core subjects, make up a total of no more than eight subjects. Regarding the elective subjects taken by students studying at Senior Secondary One in the 2009-2010 school year, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | for each of the elective subjects, of the number of schools offering the subject and the total numbers of classes offered, as well as the number and percentage of students taking the subject;
| | (b) | of the top 100 combinations of elective subjects chosen by most students, as well as the numbers of classes and students for each combination; and
| | (c) | given that it has been reported that some secondary schools presently collaborate in offering certain subjects and allow their students to choose such subjects on a cross-school basis, of the number of such secondary schools, the subjects involved and the number of students taking such subjects on a cross-school basis?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education
*16. Hon Jeffrey LAM to ask: (Translation)
Phase I of the EcoPark in Tuen Mun Area 38 was originally scheduled for commissioning at the end of 2006, but the six lots in Phase I were not all leased out until May 2009. It has been reported that the Government will spend at least $15 million to construct factory buildings and related infrastructural facilities for the two organizations which have rented the lots in Phase II of the EcoPark. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:
| (a) | it knows when the business of the six tenants in Phase I of the EcoPark will commence operation; whether it has assessed the reasons for the delay of the tenants in Phase I of the EcoPark commencing business operations;
| | (b) | it has assessed if the supporting facilities in the EcoPark are insufficient, if environmental problems such as the existence of methane are uncovered in the EcoPark, and if it needs to adjust the overall policy of the EcoPark;
| | (c) | the monthly rental income from Phase I of the EcoPark is sufficient for covering the management costs of the EcoPark; and
| | (d) | it has given subsidies to tenants of Phase II of the EcoPark; if so, of the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment
*17. Hon James TO to ask: (Translation)
Under the new policy implemented since December 2009, mainland persons who were under the age of 14 at the time their blood fathers or mothers obtaining the status of Macao residents before 1 November 2001 ("overage children") can apply for entry into Macao for settlement. The Central Government has also decided that the policy measure will largely apply to Hong Kong. Regarding the issuance of One-way Permits ("OWPs") to mainland persons for entry into Hong Kong for settlement, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether it has assessed the current number of overage children who meet the requirement of the above new measure; if it has, of the number of such persons, as well as how long they will need to wait on average to obtain OWPs;
| | (b) | given that the mainland authorities have divided the daily OWP quota of 150 places into certain sub-quotas designated for various categories of applicants, among which 60 of such places are allocated to spouses separated for less than 10 years and their accompanying children, unsupported children who need to join their relatives in Hong Kong, persons coming to Hong Kong to take care of their unsupported aged parents (i.e. those with no other children in Hong Kong) and unsupported elderly people coming to join relatives in Hong Kong, whether the Government knows how the mainland authorities allocate those 60 places, and in the past five years, of the number of applicants under each category (including spouses separated for 10 years or more and those separated for less than 10 years and their accompanying children) who had come to Hong Kong for settlement on OWPs as well as the number of unused places under each sub-quota; and
| | (c) | whether it will reconsider requesting the mainland authorities to adjust the method of allocating the OWP places in order to optimizing the utilization of such places, so as to shorten the period of separation between Hong Kong residents and their mainland family members?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security
*18. Hon LEE Wing-tat to ask: (Translation)
The Government, in collaboration with the Hong Kong Housing Society and the Urban Renewal Authority, has implemented Operation Building Bright since May 2009 to provide grants and one-stop technical assistance to two categories of target buildings. Category 1 covers buildings with owners' corporations ("OCs"), and Category 2 covers buildings having difficulties in organizing repair works (e.g. buildings without OCs). In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the respective numbers of Categories 1 and 2 target buildings which have received grants for the cost of repair to date and, among such grants, the respective highest, lowest and average amounts of grants; and the number of applications involving eligible Category 1 target buildings for which grant was not approved;
