 |
A 10/11-33
Legislative Council
Agenda
Wednesday 22 June 2011 at 11:00 am
I. Tabling of Papers
| Subsidiary Legislation / Instruments | L.N. No.
|
|---|
| 1. | Declaration of Increase in Pensions Notice 2011 | 105/2011
| | 2. | Widows and Orphans Pension (Increase) Notice 2011 | 106/2011
|
Other Papers
| 1. | Report of the Committee on Members' Interests on its consideration of a complaint against Ir Dr Hon Raymond HO, Hon Jeffrey LAM and Hon Abraham SHEK
| (to be presented by Hon Mrs Sophie LEUNG, Chairman of the Committee on Members' Interests, who will address the Council)
| | 2. | Report No. 26/10-11 of the House Committee on Consideration of Subsidiary Legislation and Other Instruments
| (to be presented by Hon Miriam LAU, Chairman of the House Committee)
| | 3. | Report of the Bills Committee on Legislation Publication Bill
| (to be presented by Dr Hon Margaret NG, Chairman of the Bills Committee)
| | 4. | Report of the Bills Committee on Stamp Duty (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2010
| | (to be presented by Hon James TO, Chairman of the Bills Committee)
|
II. Questions under Rule 24(4) of the Rules of Procedure
1. Dr Hon Priscilla LEUNG to ask: (Translation)
In the early hours last Wednesday (15 June 2011), a fire broke out in a tenement building with many flat units divided into separate units (commonly known as "sub-divided units") at 111 Ma Tau Wai Road in To Kwa Wan, which resulted in a tragedy with four people killed and 19 injured, and aroused widespread public concern about the fire safety problem of sub-divided units. There are a large number of such kind of old buildings with many sub-divided units in communities like To Kwa Wan, etc., and the fire escape facilities in such buildings are generally poor. To avoid the recurrence of such tragedies, will the Government inform this Council, given that the Secretary for Development indicated in reply to a question at the meeting of this Council on 1 June this year that the removal of all sub-divided units was uncalled for as not all such units were illegal and they might meet the housing needs of the grassroots, whether it will consider, in view of the fire at Ma Tau Wai Road, immediately adopting the mode similar to that of the Operation Building Bright to provide funding to owners in need to improve the fire safety facilities of sub-divided units in order to comply with the statutory requirements on fire safety, and immediately stepping up efforts in publicizing knowledge of fire prevention among owners and tenants of sub-divided units, so as to safeguard public safety; if not, of the reason for that?
| Public Officers to reply | : | Secretary for Development
Secretary for Security
Secretary for Home Affairs
|
2. Hon Starry LEE to ask: (Translation)
On the 15th of this month, a No. 3 alarm fire broke out in a tenement building at Ma Tau Wai Road in To Kwa Wan, causing heavy casualties. Quite a number of surviving residents said that it was difficult to escape, and some of them even had to climb down water pipes, which was very dangerous. The tenement building involved is more than 50 years' old, which is an old "three nos" building (i.e. no owners' corporation, no management and no maintenance), the staircases are piled up with objects, and division of some flat units into separate units (commonly known as "sub-divided units") is common in the building, which blocked escape routes and also substantially increased resident-flows to a level much higher than that of the original design, seriously jeopardizing the fire safety of the building. Furthermore, the situation of many old buildings throughout Hong Kong is similar to that of the building involved in this incident and in case a fire breaks out, the safety of residents' lives and properties will be seriously threatened. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | given that the Secretary for Development indicated in reply to a question raised at the meeting of this Council on 1 June this year that the Buildings Department had issued 73 removal orders on unauthorized sub-divided units pursuant to the Buildings Ordinance, and most of these cases involved breach of the safety requirements on means of fire escape, whether the aforesaid removal orders covered the building involved in this incident; whether the authorities will immediately deploy staff to inspect the conditions of the fire escapes of all the buildings on which removal orders had been issued, so as to ensure that similar tragedies will not recur; and
| | (b) | whether it will immediately conduct comprehensive inspections of all other old buildings throughout Hong Kong to enhance enforcement of the Fire Services Ordinance and the Buildings Ordinance, and consider mandatory intervention in buildings with serious management and safety problems, so as to ensure that fire escapes in buildings are unblocked; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
|
| Public Officers to reply | : | Secretary for Development
Secretary for Security
Secretary for Home Affairs
|
IIA. Questions
1. Hon Andrew LEUNG to ask: (Translation)
The "Outline of the Twelfth Five-Year Plan for the National Economic and Social Development of the People's Republic of China" was promulgated in March this year, with an individual chapter dedicated to Hong Kong and Macao ("the dedicated chapter"), the contents of which put emphasis on the Central Authorities' support for Hong Kong to develop into an offshore Renminbi ("RMB") business centre and an international asset management centre. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | regarding the development of offshore RMB business, of the specific measures the authorities have to respond to the contents of the dedicated chapter, in order to make use of the functions and positioning of Hong Kong in the overall national development strategy as an offshore RMB business centre and an international asset management centre, as well as the progress at present;
| | (b) | as it has been reported recently that Singapore has declared that it will strive to become an offshore RMB business centre, what measures the authorities have to maintain Hong Kong's competitive edge in offshore RMB business; and
| | (c) | as the Under Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury has pointed out recently that, for the internationalization of RMB to be successful, the offshore RMB centre has to strengthen its functions of "inner circulation" (i.e. the policy for overseas RMB to flow back into the Mainland) and "outer circulation" (i.e. the construction of a financial platform to access overseas markets), of the Government's plans in these two aspects?
