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A 11/12-24
Legislative Council
Agenda
Wednesday 18 April 2012 at 11:00 am
I. Tabling of Papers
| Subsidiary Legislation / Instruments | L.N. No. |
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| 1. | Employees Retraining Ordinance (Amendment of Schedule 2) Notice 2012 | 49/2012 |
| 2. | Enduring Powers of Attorney (Amendment) Ordinance 2011 (Commencement) Notice | 50/2012 |
| 3. | International Organizations (Privileges and Immunities) (Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction) Order | 52/2012 |
| 4. | Statutes of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (Amendment) Statutes 2012 | 53/2012 |
Other Papers
| 1. | No. 85 | - | Education Scholarships Fund
Trustee's Report on the Administration of the Fund and Financial statements together with the Report of the Director of Audit for the year ended 31 August 2011 |
(to be presented by the Secretary for Education)
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| 2. | No. 86 | - | Research Endowment Fund
Financial statements together with the Report of the Director of Audit for the year ended 31 August 2011 |
(to be presented by the Secretary for Education)
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| 3. | No. 87 | - | Employees Retraining Board Annual Report 2010-11 |
(to be presented by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare)
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| 4. | No. 88 | - | Report No. 58 of the Director of Audit on the results of value for money audits - March 2012 |
(to be presented by the President of the Legislative Council)
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| 5. | Report No. 16/11-12 of the House Committee on Consideration of Subsidiary Legislation and Other Instruments |
(to be presented by Hon Miriam LAU, Chairman of the House Committee)
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| 6. | Report of the Bills Committee on Protection of Wages on Insolvency (Amendment) Bill 2011 |
(to be presented by Hon WONG Ting-kwong, Chairman of the Bills Committee)
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| 7. | Report of the Bills Committee on Lifts and Escalators Bill |
(to be presented by Ir Dr Hon Raymond HO, Chairman of the Bills Committee)
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II. Questions
1. Hon WONG Kwok-kin to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported earlier that quite a number of young or middle-aged non-elderly one-person applicants of public rental housing ("PRH") seek expeditious allocation of PRH through the Express Flat Allocation Scheme ("EFAS") and then apply for purchasing Home Ownership Scheme ("HOS") flats or units under other subsidized housing schemes as green form applicants after three years. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the number of non-elderly one-person applicants of PRH who joined EFAS in each of the past five years, and among such applicants, the number, age groups, academic qualifications, and average waiting time of those who were allocated PRH units; the number of non-elderly one-person applicants allocated PRH units under EFAS in the past five years who applied to switch to ordinary households with other family members, or applied to purchase HOS flats as green form applicants, within five years after moving into the PRH units concerned;
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| (b) | in each of the past five years, of the numbers of inspections and home visits conducted by the Housing Department ("HD") in relation to misuse of PRH, the number of units involved, and the respective numbers of one-person units and units for the elderly involved; among such inspections and home visits, of the number of surprise visits in each year; the number of cases eventually confirmed by HD as cases of PRH units being misused or left vacant; and
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| (c) | given that more subsidized housing schemes will be available for application by the public in future, and under some of such schemes, green form applicants will have a greater chance of success in a ballot or a higher priority in the order of unit selection, whether the authorities have assessed if the aforesaid situation will become a short-cut for certain people to apply for such subsidized housing schemes, increase the waiting time for needy families, waste PRH resources and affect the fairness of these subsidized housing schemes; if they have, of the details; whether the authorities will conduct thorough investigation and step up regulation to prevent abuse of PRH resources and at the same time review the eligibility of non-elderly one-person tenants for applying for subsidized housing as green form applicants, so as to prevent the problem from worsening?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport and Housing
2. Hon Audrey EU to ask: (Translation)
Recently, there has been wide coverage in local newspapers and international media alleging that the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region ("LOCPG") has been profoundly intervening in Hong Kong's affairs, which may have breached Article 22 of the Basic Law and deviated from the principle of "One Country, Two Systems" and "a high degree of autonomy". After the Chief Executive ("CE") Election, a foreign media organization even commented that "One Country, Two Systems" is "the worst system, including all the others". In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | given that it was reported that during a meeting between officials of LOCPG and staff members of CE's Office in a clubhouse in February this year, the Head of Research of LOCPG severely criticized the Director of CE's Office for not trying his best to prevent this Council from exercising the powers conferred by the Legislative Council (Powers and Privileges) Ordinance in investigating a CE candidate, whether the Government has taken any action (including giving an account of the truth to the public and condemning those actions which breach the Basic Law) regarding this incident to uphold the promise of "Hong Kong people ruling Hong Kong" as laid down in the Basic Law; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
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| (b) | given that some members of the Election Committee ("EC members") alleged that LOCPG lobbied votes from quite a number of EC members for one of the candidates during the CE election period, whether the Government has taken any action (including launching investigation into the incident in accordance with the Elections (Corrupt and Illegal Conduct) Ordinance, as well as summonsing the people concerned for interviews, etc.) regarding this incident to uphold the promise of "Hong Kong people ruling Hong Kong" as laid down in the Basic Law; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
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| (c) | given that it was reported that the secretary of the person-in-charge of a newspaper had received a telephone message left by the Director-General of the Department of Publicity, Culture and Sports Affairs of LOCPG expressing dissatisfaction about the newspaper's reports which criticized LOCPG and the CE Election, whether the Government has taken any action (including finding out the truth from the media organization concerned and condemning those actions which breach the Basic Law) regarding this incident to uphold the promise of "Hong Kong people ruling Hong Kong" as laid down in the Basic Law; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs
3. Hon LAU Kong-wah to ask: (Translation)
