Council Meeting (Agenda) 9 May 2012

A 11/12-27

Legislative Council

Agenda

Wednesday 9 May 2012 at 11:00 am

I. Tabling of Papers

Subsidiary Legislation / Instruments		L.N. No.
1.	Pesticide Residues in Food Regulation	73/2012
2.	Building (Minor Works) (Amendment) Regulation 2012	74/2012
3.	Lifts and Escalators (General) Regulation	75/2012
4.	Lifts and Escalators (Fees) Regulation	76/2012
5.	Road Traffic (Registration and Licensing of Vehicles) (Amendment) Regulation 2012	77/2012
6.	Road Traffic (Parking) (Amendment) Regulation 2012	78/2012
7.	Road Traffic (Expressway) (Amendment) Regulation 2012	79/2012
8.	Legislation Publication (Revision) Order 2012	80/2012
9.	Securities and Futures (Futures Contracts) Notice 2012	81/2012
10.	Buildings (Amendment) Ordinance 2011 (Commencement) Notice 2012	82/2012
11.	Building (Inspection and Repair) Regulation (Commencement) Notice	83/2012
12.	Building (Minor Works) (Amendment) Regulation 2011 (Commencement) Notice	84/2012
13.	Lifts and Escalators Ordinance (Commencement) Notice 2012	85/2012
14.	Protection of Wages on Insolvency (Amendment) Ordinance 2012 (Commencement) Notice	86/2012

Other Papers

1.	Report No. 18/11-12 of the House Committee on Consideration of Subsidiary Legislation and Other Instruments
(to be presented by Hon Miriam LAU, Chairman of the House Committee)
2.	Report of the Bills Committee on Fisheries Protection (Amendment) Bill 2011
(to be presented by Hon Vincent FANG, member of the Bills Committee)
3.	Report of the Bills Committee on Electoral Legislation (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 2012
(to be presented by Hon IP Kwok-him, Chairman of the Bills Committee)

II. Questions

1. Dr Hon David LI to ask:

I have learnt that financial regulators from around the world have raised concerns about the extra-territorial impact of the proposed regulations for implementation the Volcker Rule ("proposed regulations") in the United States ("US"). Specifically, concerns have been expressed about the implications for non-US banks operating a subsidiary in US, the special exemptions offered to US government securities but not to the securities of other governments, the restrictions US banks will face in participating in foreign exchange swap markets overseas and the controls to be imposed on trades involving US-domiciled counterparties. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the impact of the proposed regulations on Hong Kong's position as an international financial centre when they are implemented as originally proposed;
(b)	what steps the Government has taken and continues to take to convince the US Government to amend and relax the proposed regulations; and
(c)	whether the Government has any contingency plan to cope with the impact of the proposed regulations when they are implemented in their current form; if it has, of the details?

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

2. Hon Andrew LEUNG to ask: (Translation)

Hong Kong's service industries have all along been striving to explore business opportunities on the Mainland. Some members of the industries have pointed out that although the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement has lowered the threshold for Hong Kong's service industries to enter the mainland market, their efforts in developing businesses on the Mainland can only achieve half of the desired results due to the differences in cultural background and mode of market operation between the Mainland and Hong Kong, as well as the fact that Hong Kong's small and medium-sized enterprises are unfamiliar with the vetting and approval procedures for starting up businesses on the Mainland. A community think tank earlier conducted a study on the current situation and difficulties encountered by the service industries in developing the mainland market, pointing out that Hong Kong businessmen face "three main barriers" (including cumbersome vetting and approval procedures for starting up businesses, obstacles in the free flow of information, as well as heavy tax burden and difficulty in obtaining recognition of qualifications). In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of its plans to assist Hong Kong businessmen in resolving the difficulties of the "three main barriers", particularly the problems relating to taxation and recognition of qualifications; whether it will reconsider introducing cross-border worker special tax provisions for cross-border workers in Guangdong and Hong Kong on an early and pilot implementation basis under the Framework Agreement on Hong Kong/Guangdong Co-operation, so as to alleviate the tax burden on cross-border workers and enhance the incentive for the working population in the two places to work across the border; and whether it will introduce more mutual recognition of qualifications between the two places in the future so as to facilitate the exchange of talents;
(b)	whether it has considered striving with the Central Government and Guangdong Provincial Government to introduce on an early and pilot implementation basis in Qianhai, Hengqin and Nansha in the Pearl River Delta Region various measures (e.g. introducing one-stop service for enterprise registration application, setting up a Mainland-based liaison group to coordinate with the management departments in the three places, as well as progressively relaxing stake limitations on Hong Kong enterprises and their scope of operation, etc.) to assist Hong Kong businessmen; if it has not, how the authorities will assist the local service industries in developing markets in Qianhai, Hengqin and Nansha; and
(c)	whether it will consider studying in collaboration with the relevant mainland authorities on levying on Hong Kong businessmen, who frequently travel between Qianhai, Hengqin and Nansha on business, a uniform tax with the standard rate being comparable to Hong Kong's salaries tax rate, issuing special permits to such businessmen, streamlining the entry and exit procedures on the Mainland and in Hong Kong, and setting up additional 24-hour boundary control points; if it will not, of the reasons?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development

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

The figures of the Government's Estimates of Expenditure 2012-2013 reveal that among the authorities' revised estimates of the service costs of the Hospital Authority ("HA") in 2011-2012, the cost per patient day for general inpatient services, the costs per accident and emergency attendance and specialist outpatient attendance have been adjusted upward from $3,830, $830 and $950 to $4,050, $890 and $1,030 respectively, which represent respective increases of 5.7%, 7.2% and 8.4% over the original estimates, reflecting that the cost calculations by the relevant parties differ from the actual costs sometimes. In reply to a written question from a Member of this Council on 29 June last year, the Government indicated that HA adopted a "total cost" accounting approach in calculating its service costs, which included the "direct service costs" of various clinical specialties, the expenses on various clinical support services (including items such as anaesthesia service, pharmacy, pathology, diagnostic radiology and allied health services, etc.), the costs of various non-clinical support services and daily expenses of hospitals (including items such as meals for patients, utility expenses, repair and maintenance of medical equipment and machinery, etc.), some institutional items (including items such as insurance costs and information technology support for clinical computer systems, etc.), the administrative costs of HA Head Office, as well as some charges for services provided by government departments to HA (including items such as building maintenance services provided by the Architectural Services Department, etc.). In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	what the aforesaid "direct service costs" are;
(b)	whether it knows in the past five years, the actual expenditures on the various aforesaid items in the costs per patient day for general inpatient services, the costs per accident and emergency attendance and specialist outpatient attendance, and the percentages of such amounts in the total unit costs, together with a breakdown in table form by year, direct service costs, expenses on clinical support services, costs of various non-clinical support services and daily expenses of hospitals, institutional items, administrative costs of HA Head Office, charges for services provided by government departments to HA as well as other relevant costs; and
(c)	given that the authorities' cost estimates sometimes differ from the actual expenditures, whether the Government has studied the formulation of a more reasonable and up-to-date mechanism for costing, so as to maintain effective control over the cost-effectiveness of services; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health