|
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
2. Hon TAM Yiu-chung to ask: (Translation)
The Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority ("MPFA") has recently announced that the total net asset value of all Mandatory Provident Fund ("MPF") Schemes in Hong Kong as at the end of December 2010 was $365.4 billion, and since the MPF System came into effect in December 2000, the annualized internal rate of return was 5.5%; among the five types of investment products, the annualized rate of return for MPF Conservative Fund, Guaranteed Fund and Money Market Fund were only 1.2%, 1.6% and 0.8% respectively. Besides, according to the relevant disclosure code of MPFA, an annual benefit statement ("ABS") issued by a MPF trustee to scheme members in respect of a financial period ending after 1 September 2009 should clearly set out the amount of fees charged for each contribution, transfer of benefits and transaction (i.e. bid/offer spread) of constituent funds during the year, but quite a number of members of the public have recently relayed to me that there is no such information in the ABS they received. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | given that the annual return of the "investment portfolio" of the Government's Exchange Fund reached 7.1% on average in the past five years, whether the Government has any plan to set up a centrally operated MPF fund, and adopts the investment management approach of the Exchange Fund of a relatively low risk operation to yield higher investment returns for contributors; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
| | (b) | whether the Government will consider introducing legislation to stipulate ceilings for the fees and charges of different types of MPF investment funds, so that contributors' assets are less eroded by management fees; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
| | (c) | whether it knows if MPFA has scrutinized the compliance by MPF trustees with the requirements on fee disclosure; if it has, of the results and which trustees have been penalized for failing to disclose the fees and charges in accordance with the requirements; if not, the reasons for that?
|
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
3. Hon LAU Kong-wah to ask: (Translation)
The Government announced in 2008 that the coverage of the Frontier Closed Area would be reduced from its original 2 800 hectares to 400 hectares. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the current progress of the aforesaid plan, and which boundary areas will be opened up at the earliest;
| | (b) | whether the Government will enhance the associated transport facilities (including public transport such as buses, etc. and providing an additional option of self-drive tour) so as to facilitate the development of the opened up areas; and whether it will allow various modes of public transport to access the opened up areas in the vicinity of Lo Wu Station so that the local community and transit passengers will have more commuting options; and
| | (c) | given the increasing demand for transport from cross-boundary students, whether the Government will consider increasing the quotas for cross-boundary vehicles after opening up the boundary areas so as to allow local schools to have more point-to-point connections with the Shenzhen side, and facilitate cross-boundary students to commute between the two areas to attend school?
|
| Public Officers to reply | : | Secretary for Security
Secretary for Transport and Housing
|
4. Dr Hon PAN Pey-chyou to ask: (Translation)
Since the Government began to implement the Non-Civil Service Contract ("NCSC") Staff Scheme in 1999, various bureaux and government departments ("B/Ds") have employed additional staff on contract terms to meet their service needs which are short-term, time-limited, seasonal or subject to market fluctuations. At present, there are a total of about 16 000 full-time NCSC staff employed by various B/Ds. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the total number of NCSC posts converted to civil service posts by various B/Ds in the past five years, the number of NCSC staff employed to take up these posts and converted to permanent establishment, as well as the average length of service of these staff before such conversion;
| | (b) | given that quite a number of long-serving NCSC staff have been rejected when their posts were converted to civil service posts because they were not qualified to apply for such posts, whether the authorities can consider afresh establishing a flexible mechanism which allows NCSC staff to become civil servants through "internal recruitment" or enables NCSC staff with experience to remain in office, so as to avoid succession problems; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
| | (c) | whether the Civil Service Bureau ("CSB") will review the employment of NCSC staff by various B/Ds annually and cap the number of these staff in various B/Ds; if it will, when the relevant plan will be implemented; if not, of the reasons for that; given that various B/Ds have employed NCSC staff to carry out departmental administration and support duties with different remuneration packages, whether CSB will consider setting up "a central administration and support unit" with CSB conducting recruitment exercises centrally for the provision of temporary support services, such as administrative, clerical and information technology services, etc. for various B/Ds?