The Hong Kong Housing Authority ("HA") implemented the Electrical Rewiring and Reinforcement ("ERR") Programme in 2005 to assist residents of old public housing estates ("PHEs") in replacing electrical wiring and install additional power sockets in their flats, with a view to gradually addressing the problems of ageing of wiring and inadequate sockets in the flats of very old PHEs. Some members of the public have recently reflected to me that electricity leakage incidents occurred in the flats of the Tenants Purchase Scheme ("TPS") estates, and quite a number of these incidents were related to the ageing of wiring. They have pointed out that tenants in TPS estates are still tenants of HA, and as most of them are low-income earners, it is difficult for these tenants themselves to improve the obsolete electrical installations, but ERR Programme at present does not cover TPS estates, thus such tenants need to face the threat of possible occurrence of electricity leakages. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the current progress of ERR Programme; upon completion of the aforesaid works, the life span of the new installations; whether the authorities have any plan in place to regularly inspect the electrical installations of the households which benefited from ERR Programme; if they have, of the interval between each inspection; if not, the reasons for that;
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| (b) | apart from old PHEs which are currently covered by ERR Programme, whether the authorities will plan to carry out works to replace electrical wiring and install additional power sockets in the flats of all other PHEs across the territory; if they will, of the number of PHEs involved; and
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| (c) | whether the authorities will plan to extend the scope of ERR Programme to include the rental flats of TPS estates; if they will, of the implementation timetable; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport and Housing
4. Dr Hon Priscilla LEUNG to ask: (Translation)
Recently I have received quite a number of complaints from residents in the vicinity of the MTR Olympic Station, indicating that because of the open air design of the rail sections of the MTR Tung Chung Line and Airport Express adjacent to the housing estates (namely, the Central Park and the Park Avenue) in that district, and in the absence of noise barriers, the nearby residents have been suffering from excessive noise nuisance produced by trains running through the aforesaid sections for years. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether it knows, other than the East Rail Line, the total number of rail sections which adopt an open air design and are close to residential buildings at present; of the total number of complaints the authorities had received in the past three years from residents living on both sides of the open air rail sections concerning railway traffic noise;
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| (b) | of the existing criteria based on which the authorities request the MTR Corporation Limited ("MTRCL") to retrofit semi-enclosures similar to those retrofitted along the East Rail Line section near Yim Po Fong Street in Mong Kok or full enclosures along the open air rail sections close to residential buildings for noise mitigation purpose; whether the Government has specified the distance between MTR rails and residential buildings at present; and
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| (c) | whether the Environmental Protection Department has sent its staff to measure the noise level on both sides of the open air rail sections of the Olympic Station near the Park Avenue; if it has, of the data so collected; whether the Government has plans to require MTRCL to retrofit full enclosures along the aforesaid sections; if it has, whether it knows the timetable for the retrofitting works?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment
5. Hon Tommy CHEUNG to ask: (Translation)
In recent years, many foreign companies have launched various types of investment products in the financial market of Hong Kong for capital financing. To avoid their savings being eroded by high inflation, many members of the public, including the elderly, purchase products with expected higher returns. Yet some of them query that after the Lehman Brothers Minibonds incident, the vetting, approval and regulation of investment products by the regulatory authorities are still inadequate, and members of the public may at any time purchase defective investment products. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | how the due diligence of Hong Kong's regulatory authorities in vetting and approving investment products is ensured, so as not to allow defective investment products to be launched in the market, including ensuring that the businesses which are linked to such products are not involved in criminal offences, such as fraud, etc., both locally or abroad before the sale of such products in Hong Kong is allowed;
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| (b) | whether it knows if the regulatory authorities have put in place an international notification mechanism to facilitate their regular monitoring of the investment products which are approved for sale in Hong Kong, and immediately inform the vendors and investors concerned to raise their alertness when the businesses linked to such products are found to be involved in criminal cases abroad and the persons or organizations involved are prosecuted, so as to enhance the transparency of the investment products and safeguard the right to know of investors; if they have, of the details; if not, whether they will consider setting up the relevant mechanism; and
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| (c) | whether it knows, in the event that the businesses linked to those investment products which are approved for sale in Hong Kong are involved in criminal cases abroad and the persons or organizations involved are convicted, what actions the regulatory authorities take to safeguard the interests of investors; if action is not taken, of the reasons for that, and whether formulation of measures to take action under such circumstances will be considered with a view to enhancing the safeguard of the interests of investors?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
6. Hon WONG Yung-kan to ask: (Translation)
In accordance with the existing requirements for environmental impact assessment ("EIA") in Hong Kong, fisheries impact assessments must be conducted for proposed development projects which may affect fisheries resources. Regarding such assessments and conservation of marine resources, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether certain ancillary tools (e.g. mathematical models) are at present required to be used for conducting impact prediction and evaluation; if so, of the difference between such tools and those ancillary tools currently used by various leading fisheries countries; if not, how the relevant organizations can make accurate judgement when examining and approving EIA reports;
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| (b) | given that at present the Government mainly makes reference to the opinion of experts to make scientific assessments when conducting EIA, and evaluate the ecological impact of infrastructure projects in a systematic manner, of the objective means adopted by the Government to make assessment in respect of the impact of marine works on fishermen and members of the community; whether the Government will consider the views of fishermen and relevant members of the community, and regard their views as one of the important factors for consideration; if not, of the reasons for that; and
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| (c) | whether the Government has any plan to conduct a comprehensive survey on marine resources in Hong Kong waters and prepare marine resource maps, with a view to promoting conservation of the ecosystem and marine resources; if not, of the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment
*7. Hon Cyd HO to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the 66.56 linear metres of records in total which were destroyed by the Office of the Chief Executive during its relocation to the new Central Government Complex, will the Government inform this Council of:
| (a) | the titles of such records; and
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| (b) | the dates of creation of such records as well as the dates of closing such records?
