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A 10/11-4
Legislative Council
Agenda
Wednesday 27 October at 11:00 am,
Thursday 28 October and Friday 29 October 2010 at 9:00 am on each day
I. Tabling of Papers
| Subsidiary Legislation / Instruments | L.N. No.
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| 1. | Double Haven and Others (Special Areas) Order 2010 | 137/2010
| | 2. | Admission and Registration (Amendment) Rules 2010 (Commencement ) Notice | 138/2010 |
Other Papers
| 1. | No. 14 | - | Construction Workers Registration Authority
Annual Report 2009-10
| (to be presented by the Secretary for Development)
| | 2. | No. 15 | - | Electrical and Mechanical Services Trading Fund
Annual Report 2009/10
| (to be presented by the Secretary for Development)
| | 3. | No. 16 | - | Companies Registry Trading Fund
Annual Report 2009-10
| (to be presented by the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury)
| | 4. | No. 17 | - | Traffic Accident Victims Assistance Fund
Annual Report for the year from 1 April 2009 to 31 March 2010
| (to be presented by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare)
| | 5. | No. 18 | - | Fish Marketing Organization
Audited financial statements and the Auditor's report for the year ended 31 March 2010
| (to be presented by the Secretary for Food and Health)
| | 6. | No. 19 | - | Vegetable Marketing Organization
Audited financial statements and the Auditor's report for the year ended 31 March 2010
| (to be presented by the Secretary for Food and Health)
| | 7. | No. 20 | - | Marine Fish Scholarship Fund
Audited financial statements, the Trustee's report and the Auditor's report for the year ended 31 March 2010
| (to be presented by the Secretary for Food and Health)
| | 8. | No. 21 | - | Agricultural Products Scholarship Fund
Audited financial statements, the Trustee's report and the Auditor's report for the year ended 31 March 2010
| (to be presented by the Secretary for Food and Health)
| | 9. | No. 22 | - | Office of the Telecommunications Authority
Trading Fund Report 2009/10
| (to be presented by the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development)
| | 10. | No. 23 | - | Hong Kong Post Annual Report 2009/10
| | (to be presented by the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development)
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II. Questions for Written Replies
1. Hon Paul TSE to ask: (Translation)
It was reported earlier that a batch of 18 bulldogs were suspected to have been kept for breeding for years in an animal breeding facility and had been abandoned after they were no longer suitable for breeding. As those dogs lacked exercise and were confined in a very crowded environment for a prolonged period, most of them had developed health problems, and several of them had to be euthanized as a result. Regarding the protection of animal rights, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the respective number of complaints received by the Government in each of the past three years that involved suspected illegal breeding of cats and dogs or cruelty to such animals at animal breeding facilities, and among them, the number of complaints in which prosecutions were instituted; if prosecution was not instituted, of the reasons for that;
| | (b) | how the law enforcement departments can effectively invoke the existing relevant animal rights protection legislation to prosecute the responsible persons of the animal breeding facilities or pet shops involved in excessive breeding of cats and dogs as well as cruelty to animals, and to deter such unlawful acts;
| | (c) | whether the authorities had, in past two years, reviewed if the relevant animal rights protection legislation is outdated, so as to ensure the prevention of cruelty to various types of common pets or domestic animals; and
| | (d) | whether the authorities will formulate appropriate measures (e.g. implementing an animal healthcare voucher scheme, etc.) to encourage the public to complement the proposal put forward in the Policy Address delivered by the Chief Executive on the 13th of this month for enhancing adoption services for stray cats and dogs; and give priority to considering solving the problem of stray cats and dogs by arranging adoption services through the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and other voluntary organizations?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health
2. Hon CHEUNG Kwok-che to ask: (Translation)
It has been nearly one year since the Trial Scheme on School Drug Testing in Tai Po District ("drug testing scheme") was launched at the end of last year, and in the course of drug testing conducted by the Student Drug Testing ("SDT") team, project officers from the Home Affairs Department are present on site to observe the drug testing procedures. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the rank and average salary of project officers;
| | (b) | of the details of the work being carried out by project officers when observing on site the drug testing by SDT team and the purpose of their work;
| | (c) | whether project officers may offer on-the-spot comments in the course of drug testing; if they may, of the aspects on which they may comment; whether it has assessed if such comments will affect the professional work and judgment of the social workers and nurses in relation to drug testing procedures; if an assessment has been conducted, of the assessment results; and how it ensures that project officers will not impede the drug testing procedures and interviews when offering on-the-spot comments;
| | (d) | whether project officers possess the professional qualifications of social workers or nurses; and