4.	For Dr Hon Margaret NG, Hon Alan LEONG to ask: (Translation)

In the paper on the plan to set up the Chief Executive-elect's Office ("CEEO") submitted to the Panel on Constitutional Affairs of this Council on 16 January 2012, it is stated that regarding the staff establishment of CEEO, there will be only one staff member in the rank of Special Assistant ("SA") which is a special appointment on non-civil service terms. Yet the media earlier reported that the Chief Executive-elect intended to make arrangement for the post of SA to be taken up by three persons. One of the appointees confirmed to the media on 12 April 2012 that she had been employed by CEEO on Non-Civil Service Contract terms to fill the post of Public Relations Officer. Such a post does not exist in the original establishment of CEEO. Some members of the public have pointed out that splitting one post for several persons to take up, irrespective of whether or not additional public funds are involved, does not comply with the original arrangement for the use of public funds, and it is against the establishment system for government officers. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	upon the splitting of the aforesaid SA post into several post, whether the persons appointed to such posts are government officers;
(b)	whether it has assessed if the practice of splitting one single post into several posts is against the establishment system for government officers; if the outcome of the assessment is in the positive, how the Government will follow up; if the outcome of the assessment is in the negative, of the reasons for that; and
(c)	whether the Government has assessed the possible impact of the practice of splitting one single post into several posts; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Civil Service

5. Hon Vincent FANG to ask: (Translation)

Recently, I have received requests for assistance from quite a number of grassroots trades which indicated that they could not benefit from the measures introduced by the Government in 2012-2013 to support enterprises. Among them, the hawkers cannot benefit from the waiver of business registration fees since they pay hawker licence fees ("licence fees") instead of business registration fees. In addition, the wholesalers operating in the two wholesale food markets ("food markets") under the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department ("AFCD") have pointed out that AFCD, after substantially increasing the rentals by 11.4% in 2008, substantially increased the rentals again by about 8% this year. Although these two trades have requested that the Government's support measures should benefit them, the Government has responded by referring to "cost recovery" and "user pays". The relevant groups submit that the Government is discriminating against grassroots trades. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	whether all the traders which have completed business registration procedures may benefit from the waiver of business registration fees; given that the Financial Secretary has indicated that the waiver of business registration fees will reduce the Government's revenue by $1.9 billion in this financial year, whether that figure is the net revenue after deducting the administrative expenses of the government departments concerned; of the current number of government personnel responsible for business registration and the annual expenditure; whether these departments will have deficits in this financial year with the reduction of $1.9 billion in revenue; the average cost of handling a case of business registration at present, and whether the current fee can recover the cost;
(b)	of the number of hawkers (including fixed-pitch hawkers and itinerant hawkers) who need to pay licence fees at present; the method for calculating licence fees and the revenue from licence fees last year; whether there were hawkers who failed to pay licence fees or did not pay the fees on time in the past three years; if there were, whether they were penalized; whether there is room for waiving or reducing licence fees in 2012-2013; if there is, of the reasons; if not, the reasons for that; and
(c)	given that the rentals for public markets have been continuously frozen for quite a number of years, but the rentals for food markets were substantially increased twice within four years, why the Government adopts different attitudes when managing these two kinds of markets, and of the details of the current mechanism for adjusting rentals for food markets; whether the operation of the food markets has achieved fiscal balance at present, and list the major expenditure items for the two food markets last year and whether there is room for reducing expenditure; whether the authorities will discuss with the traders the strengthening of cooperation to reduce the management costs of the food markets, so as to avoid shifting the increased costs to them?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health

6. Hon WONG Yuk-man to ask: (Translation)

The Liberal Studies examination of the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination was held on 2 April this year, and Question 3 of Paper 1 required candidates to give answers in respect of materials on party politics in Hong Kong. Quite a number of members of the press and the education sector queried that the Question was a leading question and even influenced the political stance of the candidates, and was suspected of requiring candidates to indicate their stance on political issues. Furthermore, I also received letters from members of the public pointing out that the wording of the Chinese version of the examination questions concerned was inappropriate, and the syntax was disorganized as well as did not comply with the grammar of the Chinese language, and such persons offered recommendations for correction. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the guidelines, measures or complaint mechanism adopted by the Education Bureau ("EDB") to ensure that the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority ("HKEAA") is able to maintain impartiality in the relevant socio-political phenomena when designing examination questions for Liberal Studies;
(b)	of the measures adopted by EDB to sanction or penalize HKEAA for its errors in designing examination questions, as well as how EDB protects the interests of the affected candidates; and
(c)	whether it knows the mechanism adopted by HKEAA to ensure that the Chinese versions of the examination questions comply with the grammar of modern Chinese language?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education

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

According to the statistics of the Department of Health ("DH"), the drinking prevalence among the adult population in Hong Kong rose from 30.9% in 2005 to 34.9% in 2010, and the per capita alcohol consumption rose from 2.57 litres in 2004 to 2.64 litres in 2010. The Hong Kong Academy of Medicine has pointed out that there are quite a number of misconceptions about drinking in the community, and it has suggested the Government to make reference to the World Health Organization's strategies to reduce the harmful effects of alcohol, in particular those on limiting alcohol supply, regulating the marketing and event sponsorship in respect of alcohol beverages, as well as changing the pricing of and the taxation system for alcohol, etc. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	whether it knows the reasons for the increase in both the public's drinking prevalence and their alcohol consumption in recent years; whether it will conduct regular surveys on the public's understanding of the impact on health caused by alcohol, the reasons for members of the public drinking alcohol and their habits in drinking, alcohol abuse as well as demands for alcohol detoxification services;
(b)	given that the sale of alcohol beverages to persons aged below 18 is prohibited under the law but it was pointed out in the 2008 issue of Non-communicable Diseases Watch published by DH that according to the Population Health Survey 2003-2004, 14.5% of youth aged between 15 and 17 drank alcohol occasionally or regularly, and furthermore, it was found in the Thematic Household Survey Report No. 45 published by the Census and Statistics Department that 2% of the respondents aged between 15 and 17 indicated that they had a habit of drinking alcohol, whether the authorities will assess if they need to step up law enforcement actions; if the assessment outcome is in the affirmative, of the details; if the assessment outcome is in the negative, whether any other measure is in place; and
(c)	given that it was pointed out in the Non-Communicable Diseases Watch mentioned in (b) that 10.5% of the respondents had "hazardous" drinking in 2007, and the proportion of having "hazardous" drinking among men aged between 25 and 34 was as high as 27.2%, whether any government department or non-governmental organization provides services to educate the public about the harmful effects of excessive alcoholic consumption as well as provides alcohol detoxification services at present; if so, of the details, together with the annual expenditure of the Government in this respect; whether the authorities will assess if they need to step up measures to reduce the harmful effects of alcohol; if the assessment outcome is in the affirmative, of the details; if the assessment outcome is in the negative, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health