|
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Civil Service
5. Hon Albert HO to ask: (Translation)
To address the issue of high prices of textbooks, the Education Bureau ("EDB") has requested publishers to debundle textbooks from learning and teaching materials for pricing. Moreover, the Secretary for Education stated at the end of May this year that if publishers still refused to debundle teaching materials for pricing after one year, EDB would then tender out the publication of textbooks and teaching materials, or it would commission universities to develop and publish teaching materials. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | how the authorities ensure that an independent and impartial committee with credibility will be set up for vetting, approving and funding publishers, universities or educational institutes to publish a wide variety of textbooks and necessary teaching materials for schools to choose from, so as to lower the costs and alleviate the burden on parents; how the authorities guarantee that the condition of "the lowest bidder wins" will not be the only selection principle in the tendering process, with a view to preventing tenderers from "providing inferior products at lower prices", and ensuring that the quality of textbooks and relevant teaching materials will not be affected;
| | (b) | whether the authorities will consider assessing textbooks according to the principles of environmental protection and recycling so as to avoid frequent issue of new textbook editions; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
| | (c) | given that the purchase of textbooks is a major item of daily expenses for the grassroots, whether the authorities will consider afresh increasing the grant rates under the School Textbook Assistance Scheme, so as to alleviate the financial burden on parents?
|
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education
6. Hon Starry LEE to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that in the old buildings in Sham Shui Po, there are "coffin-sized units", which are separate units of the size of a coffin converted from further dividing the original "sub-divided units" into six smaller units for leasing purpose. "Coffin-sized units" are stacks of three levels and the occupants of the uppermost level have to climb up and down ladders, the conditions are appalling, and the occupants can neither stand up nor sit inside the units, but have to crawl like animals when going into or out of the units. It has been reported that the monthly rental per square foot for each "coffin-sized unit" can reach as much as $300, which is more expensive than that of the International Finance Centre in Central; and that while lease advertisements for "coffin-sized units" can be seen everywhere, the persons in charge of such units do not sign any formal tenancy agreements with tenants so as to evade monitoring and investigation by the Government. Moreover, I have learnt that some estate agents in the district are proactively providing one-stop services by paying fixed monthly rentals to flat owners and converting the flats into "sub-divided units" or "coffin-sized units" for lease, thereby reaping profits by charging hefty rentals. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | in each of the past three years, of the respective numbers of complaints, broken down by District Council district, involving the breaches of the Bedspace Apartments Ordinance and the Hotel and Guesthouse Accommodation Ordinance received by the Home Affairs Department ("HAD"), as well as the number of substantiated cases, the penalties imposed and what follow-up actions were taken, and among these complaints, the situation of those involving "coffin-sized units"; what other legislation is currently in place to regulate the mode of operation of "coffin-sized units"; whether HAD has initiated investigations using "undercover" operations to ascertain if these "coffin-sized units" comply with the relevant legislation; if it has, of the investigation results; if not, the reasons for that;
| | (b) | whether the Buildings Department has investigated if the aforesaid persons in charge of "coffin-sized units" are involved in erecting unauthorized building works or making unauthorized alterations, or in breach of the Buildings Ordinance because of non-compliance with the relevant safety and sanitation requirements; if it has, of the investigation results; if not, the reasons for that; and
| | (c) | regarding some estate agents proactively providing one-stop services, whether it knows if the Estate Agents Authority has initiated investigations to ascertain if such practices are in breach of their professional codes; if it has, of the investigation results; if not, the reasons for that?
|
| Public Officers to reply | : | Secretary for Home Affairs
Secretary for Development
|
*7. Dr Hon Samson TAM to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the promotion of the development of information technology ("IT") in schools in Hong Kong, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether it knows the respective numbers of school IT assistants employed by primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong last year, with a breakdown by salary group; as well as the respective average numbers of school IT assistant vacancies and their percentages in the total numbers of such posts; and
| | (b) | given that the Government plans to implement debundling of textbooks and teaching/learning materials for pricing in the new school year commencing in September this year, schools can choose to produce their own teaching materials to meet their teaching needs, whether the authorities will thus allocate additional resources for schools to recruit additional IT staff or purchase additional IT equipment, so as to step up promotion of the development of e-Learning; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
|
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education
*8. Hon IP Wai-ming to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the implementation of the Apprenticeship Ordinance (Cap. 47) ("the Ordinance"), will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the number of apprentices who had registered under the Apprenticeship Scheme and engaged in the 45 designated trades under the Ordinance in the past three years, with a breakdown by the designated trade;
| | (b) | of the number of persons aged over 18 or persons engaging in non-designated trades who had voluntarily applied to join the Apprenticeship Scheme, entered into contracts of apprenticeship with their employers and requested the Director of Apprentice to register the contracts under the Apprenticeship Scheme in the past three years; among them, the number of cases approved and rejected, as well as the respective percentages, with a breakdown by trade;
| | (c) | whether the authorities had proactively promoted the Apprenticeship Scheme to enterprises in the past three years, and encouraged employers to support and participate in the Apprenticeship Scheme after the Minimum Wage Ordinance (Cap. 608) came into effect; if they had, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
| | (d) | of the number of on-site inspections conducted by inspectors of apprentices in the past three years; among them, the number of cases identified and ruled by the courts to be in contravention of the Ordinance, as well as what acts of contravention were involved; whether the authorities have any plan to step up regulation and increase the penalties concerned upon the implementation of the Minimum Wage Ordinance, so as to prevent some employers from exploiting cheap labour on the pretext of recruiting apprentices not bound by the Ordinance; and
| | (e) | whether the authorities have any plan to conduct a comprehensive review on the implementation of the Ordinance, which includes examining the applicability of the 45 designated trades, enhancing the transparency of the Apprenticeship Scheme, and increasing the number of visits to apprentices and on-site inspections, etc.; if they have such a plan, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; given that the authorities have indicated in reply to a question raised by a Member of this Council on the Estimates of Expenditure 2011-2012 that the Vocational Training Council will draw up a new publicity plan to further enhance its promotional efforts on the Apprenticeship Scheme, whether they know the details of such publicity and promotional efforts?