| | (e) | given that the drug testing scheme will continue to be implemented in this school year, whether the authorities have any plan to change the number of project officers; if they have, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security
3. Hon LEUNG Yiu-chung to ask: (Translation)
Under the Immigration Ordinance (Cap. 115), the Director of Immigration is empowered to exercise, on humanitarian and other grounds, discretion to allow a person without the right of abode in Hong Kong to remain in the territory. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council of:
| (a) | the number of applications received by the Director of Immigration in each of the past five years for the exercise of the aforesaid discretionary power by him, broken down by the reasons for making applications;
| | (b) | the number of cases in which the Director of Immigration exercised discretion to allow the applicants concerned to continue to remain in Hong Kong in each of the past five years, broken down by the reasons for making applications; and
| | (c) | the factors taken into account by the Director of Immigration in exercising the aforesaid discretionary power, and among them, whether the basic human right of family reunion is taken into account?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security
4. Hon Starry LEE to ask: (Translation)
In his 2007-2008 Policy Address, the Chief Executive indicated that the Government would continue to promote the development of social enterprises to foster a new caring culture. Towards this end, the Government has been providing seed capital to various social enterprise projects through the Enhancing Self-Reliance Through District Partnership Programme of the Home Affairs Department, the Enhancing Employment of People with Disabilities through Small Enterprise Project of the Social Welfare Department, the Community Investment and Inclusion Fund of the Labour and Welfare Bureau, and the Revitalising Historic Buildings Through Partnership Scheme of the Development Bureau. There are restrictions on the period of subsidy under each of the aforesaid schemes, and it is emphasized that the enterprises will have to achieve sustainability and financial self-sufficiency at the end of the subsidy period. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the projects awarded, the amounts of subsidy approved and the numbers of jobs created under each of the aforesaid schemes in each of the past three years (list in table form);
| | (b) | of the number of projects under each scheme to which subsidy was granted within the past three years and which could achieve sustainability and financial self-sufficiency at the end of the subsidy period; the number of projects that operated at a loss, the reasons for their losses and the amounts of such losses; the number of projects that have ceased operation at present, and the reasons for their cessation of operation; and
| | (c) | the assistance provided by the Government to the aforesaid projects that had suffered losses and ceased operation?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs
5. Hon Abraham SHEK to ask:
It has been reported that a parents' group has accused the English Schools Foundation ("ESF") of failing to communicate with parents since 2008 before the launch of three major policy initiatives, which include an attempt to change the school calendar, the introduction of a HK$25,000 capital levy and an increase in school fees for the 2010-2011 school year. In this connection, will the Government inform the Council:
| (a) | whether it knows the measures which have been taken by ESF to implement the recommendations to enhance its governance standard made by the Audit Commission at the Report no. 43 of the Director of Audit published in November 2004 concerning the management and operation of ESF, and whether measures taken by ESF to improve communication with parents were included;
| | (b) | whether the factors and principles considered by the Government in approving the fee increase application by ESF include comprehensive consultation by ESF with the stakeholders concerned; if so, of the details; if not, whether the Government will consider requesting ESF to conduct prior consultation with the parents' representatives on the increase in school fees; and
| | (c) | given that it has been reported that the government subsidy of HK$269 million for ESF for the 2009-2010 school year, which is equivalent to 20.6% of its total income, has decreased by 6.4 percentage points as compared with that for the 2000-2001 school year, whether the Government has considered increasing the amount of subsidy to ESF in the next financial year; if so, of the expected amount of increase in the total government expenditure arsing from the increase in such subsidy; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education
6. Dr Hon Samson TAM to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the waiting time for travellers visiting Hong Kong to go through immigration clearance, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the average waiting time for travellers to go through immigration clearance at the Hong Kong International Airport in each of the past six months, and how such figures compare with those of the same period for the past three years;
| | (b) | whether at present there is any difference in the average waiting time for travellers with different types of travel documents or of different nationalities to go through immigration clearance; and
