A 10/11-9

Legislative Council

Agenda

Wednesday 1 December 2010 at 11:00 am

I. Tabling of Papers

1.	No. 37	-	Director of Social Welfare Incorporated Financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2010 together with the Report of the Director of Audit
(to be presented by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare)
2.	Report No. 6/10-11 of the House Committee on Consideration of Subsidiary Legislation and Other Instruments
(to be presented by Hon Miriam LAU, Chairman of the House Committee)

II. Questions

1. Prof Hon Patrick LAU to ask: (Translation)

At present, there are only two Government Explosives Depots in Hong Kong, which are respectively located at Kau Shat Wan on Lantau Island and Sha Tin Heights in Kowloon, and as vehicles carrying explosives are prohibited from entering cross harbour tunnels, explosives required for the works projects on Hong Kong Island are mainly delivered by sea transport from Lantau Island. At the same time, shipping of explosives is prohibited between the hours of sunset and sunrise under the existing legislation. As such, if blasting has to be carried out for a works project twice a day during morning and evening hours, a temporary explosives magazine has to be built close to the construction site. Given the above reasons, the MTR Corporation Limited has proposed to build a temporary explosives magazine at Chung Hom Kok in Stanley for the construction of the South Island Line, but the local community has objected strongly to such a proposal because the site selected for the cross-district magazine is not near the construction site but only 300 metres from residential areas and adjacent to the workstations of telecommunications facilities, coupled with the added danger of transporting explosives through the narrow roads, sharp bends and steep slopes of the vehicular routes in the Stanley area, thus threatening the safety of residents and workers in the vicinity. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the respective numbers, locations and capacities of the temporary explosives magazines which were built and will be built in Hong Kong at present, as well as their shortest distance from nearby buildings or leisure and recreational facilities, with a breakdown by District Council district;
(b)	given that when the relevant legislation was being enacted, the authorities prohibited the conveyance of explosives by sea transport between the hours of sunset and sunrise, having regard to the dangerous nature of explosives, but I have learnt that the safety of the explosives currently supplied by the Government for blasting works has been greatly improved, whether the authorities will amend the relevant legislation to extend the operating hours of Government Explosive Depots, and permit the conveyance of explosives by sea transport between the hours of sunset and sunrise, so as to avoid the need to construct temporary explosives magazines in urban areas which are close to residents; and
(c)	whether the authorities will expeditiously amend the Dangerous Goods Ordinance and related legislation to stipulate that explosives shall be delivered directly to construction sites at specific time so as to remove the threat to public safety posed by the setting up of temporary cross-district explosives magazines in various places in the urban area, thereby gaining public support for the 10 major infrastructural projects so that they can be taken forward smoothly?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Development

2. Hon Cyd HO to ask: (Translation)

It has been reported that a male Hong Kong permanent resident has recently issued a press release on the triplets born to him in the United States through a surrogate mother using human reproductive technology, and brought back to Hong Kong. It has also been reported that the man may have contravened the relating sections of the Human Reproductive Technology Ordinance ("the Ordinance") (including section 16 on "Prohibition against commercial dealings in prescribed substance" and section 17 on "Prohibition against surrogacy arrangements on commercial basis, etc."). The incident has aroused concerns in the Hong Kong community about regulation of the use of human reproductive technology, the child adoption system, and the extra-territorial jurisdiction of Hong Kong. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	whether the authorities have assessed if the aforesaid surrogacy arrangement, which was extensively reported by the media, has contravened the Ordinance; if so, whether they consider this incident a suspected case of contravening the Ordinance, and whether they will initiate an investigation into the case if the incident is assessed as a suspected case; if they have assessed but have not initiated any investigation, whether they consider this incident to be a suspected case of contravening the Ordinance, and whether such practice is consistent with their general practice in dealing with other suspected cases of contravention of other criminal laws; if they have not assessed, of the reasons for that, and whether the authorities are still upholding the Ordinance and the policy of prohibiting the use of human reproductive technology on commercial basis and for economic gains;
(b)	whether the authorities will explain if the extra-territorial effect of the aforesaid section 17 will be restricted by factors such as nationality, permanent resident status, ordinary place of residence, domicile and place of occurrence of the suspected contravention, etc.; whether this provision has ever been invoked for initiating extra-territorial prosecution; whether the authorities will review if this provision can be effectively enforced outside Hong Kong in the light of this incident; and
(c)	in each of the past five years, of the respective numbers of pairs of married spouses, unmarried companions of the opposite sex, male spouses/companions of the same sex, female spouses/companions of the same sex who had applied in Hong Kong for adopting local and overseas children, the respective numbers of single men and women who had done the same, and the respective numbers of approved and rejected applications, and the reasons for rejecting those applications (please provide a breakdown by applicants' age group in the form of a table in an annex); whether the authorities will consider reviewing the restrictions on child adoption to make it easier for the applicants with a view to reducing the possibility of these applicants' resorting to commercial surrogacy arrangements; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officers to reply

:

