 |
A 11/12-32
Legislative Council
Agenda
Wednesday 13 June 2012 at 11:00 am
I. Tabling of Papers
| Subsidiary Legislation / Instrument | L.N. No. |
|---|
| Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters (Indonesia) Order (Commencement) Notice | 104/2012 |
Other Papers
| 1. | Report No. 22/11-12 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 Legal Practitioners (Amendment) Bill 2010 |
(to be presented by Dr Hon Margaret NG, Chairman of the Bills Committee)
|
| 3. | Report of the Bills Committee on Statute Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2012 |
(to be presented by Dr Hon Margaret NG, Chairman of the Bills Committee)
|
| 4. | Report of the Bills Committee on United Nations (Anti-Terrorism Measures) (Amendment) Bill 2012 |
(to be presented by Hon LAU Kong-wah, Chairman of the Bills Committee)
|
| 5. | Report of the Bills Committee on Immigration (Amendment) Bill 2011 |
(to be presented by Hon LAU Kong-wah, Chairman of the Bills Committee)
|
| 6. | Report of the Bills Committee on Buildings Legislation (Amendment) Bill 2011 |
| (to be presented by Hon IP Kwok-him, Chairman of the Bills Committee)
|
II. Questions
1. Hon Mrs Sophie LEUNG to ask: (Translation)
In response to the report on Substitute Decision-making and Advance Directives in Relation to Medical Treatment ("the report") released by the Law Reform Commission of Hong Kong in 2006, the Food and Health Bureau published in 2009 a consultation paper on the Introduction of the Concept of Advance Directives in Hong Kong to conduct public consultation on this subject. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | given that the aforesaid public consultation was completed in 2010, of the outcome of the consultation; when the consultation report will be published;
|
| (b) | given that the Government indicated in its reply to my question in 2009 that no patient admitted to hospitals under the Hospital Authority had shown advance directives to the healthcare professionals in the course of receiving treatment or healthcare services, nor had any of them initiated the making of an advance directive, according to the latest information of the authorities, of the number of patients so far who have shown advance directives to healthcare professionals or made advance directives in the course of receiving treatment or healthcare services; among such advance directives, the number of those which were carried out by the hospitals or doctors; the measures in place to ensure that healthcare professionals understand the concept of advance directives; whether the authorities at present make reference to the model form proposed to be adopted in the report and prepared a form for use by patients; if so, where the form can be obtained; and
|
| (c) | since the publication of the report, of the details and progress of the specific work of the authorities in implementing the 12 recommendations made therein?
|
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health
2. Hon James TO to ask: (Translation)
Last month, the Audit Commission published the "Report on hotel accommodation arrangements for the Chief Executive's duty visits outside Hong Kong" which stated that the incumbent Chief Executive ("CE") had made a total of 55 duty visits from 2007 to April this year and stayed in hotels for 142 nights, among which 49 nights were paid by the SAR Government and, of these 49 nights, CE was accommodated in superior suites for 41 nights. CE has been criticized as being insatiably avaricious in acting in such a way. At the same time, the Audit Commission has pointed out that on many occasions, adequate documented justification for CE's accommodation in superior suites was not available. The Audit Commission has also made a number of recommendations in the Report, e.g. when it is necessary to enhance the subsistence allowance to CE, approval should be sought from the Permanent Secretary, Chief Executive's Office ("PermSecy/CEO"), in order to provide consistency in the processing of applications within CEO. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | given that the Audit Commission's "Report on hotel accommodation arrangements for the Chief Executive's duty visits outside Hong Kong" is primarily submitted to CE and uploaded to the Audit Commission's web site, but under section 13 of the Audit Ordinance, the Director of Audit ("the Director") shall report to the President of the Legislative Council ("LegCo") a matter which constitutes, in the opinion of the Director, a serious irregularity in the accounting for the expenditure of public moneys, and yet at present the Director has not submitted the Report to LegCo, making it impossible for the Public Accounts Committee to discuss the matter concerned, whether the Director has assessed if his aforesaid practice will render it not possible for LegCo to perform its function of monitoring the Government; and
|
| (b) | of the detailed arrangements for implementing the Audit Commission's recommendations (including the one about seeking approval from PermSecy/CEO for paying an enhanced subsistence allowance to CE) by the current-term and the next-term Governments; whether the CE-elect has accepted these recommendations, and what his response to such recommendations is; of the timetable for implementing the recommendations; of the recommendations that can be implemented before the term of the incumbent CE ends on 30 June this year, and the recommendations that can be implemented before the prorogation of the current-term LegCo on 18 July this year?