| | (c) | whether the authorities had, in the past two years, studied how the time taken for completing immigration clearance can be shortened by using new technologies; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security
7. Hon Frederick FUNG to ask: (Translation)
It has been learnt that in recent years, exchange-traded funds ("ETFs") have developed rapidly in the financial market in Hong Kong and the trading volumes involved have continued to rise. More than 60 ETFs are currently listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and a majority of ETFs seek to track the movements in indexes, commodities, bonds and currencies, etc. They adopt different replications, and the risks incurred by them also vary. As ETFs which adopt replication strategies operate in the form of investments in derivative instruments, counterparty risks of issuers on derivative instruments and swap traders in respect of their ability to honour contracts are involved, and therefore relatively higher risks are entailed. It has been reported that extremely high risks exist in some ETFs, and earlier on the Securities and Futures Commission has also issued relevant risk warnings. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the current mode and way of regulation on ETFs; whether the authorities have conducted studies, made references to relevant overseas experience and reviewed the current mode of regulation, including examining the adequacy of risk disclosure requirements on ETF issuers and risk awareness of investors, etc., as well as whether the authorities need to strengthen the regulation on such issuers in respect of their operation and collateral requirements; if they have not, of the reasons for that; and
| | (b) | given that it has been reported that in the face of the increasing popularity of ETFs, more complex or leveraged ETFs with higher risks and much wider implications may evolve in future, whether the authorities have assessed the impact of short-term and medium-term ETFs on the overall stability of the financial market and the potential systemic risks in them; whether the authorities have formulated corresponding strategies to reduce the potential risks incurred by the trading of such funds, and avoid the recurrence of the situation similar to "the Lehman Brothers' Minibonds Incident"?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
8. Hon Cyd HO to ask: (Translation)
Regarding cases of family violence handled by the Family Court, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the number of cases of battered spouses handled by the Family Court in each of the past three years, with a breakdown by gender of the battered;
| | (b) | of the number of various custody orders granted for cases of battered spouses involving minor children handled by the Family Court in each of the past three years, with a breakdown by gender of the battered and the batterer using the table below;
| Year | 2007 | 2008 | 2009
| | Gender of the battered/ batterer
| Male | Female | Male | Female | Male | Female
| | Number of cases where the battered was granted child custody
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| | Number of cases where the batterer was granted child custody
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| | Number of cases where joint custody was granted to both parties
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| | Number of cases where neither party was granted child custody
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| | (c) | whether it knows the principles or basis on which the Court grants joint custody orders for battered spouse cases involving child custody, and whether the Court has different factors of consideration in the light of the gender of the battered;
| | (d) | among the cases in (b) where the battered was granted child custody, of the number of cases where child access was granted to the batterer by the Family Court each year, with a breakdown by gender of the batterer;
| | (e) | of the information (using the table below) on the various access arrangements under the child access orders in (d);
| Year | 2007 | 2008 | 2009
| | Gender of the batterer
| Male | Female | Male | Female | Male | Female
| | Number of cases where visits by the batterers were arranged by social workers
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| | Number of cases where visits by the batterers were arranged:
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| | (i) | more than one visit per week
| | (ii) | one visit per week
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| | (iii) | one visit every two weeks
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| | (iv) | one visit per month
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| | (v) | less than one visit per month
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| | (vi) | other visit arrangements
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| | (f) | of the information (using the table below) on the maintenance orders granted for cases involving battered spouses by the Family Court in each of the past three years; and
| Year | 2007 | 2008 | 2009
| | Gender of the battered
| Male | Female | Male | Female | Male | Female
| | Number of cases where the battered applied for maintenance payments
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| | Number of cases where the battered applied for maintenance payments of one dollar
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| | (g) | among the cases in (f), of the number of cases each year involving default in maintenance payments, statistics on cases where legal proceedings have been/are being instituted for recovering maintenance arrears and other relevant statistics (using the table below)?