Secretary for Food and Health Secretary for Labour and Welfare

3. Hon IP Wai-ming to ask: (Translation)

Some members of the labour sector have pointed out that, at present, it is very common for employees in Hong Kong to undertake overtime work without compensation, and this situation has even spread to various sectors and industries; and with the implementation of the Minimum Wage Ordinance, it is believed that this problem will aggravate. As it is stated in the 2010-2011 Policy Address that the Government will embark on a policy study on standard working hours, various sectors of the community have expressed concern about and attached importance to the matter. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	whether the authorities have conducted any investigation, statistical survey or study on the working hours of local employees in the past three years to find out the average daily working hours of employees in various industries and hours of overtime work without compensation, etc.; if they have, of a breakdown of the average daily working hours and hours of overtime work performed without compensation in various industries by industry section according to the results of the investigation, statistical survey or study; if not, whether the authorities will expeditiously carry out such investigation, statistical survey or study so as to obtain more data as soon as possible;
(b)	given that the Secretary for Labour and Welfare had mentioned at the meeting of the Legislative Council on 29 October this year that its policy study on standard working hours would be conducted at three levels: first, to find out more about overseas experience; second, to collect data on the labour force distribution in Hong Kong and the hours of work in different industries and trades; third, to communicate with stakeholders, of the timetable, specific arrangements and details of the study to be conducted by the authorities at these three levels; and
(c)	of the estimated number of people required to be specifically tasked to handle the study on standard working hours; whether the Government will consider setting up a task force, inviting the participation of academics and the stakeholders concerned, and conducting public consultation on the introduction of legislation for standard working hours; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and whether the authorities will regularly report to this Council and the Labour Advisory Board on the progress in the course of the study, so that the public and the labour sector can be kept informed of the progress of the study and give their views?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Labour and Welfare

4. Dr Hon Margaret NG to ask: (Translation)

It has been reported that more than 10 members of the Administrative Officer ("AO") grade had left the civil service this year, which was the largest ever surge in departure. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the number of members of the AO grade leaving the service in the past five years, and the percentage of that number in the total number of members in the grade;
(b)	whether the Civil Service Bureau ("CSB") has proceeded with any survey and study to find out the reasons of the high turnover rate of the AO grade this year; if it has, of the outcome of the study; if it has not, whether it will launch such survey and study; if it will not, of the reasons for that; and
(c)	whether CSB will adopt any improvement measure to address the problem of high turnover rate of the AO grade; if it will, of the specific measures; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Civil Service

5. Hon CHEUNG Man-kwong to ask: (Translation)

The Executive Council of Macao announced on 9 November 2010 that it had finished its discussion on amending the by-law on the Free Education Subsidy Scheme to provide 15-year free education and undertook to implement small class teaching ("SCT") in secondary schools progressively. There have been comments that Hong Kong's education policy lags far behind that of Macao because the Government did not agree to undertake implementation of SCT in secondary schools, and it also does not have plans to provide 15-year free education. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the respective amounts of total expenditure required for each phase of education in providing 15-year free education in Hong Kong based on the estimation of the Government, and of its method of calculation;
(b)	whether the authorities will make reference to the practice of Macao and study the provision of 15-year free education; if they will, when the study will commence; if not, of the reasons for that; and
(c)	whether the authorities will follow Macao's practice and draw up plans to progressively extend SCT from primary schools to secondary schools so as to enhance the education quality in Hong Kong; if they will, of the amounts of education funding required for secondary schools as a whole on the basis of the declining population if SCT is to be implemented progressively from Secondary One in secondary schools starting from 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 respectively?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education

6. Hon Abraham SHEK to ask:

It has been reported that a kindergarten pupil failed to gain entrance to a primary school because he scored zero marks in the admission test's "Chinese Activity" section in which he was not asked any question by the school interviewer. As the parents of the pupil were not satisfied with the response of the Education Bureau ("EDB") when they approached it for help in last November, they later brought the case to the attention of the Equal Opportunities Commission ("EOC") which found that the case might constitute a breach of the Race Discrimination Ordinance. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the number of complaints received by EDB in the past three years relating to discrimination against ethnic minority students in school admission; among these cases, the number of those followed up by EDB as well as the number of those that EDB had not followed up and the complainants had turned to EOC for help;
(b)	whether the Government has conducted any review of the Race Discrimination Ordinance with a view to increasing the transparency of schools' admission procedures to prevent discrimination against ethnic minority students; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
(c)	whether it has considered imposing heavier penalties against acts of race discrimination relating to education; if not, of the reasons for that?

Public Officers to reply

:

Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Secretary for Education

*7. Hon Andrew LEUNG to ask: (Translation)

Recently, I have received complaints on the fare concessions offered by the MTR Corporation Limited ("MTR") from members of the public pointing out that MTR has refused to provide any fare concession for full-time post-secondary students aged 26 or above. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	whether it knows, in each of the years since 2000, the respective numbers of students aged under 26 and aged 26 or above who had enrolled in full-time post-secondary programmes, with a breakdown by the type of programmes (i.e. sub-degree, undergraduate and master/postgraduate programmes);
(b)	of the difference in age restrictions for eligibility for fare concessions offered to full-time students by MTR and by the Government for using government facilities and services (such as hiring the venues of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department or purchasing tickets for concerts held in its venues, etc.); and
(c)	given that the Government is the largest shareholder in MTR, whether it will consider urging MTR to provide fare concessions for full-time post-secondary students aged 26 or above; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport and Housing

*8. Dr Hon LEUNG Ka-lau to ask: (Translation)

Recently, it has been reported that colon cancer has become the number two killer-cancer with a substantial increase of 16% in the number of new cases within a short period of five years from 2002 to 2007. The medical profession has also anticipated that colon cancer will replace lung cancer as the number one killer-cancer. At present, infusional chemotherapy for treatment of colon cancer requires patients to be hospitalized at regular intervals: those using 5-fluorouracil ("5-FU"), a commonly used infusional drug for colon cancer treatment, have to be hospitalized for 30 hours every six months on average to receive intravenous infusion, while those using a combination of 5-FU and other drugs even have to be hospitalized for 576 hours; these figures indicate that using such treatments has posed a burden on the medical system. On the other hand, orally-administered drugs with the same efficacy, such as capecitabine, allow patients to take the drugs at home, thereby improving the quality of life of both the patients and their carers as well as reducing the pressure of demand for hospital beds. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:

(a)	the respective numbers of colon cancer patients of the Hospital Authority ("HA") receiving infusional 5-FU chemotherapy (including single agent and combined drugs) and orally-administered 5-FU chemotherapy (including single agent and combined drugs) in each of the past three years; and the total number of such treatments;
(b)	calculated on the service costs of HA, the respective average total costs and average costs by item (including costs of medical and nursing staff, hospital beds, drug administration, drugs, etc.) for each treatment cycle of a colon cancer patient using infusional 5-FU (including single agent and combined drugs) and orally-administered 5-FU (including single agent and combined drugs) in each of the past three years; and
(c)	at present, the average time spent by a colon cancer patient in the hospital for each visit for receiving infusional chemotherapy (including single agent and combined drugs) from registration upon arrival to completion of intravenous infusion?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health

*9. Hon Albert HO to ask: (Translation)

The Civil Service Bureau, the Food and Health Bureau, the Education Bureau and the Home Affairs Bureau, together with related organizations, are responsible for the administration of the following funds:

Bureau	Fund
Civil Service Bureau	Pensioners' Welfare Fund
Food and Health Bureau	Health and Health Services Research Fund
	Research Fund for the Control of Infectious Diseases
	Health Care and Promotion Fund
Education Bureau	The Hong Kong Jockey Club Life-wide Learning Fund
	Quality Education Fund
Home Affairs Bureau	Sir David Trench Fund for Recreation (Main Fund)
	The Lord Wilson Heritage Trust
	The Hong Kong Jockey Club Music and Dance Fund
	Cantonese Opera Development Fund
	General Chinese Charities Fund
	Chinese Temples Fund
	Brewin Trust Fund
	Grantham Scholarships Fund
	Li Po Chun Charitable Trust Fund
	Sir Edward Youde Memorial Fund
	Sir Robert Black Trust Fund
	The Lord Wilson United World Colleges Scholarship Fund
	Sir Murray MacLehose Trust Fund
	The Board of Management of the Chinese Permanent Cemeteries

In this connection, will the Government inform this Council of:

(a)	the expenditure of each of the above funds in the past five years;
(b)	the current balance of each of the above funds; and
(c)	the work plan and budget of each of the above funds in the coming five years?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs

*10. Hon Tanya CHAN to ask: (Translation)

According to the Lands Department's reply to me, the Government has set up an inter-departmental working group to handle claims for compensation for disturbance to fung shui ("fung shui claims") arising from the construction of the Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link ("XRL works"). The ambit of the working group, which mainly comprises representatives from the Highways Department, the Home Affairs Department and the Lands Department, includes vetting and approving the grant of ex-gratia allowances for "Tun Fu" payments in relation to fung shui claims as well as examining works conducted to compensate for the disturbance to the fung shui of villages ("compensatory works"). Regarding issues relating to compensatory works, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	whether the Government has drawn up procedures and guidelines for handling allegations made by rural residents about the impact on fung shui of public works projects; if it has, of the details of such procedures and guidelines; if not, whether it will consider drawing up such guidelines; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
(b)	whether the Government had in the past five years assessed if compensatory works can effectively mitigate the disturbance to the fung shui of villages; if it had, of the criteria adopted by the Government; if not, how the effectiveness of the compensatory works is ascertained;
(c)	of the total number of applications for compensatory works received by the Government in relation to the XRL works; among such applications, of the number of those approved, as well as the details of each approved application, including the date of application, expected commencement date, location, reasons for undertaking the works, as well as the nature, particulars and costs of the works (set out in the table below); Date of application Expected commencement date Location Reasons for undertaking the works Nature and particulars of the works Costs of the works
(d)	of the total number of applications for compensatory works received by the Government in the past decade when undertaking public works projects other than the XRL works; among such applications, of the number of those approved, as well as the details of each approved application, including the date of application, expected commencement date, location, reasons for undertaking the works, as well as the nature, particulars and costs of the works (set out in the table below); and Date of application Expected commencement date Location Reasons for undertaking the works Nature and particulars of the works Costs of the works
(e)	given that the Lands Department has indicated that the aforesaid inter-departmental working group is examining the request made by the residents of Kap Lung Village in Pat Heung of Yuen Long for the Government to widen a bridge in compensation for the disruption caused by the XRL works to the village's fung shui, of the total number of residents of that village who have requested the Government to widen the bridge concerned, and the factors it will consider when vetting and approving the works in question?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Development

*11. Hon Vincent FANG to ask: (Translation)

In the middle of this year, a mainland tourist was suspected to have died after quarrelling with a female tourist guide when shopping at a jewellery shop in Hong Kong. Subsequent to that incident, a female Hong Kong tourist guide insulted her mainland tour group members on a tourist coach because she was not happy that they did little shopping. There have been comments that such incidents happened one after the other have adversely affected Hong Kong's tourism industry and caused public concern about the quality of Hong Kong's tourist guides. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:

(a)	the respective average numbers of part-time and full-time tourist guides employed by each travel agency at present, their remuneration packages, and their average monthly income;
(b)	in the past three years, the respective total numbers of new and renewal applications for tourist guide passes received by the Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong ("TIC"); among these applications, the number of applications approved; among the applications approved, the number of applicants who were new immigrants; and
(c)	in each of the past three years, the respective numbers of complaints and reports against Hong Kong tourist guides received by TIC; among them, the numbers of cases relating to tourist guides' poor attitude and forced shopping, and the number of cases where the tourist guides' passes had been revoked?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development

*12. Hon LEE Wing-tat to ask: (Translation)