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

The Secretary for Food and Health ("SFH") earlier advised that he was in discussion with private hospitals on the delivery quota for pregnant mainland women whose spouses were not permanent residents of Hong Kong ("doubly non-permanent resident pregnant women") giving birth in Hong Kong for the year 2013 and expected that there would be result before end of April this year. However, the Chief Executive-elect ("CE-elect") put forth on 16 April this year that private hospitals should stop admitting "doubly non-permanent resident pregnant women" in 2013, and indicated that babies born to "doubly non-permanent resident pregnant women" in Hong Kong ("doubly non-permanent resident babies") in 2013 would not be guaranteed Hong Kong permanent resident status. He also said that other legal means, apart from the interpretation of the Basic Law, might be used to revise the current arrangement for granting permanent resident status to doubly non-permanent resident babies. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	whether the authorities have examined what legal means, other than the interpretation of the Basic Law, can be adopted to revise the current arrangement for granting permanent resident status to doubly non-permanent resident babies; if they have, what means they have examined and what the results are; if not, whether they have any idea about the legal means referred to by the CE-elect;
(b)	given that after the CE-elect has made the aforesaid remarks, SFH advised that the Department of Health would not issue confirmation certificates to pregnant mainland women seeking to give birth in Hong Kong in 2013, and the Hong Kong Private Hospitals Association had also decided not to admit "doubly non-permanent resident pregnant mainland women" to give birth in Hong Kong starting from 2013, whether the authorities have examined adopting other concurrent measures to stop the entry of "doubly non-permanent resident pregnant women"; whether the authorities will strengthen manpower in public hospitals to deter "doubly non-permanent resident pregnant women" from seeking emergency deliveries through the Accident and Emergency Departments ("AEDs"), so as to avoid affecting the other patients and pregnant women receiving services in public hospitals; and
(c)	given that the Hospital Authority ("HA") is planning to increase with effect from May 2012 the obstetric package charge to $90,000 for non-booked cases of non-local pregnant women seeking emergency deliveries through AEDs, whether it knows if pregnant mainland women whose spouses are permanent residents of Hong Kong ("singly non-permanent resident pregnant women") will be dealt with separately from "doubly non-permanent resident pregnant women" under HA's charging policy, and sufficient maternity beds will be made available for "singly non-permanent resident pregnant women" in public hospitals; if not, of the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health

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

I have learnt that the living areas of quite a number of public rental housing ("PRH") tenants are below 5.5 square metres ("m2") per person at present. Although such tenants, being overcrowded households, have already applied to the authorities for years for transfer to larger PRH flats, the authorities have not yet arranged for them to move to more spacious flats so far. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the respective numbers of PRH tenants with a living area per person below 5.5m2 and between 5.5m2 and 7m2 in each of the past three years;
(b)	among the two types of PRH tenants in (a), of the respective numbers of applications for transfer to larger flats in each of the past three years; of the respective numbers of successful transfers; of the shortest and longest waiting time calculated from the submission of application to the allocation of a suitable flat; and
(c)	whether the authorities will consider improving the existing policies so that more PRH tenants with a living area below 7m2 per person may be transferred to more spacious PRH flats; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport and Housing

*10. Hon Cyd HO to ask: (Translation)

Given the imminent handover between the current-term Chief Executive ("CE") and the Chief Executive-elect ("CE-elect"), will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	how CE's Office will handle the files and records generated by the current-term CE within his term of office, and of the principles based on which the documents and records will be transferred to the next-term CE or to the Government Records Service ("GRS"), or will be destroyed;
(b)	how CE-elect's Office will handle the files and records generated after its establishment, and of the principles based on which the documents and records will be transferred to CE's Office or to GRS, or will be destroyed, after the CE-elect takes office;
(c)	upon the departure from office of the first CE of the Special Administrative Region ("SAR"), of the respective numbers of records which had been transferred to the CE of the following term, or to GRS, or had been destroyed, together with the lists of records which had been transferred to GRS and destroyed;
(d)	of the numbers and linear metres of records created by CE's Office on its liaison with the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong SAR (known as the Hong Kong Branch of the Xinhua News Agency before 18 January 2000) in each of the years since 1 July 1997; whether the aforesaid records are all kept at CE's Office; whether the records concerned have ever been transferred to GRS or destroyed;
(e)	whether CE's Office will destroy the documents on the social activities and arrangements for private vacations of the current-term CE and his wife for the reason of protection of privacy; whether it will undertake to transfer such records to GRS for assessing how they should be handled; and
(f)	whether the authorities have drawn reference from the rules on the handover of records upon the expiry of the terms of the leaders of foreign countries in handling the handover of records of CE's Office; if they have, of the written rules put in place by CE's Office on handling the records created by CE during his term of office; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : The Chief Secretary for Administration

*11. Hon WONG Ting-kwong to ask: (Translation)

It has been reported that a group of franchisees of the 7-Eleven convenience store ("franchisees") have pointed out earlier that they are being treated unfairly (including having no way to know the source prices; accounts lacking in transparency, not being able to know in advance the profit sharing ratio and criteria for adjustment; being forced to accept cooked food stalls operated by a third-party to station at their stores and be responsible for the food safety and maintenance of such stalls; being forced to hire designated maintenance contractors who charge high fees; and being given contracts in English only by the brand licensor, and not being allowed to take away the contracts for detailed study first and being required to sign the contracts right away) by the brand licensor of that convenience store ("brand licensor"). In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	whether the authorities have received cases of the franchisees concerned requesting for assistance; if they have, of the number and contents of such cases, and the follow-up measures taken by the authorities as well as the outcome; if not, whether the authorities will find out the truth from the franchisees and brand licensor concerned;
(b)	as it has been reported that only the English versions of the franchise contracts of the aforesaid convenience store are available, and that franchisees are required to sign their contracts right away, whether the authorities will follow up such cases and require the brand licensor to provide the Chinese versions of the contracts, so as to prevent intended franchisees who are illiterate in English from signing contracts that may contain provisions which are unfavourable to them;
(c)	whether the authorities will facilitate the provision of a platform to encourage frank discussion on an equal footing between the franchisees and brand licensor of the aforesaid convenience store;
(d)	whether the authorities will consider attracting more brands of convenience stores to come to Hong Kong to promote competition so that on the one hand, more options are available in the market for intended franchisees to improve their position in negotiation, and on the other hand, the public are provided with more choices in consumption; and
(e)	whether the authorities will draw reference from the practices of the Mainland or other countries to legislate on the administration of commercial franchise to protect franchisees; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development

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

The Chief Executive had put forward 10 major infrastructure projects in the 2007-2008 Policy Address. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	given that to meet the need of implementing the aforesaid infrastructure projects, the Government has stepped up efforts in providing manpower training for the construction industry in recent years, and introduced measures to attract more people to join the industry, whether the Government has, before introducing the relevant measures, conducted any assessment (including evaluating the situation after the completion of the 10 major infrastructure projects) on the long-term employment situation of the local construction industry; if it has, of the details;
(b)	whether the Government has considered how to deal with the employment problems that employees in the construction industry may face after the completion of the 10 major infrastructure projects; and
(c)	whether the authorities have conducted any planning in respect of the overall development situation of the construction industry after the completion of the 10 major infrastructure projects; if they have, of the details (including the number, scope, nature and works schedule of Categories B and C projects which have been planned or commenced at present) ?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Development