| Year | 2007 | 2008 | 2009
| | Gender of the maintenance payee
| Male | Female | Male | Female | Male | Female
| | Number of cases where the maintenance payee was defaulted maintenance payments
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| | Number of cases involving a judgment summons hearing
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| | Number of cases where an application was made for an order to attach the maintenance payer's income
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| | Number of attachment of income orders granted
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| | Number of other cases involving "enforcement" proceedings
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Public Officer to reply : The Chief Secretary for Administration
9. Hon WONG Sing-chi to ask: (Translation)
Quite a number of persons with disabilities ("PWDs") and elderly people have relayed to me that the subsidised places in residential care homes for PWDs and residential care homes for the elderly ("RCHEs") are currently inadequate, and the relevant support services provided in the community are also insufficient, resulting in the people in need can receive no services despite years of waiting. In this connection, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council:
| (a) | of the respective number of places and quotas, number of persons on the waiting list and the average waiting time for places and services provided by the various types of subsidized RCHEs, residential care homes for PWDs and Community Care Services for the elderly and PWDs at present, with a breakdown by District Council ("DC") district (list in table form);
| | (b) | of the respective increases in places and quotas planned for the various types of subsidized RCHEs, residential care homes for PWDs and Community Care Services for the elderly and PWDs for the next five years, with a breakdown by DC district (list in table form);
| | (c) | of the quotas for the various support services provided for carers of PWDs and the elderly at present, with a breakdown by DC district (list in table form); and
| | (d) | of the types of assistance currently provided by the Government to the elderly, PWDs and their carers who are waiting for the aforesaid places and services?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Labour and Welfare
10. Hon Audrey EU to ask: (Translation)
Quite a number of music critics have all along criticized that Hong Kong lacks venues for live performance of independent music and open-air concerts, with the result that independent music has failed to develop prosperously, and Hong Kong does not have the conditions for hosting mega events for the music and tourism sectors, such as the Spring Scream Music Festival in Kenting of Taiwan, the Modern Sky Music Festival in Beijing and the Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts in the United Kingdom. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | what measures had been taken in the past three years to solve the problem of inadequate performance venues for independent musicians in Hong Kong;
| | (b) | whether it has assessed if the number of performance venues for independent music has increased or decreased since the implementation of the policy on revitalizing industrial buildings this April; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
| | (c) | whether it has studied if unused government premises can be converted for other uses and leased to independent musicians for use as performance venues; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
| | (d) | whether it had planned in the past three years to provide venues for use as performance venues of large open-air concerts; if it had, of the details; if not, the reasons for that ?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs
11. Hon CHEUNG Hok-ming to ask: (Translation)
It was reported a few months ago that cracks and water seepage were found in the bridge columns supporting the rail tracks of the West Rail Line of the MTR Corporation Limited ("MTRCL"), which had been commissioned for less than seven years. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:
| (a) | MTRCL has conducted a comprehensive and detailed inspection of all the bridge columns for the West Rail viaducts to find out if they are of the same conditions described above; if it has, of the specific inspection results; if not, the reasons for that;
| | (b) | it has assessed the causes for the cracks and water seepage found in those bridge columns, and whether the persistent recurrence of such conditions will affect the structure of these bridge columns; and
| | (c) | it has used ultrasound or other high-tech tools to inspect the corrosion of steel bars in and the concrete density of those problematic bridge columns; if it has, of the results; if not, what methods were adopted by MTRCL for assessing the structural safety of bridge columns?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport and Housing
12. Dr Hon Joseph LEE to ask: (Translation)
At present, contact lenses for vision correction are classified under the law as a medical device and must be prescribed and supplied on prescription by qualified registered professionals, e.g. optometrists or ophthalmologists etc., whereas the sale of non-vision-correction contact lenses (e.g. most of the popular cosmetic contact lenses available on the market) is not covered by the legislation. Nevertheless, using non-vision-correction contact lenses is equally risky, thus it is necessary to conduct a thorough examination of the curvature of the users' eyeballs and the users themselves must know the ways to cleanse and the technique to wear such lenses, or else they may contract eye diseases such as keratitis. Some optometrists have pointed out that inadequate regulation of non-vision-correction contact lenses by the Government at present directly threatens the optical health of the public, who may also neglect the risks of using such lenses as a result. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether the authorities have information on the number of cases in the past three years in which members of the public contracted eye diseases as a result of using non-vision-correction contact lenses and subsequently sought medical treatment from the Hospital Authority; if so, among these cases, of the number of cases which involved contact lenses that were not supplied by qualified registered professionals on prescription; if not, whether the authorities will consider keeping such statistics in future;