|
Public Officer to reply : The Chief Secretary for Administration
3. Hon Ronny TONG to ask: (Translation)
Will the Government inform this Council, since the coming into operation of the various amendments in the Copyright (Amendment) Ordinance 2007:
| (a) | of the number of prosecutions instituted in respect of contravention of the Copyright Ordinance and the reasons for instituting such prosecutions, as well as the number of convictions;
|
| (b) | among such prosecutions, of the number of those instituted under section 118 of the Copyright Ordinance, as well as their respective types, the final judgments passed and the penalties imposed; and
|
| (c) | whether the authorities have taken law enforcement actions against online infringement under the Copyright Ordinance; if they have, of the criteria for taking such law enforcement actions; if not, the enforcement difficulties; and the circumstances under which prosecutions are instituted against suspected online infringement?
|
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development
4. Hon Tanya CHAN to ask: (Translation)
When attending a radio programme in the morning of 30 May 2012, the Secretary for Development ("SDEV") indicated that she would settle matters relating to the conservation of Ho Tung Gardens and the West Wing of the Central Government Offices ("West Wing") before her departure from the office of SDEV on 30 June this year, so as to avoid leaving these two "hot potatoes" to her successor to handle. In connection with the latest development of the two aforesaid conservation projects and the long-term government policy on conservation of historic buildings, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the current progress in conserving Ho Tung Gardens, and whether the Government has made a final decision on the relevant conservation arrangement; if it has not, of the actions that SDEV will take to make sure that matters relating to the conservation of Ho Tung Gardens will be properly settled before her departure from office; if it has, of the details of the decision; whether the Government is prepared to declare Ho Tung Gardens as a statutory monument; if so, of the details and follow-up actions; if the Government is not prepared to declare Ho Tung Gardens as a statutory monument, the reasons and how the Government will conserve Ho Tung Gardens;
|
| (b) | given that the Government issued a statement on 3 June this year indicating that it had no intention of changing its plan to demolish the West Wing for redevelopment and that the Antiquities Advisory Board ("AAB") had yet to submit its assessment of the various buildings of the Central Government Offices Complex, whether the Government will revise the demolition plan accordingly when the West Wing is eventually declared a Grade I building by AAB; if it will not, of the reasons for that; and
|
| (c) | given that under the proposals for the re-organization of the Government Secretariat for the new-term Government, the policy on conserving heritage and historic buildings will be handed over to another policy bureau, whether SDEV can, before her departure from office, conclude the work in conserving heritage during the current term of the Government, and set out the areas that need to be improved; in addition, whether the Government will consider formulating the basis in principle for certain important conservation policies (including embarking on the specific work for setting up a heritage trust); if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
|
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Development
5. Hon LAU Kong-wah to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that an incident occurred on a passenger flight of Cathay Pacific Airways ("the airline") returning to Hong Kong from Thailand on the night of 16 April this year, in which a passenger assaulted a female flight attendant and attempted to open the emergency exit door, but fortunately he was brought under control with the help of another male passenger. Later, the passenger who made the attack pleaded guilty in Court to the charges of committing disorderly behaviour and assault on board an aircraft, and he was sentenced to imprisonment. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the details of the aforesaid incident; of the reasons why the airline, the Police and the Civil Aviation Department had not taken the initiative to make public the incident after its occurrence; given that it has been reported that the male passenger who made the attack had acted "under orders" in attempting to open the exit door to make the plane plunge, which had caused false alarm over terrorist attacks, whether the authorities will improve the existing mechanism of disseminating such kind of information to the public;
|
| (b) | given that it has been reported that while waiting for the plane to take off, the male passenger who made the attack had been very emotional and only calmed down after he was comforted by a female flight attendant, and after the incident, the Police suspected that he was suffering from psychiatric disorder, whether it knows if airline companies will identify people with abnormal mental conditions and refuse to let them board the planes; and
|
| (c) | given the recent successive incidents of attacks on cabin crew members, whether it knows if airline companies will review and enhance the existing security measures (including provision of self-defence training for flight attendants) as well as improve the mechanism of disseminating information of unforeseen incidents, so as to enhance protection for the safety of aircraft, cabin crew members and passengers?