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Public Officer to reply : The Chief Secretary for Administration
*8. Hon Mrs Regina IP to ask: (Translation)
Will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether it knows, apart from the two posts of Director and Senior Manager of the Hong Kong Institute for Monetary Research ("HKIMR") established in August 1999 by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority ("HKMA"), the staff establishment and expenditure of HKIMR in the past year; as well as the academic qualifications and background of HKIMR's researchers;
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| (b) | given that HKIMR regularly publishes quite a number of professional and academic topical reports and conducts research studies on subjects relating to financial economics (e.g. the monetary policies in Hong Kong and other places in Asia, cross-border Renminbi business and the Renminbi market in Hong Kong, etc.), whether it knows if HKMA and the Government (including the Financial Secretary's Office and the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau, etc.) share and use such data and research results; if so, of the specific details; apart from research studies relating to financial economics, whether HKIMR regularly publishes topical reports on the trends of the real economy (e.g. the impact of the Individual Visit Scheme on the industrial structure of Hong Kong, as well as the impact of the European debt crisis and the recovery of the American property market on the economic industries of Hong Kong, etc.); and
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| (c) | given that according to government information, the Economic Analysis Division ("EAD") of the Economic Analysis and Business Facilitation Unit under the Financial Secretary's Office is responsible for providing economic analyses and related advice on government policies, whether EAD had, in the past five years, regularly conducted research studies on the trends of the real economy mentioned in (b), and published topical reports of professional and academic standards; if so, of the number of such reports published each year; the scope of the research studies and whether the coverage was extensive enough; the current staff establishment of EAD as well as the academic qualifications and background of its staff; whether the Government will strengthen EAD's capabilities to study and analyze the trends of the real economy; if so, of the relevant plan?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
*9. Hon Fred LI to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that ExxonMobil Energy Limited intends to sell the 60% equity interest in Castle Peak Power Company Limited ("CAPCO") it holds, whilst CLP Power Holdings Limited ("CLP") and China Southern Power Grid Company Limited ("CSG"), which is a state-owned enterprise, plan to jointly acquire the aforesaid equity interest. Members of the public are concerned about the acquisition's impact on people's livelihood and politics, and they also consider that in anticipation of the tariff increase of CLP in the coming year, it is necessary for the Government to assess the impact of the outcome of the acquisition on the regulation and improvement of the electricity market by the Government. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether it has assessed the impact of the successful joint acquisition of CAPCO's equity interest by CLP and CSG on the current and future tariffs in Hong Kong and the possibility of opening up the electricity market; if it has, of the findings; if not, whether and when such assessment will be made;
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| (b) | whether it has any control on the sale of assets and equity interest by power plants at present; and whether it has any control over power companies in expanding the assets in their accounts by means of acquisition of equity interest;
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| (c) | whether it knows if CLP will revise the amount of its assets upon successful acquisition of CAPCO's equity interest in order to adjust tariff;
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| (d) | whether the SAR Government is involved in the aforesaid proposed acquisition of CAPCO's equity interest; whether it has obtained any relevant information beforehand; and
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| (e) | given that CSG is a state-owned enterprise, whether the Government has assessed, upon the successful acquisition of CAPCO's equity interest by CSG, the changes to the previous agreements and development principles laid down by the Government with power companies, if the Government will formulate afresh the direction for the development of the electricity market, and if Hong Kong's electricity market will be subject to control by the mainland counterparts?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment
*10. Hon CHEUNG Kwok-che to ask: (Translation)
The recommendations made by the Hospital Authority ("HA") in its Mental Health Service Plan for Adults 2010-2015 include: (1) recruiting case managers ("CMs") in all HA clusters to provide comprehensive case management for all patients with severe mental illness ("SMI") considered suitable for treatment in community settings; (2) carrying out a pilot on setting up community-based multi-disciplinary mental health specialist care teams to provide a full range of psychiatric and mental health services in community settings, and provide links with Integrated Community Centres for Mental Wellness ("ICCMW") of the Social Welfare Department; and (3) implementing a new specialist out-patient model based on multi-disciplinary care to patients, so as to improve waiting time, consultation time, service flexibility (particularly for evening clinics) and the range of services provided. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council if it knows:
| (a) | the number of CMs employed by HA as at the end of March this year; at least how many cases each CM has to handle each year; the actual number of cases currently handled by each CM on average; apart from following up cases, whether CMs are responsible for other duties and activities;
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| (b) | the current number of patients with SMI considered suitable for treatment in community settings according to HA's information, broken down by various districts delineated by HA; the estimated number of CMs that is adequate in the light of such patient number, and the number of additional CMs required to be employed for various districts to meet service demands;
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| (c) | the number of cases referred by CMs to ICCMWs for follow-up in the past two years, broken down by various districts delineated by HA; under what circumstances and based on what criteria CMs will refer the cases; and how they cooperate with the social workers of ICCMWs to assist the patients in their rehabilitation after referring the cases; and
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| (d) | given that some social workers of ICCMWs have reflected that when they refer persons suffering from or suspected to be suffering from mental illness to HA hospitals for treatment, but such persons are not given priority access to specialist out-patient services and still have to undergo general out-patient diagnosis, whether HA will arrange direct treatment by psychiatrists for those patients referred by such social workers, so that they can receive early treatment; if not, the reasons for that, and under what circumstances and through what procedures the patients concerned will be given priority access to specialist out-patient services?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health
*11. Hon IP Wai-ming to ask: (Translation)