| | (b) | whether the Government has information on the number of cases in the past three years in which persons who were not registered professionals supplied contact lenses for vision correction on prescription; if so, whether prosecutions had been instituted, and of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
| | (c) | given that in reply to a question raised by a Member of this Council on 31 January 2007, the former Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food said that legislation would be introduced to classify cosmetic contact lenses as medical devices, of the progress of the work in this regard; and
| | (d) | whether the Government will step up public education and publicity on correct usage of contact lenses, so as to enhance the public's knowledge of using such lenses; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health
13. Hon Albert CHAN to ask: (Translation)
Recently, quite a number of members of the public have relayed to me that the organ donation web site of the Department of Health only provides the annual number of organ donation without regularly showing the number of new registrants for organ donation, making it difficult for members of the public to assess the effectiveness of the authorities' campaign to promote organ donation. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the current number of registrants on the Centralized Organ Donation Register ("CODR");
| | (b) | of the respective annual numbers of successful transplant operations involving donated organs conducted in the five years prior to the launch of CODR; and the respective annual numbers of successful transplant operations involving donated organs conducted since the launch of CODR;
| | (c) | of the reasons why all along the number of new registrants for organ donation has not been regularly made public on the organ donation web site; and
| | (d) | whether it will consider regularly publishing the number of new registrants for organ donation; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health
14. Hon Miriam LAU to ask: (Translation)
There have been complaints about the increasing severity of delay of flights to and from the Mainland at the Hong Kong International Airport in recent years, and in particular, the situation is even worse when the weather is unstable. The complaints have also alleged that quite often a flight was informed that it was not cleared for taking off just before it was about to commence its take-off run and thus it had to wait for instructions at the aerodrome, causing the passengers to wait for a long time inside the cabin until the pilot received the take-off advice. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the number of flights to and from the Mainland which used the Hong Kong International Airport in each of the past 12 month, the number of delayed flights among them, the number of affected passengers and the destinations involved in the worst flight delays; whether the duration of such delays has increased as compared with that in the past two years, and of the percentage of increase;
| | (b) | whether the authorities know the causes of such serious flight delays, and whether they have assessed the impact of flight delays on the aviation industry; and
| | (c) | given that some members of the aviation industry have relayed to me that, in addition to a well developed international aviation network, it is very important to maintain punctual flight services to enable Hong Kong to become an international aviation hub, and that with the continuous expansion of Mainland airports, the number of flights to and from the Mainland using the Hong Kong airport is expected to continue to rise in the future, whether the authorities have actively studied improvement plans in relation to the aforesaid problem of flight delays; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport and Housing
15. Hon LEUNG Kwok-hung to ask: (Translation)
After the Secretary for Home Affairs answered my question concerning the operation of the Hong Kong Girl Guides Association ("the Association") on 14 July this year, I have received complaints from parents, members of women groups, Unit guiders and kindergarten teachers that there were serious problems with the Association's management, accounts and use of donations. There were even complaints that after the departure of its Chief Executive in early October this year, the Association had appointed a staff member with only secondary education level to fill the important post of the Chief Executive, which has deviated from the basic academic qualification requirements for heads of statutory bodies in general. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether it knows if the Association will publish the provisions of its "Constitution" and "Policy, Organization and Rules" on the Internet to enable members of the public and donors to have a clear understanding of the Association; if it will, when the provisions will be published; if not, the reasons for that;
| | (b) | whether it knows if the incumbent Chief Executive of the Association is a university graduate; if she is, of the university from which she graduated and the year of graduation; if she is not, the reasons for the deviation from the basic academic qualification requirements for heads of statutory bodies in general;
| | (c) | whether it knows the number of girl guides units which received raffle refund from the Association in each of the past two years, broken down by the percentage of refund in the following table;
| 2008-2009
| Percentage of refund
| No of units
| 2009-2010
| Percentage of refund
| No of units
| | The first 500 lottery tickets | 12% |