| | (b) | of the respective numbers of Category 2 target buildings which have been recommended by Members of the Legislative Council and each of the District Councils to date and, among such buildings, the respective numbers of those which were and were not approved grants, as well as the reasons for some buildings not being approved grants;
| | (c) | whether the current amount of uncommitted funds are sufficient for accepting a new round of applications; if so, when it will start accepting applications; if not, whether it will seek additional funding from the Legislative Council; and
| | (d) | of the respective numbers of Categories 1 and 2 target buildings which have commenced repair works at present, and when the works are expected to be completed?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Development
*19. Hon Andrew CHENG to ask: (Translation)
According to recent media reports, the New Territories West Cluster ("NTWC") to which Castle Peak Hospital belongs has arranged overseas duty visits for a number of senior healthcare staff of the hospital, for the purpose of introducing the management mode of the Toyota Motor Corporation of Japan. Regarding the arrangements made by the hospital clusters under the Hospital Authority ("HA") for healthcare staff to undertake study visits and receive training abroad, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:
| (a) | the number of staff who had been arranged by NTWC to go abroad for study visits, training or participating in activities such as seminars, for the purpose of introducing the aforesaid management mode, and the total number of working hours lost as a result; the amount of expenditure incurred on the study visits, the destinations involved, and the number and ranks of staff who participated in the visits by destination; whether HA has a mechanism for assessing the impact on the frontline work caused by a number of healthcare staff being absent from their work positions to participate in such activities;
| | (b) | in respect of each cluster, the expenditure incurred on staff training last year and the percentage of the amount in the total expenditure, the number of staff who participated in such training and, among them, the number of those who participated in overseas study visits and training, as well as the expenditure involved; and
| | (c) | the respective expenditure incurred by HA last year on overseas study visits and training for its senior executives, doctors at the ranks of Senior Medical Officer or above, doctors at other ranks, nurses and allied health staff; the average expenditure incurred in respect of each of these staff members; and regarding the study visit or training activity which incurred the highest expenditure, of its purpose, the amount of expenditure incurred as well as the number of participants and their respective ranks?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health
*20. Hon CHEUNG Kwok-che to ask: (Translation)
Starting from September 2009, payments under the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance ("CSSA") Scheme (including rent allowance ("RA")) have all been changed to be calculated on the basis of calendar months and disbursed on the first day of each month. I have received complaints from quite a number of public rental housing ("PRH") tenants whose CSSA payments used to be disbursed in the middle of each month pointing out that the Hong Kong Housing Authority ("HA") has approached them to recover rent arrears for half of the month of August. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | given that since June 2007, the Social Welfare Department ("SWD") has been transferring the RA for CSSA households residing in PRH to HA directly for payment of PRH rents, of the reasons for HA recovering rent arrears from such CSSA households;
| | (b) | whether SWD has attempted to assist in solving the aforesaid problem; if it has, of the reasons why the situation of rent arrears among CSSA households residing in PRH still exists; and
| | (c) | of the current number of CSSA households residing in PRH who have paid rent arrears by themselves; whether SWD will pay back the RA concerned to them; if so, when it will do so?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Labour and Welfare
* For written reply
III. Bills
Second Reading (Debate to resume), Committee Stage and Third Reading
| | Inland Revenue (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2009 | : | Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
| Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury to move Committee stage amendments
(The amendments were issued on 22 December 2009
under LC Paper No. CB(3) 285/09-10)
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IV. Motions
Proposed resolution under the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance
Secretary for the Environment to move the following motion:
RESOLVED that the Energy Efficiency (Labelling of Products) Ordinance (Amendment of Schedules) Order 2009, published in the Gazette as Legal Notice No. 204 of 2009 and laid on the table of the Legislative Council on 4 November 2009, be amended, in section 2, in the new Division 5, in section 1(b)(iv), by repealing "87" and substituting "35".