|
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Labour and Welfare
*9. Hon Ronny TONG to ask: (Translation)
I have received requests for assistance from ex-driving instructors of the Hong Kong School of Motoring ("HKSM"), indicating that in 2003 when the number of learner drivers at HKSM dropped significantly which resulted in a surplus of driving instructors, more than 50 driving instructors with 10 to 20 years' instructing experience were made redundant by HKSM. They pointed out that as their driving instructors' licences only entitled them to give driving training within HKSM, their licences became invalid after they were made redundant, and thus they could not give driving training in the private market; moreover, given that there are not many driving schools in Hong Kong and the Transport Department ("TD") had not issued new private driving instructors' ("PDI") licences in the past three years, these instructors were forced to switch to other trades in their middle-age, and the livelihood of their families was also affected. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether the Government has considered further opening up the market for driving training services; if it has, when and how this will be implemented; if not, of the reasons for that; how the Government at present monitors the operation of HKSM and ensures that HKSM will not monopolize the market;
| | (b) | as I have learnt that at a joint meeting held in March 2003 with the Labour Department, the HKSM management echelon had met with the aforesaid more than 50 driving instructors who were made redundant and undertaken that when there was an increase in the number of learner drivers at HKSM or a shortage of its driving instructors, it would give priority to employing these driving instructors who were made redundant, whether the Government knows if HKSM has fulfilled that undertaking; if so, of the number of driving instructors re-employed by HKSM in each of the past eight years; if not, the reasons for that;
| | (c) | whether it knows the number of driving instructors newly recruited by HKSM since 2003 and their respective years of instructing experience; and among them, the number of those possessing PDI licences at the same time; and
| | (d) | whether at present, TD gives preferential treatment to HKSM (e.g. shortening the waiting time for learner drivers attending HKSM to make appointments for road tests and the duration of on-the-road driving practices, and offering preferential treatment for road test venues) to strengthen its advantageous position?
|
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport and Housing
*10. Hon CHAN Kin-por to ask: (Translation)
Recently, the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority ("MPFA") has launched an online searching platform, the "Non-Compliant Employer and Officer Records" ("NCEOR"), which sets out more than 3 700 criminal and civil records including those on failure to make Mandatory Provident Fund contributions, involving more than 2 300 employers. The purpose of setting up NCEOR is to further enhance the deterrent effect on non-compliant employers and officers as well as increase the transparency of MPFA's enforcement actions. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | given that under the current arrangement, if an employer or an officer whose name has been disclosed has no further non-compliance within five years, all non-compliance record(s) of the employer or officer posted in the past will be removed from NCEOR at the end of the relevant month, yet in fact, even the information disclosed online is subsequently deleted from the original web site, the same information which has already been circulated may still be found by search engines, that is to say, it is possible that the names disclosed can be found on the Internet forever, whether MPFA has considered the related problem before implementing this initiative, and whether it has any solution; and
| | (b) | given that the information disclosed only includes the names of the employers or officers, company names and business registration numbers, it is therefore not easy to distinguish the employers involved from persons with the same names, how MPFA solves the problem that innocent persons with the same names may as a result be subjected to unjustified suspicions?