Regarding small house policy, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the number of indigenous villagers in Hong Kong as at the end of October 2010, with a breakdown by District Council ("DC") district, and among those villagers, the respective numbers of male and female;
(b)	among the male indigenous villagers in (a), as at the end of October 2010:
	(i)	of the number of those for whom approval was given by the Government to construct small houses on private land, or on Government land with concessionary premiums or by way of Private Treaty Grant;
	(ii)	of the respective numbers of those who have applied to the Government but have not yet given approval for the construction of small houses on private land, and on Government land with concessionary premiums or by way of Private Treaty Grant; and
	(iii)	whether it knows, among the indigenous villagers who have not made the aforesaid applications, the respective numbers of those who belong to various age groups, that is, below 18, 18 to 25, over 25 to 35, over 35 to 45, over 45 to 55 and above 55;
(c)	among the cases in (b)(i), of the number of small houses whose owners have applied to the Government for payment of additional premiums ("payment of premiums") so as to sell or transfer these properties to non-indigenous villagers, and among such cases, the number of those approved and the amount involved in the payment of premiums; the number of applications not yet approved, and the average waiting time for vetting and approving such applications; the number of small houses whose owners have not applied for payment of premiums; the number of applications for payment of premiums received and approved by the Government and the amount of the payment of premiums in each of the past five years;
(d)	whether it knows, among those cases approved by the Government for payment of premiums in (c), the number of small houses that have been sold or transferred, and the number of those that are yet to be sold or transferred;
(e)	among the cases in (b)(ii), of the number of applications received, and the number of applications approved in the past five years, as well as the average waiting time for vetting and approving such applications, with a breakdown by DC district; and
(f)	of the estimated number of applications for small houses that can be approved by the authorities in the next five years?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Development

*13. Hon LAU Kong-wah to ask: (Translation)

It has been learnt that with the frequent business activities and travels between the Mainland and Hong Kong, the types of goods smuggled have been increasing, and some of the smuggled goods even have an adverse impact on law and order as well as people's livelihood in the two places. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	from January 2010 till now, of the total number of smuggling cases detected by the Customs and Excise Department ("C&ED"); the total value of the smuggled goods involved; whether there has been an upward trend in comparison with the same period last year; and the major items of smuggled goods seized in these cases and their quantities;
(b)	regarding the types of smuggled goods and the smuggling practices in (a), whether the authorities have analyzed and studied the latest trend in smuggling so as to formulate new measures to combat smuggling activities; if they have, of the details;
(c)	given that it has been reported that a particular brand of tablet personal computers ("tablet PCs") has been very popular recently and the supply of such tablet PCs cannot meet the demand on the Mainland, resulting in some smugglers commonly known as "couriers" to use the "ants moving home" tactic (i.e. smuggling small quantity of goods at a time) to smuggle this brand of tablet PCs into the Mainland, of the quantities of smuggled electronic products, such as the aforesaid brand of tablet PCs and mobile phones, etc., seized by C&ED in the first three quarters of this year; whether there has been an upward trend; of the measures implemented by the authorities to combat such smuggling activities; and
(d)	given that it has been reported that some smugglers have been smuggling Hong Kong's newspapers relating to the Mark Six lotteries to the Mainland for profiteering purpose, indirectly promoting gambling and affecting the law and order on the Mainland, whether the authorities have stepped up interception of such smuggling activities; of the number of such smuggling cases detected; whether the authorities have conducted thorough investigation into the sources of such smuggling activities so as to curb such activities?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

*14. Ir Dr Hon Raymond HO to ask: (Translation)

On 7 November this year, loose concrete of the external wall of a building of over 50 years old, located at Lok Shan Road in To Kwa Wan, fell off and injured a passer-by. The next day, the mosaic tiles on the external wall of another building of only 11 years old, located at Staunton Street in Central, also came off, and luckily no one was hurt. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	given that the Buildings Department ("BD"), after the collapse of a building at Ma Tau Wai Road in January this year, had immediately set up professional teams which inspected a total of 4 011 private buildings aged 50 or above in the territory, of the conditions of the aforesaid building at Lok Shan Road according to BD's report released in April and the follow-up actions taken by the authorities;
(b)	focusing on younger buildings which had caused accidents because they have not been properly maintained for a prolonged period of time, whether the authorities will plan to deploy staff to inspect this type of buildings to ensure their structural safety; if they will, of the details; and
(c)	given that the authorities commenced a 10-year programme in 2001 to clear unauthorized building works and illegal rooftop structures, and indicated that 800 000 unauthorized building works and structures had to be cleared, and since the programme will end next year and the authorities have indicated that so far about 400 000 cases have been handled, of the plan of the authorities for dealing with the remaining 400 000 cases in future?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Development

*15. Hon Starry LEE to ask: (Translation)

Will the Government inform this Council of the locations, sizes and planned uses (including those without designated use) of the undeveloped sites among those that have been designated as "government, institution or community facilities" sites in Hong Kong, as well as the anticipated commencement dates and anticipated completion dates of the works of the facilities concerned, and list such information according to Outline Zoning Plan in the following table?

Title and number of Outline Zoning Plan	Undeveloped government, institution or community facilities sites
	Location	Size	Planned use (including those without designated use)	Anticipated commencement date of the works of the facilities concerned	Anticipated completion date of the works of the facilities concerned

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Development

*16. Hon Paul CHAN to ask: (Translation)

Some members of the public have relayed to me that some public bodies and public corporations which are statutory bodies have refused to accept applications for unpaid internships by local and overseas Hong Kong undergraduates who are studying disciplines relevant to these statutory bodies' scope of responsibilities. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	whether it knows, in the past five years, which public bodies and public corporations had offered internships to undergraduates; the number of internships and when they were provided; in respect of each of these statutory bodies and corporations, the number of applications received, the criteria for screening these applications, the respective numbers of local and overseas undergraduates eventually offered internships, the academic disciplines that the interns were studying; whether the interns were remunerated and their wage levels;
(b)	whether it knows which public bodies or public corporations at present do not provide internships for undergraduates, and the reasons for that; whether they have considered providing such internships; if not, the reasons for that; and
(c)	when the Government sets up public bodies and public corporations as statutory bodies again in the future, whether it will encourage them to provide internships for undergraduates; if not, of the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Labour and Welfare