|
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security
6. Hon LEUNG Kwok-hung to ask: (Translation)
Some inmates and discharged inmates have relayed to me that the Correctional Services Department ("CSD") has exploited the rights and benefits of inmates and neglected their basic needs. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | given that at present CSD provides each male inmate one roll of toilet paper (eight sheets per day on average) once every three weeks, whether the Government has assessed if eight sheets of toilet paper are sufficient to meet the daily hygiene needs of those male detainees who do not have an additional supply of toilet paper from their relatives and friends; if the assessment outcome is in the negative, whether the Government will immediately increase the quantity of toilet paper provided for each male inmate to not less than 16 sheets per day; if it will, of the time to do so; if not, whether it will assess if the Government has neglected the hygiene needs of such persons;
|
| (b) | of the respective market values of the products and services provided by CSD to various government departments, companies and organizations in the past five years; the monthly wage levels of convicted inmates working in prisons at present, as well as the respective wage amounts at different levels and numbers of convicted inmates remunerated at different wage levels; whether CSD will immediately calculate the wages of inmates working in prisons in accordance with the Minimum Wage Ordinance in order to protect their statutory rights and benefits; if it will, of the time to do so; if not, whether it will assess if CSD is exploiting the inmates; and
|
| (c) | given that the Government has already issued digital audio broadcasting ("DAB") licences, whether CSD will allow inmates the choice of using digital radio sets in prisons to listen to DAB programmes of different types or languages; if it will, of the time to do so; if not, whether it is because DAB programmes impede or have impact on correctional or security work, and whether it will assess if CSD impedes the freedom of inmates (particularly those speaking non-local languages) to receive broadcast information in prisons?
|
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security
*7. Hon Vincent FANG to ask: (Translation)
Some members of the proprietary Chinese medicine ("pCm") manufacturing industry have reflected that Macao has confirmed the construction of the Guangdong-Macao Traditional Chinese Medicine Science and Technology Industrial Park in Hengqin, and to use preferential policies to attract members of the industry to establish business there, and although the pCm manufacturing industry has a long history of development in Hong Kong, with many famous brands produced, there is a lack of government support for the industry. They have pointed out that the Government has indicated that it will implement the Good Manufacturing Practice in respect of Proprietary Chinese Medicines ("GMP-pCm") step by step, but at present no uniform standard has been established yet. Further, they have pointed out that as Hong Kong lacks plants which can meet the requirements under GMP-pCm and consultants with relevant experience, the demand can hardly be met, and pharmaceutical manufacturers also need to make big investments so as to comply with GMP-pCm, thus so far only six of the 300-odd pCm manufacturers across the territory have obtained the certificate for compliance with GMP-pCm, and some manufacturers need to find pharmaceutical manufacturers in other places which comply with GMP-pCm to produce products of their pCm brands on their behalf, thereby hindering the development of the industry in Hong Kong. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether it knows the number of pCm brands produced by pCm manufacturers in Hong Kong; the number of their factories in Hong Kong, their scale of operation and the number of employees; Hong Kong's pCm brands which had ceased production in the past 10 years; whether the Government has planned to support and help such brands which had ceased production to resume production and supplies to the market; if it has, of the plan; if not, the reasons for that;
|
| (b) | whether it has drawn reference from GMP of other countries or regions in formulating the GMP-pCm for Hong Kong; the current number of consultancy firms and personnel possessing the relevant professional knowledge in Hong Kong; whether the Government has any plan in place to provide professional training relating to GMP-pCm so as to satisfy the development needs of the industry;
|