|
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
*11. Hon Alan LEONG to ask: (Translation)
Regarding voter registration campaigns, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the respective amounts of expenditure incurred in implementing voter registration campaigns in each of the past four years;
| | (b) | of the respective numbers of voters registered through different channels in each of the past four years (list in the table below);
| Year | Number of voters registered
online via GovHK | Number of voters registered by
filling in voter registration forms |
| 2007 |
|
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| 2008 |
|
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| 2009 |
|
|
| 2010 |
|
|
| | (c) | of the respective numbers of voter registration forms received during the period from the deadline for voter registration to the polling day in the election years concerned in the past four years (list in the table below);
|
Deadline for
voter
registration
(a) |
Polling day
(b) | Number of voter
registration forms received
during the period from the
deadline for voter
registration (A) to the
polling day (B) |
2007
District
Council
Election |
|
|
|
2008
Legislative
Council
Election |
|
|
|
2010
Legislative
Council
By-election |
|
|
|
| | (d) | given that tenants of private rental housing are generally not keen to update their voter registration particulars, what measures the Government will adopt to encourage them to update their residential addresses and exercise their right as voters; and
| | (e) | whether the Government will consider repealing the voter registration system, so that all eligible members of the public can exercise their right as voters directly without going through administrative formalities; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
|
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs
*12. Dr Hon Joseph LEE to ask: (Translation)
According to available information, the percentage of babies exclusively breastfed for four to six months in Hong Kong is only 12.7%; in other words, breastmilk substitutes (e.g. milk powder and rice cereal) have become the staple food for most babies, and their ingredients, quality and safety directly affect babies' health and growth; at present, there are quite a number of milk powder products which are commonly known as "parallel-imported" products or not imported through dealers in Hong Kong and from unknown sources for sale in the market, and some advertisements are suspected to be exaggerating the components of milk powder and there is no assurance of their quality. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether it will formulate regulations on breastmilk substitutes for babies of 0 to six months to comprehensively regulate the manufacturing process, amount of supply, marketing practices and promotional tactics of all breastmilk substitutes for sale in Hong Kong; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
| | (b) | given that the Government has indicated that it is drawing up a Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes applicable to Hong Kong ("the Code") to regulate the marketing practices of manufacturers and distributors of breastmilk substitutes, of the detailed scope of the Code; whether all breastmilk substitutes for sale in Hong Kong are covered; if not, the reasons for that;
| | (c) | apart from the Code, whether the Government has any measure in place to ensure that members of the public have sufficient information in choosing suitable breastmilk substitutes;
| | (d) | whether the nature of the Code is only for voluntary compliance by the trade; if so, what measures the Government has to ensure that all manufacturers and distributors of breastmilk substitutes comply with the Code, and when formulating the measures, whether it has assessed their effectiveness; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
| | (e) | given that the Code involves stakeholders of different sectors, whether the Government has conducted thorough consultation on it, and has held discussions with various stakeholders, including manufacturers and distributors of breastmilk substitutes; if it has, of the details including the timetable; if not, the reasons for that?
|
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health
*13. Hon CHEUNG Man-kwong to ask: (Translation)
Under Article 24 of the Basic Law, all Chinese citizens born in Hong Kong have the right of abode ("ROA") in Hong Kong regardless of whether their parents have settled in Hong Kong. Given that among the newborn population of Hong Kong, the number and percentage of babies of Chinese nationality born to non-Hong Kong residents have continued to increase in recent years, while the authorities set the quota for mainland residents giving birth in Hong Kong mainly according to the capacity of the local healthcare system. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | given that the ageing of Hong Kong's population will become more serious in the next 30 years, and the ratio of the number of persons aged under 15 and those aged 65 and over per 1 000 persons aged between 15 and 64 ("overall dependency ratio") will increase, whether the authorities know how the population of babies of Chinese nationality born in Hong Kong to non-Hong Kong residents will affect Hong Kong's overall dependency ratios for the next 30 years; if they know, of the overall dependency ratios for the next 30 years calculated respectively by including and excluding the number of such babies (set out the figures at an internal of every five years), and whether inclusion of the number of such babies will lead to a relative increase or decrease in Hong Kong's overall dependency ratios, as well as the corresponding rates of increase/decrease; if the authorities do not know how such baby population will affect the demographic structure of Hong Kong, how they will formulate the population policy and other related policies;
| | (b) | given that babies of Chinese nationality born in Hong Kong to non-Hong Kong residents have ROA and are thus entitled to all public benefits and services in Hong Kong, whereas some children of Hong Kong citizens and their mainland spouses are born on the Mainland as their parents cannot afford the charges for delivery in Hong Kong at $39,000 or more, and such children need to apply for a Permit for Proceeding to Hong Kong and Macao (commonly known as "One-way Permit") to reside in Hong Kong, and until the approval of the Permit they are not entitled to the public benefits and services of Hong Kong, whether the authorities have reviewed if this arrangement is appropriate, and whether they know if there is any other country which adopts the same arrangement;
| | (c) | given that mainlanders applying in the capacity of investors or professionals for residing in Hong Kong together with their children must fulfill a number of requirements in respect of capital assets or competencies, whereas mainlanders giving birth in Hong Kong only need to be able to pay for obstetric services in Hong Kong and their children of Chinese nationality born in Hong Kong can obtain ROA, on what governance principles the Government has based in determining the number of and arrangements for these mainlanders migrating to Hong Kong; and
| | (d) | whether the Steering Committee on Population Policy chaired by the Chief Secretary for Administration has discussed the aforesaid issues; if it has, of the outcome of its discussions; if not, the reasons for that?
|
Public Officer to reply : The Chief Secretary for Administration
*14. Hon Jeffrey LAM to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the filing of tax returns and payment of taxes by taxpayers, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | what mechanism the Inland Revenue Department ("IRD") has to ensure that it maintains effective means of contact with taxpayers, so as to prevent some taxpayers from claiming that they have not received letters from IRD;
| | (b) | what mechanism IRD has to ensure that taxpayers have duly received its letters, so as to prevent some taxpayers from claiming that they are not able to complete and file tax returns and pay taxes on time because they have not received letters from IRD;
| | (c) | given that at present, IRD does not issue any written acknowledgement to taxpayers upon receipt of the tax returns they completed in writing and their tax payments, what mechanism is in place at present to assure taxpayers that IRD has duly received their tax returns and tax payments, so as to prevent their being accused of omitting to file tax returns and pay taxes; and
| | (d) | given that at present, when taxpayers file their tax returns, they are not required to provide documents to support their application for deduction of expenses, e.g. expenses of self-education and approved charitable donations, etc., how IRD, in making assessments, review the taxpayers' tax returns to ensure that there is no misrepresentation or tax evasion by deception; of the number of cases reviewed by IRD in each of the past five years, and, among them, the number of cases in which prosecution was instituted, as well as the penalties imposed?