The Labour and Welfare Bureau submitted a paper to the Panel on Manpower of this Council on 16 February this year regarding the preliminary key findings of the Manpower Projection to 2018 ("MP2018"), which reveals that the overall manpower supply is estimated to be 14 000 people short of the overall manpower requirement in 2018 by broad education level. As early as the launch of the Qualifications Framework by the authorities, some members of the trade reflected to me that education qualification was not equivalent to actual working skills (e.g. an employee with high education qualification may not be able to take up a job for vehicle maintenance), and thus it was necessary to draw up standards on work experience and specifications of competency standards ("SCS") for individual job positions. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | in addition to education level, whether the authorities had assessed the requirements on work experience and competency standards for individual job positions of different professions when drawing up MP2018; if they had not, of the reasons for that; whether the Government will analyze the relevant work experience and competency standards to project afresh the variances in manpower supply and demand for Hong Kong; and
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| (b) | given that MP2018 reveals a shortfall of 22 000 people in the education category of upper secondary, craft, technician and sub-degree levels six years later, of the number of SCS-based vocational training courses to be provided by the Government in the next six years to meet the manpower shortfall?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Labour and Welfare
*12. Hon WONG Sing-chi to ask: (Translation)
Under the existing legislation, marriages may be celebrated in marriage registries by the Registrar of Marriages or deputy registrar of marriages ("the Registrar"), or in licensed places of worship by competent ministers according to the rites or usages of marriage observed in the churches, denominations, or bodies concerned. Moreover, practising solicitors and notary public who are eligible and appointed as civil celebrants may also celebrate marriages for wedding couples at any time and at any place in Hong Kong other than the office of the Registrar and a licensed place of worship. In this connection, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council:
| (a) | of the respective numbers of marriages celebrated through the aforesaid three ways in each of the past three years;
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| (b) | of the existing principles based on which the authorities grant a licence to certain place of worship to approve it as a place for celebration of marriages according to religious rites;
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| (c) | whether the existing arrangement that civil celebrants may celebrate marriages in any place is contradictory to the policy that ministers are required to celebrate marriages in licensed places of worship; and
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| (d) | whether the authorities will consider relaxing the aforesaid requirement, so that competent ministers may also celebrate marriages in any place?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security
*13. Hon James TO to ask: (Translation)
In collaboration with the Hong Kong Housing Society and four property management professional bodies, the Government launched a one-year pilot scheme called the "Building Management Professional Service Scheme" ("pilot scheme") in April 2010 to provide free professional advice and follow-up services on property management to about 1 600 owners of flat units in old buildings in five districts where more old buildings are located, and in November last year, it introduced the "Building Management Professional Advisory Scheme" ("Advisory Scheme") which will last up to March 2014, so as to expand the pilot scheme. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | regarding the latest details of implementing the various services provided under the pilot scheme, of the number of home visits conducted by the authorities with a view to contacting owners direct and assisting them in forming Owners' Corporations ("OCs"); the number of buildings for which the authorities have prepared management audit reports for their common areas; the number of OC meetings attended by the authorities to provide professional advice and secretarial services, together with the number of the OCs concerned; the number of OCs which were assisted by the authorities in applying for various maintenance subsidy and loan schemes, as well as following up the repair works and tender procedures, etc.; the number of OCs which were assisted by the authorities in taking out third party risks insurance; and the number of building management training programmes or seminars, etc. provided to office-bearers of OCs and owners;
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| (b) | among the first category of target buildings/clusters of buildings under the pilot scheme, i.e. those clusters of buildings (approximately 900 units in total) jointly selected by the participating organizations, of the number of clusters of buildings in which the Government conducted home visits, broken down by year and District Council district, and so far the number of buildings among them which subsequently formed an OC or reorganized their OCs; further, the number of cases of the Government assisting the owners in successfully coordinating building maintenance and repair works;
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| (c) | of the number of buildings under the second category of target buildings/clusters of buildings under the pilot scheme, i.e. those buildings identified through applications submitted by owners who were interested in joining the scheme, broken down by year and District Council district, and so far the number of buildings among them which formed an OC or reorganized their OCs after participating in the pilot scheme, and whether any of these buildings withdrew from the scheme; if so, of the details; further, the number of cases of the Government assisting the owners in successfully coordinating building maintenance and repair works;
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| (d) | whether the Government has compiled statistics on the time normally needed to complete the follow-up action for a single case under the pilot scheme;
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| (e) | given that the Government will implement the Advisory Scheme up to March 2014 and has awarded contracts through open tender to two property management companies for the provision of relevant services, and it has been learnt that the two property management companies are required by the Government under the contracts to form OCs for a designated number of buildings during the period of the Advisory Scheme, of the respective target numbers to be met by each company in each year, with a breakdown of such numbers by District Council district;
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| (f) | given that the Advisory Scheme is implemented "on the basis of building clusters" to "encourage owners to learn from one another to tackle the problem of building neglect", of the relevant implementation details; the "clusters" which are currently covered under the Scheme;
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| (g) | of the specific details of the service of "providing training on building management to office-bearers of OCs and owners" under the Advisory Scheme; whether all owners of the eligible buildings may enjoy this service; and
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| (h) | as it has been learnt that the Government launched the "Resident Liaison Ambassador Scheme" ("Ambassador Scheme") at the same time in November last year to recruit owners or tenants aged 18 or above who live in "three nil" buildings of more than 30 years' old to participate in the scheme to assist government departments in contacting residents, whether the Government has compiled statistics on the total number of such residents participating in the Ambassador Scheme so far; if it has, of the number of such participants, broken down by District Council district; whether the Government will regularly review the effectiveness of the Ambassador Scheme; and whether the Government will step up publicity when the response is not satisfactory; if it will, of the details?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs
*14. Hon Paul CHAN to ask: (Translation)
Some Hong Kong-born citizens who are also holders of Hong Kong permanent identity cards pointed out to me that their children who were born overseas had obtained British Dependent Territories Citizen passports and Hong Kong juvenile identity cards before 30 June 1997. Their children then stayed abroad to pursue studies and returned to Hong Kong upon reaching the age of 18 this year and applied for adult identity cards, but their applications were refused by the Immigration Department ("ImmD"). In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | in each of the years since the reunification of Hong Kong in 1997, of the number of applications received by ImmD which were similar to the aforesaid cases; among such applications, of the respective numbers of those which were refused and approved, as well as the reasons why some applications were refused;
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| (b) | among the refused applications referred to in (a), of the number of cases in which the applicants were successful in their subsequent applications for Hong Kong identity cards with assistance from ImmD, as well as the reasons why such applications were successful;
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| (c) | among the refused applications referred to in (a), of the number of applicants who had lodged appeals to the Registration of Persons Tribunal; of the respective numbers of appeal cases which were allowed and rejected, as well as the respective reasons; and
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| (d) | how the Government will step up publicity and education to facilitate eligible Hong Kong people who were born overseas to apply for Hong Kong identity cards?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security
*15. Hon Starry LEE to ask: (Translation)
At present, 11 overseas Economic and Trade Offices ("ETOs") are set up under the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau, and such ETOs are dedicated to handling economic and trade issues related to Hong Kong, attracting foreign direct investment to Hong Kong as well as promoting Hong Kong's many advantages as a regional hub and the preferred business location in Asia. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the respective volumes of trade in the past five years between Hong Kong and the various countries where overseas ETOs are set up, as well as the respective percentage changes in each year (set out in table form);
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| (b) | of the staff establishments of various overseas ETOs in the past five years and the respective changes in each year; and
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| (c) | of the criteria for determining the staff establishments of overseas ETOs; whether the authorities will, in the light of the volumes of trade with the countries concerned, review the current staff establishments; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development
*16. Hon Emily LAU to ask: (Translation)
The Women's Commission ("WoC") is responsible for advising the Government on the strategic overview over women's issues and developing a long-term vision and strategy for such issues. In "Hong Kong Women's Development Goals" published by WoC in December last year, WoC pointed out that resources designated for women's development in society are still inadequate, making it difficult for WoC and women's groups to advance their work in this regard. Regarding the enhancement of efficiency in promoting women's development, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council:
| (a) | whether WoC will follow the practices of the Hong Kong Advisory Council on AIDS and the Rehabilitation Advisory Committee in organizing community forums, and introduce community forums on women's issues, so as to strengthen the efforts in meeting and conducting exchanges with women's groups, explain to women's groups about its work and understand the assistance they need; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
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| (b) | whether WoC will follow the practices of other committees of the Government (e.g. the Committee on the Promotion of Racial Harmony) in uploading meeting documents to the committees' web sites, and upload the attendance list, documents and minutes, etc. of each meeting of WoC to WoC's web site, so as to enable members of the public to monitor WoC's work and enhance the transparency of WoC's operation; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
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| (c) | whether the Government will allocate additional resources to assist in implementing the recommendations put forth in "Hong Kong Women's Development Goals"; if it will, of the details and the timetable;
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| (d) | whether the Government regularly meets and conducts exchanges with representatives of WoC and women's groups to understand what assistance they need; if it has, of the details; and
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| (e) | given that the report on "Women and Men in Hong Kong - Key Statistics" published annually by the Census and Statistics Department ("C&SD") since 2001 draws together sex disaggregated statistics and indicators from a variety of sources with a view to painting a picture of the situation of women and men in major economic and social spheres, whether C&SD will consult more organizations (e.g. women's groups and the Equal Opportunities Commission, etc.) before conducting the relevant surveys, and hold topical discussions with more organizations after the surveys and cooperate with WoC to step up the education and publicity work on the relevant areas and subjects?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Labour and Welfare
*17. Hon Albert CHAN to ask: (Translation)
In reply to my question at the meeting of this Council on 16 March 2011, the Government indicated that the Civil Aviation Department had, since October 1998, implemented a series of aircraft noise mitigating measures to minimize the impact of aircraft noise on the districts near the flight paths (including arranging for flights departing Hong Kong between 11:00 pm and 7:00 am to use the southbound route via the West Lamma Channel as far as possible, and directing flights arriving in Hong Kong between midnight and 7:00 am to land from the waters southwest of the airport, so as to avoid aircrafts overflying densely populated areas in the early hours; requiring aircrafts approaching from the northeast to adopt the Continuous Descent Approach when landing, and aircrafts taking off towards the northeast to reach a higher altitude within a shorter distance; and banning aircrafts which have a higher noise level, as defined in the Convention on International Civil Aviation, from landing and taking off in Hong Kong). However, I have learnt that aircraft noise during the aforesaid hours still causes nuisance to residents of quite a number of housing estates, making it difficult for them to sleep. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the monthly data recorded in 2011 and 2012 by various aircraft noise monitoring terminals on aircraft noise levels which reached 70 to 74, 75 to 79, and 80 decibels ("dB") or above during the aforesaid hours;
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| (b) | of the types of aircraft the noise levels of which reached 80 dB or above last year and the names of their operating airline companies; and
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| (c) | whether it will further enhance the existing aircraft noise mitigating measures to reduce the nuisance caused to residents in the districts concerned; if it will, of the details?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport and Housing
*18. Hon KAM Nai-wai to ask: (Translation)