| The first 500 lottery tickets | 13% |
| | The 501st to 1 000th lottery tickets | 15% |
| The 501st to 1 000th lottery tickets | 15% |
| | The 1 001st to 2 500th lottery tickets | 25% |
| The 1 001st to 2 500th lottery tickets | 25% |
| | The 2 501st to 3 500th lottery tickets | 35% |
| The 2 501st to 3 500th lottery tickets | 35% |
| | The 3 501st and above lottery tickets | 40% |
| The 3 501st and above lottery tickets | 40% |
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| | (d) | given that the Association had pointed out in its open letter dated 16 September this year that the sale of lottery tickets had been conducted for more than 20 years and the percentage of refund to its units had never been in the region of 50%, whether it knows if it was the case that for each lottery ticket sold at $2 in 1992 and before, $1 was refunded to the units;
| | (e) | given that while the Association had asserted in its open letter dated 16 September this year that its 2009 financial report was open information, quite a number of members of the public have complained to me that the report is not available on the web site of the Association and requests from members of the public for perusal of the report have been rejected by the Association, whether the Government will immediately publish the report submitted by the Association; if it will, when the report will be published and where the report can be obtained; if not, of the reasons for that;
| | (f) | given that one of the objectives of the Girl Guides Enhancement Scheme (Phase V), which is implemented by the Association using grants from the Education Bureau, is to provide subsidies to schools or institutions for purchasing essential materials for the establishment of new units and leadership training, whereas some teachers have complained that while the deadline for application was 31 January 2011, the Association had refused to accept applications from schools in October this year, whether the Government knows the quota for schools or institutions to apply for subsidies under the Scheme, why the Association has refused to accept applications from schools before the deadline for applications, the names of the schools which have submitted applications, and among them, the number of schools which are operated by or whose operation involves the participation of the incumbent Hong Kong Chief Commissioner and her family members, as well as the names of the schools which had received subsidies under the Girl Guides Enhancement Scheme (Phase IV); and
| | (g) | whether it knows the venue of the Association's annual dinner to be held in November this year, the estimated expenses, the number of tables reserved, the necessity of choosing this venue, and whether it is feasible to choose some other venues that will incur lower expenses (e.g. the Association's Headquarters), so that the savings from dinner expenses may be used on the development of girl guides units?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs
16. Hon Emily LAU to ask: (Translation)
In August this year, Ms Amina Mariam BOKHARY was placed on probation for 12 months in a case of assault on police officers, arousing the dissatisfaction of some police organizations and the public that the penalty imposed was too light. Some members of the public even staged processions to complain about miscarriages of justice. Both section 63 of the Police Force Ordinance ("PFO") (Cap. 232) and section 36(b) of the Offences against the Person Ordinance ("OAPO") (Cap. 212) deal with assaults on police officers, but the penalties are different. While on the aforesaid case the Government instituted prosecution by invoking PFO which imposes a lighter penalty, it chose to institute prosecution against protesters alleged to have assaulted police officers by invoking OAPO which imposes a heavier penalty, hence it was criticized as being selective in instituting prosecutions. In this connection, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council:
| (a) | of the respective factors of consideration for choosing which of the aforesaid two Ordinances to invoke to prosecute persons alleged to have assaulted police officers;
| | (b) | of the respective numbers of prosecutions instituted by invoking PFO and OAPO in the past three years for assaults on police officers; and among them, whether OAPO was invoked in all the prosecutions against protesters; and
| | (c) | whether consideration will be given to amending the legislation to stipulate standardized penalties for assaults on police officers?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security
17. Dr Hon LAM Tai-fai to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the depreciation allowances on machinery and plants under section 39E of the Inland Revenue Ordinance (Cap. 112) ("section 39E"), will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | given that in his reply to my question raised at the Chief Executive's Question and Answer Session on 13 July this year, the Chief Executive said that Hong Kong levies tax on a territorial basis, and once any capital or economic activity leaves Hong Kong, it will be dealt with in a different way, which must not contravene the territorial source principle of taxation, whether the authorities can explain this view in detail;
| | (b) | why Hong Kong manufacturers are entitled to depreciation allowances on capital expenditure for their investments in commercial buildings or structures on the Mainland but the machinery or plants installed on the Mainland are not entitled to the same arrangement;
| | (c) | given that in his reply to my question raised on 25 November 2009, the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury indicated that the Government considered that the implementation of section 39E by the Inland Revenue Department ("IRD") was in accordance with the legislation and was supported by case law, whether the view was put forward by the Department of Justice ("DoJ"); if so, of the details, and whether section 39E is applicable to non-tax avoidance circumstances; if not, whether DoJ has been consulted on this, and of the details; apart from the Board of Review case, whether there are other related court cases; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