|
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
*15. Hon Audrey EU to ask: (Translation)
The Chief Executive, the Chief Secretary for Administration, the Secretary for Transport and Housing and the Secretary for the Environment earlier pointed out respectively on different occasions that more than 70 works projects would be affected by the judgment delivered by the High Court in April this year regarding the Environmental Impact Assessment reports for the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Hong Kong Link Road and the Hong Kong Boundary Crossing Facilities projects. In this connection, will the Government set out in the tables below:
| (a) | relevant information on the aforesaid works projects being affected; and
Works
project | Applicant
of environ-
mental
permit | Filing date
of Environ-
mental
Impact Assess-
ment
("EIA") reports | Approval
date of EIA
reports
(if
approved) | Anticipated
approval
date of EIA
reports
(if
applicable) | Commence-
ment date
of works
(if already
started) | Anticipated
commence-
ment date
of works
(if not yet
started) | Anticipated
completion
date | Progress
of works | Funding progress
(if
applicable) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| | (b) | relevant information on the works projects which will not be affected by the aforesaid court judgment?
Works
project | Applicant
of environ-
mental
permit | Filing date
of Environ-
mental
Impact Assess-
ment
("EIA") reports | Approval
date of EIA
reports
(if
approved) | Anticipated
approval
date of EIA
reports
(if
applicable) | Commence-
ment date
of works
(if already
started) | Anticipated
commence-
ment date
of works
(if not yet
started) | Anticipated
completion
date | Progress
of works | Funding progress
(if
applicable) |
|
|
|
|
|
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment
*16. Hon CHAN Hak-kan to ask: (Translation)
It is understood that the car batteries widely used in cars at present contain high concentrations of lead and acid liquids and, if handled improperly, will seriously pollute water and soil. However, some trade representatives have reflected that there is currently no suitable treatment facility in Hong Kong, and they worry that law-breakers will dissemble waste car batteries improperly to extract useful substances from these waste batteries, causing pollution problems. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether it knows, in each of the past three years, the respective number of car batteries replaced and the number of car batteries collected by the 23 licensed chemical waste collectors ("LCWCs");
| | (b) | in accordance with existing requirements, how LCWCs should handle the car batteries they collected; and whether it knows, in the past three years, if there is any difference between the number of waste car batteries handled in accordance with the procedures required at present and the actual number of car batteries replaced; if so, of the details;
| | (c) | of the number of prosecutions instituted by the Government against improper handling of waste car batteries in the past three years; and
| | (d) | whether it has plans to set up suitable treatment facilities for waste car batteries; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment
*17. Hon WONG Kwok-hing to ask: (Translation)
The Hong Kong Housing Authority ("HA") launches the Territory-wide Overcrowding Relief ("TWOR") transfer exercises and Living Space Improvement Transfer Scheme ("LSITS") every year to enable public rental housing ("PRH") tenants living below 5.5 square metres ("m2") and 7 m2 internal floor area ("IFA") per person respectively to apply for transfer to larger flats. Yet, some PRH tenants have relayed to me that when they inquiried about such exercises and scheme, HA staff said that they could only be allocated larger flats in remote areas such as Tin Shui Wai and Tung Chung, etc., instead of being transferred to larger flats in the same area where they are living ("same area") or in the same district for PRH allocation ("same district"). In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the numbers of PRH tenants living below 5.5 m2 and 7 m2 IFA per person respectively at present, with a breakdown by the four districts of urban, extended urban, the New Territories and the islands;
| | (b) | in the past three years, of the respective numbers of "TWOR" and "LSITS" applications received by HA, the tenants successfully transferred, and among such tenants, those who were transferred to flats in the same area or the same district;
| | (c) | of the numbers of PRH flats set aside every year by the authorities for transfer under the aforesaid exercises and scheme; whether such flats are set aside in every district; if so, of the number of flats available for transferring overcrowded households every year, with a breakdown by district; if not, the reasons for that;
| | (d) | whether the Housing Department has guidelines to instruct its staff to restrict applicants of the aforesaid exercises or scheme to be transferred to PRH flats in remote areas only when the flats available for transferring overcrowded households in the applicants' districts are occupied or insufficient; if it has, of the reasons for that; if not, whether applicants can still wait for transfer under such exercises and scheme to larger flats in the same area or the same district, and of the average waiting time; and
| | (e) | whether HA will proactively issue letters in the future to PRH tenants living below 5.5 m2 and 7 m2 IFA per person to invite them to participate in the aforesaid exercises and scheme, so as to resolve the problem of overcrowdedness of PRH households; whether the authorities will enhance training for frontline staff and step up publicity among tenants, so that they will understand the details of the transfer schemes for overcrowded households and will not be misled?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport and Housing
*18. Hon LEE Wing-tat to ask: (Translation)
According to the information of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data ("Privacy Commissioner"), given that the PlayStation® Network ("PSN") system was intruded by hackers in April this year, resulting in the leak of user account information, the Privacy Commissioner met with the Deputy Managing Director of Sony Computer Entertainment Hong Kong Limited ("SCEH") after the incident to understand the situation; SCEH pointed out that between 17 and 19 April this year, information of some PSN user accounts, including 400 000 Hong Kong accounts, was leaked during an illegal and unauthorized intrusion into its network; and the account information leaked included name, address, country, email address, date of birth, PSN password and login, and PSN online ID, but SCEH could not ascertain whether the credit card data in those accounts were leaked. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether it knows if among the 400 000 Hong Kong accounts, the number of those with information being leaked has at present been ascertained; if so, the total number of users involved, as well as the details of information being leaked, and whether credit card data are included; if not, the reasons for that;