| (c) | whether the Government will study how to help solve the aforesaid problem of the lack of suitable plants; whether it will set aside sites at existing industrial estates for the development of the pCm manufacturing industry; whether it will consider constructing plants that meet the pCm GMP standards for use by the industry; whether it will convert existing factory buildings for use by small and medium-sized manufacturers;
|
| (d) | whether it has compiled statistics on the manpower resources needed for the implementation of GMP-pCm by the pCm manufacturing industry; whether it knows if there are vocational training courses on pCm production at present; if so, of the number of such courses in the past three years; the number of people who had completed such courses, and whether they have joined the industry upon graduation; if not, whether it will design and introduce relevant training courses to meet the development needs of the industry; and
|
| (e) | whether the Government will draw reference from the practice of the Macao Special Administrative Region Government and set up a traditional Chinese medicine science and technology industrial park exclusively for the development of the pCm manufacturing industry, and introduce preferential policies to assist in the development of the industry; if it will, of the details; if not, whether it has assessed if enterprises which produce local pCm brands will move to Hengqin for developing their business?
|
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development
*8. Hon WONG Yuk-man to ask: (Translation)
Recently, I have received quite a number of cases concerning disputes between management committees ("MCs") of owners' corporations and minority owners of buildings. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | given that in times of the change of MCs, elections are often coordinated or presided over by the incumbent MCs or the property management companies appointed by them, and some owners consider that there is a perceived conflict of interest, but since they are not familiar with matters of building management, they have nowhere to turn to for assistance, whether the authorities will review the existing legislation and the relevant rules, and arrange for the Home Affairs Department ("HAD") to assist in co-ordinating matters of the change of MCs; if they will not, of the reasons for that; and
|
| (b) | given that some owners have reflected that some elderly owners had been misled into signing proxies to commission other people to represent them to attend and vote at owners' meetings, and since they are not familiar with matters of building management and the litigation process, it is difficult for them to seek restorative justice through legal proceedings, what measures HAD has put in place to improve such a situation?
|
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs
*9. Dr Hon LEUNG Ka-lau to ask: (Translation)
In a reply to my question on 9 May 2012, the Food and Health Bureau pointed out that the mechanism of Hospital Authority ("HA") for costing "was developed with reference to the practices of global medical institutions and the cost accounting standards", and it set out the percentages of various key cost components, including "direct service costs", "expenses on clinical support services", "costs of various non-clinical support services and daily expenses of hospitals", "institutional items", and "charges for services provided by government departments", in the total unit costs of "costs per patient day for general inpatient services", "costs per accident and emergency attendance" and "costs per specialist outpatient attendance" in the past four years. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | given that the Government pointed out that the percentages of various cost components for 2011-2012 were being calculated by HA, whether it knows the progress of the calculation and whether it can provide any information at present; and
|
| (b) | whether it knows the percentages of the various aforesaid key cost components (including the expenditure on "doctors", "nurses" and "supporting staff" who are directly involved in the services of various specialties, the expenditure required for the "daily operation of various specialist services", "anaesthesia service", "pharmacy", "pathology", "diagnostic radiology", "allied health services", "meals for patients", "utility expenses", "repair and maintenance of medical equipment and machinery", "insurance costs", "information technology support for clinical computer systems", "building maintenance provided by the Architectural Services Department" and other expenditures, etc.) in the total unit costs of costs per patient day for general inpatient services, costs per accident and emergency attendance and costs per specialist outpatient attendance, and set out the information in the table below?