| | (d) | given that according to the current taxation principles, in calculating taxable income or profits, taxpayers may apply for deductions on "outgoings and expenses, to the extent to which they have been incurred in the production of chargeable profits", and the relevant profits earned by Hong Kong manufacturers from using machinery or plants on the Mainland are regarded as taxable profits in Hong Kong, why Hong Kong manufacturers, under the same principle, are not entitled to depreciation allowances on the machinery or plants concerned;
| | (e) | given that some members of the trade have pointed out that after section 39E was amended in 1992, IRD did not interpret the arrangement under which Hong Kong manufacturers made available their machinery facilities in Hong Kong for use by Mainland outsourced processors free of charge as equivalent to usages under "lease", and did not restrict such Hong Kong manufacturers from being entitled to depreciation allowances on the facilities concerned, and this situation went on until IRD suddenly changed the interpretation of the definition of "lease" in recent years, and withdrew those depreciation allowances granted and recovered taxes from the enterprises concerned, of the reasons for a sudden change in the position of IRD; of the annual number of cases and tax amount involved in the withdrawal by IRD of the depreciation allowances already granted since 2000 (list in table form);
| | (f) | given that the authorities have indicated that in relaxing the restrictions of the anti-avoidance provisions in section 39E, there are practical difficulties in implementation and may lead to tax avoidance loopholes, whether the authorities have encountered difficulties in implementation and tax avoidance loopholes when levying taxes on international trade and economic activities of other nature; if they have, how they coped with such difficulties, and whether the practical difficulties encountered in relaxing section 39E may be coped with in similar ways; if not, of the reasons for that;
| | (g) | given that the authorities have indicated that there are practical difficulties in relaxing the restrictions under section 39E, whether the authorities will explain specifically such practical difficulties in detail, and whether there is evidence to support such views; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
| | (h) | given that some members of the trade have pointed out that IRD has used difficulties in implementation to justify applying the unfair taxation arrangements to persons who have not avoided tax, which violates the legislative intent of section 39E, whether the Government has assessed if there is such an unfair situation at present; if an assessment has been conducted, of the outcome; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
18. Hon KAM Nai-wai to ask: (Translation)
According to the statistics of the Environmental Protection Department ("EPD"), about 3.18 million tonnes of municipal solid waste were recovered in Hong Kong in 2009, and among them, less than 1% was recycled locally and the rest was exported to the Mainland and other countries for recycling. Of the recyclable materials recovered locally, glass materials account for around 3 000 tonnes. Yet, glassware and glass containers have so far not been included in the Recyclables Collection Services currently provided by the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department ("FEHD"). In this regard, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the average percentage of glassware and glass containers in the domestic waste collected each day at present;
| | (b) | whether the Government had, in the past two years, considered including glassware and glass containers in the Recyclables Collection Services of FEHD; if it had, of the implementation timetable; if not, the reasons for that;
| | (c) | whether it has considered extending the Glass Container Recycling Programme launched by EPD to cover all industries and districts in Hong Kong;
| | (d) | of the total number of glass recovery and recycling contractors in Hong Kong at present and the main recycling methods adopted by them;
| | (e) | given that the glass containers collected by some glass recovery and recycling contractors are crushed into glass sand to make works materials for producing eco-blocks for pavements, of the current number of pavements that are paved with recycled eco-blocks in Hong Kong, and among such blocks, the quantity of those which were produced locally; and
| | (f) | whether it will consider providing assistance and incentives for the glass recovery and recycling industry, with a view to increasing the rate of local glass recovery and recycling, thereby reducing the quantity of glassware and glass containers sent to landfills?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment
19. Hon WONG Yuk-man to ask: (Translation)
After visiting a lunar new year fair in Sha Tin on 13 February 2010, the Chief Executive indicated that he was aware that a holiday on Saturday had been arranged to substitute the Lunar New Year's Day holiday of this year, which in effect rendered some members of the public losing one day's holiday, and in order to keep the legislation abreast of the times, the Government was considering amending the legislation to give the substitution of holidays greater flexibility. In addition, some trade union representatives have requested the Government to increase the number of "labour holidays". In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | given that among the general holidays for 2011 promulgated by the Government, the first day of January, the third day of the Lunar New Year, the day following Good Friday and the National Day overlap with a weekend, and the situation of the public losing holidays has not been improved, whether it has assessed if such an arrangement is contradictory to the improvement being considered by the Chief Executive;