*13. Hon CHEUNG Kwok-che to ask: (Translation)

Taking account of the possible employment difficulties encountered by some persons with disabilities ("PWDs"), the Minimum Wage Ordinance (Cap. 608) provides for a special arrangement so that PWDs whose productivity may be impaired by their disabilities will have the right to choose to undergo the productivity assessment ("the assessment") to determine whether they should be remunerated at a level not lower than the statutory minimum wage or a rate commensurate with their productivity. As of the end of January 2012, a total of 184 PWDs had undergone the assessment. Some members of the social welfare sector have reflected that the assessment mechanism has made employment even more difficult for PWDs. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	whether the authorities have reviewed if PWDs have been unreasonably deprived of the right to negotiation given that at present PWDs can only opt for the assessment instead of the past approach through which social workers would negotiate with the employers on behalf of PWDs to determine their remunerations; if they have, of the outcome; whether the authorities will offer PWDs the option of either assessment or negotiation in the future; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
(b)	among the 184 PWDs who had undergone the assessment, of the number of those who did not agree to the assessment results; whether the authorities will consider immediately and regularly in future collecting the views of the service users on the assessment mechanism and the approved assessors ("assessors") for a review of the assessment mechanism in the future; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
(c)	why there is no appeal mechanism at present for PWDs to object to the assessment results; whether the authorities will immediately set up an appeal mechanism; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; whether the authorities will make public the details of the assessment criteria; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
(d)	of the respective numbers of PWDs who are taking up different kinds of jobs at present, with a breakdown by job type; and the respective numbers of PWDs who have not applied for undergoing the assessment yet but are still working in various posts; and
(e)	whether the authorities will immediately include information such as the assessors' professional qualifications and years of experience in various types of disability services, etc. in the assessors' background information provided by the Labour Department, so that PWDs can have adequate information to select the appropriate assessors; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Labour and Welfare

*14. Hon LEUNG Kwok-hung to ask: (Translation)

I have learnt that the Yaumatei Shelter ("the existing hostel") of the Street Sleepers' Shelter Society Trustees Incorporated, which is located at 1/F, 345A Shanghai Street, will be demolished and relocated to Hau Cheung Street at Yaumatei under the arrangement by the Government. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	whether the new hostel will, like the existing hostel, consist of only two storeys, with the street sleepers' shelter and the Salvation Army Day Relief Centre for Street Sleepers on the first floor; given that the current waiting time for single-room placement in urban singleton hostels is as long as four months, whether the Government will consider building a 16-storey new hostel at the new site to provide about 300 single-room places for urban singletons, so as to alleviate the current housing difficulties of urban singletons, including street sleepers;
(b)	given that the odour currently emitted from the refuse collection point and the public toilet on the ground floor of the existing hostel directly affects the street sleepers housed in the shelter on the first floor, whether a similar problem will arise in the new hostel; of the details of the design of the new hostel and the nearby community facilities; and
(c)	whether it has completed consultation in the district on the construction project of the new hostel?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs

*15. Dr Hon PAN Pey-chyou to ask: (Translation)

The purpose of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is to promote, protect and ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by all persons with disabilities ("PWDs"), and to promote respect for their inherent dignity. The People's Republic of China is one of the contracting parties of the Convention, which is also applicable to Hong Kong. In recent years, the Government has also adopted the policy direction which advocates facilitating the integration of PWDs into the community. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	whether it knows the respective numbers of PWDs employed by the Government and public organizations in the past three years, together with the respective types of disabilities of these PWDs;
(b)	given the public concern about the rehabilitation and employment of ex-patients with psychotic disorders in recent years, whether the authorities have any specific measure to assist ex-patients with psychotic disorders; if they have, of the details; if not, the reasons for that, and whether relevant policies will be formulated;
(c)	whether it knows the respective numbers of full-time, part-time and short-term employment opportunities offered to PWDs by the Government and public organizations at present; whether the authorities have any plan to increase such employment opportunities; if they have, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
(d)	whether the authorities will reconsider implementing a quota system for employing PWDs in government departments and public organizations; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Labour and Welfare

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

At present, approximately 900 000 students studying full-time from primary up to first degree levels in Hong Kong have to pay full fare for taking various modes of transport other than the MTR. Further, the Student Travel Subsidy Scheme ("STSS") is unable to provide subsidy to all students and cater for their travelling needs when participating in extra-curricular activities. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	given that the information provided by the authorities earlier shows that since the Government relaxed the income ceiling for the full level of student financial assistance under the means test mechanism in the 2011-2012 academic year, the percentage of the number of full assistance beneficiaries in the total number of recipients increased significantly from around 30% in previous school years to around 57% in the current school year, of the amount of additional funding the authorities have to allocate for granting the full level of assistance to the remaining 43% of students; of the amount of administrative costs incurred by the Government at present in processing applications for STSS;
(b)	given that the Secretary for Education indicated in his reply to a question from a Member of this Council on 29 February this year that public transport operators were mainly commercial operators, and if the introduction of public transport concessions would lead to any adverse effect in their costs, these operators would often demand that the Government should compensate their losses, and therefore the authorities would not consider for the time being the proposal of providing to all students "student half-fare one-card passes" applicable to all modes of public transport, but a similar approach has been adopted under the public transport fare concessions scheme for the elderly and persons with disabilities, whether the Government will reconsider adopting such an approach in providing transport concessions for students; if it will not, of the reasons for that;
(c)	in addition to the School-based After-school Learning and Support Programmes and Hong Kong Jockey Club Life-wide Learning Fund, whether the Government has put in place any other measure to subsidize and encourage students to participate in extra-curricular activities which require travelling in modes of public transport; if it has, set out in a list the information on such schemes such as contents, eligibility criteria, annual number of students who benefitted from these schemes at present and the amounts of subsidies, etc.; and
(d)	whether the authorities will provide more subsidy schemes to encourage students to participate in extra-curricular activities; if they will not, of the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education

*17. Dr Hon Priscilla LEUNG to ask: (Translation)

