 |
A 09/10-31
Legislative Council
Agenda
Wednesday 9 June 2010 at 11:00 am
I. Tabling of Papers
| Subsidiary Legislation / Instruments | L.N. No.
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|---|
| 1. | Country Parks (Designation) (Consolidation) (Amendment) Order 2010 | 72/2010
| | 2. | Declaration of Increase in Pensions Notice 2010 | 73/2010
| | 3. | Widows and Orphans Pension (Increase) Notice 2010 | 74/2010
| | 4. | Employees Retraining Ordinance (Amendment of Schedule 2) Notice 2010 | 75/2010
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Other Papers
| 1. | No. 98 | - | Broadcasting Authority Annual Report 2008-2009
| (to be presented by the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development)
| | 2. | Report No. 13/09-10 of the House Committee on Consideration of Subsidiary Legislation and Other Instruments
| (to be presented by Hon Miriam LAU, Chairman of the House Committee)
| | 3. | Report of the Bills Committee on Inland Revenue (Amendment) Bill 2010
| | (to be presented by Hon CHAN Kam-lam, Chairman of the Bills Committee)
|
II. Questions
1. Hon Mrs Regina IP to ask: (Translation)
The Government has indicated that it will actively develop self-financing universities to address the shortage of post-secondary places and six sites, including a site of over 100 000 square metres at the former Queen Hill's Camp, have been reserved for this purpose. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the assessment and vetting procedure required for education institutions to be recognized as universities;
| | (b) | given that it took Shue Yan College more than 10 years from application to being upgraded as a university, whether a similar duration is required for vetting and approving applications made by other education institutions; if so, of the measures adopted by the authorities for guaranteeing the standard and quality of the universities when education institutions and school sponsoring bodies request to shorten the time for vetting and approving their applications; and
| | (c) | given that the Government has indicated that the development at the Lok Ma Chau Loop ("the Loop") will focus on higher education, whether the higher education to be developed in that area will operate in a self-financing or publicly-funded mode, and how many school places will be offered; whether it has considered if using all the six reserved sites and the Loop for the development of higher education will lead to an oversupply of school places; what plan the authorities have to prevent the problem, as well as how they will coordinate the use of such sites?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education
2. Hon LEUNG Kwok-hung to ask: (Translation)
I have received complaints from quite a number of elderly people and organizations that there is currently an acute shortfall in the supply of subsidized places in the nursing homes ("NHs") and care-and-attention ("C&A") homes for the elderly, resulting in quite a long waiting time for such places. As at 30 April this year, there were 19 577 and 6 257 people waiting for these two categories of places respectively, while the ancillary facilities provided by the C&A homes participating in the Enhanced Bought Place Scheme and other private homes are unable to meet the demand of some elderly people for a high level of care. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the respective numbers of elderly people who died while waiting for subsidized places in NHs and C&A homes last year;
| | (b) | how the additional subsidized places in NHs and C&A homes to be provided by the Government in the next three years can improve the current queuing situation and reduce the number of elderly people who die while waiting for the places; whether the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, a Principal Official under the Accountability System, will resign on account of the problem that some elderly people died while waiting for subsidized residential care places for the elderly; if so, when he will resign; if not, of the reasons for that; and
| | (c) | whether the Government will reconsider "fully subsidizing" "all" subsidized NHs and C&A homes currently located in detached buildings to build additional storeys, setting aside the first to fourth floors of all newly completed public housing blocks, and "fully subsidizing" non-governmental organizations ("NGOs") to build subsidized NHs and C&A homes, so as to shorten the current waiting time for such places, as well as immediately allocating government premises which are currently vacant (including the premises owned under the title of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region or the Financial Secretary Incorporated) and government lands for the provision of NHs and C&A homes, and "fully subsidizing" NGOs to convert the buildings into subsidized NHs or C&A homes or build such homes, so as to optimize the use of land, increase the supply of NH and C&A places, create job opportunities and alleviate the queuing situation for the places; if so, whether it will be implemented in the next three years; if not, of the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Labour and Welfare
3. Hon Tanya CHAN to ask: (Translation)
The Government has recently launched a massive publicity and promotional campaign, including advertising on television, radio, newspapers, bodies of public transportation vehicles or in transport stations, to call on the public to support the package of proposals on the methods for selecting the Chief Executive and for forming the Legislative Council in 2012 ("the 2012 constitutional package"). In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the estimated expenditure for the publicity and promotion of the 2012 constitutional package conducted by the Government, together with a breakdown by publicity item;