| | (b) | whether it knows if the Privacy Commissioner has approached SCEH to find out if it had taken all practicable steps to protect the information of its customers against intrusion by hackers; if so, the details of the steps taken by SCEH, or if it has been found out that SCEH had not taken the relevant steps, the reasons for that; if the Privacy Commissioner has not approached SCEH to find out such information, the reasons for that; and
| | (c) | given that PSN services across the globe were temporarily suspended after the aforesaid incident, and subsequently when the services were gradually resumed in other countries and regions, the services in Hong Kong still have not been resumed, whether it knows if it is because the Privacy Commissioner had required SCEH to upgrade the security protection of the PSN to a satisfactory level before resumption of the PSN services; if so, the details; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs
*19. Hon Albert CHAN to ask: (Translation)
In reply to my question at the Council meeting of 23 June 2010, the Government said that the Police had attached great importance to combating illegal debt collection activities conducted by debt collection agencies ("DCAs"). Yet, I have learnt that recently the situation of debtors being harassed by DCAs in recovering debts is deteriorating, and it is still common for banks, finance companies, telecommunication service companies, beauty service companies and tutorial teachers to hire DCAs to collect money owed by their customers. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the number of cases about harassment by DCAs reported by the public to the Police since 23 June of last year;
| | (b) | whether it will, in view of the aforesaid situation, reconsider accepting the recommendations in the report of the Law Reform Commission of Hong Kong on "The Regulation of Debt Collection Practices" published in 2002 concerning the creation of a criminal offence of harassment of debtors and other people as well as the establishment of a statutory licensing system for monitoring DCAs; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
| | (c) | whether it will consider introducing new enforcement measures to curb DCAs using harassing practices to recover debts; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security
*20. Hon Frederick FUNG to ask: (Translation)
Early this year I raised a question about the relocation of the bus terminus facing the Tsim Sha Tsui ("TST") Star Ferry Pier with a view to releasing the site for development into a piazza. It has recently been reported that there are changes to the aforesaid relocation and development plan, and that the "Star" Ferry Company, Limited is planning to construct an additional floor above the TST Star Ferry Pier to provide dining services. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council of the latest progress of the whole revitalization scheme for the TST Star Ferry Pier (including the pier itself and the piazza, etc.); whether the authorities have given up the relocation of the TST Star Ferry Pier bus terminus and shelved the proposal of developing the piazza; and how the authorities ensure that the proposal of the "Star" Ferry Company, Limited to construct an additional floor can balance public concerns such as conservation, openness and accessibility, etc.?
| Public Officer to reply | : | Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
(in the absence of Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development)
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* For written reply
III. Bills
Second Reading (Debates to resume), Committee Stage and Third Reading
| | 1. | Legislation Publication Bill | : | The Secretary for Justice
| The Secretary for Justice to move Committee stage amendments
(The amendments were issued on 15 June 2011
under LC Paper No. CB(3) 898/10-11)
| | 2. | Stamp Duty (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2010 | : | Secretary for Transport and Housing
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| (i) | Secretary for Transport and Housing to move Committee stage amendments
| | (The amendments were issued on 15 June 2011
under LC Paper No. CB(3) 899/10-11)
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| (ii) | Hon Abraham SHEK to move Committee stage amendments
| | (The amendments were issued on 17 June 2011
under LC Paper No. CB(3) 915/10-11)
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IV. Members' Motions
- Expeditiously implementing the formulation of standard working hours
Hon IP Wai-ming to move the following motion: (Translation)
That after many years of striving by the labour sector, the Minimum Wage Ordinance formally came into force this year, marking a great step forward for labour rights and interests; yet, minimum wage and standard working hours must complement each other in order to be able to maximize the effect of protecting grassroots workers and facilitating Hong Kong's economic development; in this connection, this Council urges the SAR Government to, having regard to the well-being of employees at large, spare no efforts in making preparations for enacting legislation on standard working hours and expeditiously implement the relevant tasks, including:
| (a) | to set a deadline and timetable for conducting studies on regulating working hours;
| | (b) | to establish a 'study group on legislating for standard working hours' comprising representatives of the Government, employees and employers;
| | (c) | to regularly hold discussions in the Panel on Manpower of the Legislative Council, and report to the Labour Advisory Board on the progress, so as to strengthen the Legislative Council's function of monitoring the Government on the one hand, and increase the transparency of the relevant work on the other, with a view to enabling the public and the labour sector to know the progress of the studies;
| | (d) | to proactively ascertain the views of the trade unions of various industries and the relevant stakeholders on standard working hours; and
| | (e) | through various forms of publicity and education, to increase the public's knowledge and understanding of standard working hours.