The Government announced earlier that Pak Tin Estate in Sham Shui Po would be redeveloped in three phases starting next year in order to increase the supply of public housing flats. Quite a number of the existing residents of Pak Tin Estate have relayed to me their worries in this matter. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the works for repair, renovation or addition of public facilities carried out by the Housing Department ("HD") at Pak Tin Estate in the 12 months before the announcement of the implementation of the redevelopment of the estate; the amount of money involved; among such works, the number of renovation works which had just been completed this year or have yet to be completed so far;
(b)	when the idea of increasing the supply of public housing by redeveloping Pak Tin Estate was first proposed; why the redevelopment was suddenly proposed after funding had just been granted for the maintenance and renovation works, and whether prior consideration had been given to the question of wasting public funds;
(c)	whether the authorities will make an undertaking to the residents affected by the redevelopment that the sizes of the public housing flats to be allocated to them in the future will be similar to those of the flats they resided in originally;
(d)	given that some residents are concerned that they need to pay higher rents after they have been rehoused to other estates, whether HD will take this as an exceptional case and allow the residents of Pak Tin Estate to continue to pay the original rents within the first two years upon rehousing to other estates when the rents of their new flats are higher than those of their previous ones;
(e)	regarding the existing commercial tenants at Pak Tin Estate, whether the authorities have any measure in place to help tenants who wish to continue their operation to find new shops with low rents (e.g. whether the authorities have considered giving these commercial tenants priority allocation of the shops at the new Shek Kip Mei Estate nearby in order to enable them to continue their operation); and
(f)	given that according to the current proposal of the Government, the residents affected by the first phase of redevelopment will not be able to opt for rehousing at the redeveloped Pak Tin Estate, whether the authorities will consider exercising discretion to allow the residents who wish to move back to their original estate upon the redevelopment of Pak Tin Estate to have priority in doing so?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport and Housing

*18. Hon Emily LAU to ask: (Translation)

In its report released in July last year, the Equal Opportunities Commission ("EOC"), pointed out that the education system did not provide ethnic minority ("EM") children with a level-playing field for education advancement because of their poor academic attainment in Chinese, and urged the authorities to take improvement measures which include provision of Chinese language support programmes for EM children at pre-primary level. It has been reported that according to a survey report released by a community group in April this year, most of the kindergartens being interviewed were of the view that EM students' proficiency in Chinese varied, but only a small number of kindergartens could offer additional support for them, and only 2% of kindergarten teachers had received professional training in teaching EM students. In this connection, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council:

(a)	whether they had taken any new measure since the release of the EOC report last year to support EM children's learning of Chinese at pre-primary level; if not, of the reasons for that; if they had, of the details (including the number of EM children who benefitted and the amount of public funds involved);
(b)	whether they know the number of EM students currently receiving pre-primary education, with a breakdown by the grade in which they are studying; among them, of the respective proportions of South Asian and East Asian students, and race distribution; and the number of kindergartens/nurseries admitting these students;
(c)	whether they will take on board the recommendation of the aforesaid community group by offering Chinese learning support to EM children prior to their admission to primary schools, so as to prevent their opportunities of being admitted to the primary schools they desire from being affected because their academic attainment in Chinese is not as good as that of Chinese-speaking students; and
(d)	whether the authorities have assessed if EM children's opportunities of education advancement are affected by their proficiency in Chinese; if so, of the details; given that EOC has indicated that it would take further actions, including formal investigations, if there was information showing that the Chinese proficiency requirement of individual schools might constitute systematic discrimination against EM students and the Government refused to examine or consider improvement measures, whether the authorities have examined and taken any improvement measure; if so, of the details; if not, whether they know if the EOC will conduct any formal investigation?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education

*19. Hon KAM Nai-wai to ask: (Translation)

The Environmental Protection Department ("EPD") monitors the concentrations of air pollutants through its air quality monitoring network (including 11 general and three roadside air quality monitoring stations ("AQMSs")), and on 8 March 2012, EPD started to collect and report on a real time basis the data on the hourly concentrations of fine suspended particulates (also known as "PM2.5"). In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the reasons why EPD only publishes the data on pollutant concentrations in the past 24 hours and does not keep the past relevant data on its web site for perusal of the public;
(b)	of the details in table form of the unprocessed data directly recorded by all the 14 AQMSs in Hong Kong in each time slot since 8 March 2012;
(c)	given that of the 14 AQMSs of EPD, only three are roadside ones, and the other 11 general AQMSs are installed at building rooftops over 19 metres above the ground on average, whether the Government will install more roadside AQMSs (including in areas with high pedestrian flow such as Tsim Sha Tsui and Yau Ma Tei, etc.); if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
(d)	given that some members of the public have indicated that EPD carried out instrument upgrade work at the AQMS in Causeway Bay this year and, as a result, reports of data on concentrations of fine suspended particulates were suspended for several days, of the details of the incident; how the Government ensures that these instruments can function properly and the data are accurate; and
(e)	given that some members of the public have reflected that it is difficult for them to find real time data on concentrations of fine suspended particulates on EPD's web site, and they have found that the web page entitled "Past 24 Hours Pollutant Concentration" on the web site does not contain real time data on fine suspended particulates, how the Government ensures that the public can easily access the relevant information; whether it will consider releasing the information through weather reports of the media; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment

*20. Hon James TO to ask: (Translation)

The patronage of MTR has continuously increased from 102 604 000 passenger trips in March 2009 to 119 956 000 passenger trips in March 2012. The MTR Corporation Limited ("MTRCL") has earlier increased the train frequency of the Tsuen Wan Line in peak hours from every two minutes eight seconds to every two minutes, and the train frequency in non-peak hours has also been increased. Some passengers have reflected that at present, the crowded conditions in Mong Kok, Prince Edward, Kowloon Bay, Wan Chai and Admiralty MTR Stations, etc. are particularly serious, and passengers have to wait for a long time before they can take the elevators to go from the station concourses to the platforms; even though MTRCL has increased the train frequency, it is still unable to satisfy the passengers' needs. It has been reported that in response to the overcrowdedness in certain stations, MTRCL has earlier implemented crowd control during the morning peak hours by closing one third to half of the ticket gates in nine stations (including Mong Kok, Prince Edward, Sham Shui Po, Cheung Sha Wan, Lai Chi Kok, Mei Foo, Wong Tai Sin, Diamond Hill and Choi Hung) so as to avoid the influx of an excessive number of passengers onto the platforms. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council if it knows:

(a)	the data on patronage in peak hours in the aforesaid nine MTR stations, and the number of gates closed during the morning peak hours in each station; apart from such stations, whether MTRCL has implemented crowd control in other stations; apart from crowd control, whether MTRCL has any long-term measure to increase the number of passengers that can be accommodated on the platforms; if it knows, of the details of each measure;
(b)	in the light of MTRCL's increase in train frequency, whether MTRCL or the Government has found the crowding problem deteriorating in stations along the Kwun Tong Line; whether MTRCL or the Transport Department ("TD") has regularly assessed the crowded conditions at the concourse in various stations at present; if it has, of the assessment indicators; whether any individual station has been found to exceed the relevant standards;
(c)	whether MTRCL had conducted any works to ease the passenger flows from station platforms to concourses and from concourses to the ground level in the past five years; if it had, of the stations, details of the projects and amounts of money involved in such works;
(d)	whether the Government and MTRCL have drawn up guidelines to specify the numbers of passengers which can be accommodated on the station platforms; if they have, of the details of such guidelines; whether they have assessed if the present numbers of passengers on the station platforms in peak hours have already reached or are close to their maximum capacities; if they have, list the information on the relevant stations; and
(e)	whether the Government (e.g. TD and the Fire Services Department) and MTRCL have put in place guidelines which aim at easing the passenger flows at station concourses; if they have, of the relevant guidelines; whether MTRCL had conducted any publicity (e.g. producing publicity materials and posting them at prominent positions of the stations to teach passengers how to evacuate safely and in an orderly manner) in the past, as well as what the means of evacuation are?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport and Housing