| | (b) | whether it has assessed if the video and audio publicity messages on the 2012 constitutional package broadcast in electronic media are political advertisements, or rather public information generally broadcast during the airtime for publicity messages; if the assessment outcome is that they are not political advertisements, of the justifications for that; if the assessment outcome is that they are, and given that there are restrictions imposed by the Broadcasting Ordinance on the broadcasting of political advertisements on radio and television at present, whether the Government had consulted the Broadcasting Authority ("BA") before releasing such advertisements, and what the outcome of such consultation is; if BA had not been consulted, of the reasons for that; and
| | (c) | given that the publicity materials for the Legislative Council by-election for the five geographical constituencies held earlier did not encourage the public to vote, but the publicity materials for the 2012 constitutional package called on the public to support the package, of the criteria based on which the Government decided to adopt the aforesaid completely different approaches; whether the Government will continue to conduct political publicity using the airtime for publicity messages; if it will, of the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs
4. Hon WONG Kwok-kin to ask: (Translation)
This Council enacted the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes (Amendment) Ordinance 2009 last year, which, among other things, allows employees to transfer accrued benefits derived from their personal contributions from an account under a Mandatory Provident Fund ("MPF") scheme on a lump-sum basis to another MPF scheme of their own choice once a year. The Amendment Ordinance is scheduled to come into operation in early 2011. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | given that financial institutions will introduce various kinds of investment products upon the implementation of the aforesaid Amendment Ordinance, whether the authorities plan to strengthen the regulation of MPF investment products, so as to avoid employees from being misled into choosing high-risk investment products (such as leveraged derivatives); if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
| | (b) | given that with the enactment of the aforesaid Amendment Ordinance, the number of MPF intermediaries (including corporate and individual intermediaries) reached 27 795 on 30 April this year, how the authorities will effectively regulate the selling of products by intermediaries; and
| | (c) | whether the Government will, upon the implementation of the aforesaid Amendment Ordinance, provide appropriate support and complementary measures for employees and, through publicity and education, enable them to transfer their MPF contributions according to their individual risk tolerance level; if it 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
5. Hon Albert HO to ask: (Translation)
The Executive Authorities will soon present the motions on the methods for selecting the Chief Executive ("CE") and for forming the Legislative Council in 2012 to this Council for voting. In this connection, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council whether they have assessed, in the event that the motions are negatived, if CE needs to:
| (a) | take the blame and resign to shoulder the political responsibility; or
| | (b) | dissolve this Council under Article 50 of the Basic Law; if the assessment outcome is that there is no need to dissolve this Council, of the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs
6. Hon Andrew CHENG to ask: (Translation)
The MTR Corporation Limited ("MTRCL") will increase its fares by 2.05% on average with effect from 13 June this year. Regarding the fares and station facilities of MTRCL, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | given that MTRCL had earned a net profit of over $72,200 million in the past decade, whether the Government will immediately study the allocation of the revenue from dividends distributed by MTRCL to the Government annually to establish a fund to stabilize train fares, so as to relieve the burden on members of the public; if it will, of the details and the work timetable; if not, the reasons for that; whether it knows if MTRCL will introduce Day Pass, Weekly Pass and Monthly Pass schemes for all railway lines; if so, of the details and the implementation timetable; if not, the reasons for that;
| | (b) | given that after the fare increase, there will be situations in which "Octopus fares will be higher than single journey ticket fares" for individual journeys, whether the Government knows the route combinations in which such situations will occur and their details; whether MTRCL has any solution; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; whether such situations are contradictory to the original intent of setting up the Octopus Card Payment System; and
| | (c) | whether it knows if MTRCL will cancel the extra charge of $0.1 for each Octopus journey for the retrofitting of platform screen doors; if it will, of the details and the timetable; if not, the reasons for that; of MTRCL's progress and expected completion date of collating and analyzing the test data of the trial of the mechanical gap filler system; what method MTRCL has to prevent the recurrence of accidents of passengers falling onto rail tracks at those stations which have not yet installed platform screen doors or automatic platform gates; whether MTRCL has further plans to provide toilets at the various stations; if so, of the details and the timetable; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport and Housing