| | (b) | given that Monday, 1 October 2012 happens to fall on the 16th day of August on the Chinese lunar calendar, i.e. the National Day overlapping with the day following Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival, whether the authorities will designate 2 October 2012 as an additional general holiday; and
| | (c) | given that the employees of banks, educational establishments, public offices and government departments are entitled to 17 days of "general holidays" every year under the General Holidays Ordinance (Cap. 149) but employees other than those of the aforesaid organizations are entitled to only 12 days of statutory holidays with pay, commonly referred to as "labour holidays" under the Employment Ordinance (Cap. 57), whether the authorities will consider aligning the "labour holidays" with the "general holidays" so that workers are also entitled to 17 days of statutory holidays?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Labour and Welfare
20. Hon WONG Ting-kwong to ask: (Translation)
The SAR Government has indicated that to enable Hong Kong to complement enhanced cross-strait relations, it is strengthening exchanges and cooperation with Taiwan. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | given that since January last year, the Hong Kong SAR Government has implemented two new measures for the convenience of Taiwanese residents, which are the removal of the restriction that they may submit iPermit applications only twice within a 30-day period and extension of the limit of their stay in Hong Kong to 30 days, of the number of visits by Taiwanese residents visiting Hong Kong in the whole of last year, and how such figure compares with that in the year before the implementation of these measures;
| | (b) | given that since September this year, Taiwan allows Hong Kong and Macao residents who were born in Hong Kong or Macao, are holders of a valid SAR passport and have visited Taiwan before, to submit an on-line application for entry permit and print their own permit for travelling to Taiwan with the fee waived, whether it knows the number to date of visits to Taiwan by Hong Kong people by means of this method and how the number of visits to Taiwan by Hong Kong residents since September this year compares with that for the same period in the previous year;
| | (c) | whether the authorities have further explored relevant facilitating measures in respect of immigration arrangements for residents in both places; if so, of the specific contents; if not, the reasons for that; and
| | (d) | whether the authorities will conduct a research on the possible impact on the local tourism industry of the measures for facilitating immigration clearance implemented by the Mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan for residents of the three places; if they will, of the specific contents; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security
III. Members' Motions
Motion of Thanks
Hon Miriam LAU:
(Translation)
That this Council thanks the Chief Executive for his address.
Amendments to the motion
| (i) | Hon Albert HO:
(Translation)
To add ", and demands the Government to completely abolish the appointed and ex-officio seats in District Councils in 2011" immediately before the full stop.
| | (ii) | Hon LEE Wing-tat:
(Translation)
To add ", but expresses strong condemnation that the Policy Address fails to take on board the social consensus on resuming the Home Ownership Scheme ('HOS'), and urges the Government to expeditiously resume the construction of HOS flats, re-launch the Sale of Flats to Sitting Tenants Scheme, and re-examine the practice of allowing eligible white form applicants to purchase HOS flats without premium paid in the secondary market for HOS flats, with a view to helping needy persons acquire their homes" immediately before the full stop.
| | (iii) | Hon WONG Sing-chi:
(Translation)
To add ", but expresses regret at his failure to face up to the problem of disparity between the rich and the poor and make earnest efforts to alleviate poverty, and to help the socially disadvantaged" immediately before the full stop.
| | (iv) | Hon Frederick FUNG:
(Translation)
To add ", but expresses deep regret that the Policy Address fails to put forward any effective strategies for resolving the problem of disparity between the rich and the poor, ignores the importance of formulating a stable and sustainable long-term housing policy and disregards the strong expectations of this Council and the general public about resuming the construction of Home Ownership Scheme flats" immediately before the full stop.
| | (v) | Hon Ronny TONG:
(Translation)
To add ", and urges the Government to immediately commence work on enacting legislation in relation to the political reform in one go and seek a broad consensus, so that the SAR Government can, on this basis, expeditiously initiate the procedures of amending Annex I and Annex II to the Basic Law on the methods for selecting the Chief Executive and for forming the Legislative Council, thereby implementing genuine universal suffrage as promised in the Basic Law" immediately before the full stop.
Amendment to Hon Ronny TONG's amendment
Hon Cyd HO to move the following amendment:
(Translation)
To delete "immediately commence work on enacting legislation in relation to the political reform in one go and seek a broad consensus, so that the SAR Government can, on this basis, expeditiously initiate" before "the procedures" and substitute with "respect the aspiration of more than 500 000 electors in the 'de facto referendum in five geographical constituencies' on 16 May for demanding the implementation of dual universal suffrage in 2012, and to commence"; and to delete "genuine universal suffrage as promised in the Basic Law" immediately before the full stop and substitute with "universal and equal suffrage to eliminate the disparity between the rich and the poor caused by privileges and monopolies".
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Public Officers to attend are listed in the Appendix
Clerk to the Legislative Council
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