* For written reply

III. Bills

First Reading

Inland Revenue (Amendment) Bill 2012

Second Reading (Debate to be adjourned)

Inland Revenue (Amendment) Bill 2012

Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury

Second Reading (Debates to resume), Committee Stage and Third Reading

(Bills scheduled to be dealt with at this Council meeting)

Fisheries Protection (Amendment) Bill 2011

Secretary for Food and Health

(i)	Secretary for Food and Health to move Committee stage amendments
(The amendments were issued on 30 April 2012 under LC Paper No. CB(3)701/11-12)
(ii)	Hon Albert CHAN to move Committee stage amendments
(The amendments were issued on 3 May 2012 under LC Paper No. CB(3)710/11-12)

Electoral Legislation (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 2012

Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs

Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs to move
Committee stage amendments

(The amendments were issued on 30 April 2012
under LC Paper No. CB(3)702/11-12)

(Bill originally scheduled to be dealt with at the last Council meeting)

Legislative Council (Amendment) Bill 2012

Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs

(i)	Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs to move a Committee stage amendment
(The amendment was issued on 23 April 2012 under LC Paper No. CB(3)676/11-12)
(ii)	Hon Albert CHAN and Hon WONG Yuk-man to move Committee stage amendments
(The amendments were issued on 26 April 2012 under LC Paper No. CB(3)693/11-12)

IV. Motions

(Motion originally scheduled to be dealt with at the last Council meeting)

1.	Proposed resolution under the Legal Aid Ordinance Secretary for Home Affairs to move the motion in Appendix I.
(The motion was also issued on 20 April 2012 under LC Paper No. CB(3) 662/11-12)
(Motions scheduled to be dealt with at this Council meeting)
2.	Proposed resolution under the Eastern Harbour Crossing Ordinance Secretary for Transport and Housing to move the following motion: Resolved that the Eastern Harbour Crossing Road Tunnel (Amendment) Bylaw 2012, made by the New Hong Kong Tunnel Company Limited on 30 March 2012, be approved.
(The Amendment Bylaw is in Appendix II and was also issued on 23 April 2012 under LC Paper No. CB(3)671/11-12)
3.	Proposed resolution under the Tate's Cairn Tunnel Ordinance Secretary for Transport and Housing to move the following motion: Resolved that the Tate's Cairn Tunnel (Amendment) Bylaw 2012, made by the Tate's Cairn Tunnel Company Limited on 30 March 2012, be approved.
(The Amendment Bylaw is in Appendix III and was also issued on 23 April 2012 under LC Paper No. CB(3)671/11-12)
4.	Proposed resolution under the Western Harbour Crossing Ordinance Secretary for Transport and Housing to move the following motion: Resolved that the Western Harbour Crossing (Amendment) Bylaw 2012, made by the Western Harbour Tunnel Company Limited on 30 March 2012, be approved.
(The Amendment Bylaw is in Appendix IV and was also issued on 23 April 2012 under LC Paper No. CB(3)671/11-12)
5.	Proposed resolution under the Tai Lam Tunnel and Yuen Long Approach Road Ordinance Secretary for Transport and Housing to move the following motion: Resolved that the Tai Lam Tunnel and Yuen Long Approach Road (Amendment) Bylaw 2012, made by the Route 3 (CPS) Company Limited on 3 April 2012, be approved.
(The Amendment Bylaw is in Appendix V and was also issued on 23 April 2012 under LC Paper No. CB(3)671/11-12)
6.	Proposed resolution under the Import and Export Ordinance Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development to move the following motion: Resolved that the Import and Export (Registration) (Amendment) Regulation 2012, made by the Chief Executive in Council on 17 April 2012, be approved.
(The Amendment Regulation is in Appendix VI and was also issued on 23 April 2012 under LC Paper No. CB(3)666/11-12)

V. Members' Motions on Subsidiary Legislation and Other Instruments

Motion under Rule 49E(2) of the Rules of Procedure

Hon Miriam LAU to move the following motion:

That this Council takes note of Report No. 18/11-12 of the House Committee laid on the Table of the Council on 9 May 2012 in relation to the subsidiary legislation and instrument(s) as listed below:

Item Number	Title of Subsidiary Legislation or Instrument
(1)	Prevention of Bribery Ordinance (Amendment of Schedules 1 and 2) Order 2012 (L.N. 38/2012).

Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development

VI. Members' Bills

First Reading Professional Accountants (Amendment) Bill 2012 Second Reading (Debate to be adjourned)
Professional Accountants (Amendment) Bill 2012	:	Hon Paul CHAN
Public Officer to attend	:	Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury

VII. Members' Motions

(Members' motions originally scheduled to be dealt with at the last Council meeting)

The 4 June incident

Hon LEE Cheuk-yan to move the following motion: (Translation)

That this Council urges that: the 4 June incident be not forgotten and the 1989 pro-democracy movement be vindicated.

Amendment to the motion
Hon WONG Yuk-man to move the following amendment: (Translation)

To delete "incident" after "the 4 June" and substitute with "tragedy"; to delete "and" after "forgotten" and substitute with ", pro-democracy figures be released,"; and to add ", the responsibility for the massacre be ascertained, one-party dictatorship be ended and a democratic China be built" immediately before the full stop.

Actively studying the establishment of a middle class commission

Hon Miriam LAU to move the following motion: (Translation)

That, given that the global and Hong Kong economies are still facing extremely unclear risks, while the middle-class people are plagued by problems such as Hong Kong's single-direction development of industries, etc., and have experienced quite a number of bottlenecks in their career development and are burdened with heavy pressure in the areas of healthcare, education, taxation and housing, etc.; as shown by the latest statistics of an organization, the number of middle-class people seeking counselling has increased by about 30% when compared with the number some one year ago, and some people even describe themselves as the poor middle class, thus showing that the plight of the middle class has been neglected; in this connection, this Council urges the Government to actively study the establishment of a middle class commission, comprehensively review the policies and measures relating to the middle class, put forward concrete and comprehensive corresponding strategies in a focused manner to assist middle-class families in alleviating their burdens and facilitating their personal career development, so as to boost upward social mobility in the overall community; the relevant measures should include:

Career development -
(a)	to adopt a multi-pronged approach to promote diversified development of industries in Hong Kong, so as to create more jobs at the middle and senior levels as well as business start-up opportunities in various industries and professions;
(b)	to further strengthen regional economic development to form an economic development circle with different regions on the Mainland, etc. so as to provide more and better career development opportunities for middle-class professionals;
Housing difficulties -
(c)	to increase land supply to ease property prices and launch more 'no-frills' small and medium sized flats, including 'flats with limited floor area' for Hong Kong people who are first-time home buyers, so as to alleviate the plight of marginal middle-class people in acquiring their own homes;
(d)	to relax the eligibility criteria for purchasing flats in the Home Ownership Scheme secondary market, thereby enabling eligible white form applicants to make purchases;
(e)	to introduce a tax allowance for rentals for marginal middle-class people;
(f)	to further extend the entitlement period for deduction for home loan interest;
Taxation burden -
(g)	to adjust salaries tax downwards, in particular widening tax bands for salaries tax and lowering the marginal rate, so as to vigorously alleviate the burden of marginal middle-class people;
(h)	to relax the restrictions on the dependent parent or dependent grandparent allowance by relaxing the eligibility requirement from living in the same unit to living in the same housing estate;
Education and self-education -
(i)	to completely abolish the restrictions on kindergarten vouchers, so as to reduce children education expenses of middle-class families;
(j)	to introduce a children's education allowance, so as to alleviate the burden of children education expenses of the middle class;
(k)	to substantially increase the salaries tax deduction for self-education expenses and the subsidy under the Continuing Education Fund;
Healthcare -
(l)	to expeditiously and properly tackle the problem of 'doubly non-permanent resident pregnant women', and ensure that local pregnant women have priority in receiving confinement service in both public and private hospitals;
(m)	to provide tax deduction for medical insurance contributions;
(n)	to provide tax deduction for medical examinations, so as to encourage people to undergo such examinations on a regular basis; and
Legal aid -
(o)	to further lower the threshold of the Supplementary Legal Aid Scheme, so as to assist more needy middle-class people in safeguarding their legitimate rights and interests by law.

Amendment to the motion
Hon Alan LEONG to move the following amendment: (Translation)

To delete "given that" after "That," and substitute with "as"; to add "(c) to optimize the use of government land resources and increase land supply, so as to alleviate the pressure of shop rents on business operations for middle-class people;" after "middle-class professionals;"; 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)"; to delete the original "(i)" and substitute with "(j)"; to delete the original "(j)" and substitute with "(k)"; to delete the original "(k)" and substitute with "(l)"; to delete the original "(l)" and substitute with "(m)"; to delete "and ensure that" after "resident pregnant women'," and substitute with "including ensuring a 'zero' delivery quota for 'doubly non-permanent resident pregnant women' in public and private hospitals in 2013, enabling"; to delete "have priority in receiving" after "local pregnant women" and substitute with "and mainland pregnant women with Hong Kong husbands to be given priority in receiving"; to add "; strengthening the effort to combat agencies and hostels for pregnant women; in accordance with Article 22 of the Basic Law, advising the Central Government to suspend the vetting and approving entry into Hong Kong of 'doubly non-permanent resident pregnant women' from the Mainland; and amending the Basic Law when necessary, so that babies born to 'doubly non-permanent resident pregnant women' will not be entitled to the right of abode in Hong Kong;" after "private hospitals"; to delete the original "(m)" and substitute with "(n)"; to delete the original "(n)" and substitute with "(o)"; to delete "and" after "regular basis;"; to delete the original "(o)" and substitute with "(p)"; and to add "; and The elderly - (q) to allocate funding for establishing a seed fund for universal retirement protection, so as to provide all elderly people with pensions and alleviate the financial burden of middle-class families" immediately before the full stop.

Amendment to Hon Alan LEONG's amendment
Hon Starry LEE to move the following amendment: (Translation)

To delete "in accordance with Article 22 of the Basic Law, advising the Central Government to suspend the vetting and approving entry into Hong Kong of 'doubly non-permanent resident pregnant women' from the Mainland; and amending the Basic Law when necessary" after "hostels for pregnant women;" and substitute with "stepping up law enforcement and enhancing entry restrictions to comprehensively block the entry of 'doubly non-permanent resident pregnant women', and making use of legal channels"; to delete "allocate funding for" after "(q) to" and substitute with "study"; to delete "seed fund for" after "establishing a"; and to add "scheme" after "retirement protection".

Public Officers to attend :

Secretary for Education
Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
Secretary for Development

(Members' motions scheduled to be dealt with at this Council meeting)

Caring about the education, employment and housing problems faced by young people

Hon CHAN Hak-kan to move the following motion: (Translation)

That young people are the future pillars of society, but in the face of globalization and the rapid development of neighbouring places, Hong Kong young people not only face many challenges during their growth, but also lack upward mobility opportunities, and this is especially highlighted in their education, employment and housing aspirations; however, the Government has all along failed to formulate any support measures with young people as the main targets; in this connection, this Council urges the Government to care about young people's needs, and assist them in concentrating on their education, establishing their career and resolving their housing needs; specific measures should include:

Education -
(a)	to enhance the qualification recognition of the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination, sub-degrees and the new Yi Jin Diploma in Hong Kong, the Mainland and the international community, so as to widen young people's pathways of further studies;
(b)	to dovetail with the concept of promoting students' whole-person development under the new academic structure by introducing an extra-curricular activities allowance for students to subsidize their participation in extra-curricular activities;
(c)	to promote the commencement of 'career planning' at the stage of secondary education, so as to enable secondary students to make better planning for their future career development;
Employment -
(d)	to review the planning of employment training support services for young people, enhance the existing Youth Pre-employment Training Programme and Youth Work Experience and Training Scheme, and raise the level of the relevant subsidies, so as to attract the participation of more employers to provide more employment and training opportunities in the market which are suitable for young people;
(e)	to set up more 'Youth Employment Start' ('Y.E.S') resource centres throughout Hong Kong, strengthen the training programmes targeted at young people, enhance their employment skills, and provide one-stop employment counselling;
(f)	focusing on the development of the six industries and creative industries, to enhance training and provide better support to help young people join the relevant industries;
Housing -
(g)	to relax the existing eligibility criteria for applying for public rental housing, and address low-income young people's housing needs;
(h)	to allow eligible white form applicants to purchase Home Ownership Scheme flats without having to pay the premium, so as to assist young people in accessing the home acquisition ladder; and
(i)	focusing on young people with relatively stable financial income, to study re-launching the Home Starter Loan Scheme.