*7. Hon LEUNG Yiu-chung to ask: (Translation)
It has been learnt that the Government will conduct, within this year, a review of the Mandatory Provident Fund ("MPF") system, which has already been implemented for almost 10 years. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the specific areas, contents and timetable of the aforesaid review;
| | (b) | which bureau and government department are responsible for coordinating the aforesaid review; of the role of the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority in the aforesaid review; and
| | (c) | whether it will, when conducting the aforesaid review, collect the views of the public and organizations; if it will, of the means and channels used to collect views; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
*8. Hon WONG Kwok-hing to ask: (Translation)
The Financial Secretary indicated in his Budget Speech of this year that, the Working Group on Primary Care, chaired by the Secretary for Food and Health ("SFH"), has put forward a number of proposals to strengthen primary care services, which include proposals on enhancing primary dental services and oral health promotion programmes, particularly those for the elderly. SFH has also indicated that there is a plan to allocate $21 million for the enhancement of services provided under the dental care scheme for the elderly in need. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the latest progress of the aforesaid scheme and when the details of the scheme will be announced (including the expected number of elderly people to be provided with the services, the scope of services and eligibility criteria of the participants for the scheme);
| | (b) | whether the aforesaid scheme will involve public-private partnership; if so, of the details, and how the authorities will, in implementing the public-private-partnership scheme, monitor the fees charged by private healthcare institutions, so as to ensure that such charges are set at reasonable levels and thereby safeguard the interests of members of the public; and
| | (c) | given that there have been comments that the utilization rates of the Elderly Health Care Voucher Pilot Scheme have been on the low side because the age requirement set for eligible elderly recipients is too high and the amount of subsidy is too small, hence failing to achieve the expected result, whether the authorities will draw on the experience gained and set a lower age requirement for eligible elderly recipients as well as a higher level of subsidy amount when launching the aforesaid scheme, so as to benefit more elderly people?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health
*9. Hon LI Fung-ying to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that following the resignation of the former Commissioner for Tourism ("former Commissioner") in December last year, the Civil Service Bureau soon gave permission, after imposing conditions to disallow her participation in the expansion project of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre ("HKCEC") within one year etc., for her to take up the post of Deputy Executive Director of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council ("HKTDC") in April this year. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the details of the measure restricting the former Commissioner from participating in the expansion project of HKCEC within one year; the reasons for adopting the measure; whether the Government has imposed other restrictions on her application for taking up post-service employment, as well as details of such restrictions;
| | (b) | whether the Government has any measure to ensure that upon the expiry of the one-year restriction period, the former Commissioner will not participate or be engaged in any work of HKTDC that has actual or potential conflict of interest with her previous service in the Government, in order to avoid negative public perception, which will embarrass the Government and tarnish the image of civil servants; if so, of the details of such measures; if not, the reasons for that; and
| | (c) | given that it has been reported that the former Commissioner had given up part of her paid leave accumulated during her service in the Government in order to assume office as early as possible, making it necessary for HKTDC to make pecuniary compensation to her, whether the Government knows the amount of the compensation, the nature of such expense and whether it was paid out of the funds allocated by the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Civil Service
*10. Hon Paul CHAN to ask: (Translation)
In reply to my question on the estimates of expenditure of this year, the Government indicated that the expenditure for all e-learning programmes (including Internet-related training) in 2009-2010 was about $3 million. It has been learnt that the sum was mainly spent on the Cyber Learning Centre Plus, a web-based self-learning portal for civil servants. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the resources allocated by the Government for providing e-learning programmes for civil servants in the past five years, as well as a tabulation, of the name, content, number of persons enrolled, number of persons who completed the programme, number of persons who were awarded the certificate of attendance and number of view rates in respect of each of the programmes organized;
| | (b) | which ranks and grades of civil servants are required to enrol in e-learning programmes, and the number of civil servants involved; whether any user target has been set for e-learning programmes, so as to ensure that a certain number of civil servants will receive training; and