Will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the ranks of government officials (including Directors of Bureaux) entitled to the provision of a private washroom in their offices, together with a list of the Directors and other government officials concerned by rank;
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| (b) | of the criteria adopted by the Government for determining which ranks of officials may be entitled to the provision of a private washroom in their offices; why such officials do not share the staff washrooms in the office buildings with other civil servants; and
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| (c) | of the male-to-female toilet compartment (including urinal bowls) ratio in the new Central Government Complex?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
*19. Dr Hon LAM Tai-fai to ask: (Translation)
Some members of the local textile and apparel industry have relayed to me that the industry, after several decades of robust development, has established a sound foundation in various aspects such as experience, technologies, talents, international insights and fashion sense, etc., and Hong Kong can make good use of these advantages to develop itself into an Asian or even a global fashion centre. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the existing numbers of enterprises and employees engaged in the local textile and apparel industry and in relevant trades, as well as the industry's contribution to Hong Kong's economy;
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| (b) | of the trade volume and the value of imports, re-exports and exports of goods of the textile and apparel industry in Hong Kong in each of the past five years, together with a breakdown by major markets, as well as the percentage of these figures in the relevant global total trade figures;
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| (c) | whether it knows the respective numbers of factories established by the industry in the Pearl River Delta Region and other Asian regions (e.g. Cambodia, Thailand and the Philippines, etc.) at present;
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| (d) | whether there is any policy at present to facilitate the industry's development; if there is, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
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| (e) | of the measures in place to nurture talents for the industry;
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| (f) | whether measures are in place to facilitate the career development of young fashion designers in Hong Kong; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
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| (g) | whether measures had been put in place in the past 10 years to encourage the industry to invest in the areas of research and development and innovation; if so, of the effectiveness of such measures;
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| (h) | whether it has assessed the impact of section 39E of the existing Inland Revenue Ordinance (Cap. 112) and the 50:50 basis of tax apportionment on the upgrading, restructuring and sustainable development of the industry; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
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| (i) | given that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the Mainland issued the "Development Plan for the Textile Industry under the 12th Five-year Plan" in January this year, which specifies, inter alia, the objective of raising the export share of brand name products to 25%, whether the authorities will consider, by making reference to the relevant practices, establishing an objective for the export share of Hong Kong brand name products and launching measures to facilitate the industry to build the Hong Kong brand;
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| (j) | whether it has assessed the existing role of the local textile and apparel industry in the global supply chain of the fashion industry and the room for future development; if it has, of the details; if not, whether it will plan to make such an assessment; and
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| (k) | whether it has assessed the potential of the local textile and apparel industry in developing into an Asian or global fashion centre; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development
*20. Hon Paul TSE to ask: (Translation)
It has been learned that at least seven to eight Hong Kong permanent residents who are held by the Philippine Government in the high-security Bilibid Prison have served their sentences there for over 10 years, and they applied to the SAR Government in February last year for returning to Hong Kong to serve their sentences under the transfer of sentenced persons agreement ("TSPA") signed by the SAR Government with the Philippine Government. However, they have yet to know the progress made by the authorities in processing the applications. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the mechanism put in place by the SAR Government to process the aforesaid applications and the processing procedures; the reasons why the aforesaid applications, which were made more than a year ago, have still not been approved, as well as the current progress of each case; whether the SAR Government has informed the aforesaid prisoners of the progress of those applications so far; if it has not, of the reasons for that;
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| (b) | of the number of cases (including those cases in which sentences were served in countries other than the Philippines) in each of the past five years in which approval had been granted for the prisoners to return to Hong Kong to serve their sentences; the average time taken to process a case, and the respective time taken in respect of the cases requiring the longest and shortest processing time;
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| (c) | whether the SAR Government has taken the initiative to contact Hong Kong permanent residents serving sentences of more than 10 years in countries which have signed TSPA to inform them of their rights and the procedures to apply for returning to Hong Kong to serve their sentences; and
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| (d) | given that the aforesaid Hong Kong people have served their sentences in the Philippines for 17 to 18 years and it has been learned that some of them who are in old age and poor health wish that they can return to Hong Kong in their remaining years and will not die in a foreign place, whether the SAR Government will review and process their applications afresh; if it will, of its plans; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security
* For written reply
III. Bills
Second Reading (Debates to resume), Committee Stage and Third Reading
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| 1. | Protection of Wages on Insolvency (Amendment) Bill 2011 | : | Secretary for Labour and Welfare
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Secretary for Labour and Welfare to move Committee stage amendments
(The amendments were issued on 10 April 2012
under LC Paper No. CB(3)627/11-12)
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| 2. | Lifts and Escalators Bill | : | Secretary for Development
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Secretary for Development to move Committee stage amendments
(The amendments were issued on 29 March 2012
under LC Paper No. CB(3)606/11-12)
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IV. Members' Motions
- Proposed resolution under section 34(4) of the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance
Hon CHAN Kam-lam to move the following motion:
Resolved that in relation to the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance (Amendment of Schedules 1 and 2) Order 2012, published in the Gazette as Legal Notice No. 38 of 2012, and laid on the table of the Legislative Council on 21 March 2012, the period for amending subsidiary legislation referred to in section 34(2) of the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance (Cap. 1) be extended under section 34(4) of that Ordinance to the meeting of 9 May 2012.