*17. Hon Fred LI to ask: (Translation)

Regarding matters relating to the waiting for and allocation of public rental housing ("PRH") flats, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the number of applications on PRH Waiting List as at the end of October 2010 and the average waiting time (from the date of registration till the end of October 2010), together with a breakdown by household size (i.e. one person, two persons, three persons, four persons, five persons, six persons, seven persons, eight persons and nine persons or above);
(b)	of the respective numbers of family applicants, elderly one-person applicants and non-elderly one-person applicants under the Quota and Points System ("QPS") on PRH Waiting List as at the end of October 2010, as well as the total number of these three categories of applicants and the average waiting time (from the date of registration till the end of October 2010);
(c)	whether the Housing Department has a performance pledge in respect of the time taken from the receipt of a PRH application to the allocation of a Waiting List Application Number to the applicant; and, in respect of family applicants, elderly one-person applicants and non-elderly one-person applicants under QPS on PRH Waiting List at present, of the average time between application and successful registration;
(d)	among the cases of applicants having been allocated PRH flats in 2009-2010, of the respective numbers and percentages of cases involving family applicants, elderly one-person applicants and non-elderly one-person applicants under QPS; and, in respect of these three categories of cases, the average time between registration and successful allocation of PRH flats; in respect of the third category, of their average score points and the average waiting time for the allocation of PRH flats, broken down by the age group of the successful applicants (i.e. under 30, 31 to 40, 41 to 50 and 50 or above);
(e)	regarding non-elderly one-person applicants under QPS on PRH Waiting List as at the end of October 2010, of their respective numbers, percentages, average score points and the average waiting time (from the date of registration till the end of October 2010), broken down by the age group of the applicants (i.e. under 30, 31 to 40, 41 to 50 and 50 or above), as well as the respective numbers and percentages of cases in which the applicants are currently residing in PRH flats and private flats;
(f)	of the lowest score points for applicants accepting public housing offers under QPS in each of the four districts at present (i.e. Urban, Extended Urban, New Territories and Islands); and the score point of applicants who were registered before 31 October 2010 and have been arranged for investigation for allocation of PRH flats;
(g)	how many PRH flats were allocated to non-elderly one-person applicants under QPS by the authorities in 2007-2008 and 2008-2009, and the respective numbers of PRH flats that will be reserved for such applicants in 2011-2012 and 2012-2013; whether they will consider increasing the annual quota so as to shorten the waiting time; and
(h)	according to the latest General Household Survey conducted by the Census and Statistics Department, of the number of one-person households residing in rooms inside private permanent housing (including permanent rooms and cubicles), bedspaces and cocklofts, broken down by age groups, and how such numbers compare to the number of non-elderly one-person applicants under QPS on PRH Waiting List; among the one-person households currently residing in rooms inside private housing (including permanent rooms and cubicles), bedspaces and cocklofts, of the number of such households estimated by the authorities to have registered on PRH Waiting List; and whether the authorities will consider requesting non-elderly one-person applicants under QPS to declare their types of accommodation, so that the authorities could consider adopting more relaxed measures to expedite the allocation of PRH flats to this category of applicants?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport and Housing

*18. Hon CHAN Hak-kan to ask: (Translation)

It has been reported that a deficit of $30 million in the expenditure on drugs was incurred by the New Territories East Cluster of the Hospital Authority ("HA") in 2009-2010. It has also been reported that similar deficits existed in other hospital clusters as well, giving rise to concern about the provision of drugs for patients in public hospitals. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	whether it knows the expenditure on drugs incurred by various hospital clusters in the past three years and the percentage of such numbers in the block allocation for the cluster concerned for that year, as well as whether any deficit had been incurred; if so, how the shortfalls were met;
(b)	whether it knows if at present HA requires various hospital clusters to allocate a certain percentage of funding to buy drugs or sets a ceiling for the annual expenditure on drugs; if so, how the percentage or ceiling is determined, as well as what review mechanism is in place; if not, of the reasons for that;
(c)	how the authorities ensure that HA will not resort to buying drugs which are cheaper but may not have the same efficacy of the original brand name drugs so as to reduce the deficits, and how they ensure that HA will not include innovative drugs in the list of self-financed drugs, thereby increasing patients' expenses on drugs; and
(d)	given that it is expected that expenditure on drugs will continue to rise along with the ageing population, whether the authorities need to increase the total funding for HA; whether they will assess the financial implications of the ageing population on the Samaritan Fund, and how they ensure that the Fund can operate on a long-term basis to help more patients with financial difficulties?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health

*19. Hon CHEUNG Hok-ming to ask: (Translation)

The Chief Executive indicated in last year's Policy Address that the Environment Bureau ("ENB") had been working with a number of electric vehicle ("EV") manufacturers, and the Government expected a supply of around 200 EVs for the local market in this financial year. Yet, it has been reported recently that there would only be 20 EVs available for renting early next year. In addition, under the restrictions of the existing regulations, EV owners have to apply for special permits before they can drive EVs on an expressway. Regarding the ways for actually making Hong Kong the "second in Asia, after Japan, where EVs are most widely used" as stated in last year's Policy Address, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the actual number of EVs being supplied to Hong Kong at present; of the discrepancy between the actual supply and the Government's anticipated supply; of the reasons for such discrepancy;
(b)	given that ENB indicated at the meeting of the Panel on Environmental Affairs held on 22 June 2009 that, since EVs did not have any cylinder, under the existing restrictions of the Road Traffic (Expressway) Regulations (Cap. 374 sub. leg. Q), EV owners who wished to drive their EVs in Hong Kong would need to apply for special permits according to the Regulations, of the time required for the Government to vet and approve applications for such special permits; apart from applying for such permits, whether there are other restrictions in relation to owners' driving their EVs on roads; whether the Government will revise the relevant regulations gearing to the policy of extensively promoting the use of EVs; and
(c)	whether the Government has carried out studies together with the Mainland on the support and integration (such as the technology for charging batteries) in relation to the use of EVs in both the Mainland and Hong Kong, so as to complement the long-term development of using EVs; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment

*20. Hon Mrs Regina IP to ask: (Translation)

In the discussion paper on alteration works in respect of sub-division of flat units (commonly known as "sub-divided units") submitted to the Subcommittee on Building Safety and Related Issues under the Panel on Development of this Council, the Development Bureau advised that it was conducting a comprehensive review of the building safety policy, including the policy of enforcement against sub-divided units. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	whether, before the completion of the aforesaid review, individual property owners who wish to carry out works to sub-divide their residential units can apply to the Buildings Department on an individual basis; if they can, of the number of such applications received in the past three years, and among them, the respective numbers of approved and rejected applications; and
(b)	of the existing criteria adopted by the Buildings Department in determining whether or not to approve an application for works to sub-divide a flat unit?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Development

* For written reply

III. Motions

Proposed resolution under the District Councils Ordinance Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs to move the following motion: Resolved that the District Councils Ordinance (Amendment of Schedule 3) Order 2010, made by the Chief Executive in Council on 21 September 2010, be approved.

(The Order was issued on 18 November 2010 under LC Paper No. CB(3) 204/10-11)

IV. Members' Motions

1. Comprehensively reviewing the Mandatory Provident Fund Scheme
   
   Hon WONG Kwok-kin to move the following motion: (Translation)
   
   That, according to the projection of the Census and Statistics Department, the ratio of persons who are aged 65 and above to the population in Hong Kong will substantially increase to 26% by 2036; this not only indicates the gravity of population ageing in Hong Kong in the future, but also foretells the public's urgent demand for comprehensive retirement protection; yet, there is at present no retirement protection system in Hong Kong that benefit all people, and after nearly 10 years since its implementation, the Mandatory Provident Fund ('MPF') Scheme is still unable to achieve the objective of protecting people's retirement life; in this connection, this Council urges the authorities to comprehensively review the MPF Scheme and further improve the relevant mechanisms, so as to protect the retirement life of all people; the relevant review should include:
   
   

   (a)	to implement universal retirement protection, with tripartite contributions from the Government, employers and employees, so as to extend the coverage of protection to all Hong Kong people;
   (b)	to abolish the mechanism whereby employers' contributions under the MPF Scheme are used to offset severance payments and long service payments, and retain Hong Kong employees' rights to severance payments or long service payments under the relevant provisions of the Employment Ordinance, so as to provide employees with better retirement protection;
   (c)	to implement a system of 'one lifelong account', establish portability of MPF accounts, and require trustees to introduce a simple and easy to understand method to inspect accounts similar to that of 'bank books', so as to enable employees to peruse information on contributions, returns, etc. at any time;
   (d)	to lower MPF management fees and administration fees, and at the same time enact legislation to require trustees to set out the actual amounts of management fees in the annual reports of the years concerned, so as to protect the actual amounts of MPFs received by employees upon retirement from not being drastically eroded;
   (e)	to implement totally unrestricted choices for employees under the MPF Scheme, allowing employees to choose trustees for both employers' and employees' MPF contributions, and at the same time, through publicity and education, enable employees to understand that they may transfer their MPF contributions according to the levels of risks they can bear;
   (f)	to strengthen the regulation of MPF investment products and regularly review the sales practices adopted by intermediaries;
   (g)	to review the appropriateness of the existing minimum and maximum levels of income, including that the minimum level of income should be higher than the minimum wage;
   (h)	to step up law enforcement to combat the situation of default in contributions, including sentencing employers who default on contributions to immediate imprisonment, and considering blacklisting the companies concerned in the tendering exercises for government services as a form of penalty, etc.; and
   (i)	to reform the Occupational Retirement Schemes ('ORSO') system, requiring employers adopting ORSO schemes to provide their employees with accrued benefits not less than those under the MPF Scheme.

   
   