| | (c) | apart from the aforesaid programmes, what other programmes on Internet technology application are provided by the Government for civil servants, the resources involved and how it assesses the cost effectiveness of such resources?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Civil Service
*11. Hon WONG Sing-chi to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the regulation of football betting after its authorization, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council:
| (a) | whether they know the current number of off-course betting branches operated by the Hong Kong Jockey Club ("HKJC") in which television sets have been installed for live telecast of football matches; whether matches of the 2010 World Cup or other football matches will be telecast live in HKJC betting branches; if so, how HKJC ensures that young people who stand outside such branches watching the matches will not be influenced by gambling information;
| | (b) | whether they know if HKJC will consider making reference to the practice adopted at the betting branch in Yat Tung Shopping Centre of Tung Chung and covering all external walls of its betting branches with posters, or requiring all television sets installed in its betting branches to be located at such places where on-lookers will not be able to watch the telecast from outside the branches, so as to avoid young people from gaining access to gambling information while watching football matches outside betting branches;
| | (c) | whether they know the number of additional pari-mutuel betting and bet types introduced by HKJC for the 2010 World Cup as compared with those of the 2006 World Cup; of the estimated proceeds to be generated from such new bet types; and whether the Government has examined how HKJC can be effectively regulated so that it will not continue to introduce new pari-mutuel betting and bet types in an attempt to boost betting turnover;
| | (d) | of the respective amounts of funding earmarked by the Ping Wo Fund for launching front-line publicity and enhancing gambling counselling services during the 2010 World Cup, so as to alleviate the adverse effects of football betting;
| | (e) | what measures the Government has to avoid mingling of football betting information by the media with world football news which is popular with young people, so that newspaper sports columns will not turn into football betting pages; and
| | (f) | given that quite a number of additional bet types have been introduced by HKJC for football betting, whether prior approval has been sought from the Government in this regard; what measures the Government has to deter gambling; and how the Betting and Lotteries Commission will tackle the problem of rampant gambling?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs
*12. Hon James TO to ask: (Translation)
The Government has enhanced greening in recent years. Apart from formulating Greening Master Plans ("GMPs") for various districts, the Government also submitted a paper to the Panel on Development of this Council at its meeting on 18 December 2007 to seek the views of this Council on the way forward in greening. Yet, in its recent reply to my enquiry, the Government indicated that the greening works under the GMPs for Yau Ma Tei and Mong Kok districts had been completed at the end of last year, but the two greening works at Argyle Street and Shanghai Street had been cancelled due to "some unforeseeable difficulties encountered during the construction stage" and "the strong opposition from the stakeholders and shop tenants in the district" respectively. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | given that in formulating GMPs, the Government appoints consultants to conduct technical studies and holds a number of district consultation meetings to collect public views, whether the Government has assessed the reasons why it was not until the construction stage that the aforesaid greening works were forced to be cancelled; if an assessment has been made, of the outcome;
| | (b) | among the greening works implemented under GMPs, apart from the two aforesaid greening works, of the number of those which were cancelled during construction, together with the locations and information on the original designs of such works;
| | (c) | whether there is any objective indicator (such as the number of plants planted or the size of the greening area) for assessing if the works under GMPs for various districts have been completed as planned; if there are such indicators, of the outcome of the Government's assessment of the works under various GMPs; if not, how the Government conducts its assessment;
| | (d) | given that the Government had indicated at the aforesaid meeting that it would continue to explore opportunities for collaboration with quasi-government bodies and the private sector to promote greening, among the completed works under GMPs, how many were completed by the Government in collaboration with quasi-government bodies or the private sector, together with the locations and contents of such works;
| | (e) | given that the Government had indicated at the aforesaid meeting that the authorities were developing quality parks and open spaces, had embarked on a number of pilot schemes on vertical greening and were pursuing new techniques in greening, of the progress of each of the schemes and initiatives; and
| | (f) | apart from continuing to promote rooftop greening and green buildings, what new strategies the Government has to promote urban greening?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Development