- Motion under Rule 49B(1A) of the Rules of Procedure
Resume debate on the following motion moved by Hon Miriam LAU at the Council meeting on 9 December 2009:
That this Council, in accordance with Article 79(7) of the Basic Law, censures Hon KAM Nai-wai for misbehaviour (details as particularized in the Schedule to this motion).
Schedule
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Details of misbehaviours of Hon KAM Nai-wai are set out below:
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| (a) | Hon KAM Nai-wai made inconsistent remarks to the media and withheld key information, causing the public to have doubts about his integrity
There were media reports on 4 October 2009 that Hon KAM Nai-wai dismissed his female assistant because of his unsuccessful advances to her. The female assistant was employed with public funds to assist him in performing his duties as a Legislative Council Member. At his press conference held on the same day, Mr KAM:
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| (i) | denied that he had made advances to his female assistant and did not disclose that he had expressed affection towards her; and
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| (ii) | denied that he had dismissed his female assistant because of his unsuccessful advances, and pointed out that the employment contract with his female assistant was terminated by giving one-month payment in lieu of notice which was in accordance with the employment contract, but did not mention that he had expressed affection towards her.
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| However, after the media subsequently reported that he had actually made advances to his female assistant, Mr KAM admitted on 6 October 2009 on a radio programme that he had expressed affection towards his female assistant when he was alone with her on one occasion in mid-June 2009.
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| (b) | Hon KAM Nai-wai was unfair in dismissing his female assistant, whose overall work performance was judged by him to be good, after his expression of affection was rejected by her
In mid-June 2009, Hon KAM Nai-wai expressed affection towards his female assistant. Subsequently, he noticed some signs of his female assistant rejecting him. Between early September and mid-September 2009, Mr KAM invited his female assistant to dine out and was also refused by her. Subsequently on 24 September 2009, he terminated the employment contract with his female assistant with immediate effect without reason assigned, although her overall work performance was judged by him to be good.
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- Motion under Rule 49B(1) of the Rules of Procedure
Hon Paul TSE to move the following motion:
That whereas the Honourable LEUNG Kwok-hung was convicted on 19 March 2012 in the Kowloon City Magistrates' Courts in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of four criminal offences and was sentenced on 20 March 2012 by the Kowloon City Magistrates' Courts to imprisonment for one month or more (as particularized in the Schedule to this motion), this Council relieves the Honourable LEUNG Kwok-hung of his duties as a Member of the Legislative Council.
Schedule
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| Case No. | Count | Offence Convicted | Date of Conviction | Sentence | Date of Sentence |
| Kowloon City Magistrates' Courts Criminal Case No. 3676 of 2011 | 1stCharge | Criminal damage, contrary to section 60(1) of the Crimes Ordinance (Cap. 200) | 19 March 2012 | Imprisonmentfor 2 months | 20 March 2012 |
| 2ndCharge | Acting in a disorderly manner at a public gathering, contrary to section 17B(1) of the Public Order Ordinance (Cap. 245) | 19 March 2012 | Imprisonment for 5 weeks | 20 March 2012 |
| 3rdCharge | Behaving in a disorderly manner in a public place, contrary to section 17B(2) of the Public Order Ordinance (Cap. 245) | 19 March 2012 | Imprisonment for 5 weeks | 20 March 2012 |
| 4thCharge | Criminal damage, contrary to section 60(1) of the Crimes Ordinance (Cap. 200) | 19 March 2012 | Imprisonment for 2 months
(1st to 4th Charges to run concurrently) | 20 March 2012 |
- Proposed resolution under the Legislative Council (Powers and Privileges) Ordinance
Hon LEE Cheuk-yan to move the following motion:
That this Council appoints a select committee to inquire into whether any Member of the Executive Council or public officer had, in the course of approving the renewal of the sound broadcasting licence of Hong Kong Commercial Broadcasting Company Limited in 2003, proposed the shortening of the licence renewal term or any other administrative means in an attempt to suppress freedom of the press and freedom of expression, as well as related issues; and to inquire into whether any Member of the Executive Council or public officer had, in the course of deciding whether to resume the Second Reading debate on the National Security (Legislative Provisions) Bill in 2003, mentioned the use of anti-riot squad and tear gas against protesters, as well as related issues; and that in the performance of its duties the committee be authorized under section 9(2) of the Legislative Council (Powers and Privileges) Ordinance (Cap. 382) to exercise the powers conferred by section 9(1) of that Ordinance.