Amendments to the motion
(i)	Hon Audrey EU to move the following amendment: (Translation) To add "the SAR Government has all along lacked a comprehensive youth policy, and" after "That"; to delete "and" after "young people's needs,"; to add ", and promote young people's social participation" after "their housing needs"; to add "(e) to further increase the places for publicly-funded bachelor's degree programmes; (f) to review the financial assistance and loan system for students, alleviate the financial burden of young people after their graduation, and implement the abolition of the risk rate of the non-means-tested loan scheme;" after "career development;"; to delete the original "(d)" and substitute with "(g)"; to delete the original "(e)" and substitute with "(h)"; to delete the original "(f)" and substitute with "(i)"; to delete the original "(g)" and substitute with "(j)"; to delete ", and" after "rental housing" and substitute with "('PRH'),"; to add ", and review the existing allocation system for single-person PRH units" after "people's housing needs"; to delete the original "(h)" and substitute with "(k)"; to delete "and" after "ladder;"; to delete the original "(i)" and substitute with "(l)"; and to add "; Social participation - (m) to review the existing composition and functions of the Commission on Youth; (n) to convene youth summits and related local forums on youth issues annually, and promote young people's participation in such summits and forums; and (o) to increase the ratio of youth participation in various statutory and advisory bodies, and set specific targets accordingly" immediately before the full stop.
(ii)	Hon IP Wai-ming to move the following amendment: (Translation) To add ", as we all know," after "That"; to add "(d) to strengthen vocational education for students of post-secondary and tertiary institutions, so that young people can get an early grasp of the objectives concerning career prospects, and lay a good foundation for upward mobility; (e) to increase the number of internship places in Hong Kong and overseas for students of the various tertiary institutions; (f) to comprehensively review the assistance as well as loans and repayment arrangements under the various existing student finance schemes, including abolishing the risk rate; significantly lower the interest rates of all loan schemes for tertiary students and waive the interest accrued during students' study periods under the Non-means-tested Loan Scheme; change the situation where interest rates of student loans are higher than those of bank mortgages; allow tax deduction on repayment amounts of university education loans; study the feasibility of allowing local students to apply for student loans for pursuing further education overseas; and increase the grant amounts for tertiary students; (g) to comprehensively review the Continuing Education Fund Scheme, including raising the cap on the amount of subsidy receivable by each applicant and extending the period of four years within which applicants must submit all claims as required by the Continuing Education Fund, etc., so as to encourage young people to pursue continuous education; (h) to strengthen the manning ratio of student guidance personnel in secondary schools and tertiary institutions, so as to assist young people in facing problems related to education, family, friends and career prospects, etc.;" after "career development;"; to delete the original "(d)" and substitute with "(i)"; to delete the original "(e)" and substitute with "(j)"; to delete the original "(f)" and substitute with "(k)"; to delete "focusing on the development of the six industries" before "and creative industries," and substitute with "to expedite the upgrading of the four pillar industries, and promote the development of the six industries with competitive edge"; to add "(l) to enhance the applicability and effectiveness of the training and employment support structure for young people, and assist young people in joining industries which need new blood, such as construction industry, transport industry and shipping industry; (m) to motivate employers to provide employees with 'training leave', including offering tax concessions to such employers, so as to facilitate working young people to pursue studies, revise their lessons and acquire professional qualifications by examination; (n) to co-operate with organizations and enterprises in the public and private sectors to encourage the employment of young people with less working experience and share with them the associated salary payments, so as to enhance young people's chances of securing employment; (o) to proactively approach young people who have remained jobless for a long time and hidden youths, so as to provide career counselling and support to them; (p) to proactively develop apprenticeship programmes, including expanding the scope of industries covered by the apprenticeship system, so as to give young people a chance to practise while learning and provide them with a career ladder; (q) to establish a start-up fund for young people and provide business start-up advice and loans, so as to assist young people in devising their business start-up plans and further practice; (r) to subsidize young people from low-income families to attend self-enrichment courses, so as to enhance their competitiveness in choosing their own careers;" after "relevant industries;"; to delete the original "(g)" and substitute with "(s)"; to delete "relax" before "the existing eligibility" and substitute with "review"; to delete ", and address low-income young people's housing needs;" after "public rental housing" and substitute with "('PRH'), including studying the reasons for young people to apply for PRH as well as the required waiting time and allocation situation, so as to formulate a more reasonable and fairer method for waiting for and allocation of PRH for young people, and also putting forward measures, such as raising the household income ceiling, to encourage young people to live with their parents; (t) to increase the annual PRH production to 30 000 units or more, including resuming the construction of Group B PRH for renting by eligible young people subject to time limits, so as to address low-income young people's housing needs;"; to delete the original "(h)" and substitute with "(u)"; to add "and eligible persons currently waiting for PRH allocation" after "white form applicants"; and to delete the original "(i)" and substitute with "(v)".
(iii)	Hon WONG Sing-chi to move the following amendment: (Translation) To add "can make great contributions to society, and they" after "That young people"; to add "increase the places for publicly-funded bachelor's degree and various types of diploma programmes, allocate more resources for providing relevant financial subsidies, and formulate a comprehensive education and training policy for young people," after "international community,"; to add "(d) to advocate family-friendly policies, assist students' parents in understanding more deeply and caring about the needs of young people during their growth, provide adequate social workers for schools, families and the community, assist young people in facing the pressure from learning and life, and strengthen the healthy life development of young people;" after "career development;"; 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 add "(h) to formulate a comprehensive employment and training policy for young people, co-ordinate the various existing youth employment training programmes, review the recognition of the various programmes, actual employment rates and the problem of job matching, assist young people in entering the labour market, including providing internship places to secondary school leavers to enhance their competitiveness; (i) to create the posts of junior attendant at tourism spots to provide employment opportunities for unemployed young people;" after "relevant industries;"; to delete the original "(g)" and substitute with "(j)"; to add "build more public rental housing flats," before "relax"; to delete the original "(h)" and substitute with "(k)"; to add "in the secondary market" after "Ownership Scheme flats"; to delete "and" after "ladder;"; to delete the original "(i)" and substitute with "(l)"; and to add "on the premise of having an adequate supply of private housing; (m) to re-launch the Sale of Flats to Sitting Tenants Scheme, so that young people can live together with their parents without being subject to means test; and (n) to assist non-government organizations in providing hostels for youths, so as to offer hostel places to young people at relatively inexpensive rents" immediately before the full stop.

Public Officers to attend

Secretary for Education
Secretary for Labour and Welfare
Secretary for Transport and Housing

Opposing Hong Kong communists ruling Hong Kong

Hon Albert CHAN to move the following motion: (Translation)

That this Council expresses deep resentment at the direct interference of the Communist Party of China in the 2012 Chief Executive Election, which ruins 'one country, two systems'; as the Chief Executive Election was conducted under the interference and manipulation of the Communist Party of China, this Council does not accept, recognize and agree to the result of the 2012 Chief Executive Election; in this connection, this Council requests the immediate implementation of universal suffrage for returning the Chief Executive and all Legislative Council seats, and calls upon Hong Kong people to resort to confrontational means to resist Hong Kong communists ruling Hong Kong.

Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs

(Member's motion originally scheduled to be dealt with at the last Council meeting)

Motion for the adjournment of the Council under Rule 16(4) of the Rules of Procedure

Hon CHEUNG Hok-ming to move the following motion: (Translation)

That this Council do now adjourn for the purpose of debating the following issues: the impact of the announcement made by the MTR Corporation Limited to increase its fares by 5.4% under the Fare Adjustment Mechanism ("FAM") on the general public, as well as FAM, fare concession measures and the Government's corresponding arrangements.

Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Transport and Housing

Clerk to the Legislative Council

Legislative Council

Agenda Wednesday 9 May 2012 at 11:00 am

Agenda

Wednesday 9 May 2012 at 11:00 am