*13. Hon LAU Kong-wah to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that another fatal accident occurred again recently at the crossroads at the junction of Tai Chung Kiu Road and Sha Tin Wai Road in Sha Tin, where a number of traffic accidents had occurred before, and after the accident, the Police and the Transport Department ("TD") held different views as to whether the location was a traffic accident black spot. There was a red light camera ("RLC"), commonly known as "pigeon cage", installed at the accident location, but it was removed by the authorities when road widening works were conducted last July. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the reasons why the authorities removed the aforesaid RLC; why they have not reinstalled a camera at the location since then; and whether they will reinstall it;
| | (b) | of the numbers of traffic accident black spots and potential black spots in Hong Kong in the past three years and their district distribution; whether the Police and TD will standardize the criteria for defining traffic accident black spots, so as to facilitate the coordination of efforts in preventing traffic accidents;
| | (c) | of the respective numbers of locations installed with speed enforcement camera ("SEC") housings and RLCs in the past three years and their distribution and, among such devices, the respective numbers of those installed at traffic accident black spots and potential black spots as well as those having been removed subsequently;
| | (d) | of the criteria for determining locations for installing SEC housings and RLCs, as well as the criteria for removing them; and
| | (e) | whether the authorities will consider installing more SEC housings and RLCs at traffic accident black spots and potential black spots; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport and Housing
*14. Hon IP Wai-ming to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that through the Government's mediation, three television broadcasters, namely Hong Kong Cable Television Limited, Television Broadcasts Limited and Asia Television Limited, have earlier reached an agreement on the television coverage of the 2010 World Cup, under which the World Cup's four core matches, highlights of matches and special programmes are arranged to be broadcast on digital terrestrial television ("DTT") channels of the two free television broadcasters. The agreement has made it difficult for the grassroots who do not have television sets with built-in DTT decoders or DTT set-top boxes to watch this once-every-four-year football event free of charge. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | during the discussions with the aforesaid three broadcasters, whether the authorities had clearly requested that, under the premise of public interest, the broadcasters should broadcast the matches concerned on their free television channels with the widest coverage, in order to allow all people of Hong Kong to watch the matches; if they had, of their co-ordination efforts made, and whether they have considered broadcasting the World Cup's core matches and highlights of matches during the television and radio airtime of Radio Television Hong Kong ("RTHK") and on RTHK's Internet platform;
| | (b) | whether the authorities will consider opening the Government's indoor complexes and community centres for broadcasting the matches so that the grassroots who do not have digital television services may watch the matches free of charge; if they will not, of the reasons for that; and
| | (c) | given that there have been comments that an increasing number of exclusive broadcasting rights of large-scale international sports matches and sports games are successfully bid by pay television broadcasters, making it difficult for the grassroots to watch the matches and for the related sports to be promoted and become popular, whether the authorities will consider taking measures to ensure that all Hong Kong people can watch such large-scale international sports matches, so as to avoid recurrence of disputes similar to that arising from the broadcasting of the World Cup?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development
*15. Dr Hon PAN Pey-chyou to ask: (Translation)
The Medical Council of Hong Kong ("MCHK") has indicated that all medical graduates who wish to register as medical practitioners with MCHK, other than graduates of the University of Hong Kong and The Chinese University of Hong Kong, are required to pass MCHK's Licensing Examination and successfully complete a period of pre-registration internship training and assessment in approved hospitals or institutions. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council of:
| (a) | the number of candidates who sat the Licensing Examination last year and, among them, the number of those who passed the examination;
| | (b) | the five countries or regions where most of the candidates, who sat and passed the Licensing Examination in each of the past three years, had completed their medical undergraduate education, as well as their percentages in the total numbers of candidates (set out in the table below); and
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Candidates who sat
the Licensing Examination |
Candidates who passed
the Licensing Examination |
| Country or region where the most candidates completed their medical undergraduate education |
Percentage in the total number of candidates |
Country or region where the most candidates completed their medical undergraduate education |
Percentage in the total number of candidates |
| (Year) |
1. |
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2. |
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3. |
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4. |
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5. |
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| | (c) | the respective numbers and percentages of medical graduates of mainland universities and mainland qualified doctors among the candidates who sat and passed the Licensing Examination in each of the past three years (set out in the table below)?