| Public Officers to attend | : | Secretary for Security
Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development
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- Perfecting Hong Kong's housing policy
Hon WONG Kwok-kin to move the following motion: (Translation)
That, although the Government already resumed the construction of Home Ownership Scheme (‘HOS') flats and increased land supply last year in response to strong public demand, the supply and prices of residential units in Hong Kong still continue to fluctuate, with the housing issue remaining people's greatest concern and grass-root people continuing to face various housing difficulties; in this connection, this Council urges the Government to ensure the healthy and stable development of the property market and formulate a long-term housing policy, so as to respond to the housing demand of various strata and perfect the housing ladder and mobility in Hong Kong; the relevant measures should include:
| (a) | to increase the existing annual public rental housing (‘PRH') production to 30 000 units or more for expediting the allocation of units to the existing 160 000-plus applicants on the Waiting List to two years, so as to meet grass-root people's demand for PRH;
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| (b) | to comprehensively review the Quota and Points System for non-elderly one-person applicants, and study the adoption of more effective measures to assist singletons with actual housing need;
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| (c) | to study the introduction of sandwich-class PRH to enable those households or persons with incomes slightly above the PRH eligibility criteria but without the ability to enter the private residential property market to apply for renting such units subject to certain conditions and time limits, so as to alleviate their rental pressure;
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| (d) | to review the allocation and eligibility criteria of PRH, with a view to facilitating and encouraging young family members to live with their elderly family members and to care for them;
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| (e) | to launch a large-scale territory-wide inspection of flat units sub-divided into separate units (commonly known as ‘sub-divided units') and take enforcement actions against units contravening the Buildings Ordinance, so as to protect the safety of residents; at the same time, study the expeditious introduction of legislative control on ‘sub-divided units', and conduct a general survey and a study on residents of ‘sub-divided units', cubicles and cage homes, so as to facilitate the formulation of housing measures to assist these people;
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| (f) | to review the various eligibility criteria and conditions relating to the purchase and turnover of HOS flats, including the ratio of green forms to white forms in respect of new HOS flats in the future, the arrangements for premium payment for new and old HOS flats, and allowing eligible families to purchase HOS flats in the secondary market without having to pay the premium, so as to expedite the turnover of HOS flats and facilitate people's home acquisition through this channel;
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| (g) | to formulate long-term and sustainable development strategies for the supply of flats, site identification and financial commitment under various sandwich-class housing projects and HOS projects, so as to prevent such projects being suspended in the end due to policy changes or financial factors, etc.;
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| (h) | in times of short supply of public housing and subsidized housing, to provide rental assistance and tax concessions to needy applicants waiting for PRH allocation or sandwich-class people eligible for subsidized housing, so as to alleviate their housing burden amid exorbitant rents; and
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| (i) | to closely monitor the impact of the economic environment and external factors on the private residential property market and people's burden of home mortgages, and timely adjust the relevant policies to prevent drastic fluctuations in the private residential property market.
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| Amendments to the motion |
| (i) | Hon WONG Sing-chi to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To delete "although" after "That," and substitute with "in order to respond to people's aspiration for acquiring their homes,"; to add "but" after "public demand,"; to add ", including the construction of additional four to six-person flats to shorten the waiting time for such family applicants and bring it broadly in line with the waiting time for small family applicants, so as to enable them to be allocated flats within a reasonable timeframe" after "demand for PRH"; to add ", such as increasing the quota to expedite flat allocation and excluding middle-aged one-person applicants from the points system, so that they may wait for PRH allocation like ordinary family applicants" after "housing need"; to add "and study re-launching Group B PRH of Hong Kong Housing Society to address their housing needs;" after "pressure;"; to add ", and allow applicants to select districts in respect of PRH allocation, such as Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, New Territories East, New Territories West or the outlying islands, which can meet applicants' needs and also expedite flat allocation" after "care for them"; to add ", including assisting them in expeditiously applying for PRH and providing reasonable rehousing for residents affected by clearance" after "assist these people"; to add "and resale" after "premium payment"; to delete "and" after "exorbitant rents;"; and to add "; and (j) to draw up a five-year rolling list of land reserve for public and private housing, with a view to ensuring a timely supply of land for public and private housing to meet the community's needs" immediately before the full stop.
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| (ii) | Hon Miriam LAU to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To delete "although" after "That," and substitute with "as the completion volume of residential units in Hong Kong remained on the low side in the past five years and the number of completed units in each year was less than 10 000 units on average, even though"; to add "and even middle-class people" after "and grass-root people"; to delete "housing" after "face various"; to add "in housing issue" after "difficulties"; to add "and corresponding relief measures" after "long-term housing policy"; to add "(g) to provide a tax allowance for rentals for marginal middle-class people who are unable to purchase their homes and need to rent flats, so as to alleviate their rental burden;" after "channel;"; to delete the original "(g)" and substitute with "(h)"; to delete the original "(h)" and substitute with "(i)"; to delete "and" after "rents;" and substitute with "(j) as exorbitant property prices have caused an increase in the amount of people's home loans, making their burden of home mortgages increasingly heavy, the Government should consider further extending the current entitlement period for deduction for home loan interest; (k) to expedite urban renewal and assist in changing the land use of dilapidated factory buildings with higher vacancy rates after premium payment, so as to redevelop them into ‘no-frills' small and medium sized flats, including flats with limited floor area for Hong Kong people who are first-time home buyers; and"; and to delete the original "(i)" and substitute with "(l)".
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| (iii) | Ir Dr Hon Raymond HO to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To delete "grass-root" after "concern and"; to add "(a) to expeditiously announce a land supply policy that meets the housing need in Hong Kong;" after "include:"; to delete the original "(a)" and substitute with "(b)"; to delete the original "(b)" and substitute with "(c)"; to delete the original "(c)" and substitute with "(d)"; to delete the original "(d)" and substitute with "(e)"; to delete the original "(e)" and substitute with "(f)"; to delete the original "(f)" and substitute with "(g)"; to delete the original "(g)" and substitute with "(h)"; to delete the original "(h)" and substitute with "(i)"; and to delete the original "(i)" and substitute with "(j)".
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| (iv) | Hon LEE Cheuk-yan to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To delete "and" after "rents;"; and to add "; (j) to reinstate rent control for preventing landlords from increasing rents drastically and terminating tenancy agreements at will, so as to protect the rights and interests of private housing tenants; and (k) to supply land in a continuous and orderly manner, formulate a medium-term land supply planning and make projections on the supply of different categories of buildings, so as to maintain a balanced supply and demand in the property market and keep property prices at levels affordable to ordinary people" immediately before the full stop.
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Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Transport and Housing
- Vote of no confidence in the Chief Executive
Hon Tanya CHAN to move the following motion: (Translation)
That this Council has no confidence in the Chief Executive, Mr Donald TSANG.
| Public Officers to attend | : | The Chief Secretary for Administration
Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs |
Clerk to the Legislative Council
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