   Amendments to the motion
   (i)	Hon CHAN Kin-por to move the following amendment: (Translation) To delete "according to the projection of the Census and Statistics Department," after "That," and substitute with "enormous changes will occur to the population structure of Hong Kong in the future, and"; to delete "in Hong Kong" after "to the population"; to add "by, for example, streamlining the management and administrative procedures of MPF schemes and reducing the operating costs of MPF on the premise of not affecting MPF scheme members' interests, so as to create room for lowering administration fees" after "administration fees"; and to add ", as well as the percentages of contributions, so as to ensure that the amounts of MPFs are adequate to meet post-retirement expenditure" after "minimum wage".
   (ii)	Hon Paul TSE to move the following amendment: (Translation) To delete "according to the projection of the Census and Statistics Department, the ratio of persons who are aged 65 and above to the population in Hong Kong will substantially increase to 26% by 2036; this not only indicates the gravity of population ageing in Hong Kong in the future, but also foretells the public's urgent demand for comprehensive retirement protection; yet, there is at present no retirement protection system in Hong Kong that benefit all people, and" after "That," and substitute with "as"; to delete "; in this connection" after "people's retirement life"; to delete "further improve the relevant mechanisms, so as to protect the retirement life of all people;" after "MPF Scheme and"; to delete ":" after "include" and substitute with "completely abolishing the MPF Scheme"; and to delete "(a) to implement universal retirement protection, with tripartite contributions from the Government, employers and employees, so as to extend the coverage of protection to all Hong Kong people; (b) to abolish the mechanism whereby employers' contributions under the MPF Scheme are used to offset severance payments and long service payments, and retain Hong Kong employees' rights to severance payments or long service payments under the relevant provisions of the Employment Ordinance, so as to provide employees with better retirement protection; (c) to implement a system of 'one lifelong account', establish portability of MPF accounts, and require trustees to introduce a simple and easy to understand method to inspect accounts similar to that of 'bank books', so as to enable employees to peruse information on contributions, returns, etc. at any time; (d) to lower MPF management fees and administration fees, and at the same time enact legislation to require trustees to set out the actual amounts of management fees in the annual reports of the years concerned, so as to protect the actual amounts of MPFs received by employees upon retirement from not being drastically eroded; (e) to implement totally unrestricted choices for employees under the MPF Scheme, allowing employees to choose trustees for both employers' and employees' MPF contributions, and at the same time, through publicity and education, enable employees to understand that they may transfer their MPF contributions according to the levels of risks they can bear; (f) to strengthen the regulation of MPF investment products and regularly review the sales practices adopted by intermediaries; (g) to review the appropriateness of the existing minimum and maximum levels of income, including that the minimum level of income should be higher than the minimum wage; (h) to step up law enforcement to combat the situation of default in contributions, including sentencing employers who default on contributions to immediate imprisonment, and considering blacklisting the companies concerned in the tendering exercises for government services as a form of penalty, etc.; and (i) to reform the Occupational Retirement Schemes ('ORSO') system, requiring employers adopting ORSO schemes to provide their employees with accrued benefits not less than those under the MPF Scheme" immediately before the full stop.
   (iii)	Hon Ronny TONG to move the following amendment: (Translation) To add "recent" after "according to the"; to delete "after nearly 10 years since" after "all people, and" and substitute with "today is the tenth year of"; to add "but" after "its implementation,"; to add "expeditiously establish a retirement protection scheme that benefits all people and" after "this Council urges the authorities to"; to delete "and further improve the relevant mechanisms" after "review the MPF Scheme"; to add ", and conduct public consultation on the specific proposal" after "Hong Kong people"; to delete "and" after "penalty, etc.;"; and to add "; and (j) to conduct comprehensive public consultation on the effectiveness and various aspects of the MPF Scheme, given that it has already been implemented for 10 years" immediately before the full stop.
   (iv)	Hon Paul CHAN to move the following amendment: (Translation) To delete "its implementation, the Mandatory Provident Fund ('MPF') Scheme is" after "10 years since" and substitute with "the implementation of the Mandatory Provident Fund ('MPF') Scheme, even the middle class with a monthly income of several tens of thousands of dollars are"; to delete "people's" after "objective of protecting" and substitute with "their"; to add ", and ensure that it will not pose extra burden on the future generation" after "Hong Kong people"; to add "(c) to increase the ceiling of employers' monthly contributions to employees' MPFs to HK$2,500 a month per person, so that employers can make more active commitment to employees' retirement life; (d) to correspondingly increase the maximum tax deduction for employees' mandatory contributions to MPF schemes to HK$30,000 each tax year, so as to strengthen employees' protection;" after "better retirement protection;"; to delete the original "(c)" and substitute with "(e)"; to delete the original "(d)" and substitute with "(f); to delete the original "(e)" and substitute with "(g)"; to delete the original "(f)" and substitute with "(h)"; to delete the original "(g)" and substitute with "(i)"; to delete the original "(h)" and substitute with "(j)"; and to delete the original "(i)" and substitute with "(k)".
   (v)	Hon LEE Cheuk-yan to move the following amendment: (Translation) To add "besides, this Council expresses serious disappointment that the Steering Committee on Population Policy chaired by the Chief Secretary for Administration has not yet put forward any specific improvement proposal on the retirement protection system since its establishment in 2007," after "people's retirement life;"; to add "(g) to allow employees to choose to deposit part of their contributions into the Exchange Fund, and compute the annual return rate based on the average return rate of the Exchange Fund investment portfolios over the past six years, plus a minimum return guarantee, so as to ensure that the annual return will not be lower than the average yield rate of Exchange Fund Bills of 3-year maturity in the preceding year; (h) to provide low-income employees with a contribution supplement, so as to strengthen their retirement protection;" after "intermediaries;"; to delete the original "(g)" and substitute with "(i)"; to delete the original "(h)" and substitute with "(j)"; and to delete the original "(i)" and substitute with "(k)".

   
   Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury

2. Reviewing the operation of the Land (Compulsory Sale for Redevelopment) Ordinance
   
   Hon Mrs Regina IP to move the following motion: (Translation)
   
   That the Administration, by publication of the Land (Compulsory Sale for Redevelopment) (Specification of Lower Percentage) Notice in the Gazette in January this year, specified that with effect from 1 April this year, in respect of three classes of land lot, the application threshold for compulsory sale shall be lowered from 90% to 80%; although the lowering of the threshold can help facilitate urban renewal, the existing old building acquisition mechanism lacks transparency, and owners of old buildings are unable to negotiate with developers on a more equal footing; in the half year since the implementation of the new legislation, the acquisition of old buildings for private redevelopment has mostly occurred in prime land lots or even the Mid-levels, while no one is interested in the dilapidated communities that are in great need of redevelopment, indicating that the legislation has failed to fully fulfil its objectives; in this connection, this Council urges the Administration to review the Land (Compulsory Sale for Redevelopment) Ordinance ('the Ordinance'), including:
   
   

   (a)	to examine the operational problems in old building acquisition: when dealing with experienced developers or agents, individual flat owners often cope with very great mental stress, and many of them are even subject to harassment suspected to be acquisition-related, which causes anxiety and seriously affects the life of individual flat owners;
   (b)	to review the compensation mechanism for old building acquisition: flat owners at present have to fight lone battles against developers or agents who are financially powerful and influential in sale price negotiations and, given their lack of help and support, the sale prices often fail to reach the price levels of similar properties they look for in nearby places of the same districts and even fall far short of many flat owners' expectation of 'flat for flat, shop for shop' for urban renewal; and
   (c)	to conduct an overall review of the Ordinance: given that compulsory sale involves deprivation of private property rights and the Ordinance currently has various deficiencies, it is necessary to conduct an overall review of the Ordinance (including the administrative arrangements therein), in order to enhance the protection of the rights of flat owners.