| Costs per patient day for general inpatient services
| Costs per accident & emergency attendance
| Costs per specialist outpatient attendance
|
2007 -
2008
| 2008 -
2009 | 2009 -
2010 | 2010 -
2011 | 2011 -
2012 | 2007 -
2008 | 2008 -
2009 | 2009 -
2010 | 2010 -
2011 | 2011 -
2012 | 2007 -
2008 | 2008 -
2009 | 2009 -
2010 | 2010 -
2011 | 2011 -
2012
| | Direct costs
| 54.3%
| 55.1%
| 54.3%
| 52.2%
|
| 65.3%
| 64.7%
| 63.2%
| 61.6%
|
| 34.9%
| 35.2%
| 36.0%
| 34.6%
|
| | Doctors
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| | Nurses
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| | Supporting staff
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| | Daily operation of various specialist services
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Others
(please specify)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| | Clinical support services
| 21.7%
| 21.5%
| 22.0%
| 22.2%
|
| 15.2%
| 15.7%
| 16.5%
| 16.2%
|
| 46.5%
| 46.5%
| 45.1%
| 45.4%
|
| | Anaesthesia service
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| | Pharmacy
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| | Pathology
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| | Diagnostic radiology
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| | Allied health services
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Others
(please specify) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Non-clinical support services
and daily expenses of hospitals
| 16.8%
| 16.8%
| 16.6%
| 19.3%
|
| 12.5%
| 12.9%
| 13.5%
| 16.9%
|
| 12.1%
| 12.3%
| 12.5%
| 14.7%
|
| | Meals for patients
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| | Utility expenses
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Repair and maintenance of medical
equipment and machinery
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Others
(please specify)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| | Institutional items
| 4.6%
| 3.8%
| 3.9%
| 4.4%
|
| 4.3%
| 3.4%
| 3.4%
| 3.9%
|
| 3.8%
| 3.1%
| 3.1%
| 3.6%
|
| | Insurance costs
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Information technology support for
clinical computer systems
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Others
(please specify)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Services provided by government
departments
to the
Hospital Authority
| 2.6%
| 2.8%
| 3.2%
| 1.6%
|
| 2.7%
| 3.3%
| 3.4%
| 1.4%
|
| 2.7%
| 2.9%
| 3.3%
| 1.7%
|
| Building maintenance provided by
the Architectural Services Department
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Others
(please specify) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| | Total unit costs ($)
| 3,440
(100%) | 3,650
(100%) | 3,590
(100%) | 3,600
(100%) | *4,050
(100%) | 750
(100%) | 820
(100%) | 800
(100%) | 800
(100%) | *890
(100%) | 790
(100%) | 840
(100%) | 880
(100%) | 910
(100%) | *1,030
(100%) |
*Source: Estimates of Expenditure 2012-2013
|
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health
*10. Hon Albert HO to ask: (Translation)
In reply to a question of this Council on 15 February this year, the Government indicated that, among the premises of 86 primary schools and 15 secondary schools that had become vacant from 2004-2005 to 2011-2012 school years, 49 of them are considered not suitable for further educational uses, and therefore have already been or will be returned to the relevant government departments for disposal. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | among the premises of the aforesaid 49 schools, of those premises that have been and those that have not been returned to the relevant government departments for disposal at present; of the anticipated time by which all such premises can be returned to the departments for disposal;
|
| (b) | of the names of the aforesaid 49 schools, and list them by the number of years they had become vacant (i.e. five years or less, more than five years to ten years, and more than 10 years); further, list the detailed addresses of such schools, site area and planned uses of such premises by the 18 District Council districts ("districts"); and
|
| (c) | whether the authorities have reviewed if the sites released by the aforesaid 49 schools that had become vacant are suitable for housing development; if they have, of the outcome; if not, whether they will conduct such a review; if they will, of the anticipated time by which the outcome of the review will be released; the anticipated time by which housing development can be carried out on those suitable sites, and the respective numbers of public and private housing units that can be constructed, together with a breakdown of the locations of the sites and the numbers of units by district?