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Amendment to the motion
Hon WONG Sing-chi to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To delete "after many years of striving by the labour sector" after "That" and substitute with "minimum wage and standard working hours are the legitimate rights and interests that the Hong Kong labour sector has been requesting to implement for many years; while after many years of striving by the various social sectors"; to delete "formally came" after "Minimum Wage Ordinance" and substitute with "has formally come"; to delete ";" after "labour rights and interests" and substitute with ","; to add "and giving due compensation for overtime work" after "regulating working hours"; to delete "and" after "on standard working hours;"; and to add "; and (f) to formulate and implement family-friendly policies, which are closely related to the objectives of standard working hours, so as to promote work-life balance" immediately before the full stop.
Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Labour and Welfare
- Safeguarding the room for business and development of small and medium enterprises
Dr Hon LAM Tai-fai to move the following motion: (Translation)
That after the financial tsunami, European and American economies have not yet fully recovered, and market purchasing power has yet to revive, in addition, the US dollar has remained weak, the exchange rates of Renminbi, etc., have kept rising, rents and raw materials prices have continued to soar, causing operating costs to increase substantially and making the business environment of small and medium enterprises ('SMEs') very difficult; what SMEs worry more is that if regulatory legislation is enacted in the future, they may easily contravene the law inadvertently, be oppressed by large enterprises bringing private litigations against them, and they need to bear heavy compliance costs and litigation fees, thus dealing a severe blow to their business and development, and producing inestimable negative impact on the overall economic development and employment in society; in this connection, this Council urges that when enacting cross-sector regulatory legislation, the Government should completely exempt SMEs from the scope of regulation, so as to effectively safeguard consumer interests as well as SMEs' room for development and sustainable competitiveness.
| Amendments to the motion
| | (i) | Hon WONG Ting-kwong to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To add "at present small and medium enterprises ('SMEs') in Hong Kong face many challenges;" after "That"; to delete "small and medium enterprises ('SMEs')" after "business environment of" and substitute with "SMEs"; and to delete "completely exempt SMEs from the scope of regulation" after "the Government should" and substitute with "provide SMEs with appropriate exemptions; at the same time, the Government should also formulate strategies and measures to comprehensively improve the business environment, and through various aspects such as taxation, financing, upgrading and transformation, manpower training, product exploration, research and development, brand development, and continuously developing the local, export and China's domestic sales markets, etc., as well as by capitalizing on the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement and the Framework Agreement on Hong Kong/Guangdong Co-operation, assist SMEs in reducing expenses on operating costs, developing markets and strengthening co-operation between enterprises in the two places".
| | (ii) | Hon Albert CHAN to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To add ", given that" after "That"; to add "(including the rents of public housing shopping arcades under The Link Management Limited)" after "kept rising, rents"; and to add "and strive to improve the business environment of SMEs by, for example, considering buying back The Link Real Estate Investment Trust to lower the rents of public housing shopping arcades to reasonable levels" after "scope of regulation".
| | (iii) | Hon Ronny TONG to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To add ", given that" after "That"; and to delete "; what SMEs worry more is that if regulatory legislation is enacted in the future, they may easily contravene the law inadvertently, be oppressed by large enterprises bringing private litigations against them, and they need to bear heavy compliance costs and litigation fees, thus dealing a severe blow to their business and development, and producing inestimable negative impact on the overall economic development and employment in society; in this connection, this Council urges that when enacting cross-sector regulatory legislation, the Government should completely exempt SMEs from the scope of regulation, so as to" after "very difficult" and substitute with ", this Council urges the Government to expeditiously introduce relevant legislation to protect SMEs' competitiveness and safeguard the rights and interests of consumers; regarding SMEs' worries about regulatory legislation, this Council urges the Government to expeditiously promote a competition culture with every effort and explain to SMEs that they should not believe any rumours, so as to allay their concern about regulatory legislation, and".
| | (iv) | Hon WONG Yuk-man to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To delete "rents and" after "kept rising,"; to add "and under rampant 'developer hegemony', rents have even been increasing endlessly," after "continued to soar,"; to delete "completely" after "the Government should" and substitute with "reasonably and appropriately"; and to delete ", so as to effectively safeguard consumer interests as well as SMEs' room for development and sustainable competitiveness" immediately before the full stop and substitute with "; at the same time, the Government should reform its land policy to prevent people from driving up the rents of offices or shops, so as to give back reasonable room for survival and development to SMEs".
| | (v) | Hon Fred LI to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To delete "completely exempt SMEs from the scope of regulation" after "the Government should" and substitute with "comprehensively study and consider SMEs' difficulties and worries".
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Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development
Clerk to the Legislative Council
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