V. Members' Motions
- Motion under Rule 49E(2) of the Rules of Procedure
Hon Miriam LAU to move the following motion:
That this Council takes note of Report No. 2/09-10 of the House Committee laid on the Table of the Council on 6 January 2010 in relation to the subsidiary legislation and instrument(s) as listed below:
| Item Number |
| Title of Subsidiary Legislation or Instrument
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| (1) |
| Dumping at Sea (Exemption) (Amendment) Order 2009
(L.N. 203/2009). |
Public Officer to attend : Secretary for the Environment
- Establishing a comprehensive consumer protection regime
Hon Starry LEE to move the following motion: (Translation)
That, incidents of traders using misleading, deceptive, high-pressure, intimidating, harassing or other unfair means to market products or services are common in recent years, undermining the interests of consumers, and many people consider that consumer protection in Hong Kong is inadequate; in this connection, this Council urges the Government to establish a comprehensive consumer protection regime, including:
| (a) | to require a cooling-off period be provided for agreements involving membership, package tickets and other pre-paid services to allow consumers to terminate such agreements within a specified period after signing an agreement to purchase the relevant goods or services without having to pay any fees or charges;
| | (b) | to require traders to issue in writing the terms and conditions within a specified period for any service agreement reached verbally through on-street promotion or over the telephone, and that the agreement will only be effective upon a signed confirmation by the consumer;
| | (c) | to monitor effectively the services provided by telecommunications service operators and those services provided by a third party through such operators, such as mobile messages and content services, etc. so as to ensure that the marketing practices, terms and conditions of services and charges are transparent and fair;
| | (d) | to extend the scope of the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Ordinance to include person-to-person commercial telemarketing calls, and require the caller to stop all marketing activities immediately upon a roaming signal coming from the telephone of the receiver;
| | (e) | to introduce legislative amendments to enhance the regulation of multi-level marketing;
| | (f) | to empower the Consumer Council to act as the proctor for consumers whose interests are undermined to initiate court proceedings to seek compensation from unscrupulous traders when required; and
| | (g) | to formulate a comprehensive Consumer Interests Protection Ordinance to plug the loopholes arising from the existing fragmented and discordant legislation, and to fully regulate unfair trade practices involving goods and services; and at the same time, in order to tie in with the implementation of the Consumer Interests Protection Ordinance, to confer administrative and law enforcement powers under the Ordinance to the Consumer Council, or establish the post of consumer protection commissioner to undertake the relevant administrative and law enforcement work.
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| Amendments to the motion
| | (i) | Hon WONG Kwok-hing to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To add "to safeguard Hong Kong's international reputation as a shopping paradise, the SAR Government must face squarely the fact that" after "That,"; to add "certain" after "incidents of"; to add "and unjust" after "other unfair"; to add "to enhance consumers' rights to knowledge, choice and protection" after "consumer protection regime"; to delete "and fair" after "transparent" and substitute with ", fair and just"; to delete "to introduce legislative amendments to enhance the regulation of multi-level marketing" after "(e)" and substitute with "while stepping up supervision, publicity and education to promote legal and proper marketing, to expeditiously amend the Pyramid Selling Prohibition Ordinance (Cap. 355) to combat and eliminate all types of fraudulent multi-level marketing practices"; to delete "and" after "unscrupulous traders when required;"; to add "and unjust" after "regulate unfair"; and to add "; and (h) to further increase publicity and education on protection of consumers' rights to raise consumers' alertness; to foster transparency of information on sales of commodities and services on all fronts, so as to enhance consumers' rights to knowledge, choice and protection" immediately before the full stop.
| | (ii) | Dr Hon Samson TAM to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To add "as" after "That,"; to add "some" after "incidents of"; to delete "the" after "writing" and substitute with "or by electronic means a notice of"; to delete "a signed" after "effective upon"; and to delete "terms and conditions of services and charges are transparent and fair" after "marketing practices," and substitute with "services and charging clauses etc. can protect consumers' rights".