   
   

   Amendments to the motion
   (i)	Hon CHAN Kam-lam to move the following amendment: (Translation) To add ", in order to speed up the pace of redeveloping old districts," after "That"; to delete "although" after "80%;"; to delete "," after "facilitate urban renewal" and substitute with "and is conducive to expediting the renewal development of old districts, improving the living environments therein and reducing the potential dangers posed to the community by old buildings in disrepair, but"; to delete "no one is interested in the dilapidated" after "while" and substitute with "such cases are comparatively rare in the"; to add "(b) to step up law enforcement by government departments: the relevant departments should step up law enforcement and prosecution to eradicate the unlawful nuisances caused by developers or agents in the course of property acquisition, so as to protect flat owners against any harassment;" after "life of individual flat owners;"; to delete the original "(b)" and substitute with "(c)"; to delete the original "(c)" and substitute with "(d)"; to delete "given that compulsory sale involves deprivation of private property rights and the Ordinance currently has various deficiencies," after "Ordinance:" and substitute with "notwithstanding that compulsory sale is in line with the overall interest of society, at the same time it also undermines private property rights, and thus"; to add "continuously" after "is necessary to"; and to delete "enhance the protection of the rights of flat owners" immediately before the full stop and substitute with "ensure that on the premise of protecting the rights of flat owners, the redevelopment of old districts can be effectively facilitated".
   (ii)	Dr Hon Priscilla LEUNG to move the following amendment: (Translation) To add ", amidst the concern of numerous owners of old buildings," after "That"; to delete "and" after "urban renewal;"; and to add "; and (d) to expeditiously conduct studies on establishing a mediation or arbitration mechanism for compulsory sale other than the Lands Tribunal, so that when flat owners are faced with developers or agents who resort to unreasonable prices or acts in the course of property acquisition, they can have a simple and legally binding channel for negotiations and appeal, thereby preventing them from being dragged into protracted lawsuits that may plunge them into bankruptcy and exert mental pressure on them" immediately before the full stop.
   (iii)	Dr Hon Margaret NG to move the following amendment: (Translation) To add ", compelling flat owners to sell their property titles without the involvement of the public interest factor; besides contravening the principle of respecting private property rights, this in effect often compels flat owners to leave their original communities" after "80%"; to delete "has failed to fully fulfil its objectives" after "the legislation" and substitute with "runs counter to the policy of encouraging old district redevelopment"; to delete "which causes anxiety and seriously affects" after "to be acquisition-related," and substitute with "apart from causing anxiety and seriously affecting"; to add ", it will also aggravate the dilapidation and disrepair of buildings, making such buildings even more dangerous and uninhabitable" after "life of individual flat owners"; and to add ", truly promote the redevelopment of old communities and enable affected flat owners to acquire other properties in the original districts" immediately before the full stop.
   (iv)	Hon WONG Yuk-man to move the following amendment: (Translation) To delete "although the lowering of the threshold can help facilitate urban renewal," after "80%;"; and to add "including restoring the application threshold for compulsory sale to 90% of the undivided shares of a lot," after "(including the administrative arrangements therein),".
   (v)	Hon Ronny TONG to move the following amendment: (Translation) To add "(a) to conduct studies on improving the existing adjudication system and reinforce the gate-keeping role of the Lands Tribunal: it is proposed that the Lands Tribunal should recruit professionals to conduct independent property valuations; if a flat owner is not satisfied with the acquisition price and requests a court ruling, the developer concerned should bear all the litigation fees; and the developer should also submit a 'final development blueprint' to the Lands Tribunal before property acquisition and use it as the basis of valuation;" after "including:"; to delete the original "(a)" and substitute with "(b)"; to delete the original "(b)" and substitute with "(c)"; and to delete the original "(c)" and substitute with "(d)".
   (vi)	Hon CHEUNG Kwok-che to move the following amendment: (Translation) To delete "and" after "urban renewal;" and substitute with "(c) to review the mechanism for determining acquisition prices of old buildings: after the independent surveyors employed by flat owners have assessed the market values of the units, all professional valuation fees should be borne by the acquisition parties, and in assessing acquisition prices, the values of new buildings upon their completion should also be considered; and"; and to delete the original "(c)" and substitute with "(d)".
   (vii)	Hon James TO to move the following amendment: (Translation) To delete "and" after "urban renewal;"; and to add "; (d) to explore the incorporation of various other elements, including the practice of mediation before application for compulsory sale, the actual timing of compulsory sale and independent valuation by the Lands Tribunal, etc., and require the Lands Tribunal to hand down judgments from the perspectives of protecting residents and public safety, while at the same time taking account of the ages and states of maintenance of the buildings concerned; (e) to enhance the Government's assistance for residents of old buildings, including making arrangement for professionals to explain the legislation and the mechanism for compulsory sale application and its operation, providing legal or other kinds of advice on individual cases, and assisting in organizing flat owners to increase their bargaining power when dealing with acquisition companies or developers, so as to prevent residents from being easily misled and lured to sell their flats at low prices, or from suffering losses of rights and interests due to their unfamiliarity with the legislation; and (f) to step up the effort of monitoring the management and safety problems of old buildings susceptible to the impact of the Ordinance; if necessary, the Government should intervene in a timely manner, lest the reluctance of those owners holding the majority titles, after acquiring the majority of fragmented titles, to participate in building management and maintenance works, resulting in the deterioration of the safety and environmental hygiene of the buildings and making them unfit for human habitation, thereby protecting flat owners' rights and interests and ensure building safety" immediately before the full stop.

   
   Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Development

Clerk to the Legislative Council