|
Candidates who sat
the Licensing Examination |
Candidates who passed
the Licensing Examination |
| Number and percentage of medical graduates of mainland universities |
Number and percentage of mainland qualified doctors |
Number and percentage of medical graduates of mainland universities |
Number and percentage of mainland qualified doctors |
| (Year) |
persons ( %) |
persons ( %) |
persons ( %) |
persons ( %) |
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health
*16. Hon Miriam LAU to ask: (Translation)
A fatal traffic accident occurred recently in Sha Tin, in which a public light bus fell into a subway after colliding with a taxi at a crossroads, resulting in one death and six injuries. It has been reported that this traffic accident was suspected to have been caused by red light jumping by either one of the drivers. A red light camera ("RLC") was once installed at the crossroads, but was removed more than two years ago allegedly due to the location not meeting the criteria for installing RLCs. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the number of traffic accidents caused by red light jumping in the past five years and, among such accidents, the number of those which occurred at crossroads or traffic accident black spots, the types and number of vehicles involved as well as the resultant casualties;
| | (b) | of the number of RLCs which were removed in the past five years because the installation locations concerned did not meet the installation criteria, as well as the number of proposals or plans for installing RLCs which were rejected or aborted because the suggested locations did not meet the installation criteria, and the number of cameras involved; among those locations which did not meet the installation criteria, the number of those which were crossroads or traffic accident black spots; when it is not possible to install RLCs, what remedial measures the authorities have to combat speeding and red light jumping by vehicles, in particular late at night and early in the morning; and
| | (c) | focusing on the safety at crossroads, whether the authorities will carry out territory-wide site inspections, and in the light of actual road and traffic conditions, classify different junctions into categories according to their levels of risk and adopt remedial measures accordingly (e.g. erecting more warning signs, adjusting traffic light signal durations and cycle times, as well as installing more RLCs, etc.); if they will, of the details and the timetable; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport and Housing
*17. Hon Abraham SHEK to ask:
It has been reported that there has been a rapid increase in the mainland customers' demand for baby formula in Hong Kong. Such demand resulted in a 10% to 20% shortage in the supply of baby formula in Hong Kong as estimated by the Hong Kong General Chamber of Pharmacy Limited. As such, some parents in Hong Kong have started stockpiling baby formula even though they already have weeks of stock. In this connection, will the Government inform the Council:
| (a) | of the monitoring measures and co-ordination mechanism currently adopted by the authorities to ensure a stable supply of baby formula in Hong Kong;
| | (b) | given that under the short-term food assistance projects funded by the Social Welfare Department, non-governmental organizations which implement the projects provide short-term food assistance including baby formula for target service users, whether the Government has assessed the impact of the aforesaid shortage in the supply of baby formula in Hong Kong on the provision of baby formula to such service users; if an assessment has been made, of the details (including the number of service users affected and the assistance provided to them between 2008 and 2010);
| | (c) | of the maximum quantity of baby formula allowed for travellers in each export clearance for personal effects in Hong Kong at present; and
| | (d) | whether it will consider imposing additional restriction on the quantity of baby formula to be exported from Hong Kong as personal effects; if it will, of the details of the implementation schedule; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health
*18. Hon LEE Wing-tat to ask: (Translation)
Regarding emissions from franchised buses, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether it knows the respective numbers of pre-Euro, Euro I, Euro II, Euro III and Euro IV buses deployed daily on average by each franchised bus company to ply the bus routes passing busy areas (including Hennessy Road, Queensway, Causeway Bay and Yau Tsim Mong District, etc.);
| | (b) | of the current number of buses which are 12 years old or above in the fleets of the various franchised bus companies, with a breakdown by age (one year per group);