| | (iii) | Hon Fred LI to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To add "as the existing legislation on protection of consumers' interests is not comprehensive," after "That,"; to delete "," after "recent years" and substitute with "; when shops having received prepaid service fees close down, it is often impossible for the consumers to recover the prepayments,"; to add "by amending and enacting legislation" after "establish a comprehensive consumer protection regime"; to add "(a) to expeditiously amend the Trade Descriptions Ordinance to extend the prohibition of making false or misleading descriptions in the course of trade to services; (b) to enact legislation which stipulates that traders who do not provide services after receiving prepaid service fees will be subject to criminal prosecution, so as to protect consumers' interests;" after "including:"; to delete the original "(a)" and substitute with "(c)"; to add "by legislation" before "a cooling-off period"; to add ", such as telecommunication, beauty care and slimming services," after "other pre-paid services"; to delete "signing an agreement to purchase" after "specified period after" and substitute with "making prepayments for"; to add "or undertake any other responsibilities" after "fees or charges"; to delete "(b) to require traders to issue in writing the terms and conditions within a specified period for any service agreement reached verbally through on-street promotion or over the telephone, and that the agreement will only be effective upon a signed confirmation by the consumer; (c)" before "to monitor" and substitute with "(d)"; to delete the original "(d)" and substitute with "(e)"; to delete the original "(e)" and substitute with "(f)"; to delete the original "(f)" and substitute with "(g)"; to delete "consumers whose interests are undermined" after "proctor for" and substitute with "the relevant consumers"; to add "the" after "compensation from"; to delete "when required" after "unscrupulous traders" and substitute with "concerned when significant public interests or the interests of a large number of consumers are undermined"; to delete the original "(g)" and substitute with "(h)"; and to delete "administrative and" after "to confer".
| | (iv) | Hon Vincent FANG to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To add "as" after "That,"; to add "some unscrupulous" after "incidents of"; to delete ", and many people consider" after "interests of consumers" and substitute with "and damaging Hong Kong's reputation as a shopping paradise and affecting an absolutely large majority of the traders who conduct business honestly in the market, as well as giving rise to views"; to delete "establish a comprehensive consumer protection regime, including" after "this Council urges the Government to" and substitute with "comprehensively review the existing system, enhance measures to severely punish unscrupulous traders and actively consider the following measures to enhance protection of consumers' legitimate interests while maintaining a reasonable business environment"; to add "only where it is fully justified," after "(a)"; to delete "involving membership, package tickets and other pre-paid services" before "to allow consumers"; to add "and under reasonable circumstances" after "agreements within a specified period"; to add "additional" after "without having to pay any"; to add "or other forms of" after "effective upon a signed"; to delete "extend the scope of the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Ordinance to include" after "(d) to" and substitute with "appropriately regulate"; to delete "and require the caller to stop all marketing activities immediately upon a roaming signal coming from the telephone of the receiver" after "commercial telemarketing calls," and substitute with "such as designating prefix for those calls so that people can identify them readily and decide whether or not to answer them"; to add "(f) to perfect the mechanism of publishing the list of unscrupulous traders to enhance protection for consumers;" after "multi-level marketing;"; to delete "(f)" before "to empower" and substitute with "(g) to review the role and functions of the Consumer Council, including the need"; to delete the original "(g)" and substitute with "(h)"; to add "expeditiously review the existing relevant legislation on protection of consumers' interests to plug the loopholes in provisions under such legislation, and when necessary," before "formulate"; to delete "to plug the loopholes arising from the existing fragmented and discordant legislation, and" after "comprehensive Consumer Interests Protection Ordinance"; and to delete "confer administrative and law enforcement powers under the Ordinance to the Consumer Council, or" after "the Consumer Interests Protection Ordinance, to" and substitute with "examine the need to".