|
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Development
*11. Dr Hon Joseph LEE to ask: (Translation)
It has been learnt that the Hospital Authority ("HA") anticipates that healthcare staff born in the post-war baby boom are close to their retirement age and a wave of retirement will emerge in HA. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council if it knows:
| (a) | the number of nurses reaching retirement age in the coming 10 years as anticipated by HA, and list in the table below the respective numbers of nurses of different hospital clusters retiring each year;
| 2012-2013
| 2013-2014
| 2014-2015
| 2015-2016
| 2016-2017
| 2017-2018
| 2018-2019
| 2019-2020
| 2020-2021
| 2021-2022
| | Hong Kong ("HK") East
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| HK West
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Kowloon ("Kln") East
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Kln West
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Kln Central
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| New Territories ("NT") East
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| NT West
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| | (b) | the numbers of nurses who will retire in each of the coming 10 years as anticipated by HA, and the respective percentages of such numbers in the total numbers of nurses, and list the breakdown in the table below;
|
| 2012-2013
| 2013-2014
| 2014-2015
| 2015-2016
| 2016-2017
| 2017-2018
| 2018-2019
| 2019-2020
| 2020-2021
| 2021-2022
| | Medicine
| Number
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Percentage
| | Paediatrics
| Number
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Percentage
| | Obstetrics & Gynaecology
| Number
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Percentage
| | Cardiac Surgery
| Number
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Percentage
| | Ear, Nose & Throat
| Number
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Percentage
| | Psychiatry
| Number
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Percentage
| | Anaesthesia
| Number
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Percentage
| | Pathology
| Number
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Percentage
| | Radiotherapy
| Number
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Percentage
| | Accident & Emergency
| Number
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Percentage
| | Neurosurgery
| Number
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Percentage
| | Oncology
| Number
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Percentage
| | Orthopaedics
| Number
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Percentage
| | Intensive Care Unit
| Number
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Percentage
| | Family Medicine
| Number
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Percentage
| | Surgery
| Number
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Percentage
| | Ophthalmology
| Number
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Percentage
|
| | (c) | whether there will be enough experienced nurses by that time to fill those vacancies arising from retirement of the nurses concerned, as anticipated by HA; if so, the details; if not, how the authorities will tackle the problem arising from retirement of experienced nurses; and
|
| (d) | whether HA will focus on the retirement of experienced nurses one after another and introduce new measures to retain experienced nurses to work for HA; if it will, the details; if not, the reasons for that?
|
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health
*12. Hon IP Wai-ming to ask: (Translation)
Some students and teachers of evening secondary schools ("ESSs") have reflected to me that quite a number of young people and adults with low educational attainment will complete their secondary education in ESSs while working at the same time, but apart from subsidies under the Financial Assistance Scheme for Designated Evening Adult Education Courses, the authorities in fact offer them virtually no support. In particular, as far as the implementation of the New Senior Secondary ("NSS") academic structure is concerned, the Education Bureau ("EDB") provides very little assistance and training to ESS teachers and students, making it difficult for them to grasp detailed information on the NSS curriculum. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the number of people applying for enrolment in the subsidized programmes at various levels in ESSs in each of the past five years; among them, the number of those who reached the age of 17 when they applied for enrolment in the programmes; of the respective numbers of ESS students applying to sit for public examinations in each year, including the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination, the Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination and the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education ("HKDSE") Examination;
|
| (b) | given that in implementing the NSS academic structure, the authorities have provided day schools with much funding and support, e.g. the Liberal Studies Curriculum Support Grant, etc., whether the authorities have offered the same or similar grant and support to ESSs running the same subsidized programmes; if so, of the respective specific details and expenditure incurred; if not, the reasons for that;