| | (c) | whether it had, in the past three years, computed the quantities of various types of air pollutants emitted by franchised buses meeting different emission standards; if it had, of the outcome of computation; and
| | (d) | given that the Government has indicated that it will study the feasibility of designating low emission zones, and when it considers restricting the entry of franchised buses with higher emissions into these zones, it will also study the impact of such restriction on the overall road transport, public transport services, passengers as well as areas outside the restricted zones, of the current progress of various items of the study, as well as its details and the completion timetable?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment
*19. Dr Hon LAM Tai-fai to ask: (Translation)
At the meeting of this Council on 21 April this year, the Financial Secretary announced that the application period for the Special Loan Guarantee Scheme ("SpGS") would be extended for the last time for another six months until 31 December this year. Subsequently, the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development said publicly in May that after the expiry of SpGS at the end of this year, the Government will review how the existing SME Loan Guarantee Scheme can be improved and introduce new schemes to provide assistance for small and medium enterprises ("SMEs"). Regarding the assistance for SMEs, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of SpGS's actual default rate and number of enterprises involved in default claims at present, as well as their types of businesses;
| | (b) | whether it has assessed the impact of the European debt crisis, foreign exchange pressure and the increase in uncertainties in external markets in recent months on SMEs in Hong Kong in aspects such as receiving orders and collecting payments; if an assessment has been made, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; whether the Government will, in response to changes in actual market conditions, change its decision of not extending SpGS after its expiry at the end of this year;
| | (c) | whether it has assessed if the banks will once again tighten their credits for SMEs, resulting in their having problems in financing, when SpGS expires at the end of this year, as well as the impact of not extending the application period for SpGS on the revolving credit line arranged by banks for SMEs which at present have been granted loans; if an assessment has been made, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
| | (d) | whether it has assessed if the institutions providing similar schemes under the existing market system or a new intermediary institution to be established can replace the role of guarantor played by the Government under SpGS; if an assessment has been made, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
| | (e) | whether it has drawn up a timetable for introducing new schemes or measures to provide assistance for SMEs in the future; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
| | (f) | how it ensures that the new schemes or measures for providing assistance for SMEs can maintain continuity with SpGS and meet the actual needs of SMEs?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development
*20. Hon CHEUNG Kwok-che to ask: (Translation)
The Lump Sum Grant Subvention System has been implemented since January 2001. Under the System, the staff salary structures of some subvented non-governmental welfare organizations ("subvented NGOs") have been delinked from those of the civil service. I have received complaints that despite the continuous downward adjustments in the overall remuneration of staff in subvented NGOs in the past few years, the salaries of the management staff in certain NGOs have increased instead. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the 10 subvented NGOs which were allocated the highest amounts of subventions in each of the past two financial years, and whether it knows the respective annual salaries of the five staff members of each of such NGOs who had the highest annual salaries in the relevant year;
| | (b) | whether, apart from developing a Best Practice Manual, it will reconsider taking other measures to prevent subvented NGOs from adopting a salary structure which rewards the upper-ranked staff generously but gives the lower-ranked staff a niggardly pay; if it will, of the details of such measures; and
| | (c) | whether the Social Welfare Department will require the subvented NGOs to provide information on their staff salary structures and make public such information; if it will not, of the reasons for that?