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Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development
- Promoting the sports development in Hong Kong
Hon IP Kwok-him to move the following motion: (Translation)
That the East Asian Games has been successfully completed, and with the support of the community as well as the strenuous effort of the athletes, Hong Kong players have achieved outstanding performance and won high praise; in order to further enhance the standard of local sports and promote the sports development in Hong Kong, this Council urges the Government to:
| (a) | review the existing scoring mechanism for the elite training programmes, and actively consider including team sports with development potentials in such programmes;
| | (b) | encourage the Hong Kong Jockey Club to put in more resources to support the development of local football;
| | (c) | examine the effectiveness of the various existing funding schemes, and increase the funding amounts according to actual needs;
| | (d) | improve the hardware facilities for various sports activities and expeditiously carry out the multi-purpose stadium complex project in the Kai Tak Development Area, so as to provide better support for sports development;
| | (e) | formulate a specific policy to improve the treatment of athletes and their career development after retirement;
| | (f) | draw reference from the Mainland and overseas experience to encourage the business sector to take part in the funding of sports;
| | (g) | step up effort in motivating schools, the general public and enterprises to attach importance to sports, promote sports for all, and create a competition atmosphere among district sports teams, so as to increase public participation and community cohesion;
| | (h) | strengthen collaboration and exchanges with the Mainland to enhance the standard of local sports; and
| | (i) | actively consider bidding to host the 18th Asian Games in 2019.
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| Amendments to the motion
| | (i) | Hon LEE Wing-tat to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To add "the sports development in Hong Kong has long been neglected, but" after "That"; to add "still" after "Hong Kong players have"; to delete "with" after "team sports" and substitute with "which are popular among the public and have"; to add "take the lead in providing additional funding and" after "(b)"; to add "(c) allocate funding to directly support the football academy at Tseung Kwan O, and provide adequate funding to maintain and develop football representative teams of different age groups; (d) provide sufficient training venues for various First Division football clubs and consider waiving their venue rental;" after "local football;"; to delete the original "(c)" and substitute with "(e)"; to delete the original "(d)" and substitute with "(f)"; to delete the original "(e)" and substitute with "(g)"; to delete the original "(f)" and substitute with "(h)"; to delete the original "(g)" and substitute with "(i)"; to delete the original "(h)" and substitute with "(j)"; and to delete the original "(i)" and substitute with "(k)".
| | (ii) | Hon Tanya CHAN to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To add ", although" after "That"; to add "it is disappointing that there were numerous omissions in the whole preparation process, and the development of sports culture in Hong Kong is still at its initial stage;" after "completed,"; to add "time and again" after "Hong Kong players have"; to add "in major international competitions" after "outstanding performance"; to add "and to nurture more people to participate in sports through different means and develop a local sports culture," after "development in Hong Kong,"; to add "increase funding for sports development, and" after "(b)"; to add "as well as other organizations" after "the Hong Kong Jockey Club"; to add "and other sports" after "local football"; to add "increase and" after "(d)"; to add "in various districts" after "sports activities"; to delete "and" after "the Mainland to enhance the standard of local sports;"; and to delete "actively consider bidding to host the 18th Asian Games in 2019" immediately before the full stop and substitute with "review the structure and management mechanism of the Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China and various national sports associations, so as to further improve the governance standard of these organizations; and (j) review the existing sports policy for disabled persons in an indiscriminate manner, so as to ensure that the policy is in line with that for able-bodied athletes".
| | (iii) | Hon Paul CHAN to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To add "however, the resources allocated to local sports by the Government are claimed to be inadequate, and" after "high praise;"; to add "review the adequacy of resources currently allocated to sports," after "(c)"; to delete "increase the funding amounts according to actual needs;" after "funding schemes, and" and substitute with "enhance the transparency of the funding policy and the funding approval process; (d) assist various national sports associations in enhancing their discipline in corporate governance, accounting and compliance with rules and regulations, so as to ensure that the resources allocated to them are utilized in a proper and effective manner; "; to delete the original "(d)" and substitute with "(e)"; to delete the original "(e)" and substitute with "(f)"; to delete the original "(f)" and substitute with "(g)"; to delete the original "(g)" and substitute with "(h)"; to delete the original "(h)" and substitute with "(i)"; and to delete the original "(i)" and substitute with "(j)".
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Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Home Affairs
Clerk to the Legislative Council
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