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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) Bill 2010 | : | Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
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IV. Motions
| 1. | Proposed resolution under Article 73(7) of the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China and section 7A of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal Ordinance
The Chief Secretary for Administration to move the following motion:
RESOLVED that the appointment of the Honourable Mr. Justice Geoffrey Ma Tao-li as the Chief Justice of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal pursuant to section 6 of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal Ordinance (Cap. 484) be endorsed.
| | 2. | Proposed resolution under Article 73(7) of the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China and section 7A of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal Ordinance
The Chief Secretary for Administration to move the following motion:
RESOLVED that the appointment of -
| | (a) | the Honourable Mr. Justice Robert Tang Ching;
| | (b) | the Honourable Mr. Justice Frank Stock; and
| | (c) | the Honourable Mr. Justice Michael John Hartmann,
| | as non-permanent Hong Kong judges of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal pursuant to section 8 of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal Ordinance (Cap. 484) be endorsed.
| | 3. | Proposed resolution under the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance
Secretary for Food and Health to move the following motion:
RESOLVED that the following Regulations, made by the Pharmacy and Poisons Board on 19 May 2010, be approved -
| | (a) | the Pharmacy and Poisons (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulation 2010; and
| | (b) | the Poisons List (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulation 2010.
| | (The two Regulations were issued on 24 May 2010
under LC Paper No. CB(3) 717/09-10)
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V. Members' Motions
- Constitutional reform
Hon Ronny TONG to move the following motion: (Translation)
That, as the SAR Government and the Chief Secretary for Administration have repeatedly stated in public that the existing functional constituency elections do not comply with the principle of 'universality' and 'equality', and as universal suffrage models should comply with this fundamental principle and Hong Kong people also hope that discussions on universal suffrage models can commence as soon as possible, this Council urges the Government to proactively motivate various sectors to engage in extensive and in-depth discussions and studies on the selection of the Chief Executive by universal suffrage upon nomination in accordance with 'democratic procedures' as provided under Article 45 of the Basic Law and on the way to deal with the issue of functional constituencies, so as to forge consensus on universal suffrage models and implement dual universal suffrage as early as possible.
| Amendments to the motion
| | (i) | Hon Jeffrey LAM to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To delete ", as the SAR" after "That" and substitute with "the HKSAR"; to delete "," after "as soon as possible" and substitute with ";"; to add "the various political parties and Members of the Legislative Council to support the passage of the 2012 constitutional reform proposals, so as to pave the way for implementing universal suffrage for the Chief Executive in 2017 and subsequently for the Legislative Council; on this basis, this Council proposes that" after "this Council urges" and to delete "to" after "the Government".
| | (ii) | Hon LEUNG Kwok-hung to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To add "that" after "this Council urges"; and to delete "to proactively motivate various sectors to engage in extensive and in-depth discussions and studies on the selection of the Chief Executive by universal suffrage upon nomination in accordance with 'democratic procedures' as provided under Article 45 of the Basic Law and on the way to deal with the issue of functional constituencies, so as to forge consensus on universal suffrage models and implement dual universal suffrage as early as possible" immediately before the full stop and substitute with "must, in respect of the electoral system for the Chief Executive, abolish the existing Election Committee system, so that any eligible person who is nominated (with signatures) by a certain number of registered electors (e.g. 50 000) can stand for the election of the Chief Executive on a one-person-one-vote basis, so as to comply with the principle of all persons having the right to elect and to be elected by universal and equal suffrage; in respect of the electoral system for the Legislative Council, ensure that seats must be returned by universal suffrage while the existing functional constituencies must be abolished and dual universal suffrage be implemented in 2012".
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Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs
- Hong Kong's co-operation with ASEAN region
Hon Andrew LEUNG to move the following motion: (Translation)
That, after the financial tsunami, the focus of global development is shifting from Europe and the United States to Asia, and the economies of the East Asian region are also gradually moving towards integration; Hong Kong is geographically positioned in the core zone between Mainland China and ASEAN, and with the formal launch of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area ('CAFTA'), economic and trade activities in CAFTA will be increasing, which will lead to continuous growth in the demand for capital, logistics and professional services in CAFTA in the future; in this connection, this Council urges the Government to vigorously promote economic and trade collaboration between Hong Kong and ASEAN, so as to capitalize on Hong Kong's advantage in connecting the Mainland, in particular the Pearl River Delta, with ASEAN region.
Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development
Clerk to the Legislative Council
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