|
| (c) | given that most students of the subsidized ESS programmes work during the day and the number of teaching hours of ESSs is generally less than that of day schools, but the course content taught is the same as that in day schools, and the students have to compete directly with day school students in public examinations, whether the authorities have offered specific assistance to ESS students in the light of the learning difficulties faced by them; if so, of the details; if not, whether the authorities will conduct an assessment of the needs of ESS students and provide a learning support platform specifically for them;
|
| (d) | given that the teaching hours of ESSs are less than those of day schools, and quite a number of ESS teachers have indicated that they often cannot finish teaching the full curricula for public examinations, and some ESS students who are working adults have indicated that they encounter much difficulty in completing the assignments for school-based assessment, and in addition, the modules of some subjects cover personal growth and interpersonal relationships of young people, making it difficult for adult students to feel engaged in the learning process, whether the authorities have reviewed the issue of articulation of the teaching mode of ESSs with the NSS curricula as well as HKDSE Examination, and made appropriate adjustments in the light of the situation of ESSs; if not, of the reasons for that;
|
| (e) | given that some teachers of the subsidized ESS programmes have complained to me that they and day school teachers are both teaching NSS courses, but they are not granted the authority to log in to the Training Calendar System of EDB in order to enrol in the courses set out in the system, nor can they participate in other training courses organized by EDB, making them unable to obtain the latest course materials and information provided by the authorities for serving teachers and hence affecting the quality of their teaching, of the reasons why the authorities do not let ESS teachers participate in training and use the relevant resources; whether the authorities will undertake to make improvements as soon as possible so that serving teachers in both day and evening schools receive equal treatment in respect of training and access to pedagogic information; and
|
| (f) | whether the authorities had made specialized training and seminars available to serving ESS teachers in respect of the NSS academic structure and curriculum content in the past three years; if so, of the details; if not, the number of participants, who had participated in the capacity as ESS teachers, in training and seminars organized by EDB on the NSS academic structure and curriculum in the past three years?
|
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education
*13. Hon Audrey EU to ask: (Translation)
Will the Government inform this Council of the following in connection with the Guidelines on Service Improvement and Reduction in Bus Route Development Programmes ("Guidelines") issued by the Transport Department as at 31 May 2012:
| (a) | the route numbers of franchised bus routes which meet the criterion for frequency reduction (i.e. an average occupancy rate below 85% during the busiest half-hour of the peak period, or below 30% during the off-peak period);
|
| (b) | the route numbers of franchised bus routes which meet the criterion for frequency improvement (i.e. an occupancy rate of 100% during the busiest half-hour of the peak period and 85% during that one hour, or 60% during the busiest one hour of the off-peak period);
|
| (c) | the route numbers of franchised bus routes which meet the criterion for route cancellation or amalgamation with other routes (i.e. an occupancy rate below 50% during the busiest hour although the headway has been maintained at an interval of 15 minutes during peak hours and 30 minutes during off-peak hours);
|
| (d) | the route numbers of franchised bus routes which meet the criterion for route truncation (i.e. an occupancy rate of not more than 20% to 30% at the proposed truncated section during the busiest hour); and
|
| (e) | the reasons for not having implemented the frequency reduction, frequency improvement, route cancellation or amalgamation with other routes or route truncation, in accordance with the Guidelines for the franchised bus routes which meet the criteria mentioned in (a) to (d)?
|
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport and Housing
*14. Hon CHEUNG Kwok-che to ask: (Translation)
I have contacted a total of 25 youth service units which are located in 16 different districts a couple of weeks ago, including those providing integrated children and youth services, outreaching social work services for the youth and overnight youth outreaching services, etc. Quite a number of social workers have relayed to me that the problem of truancy and dropping out from schools among youngsters aged 15 or below has become more and more serious, and due to poor relationship with their parents, they always wander around in the communities, giving rise to the problem of youth gangs, and very often, they refuse to go home at night, which also poses threats to their personal safety. In view of the aforesaid risks faced by youngsters who run away from home, fellow workers in the sector request the Government to improve and enhance the provision of ancillary services and facilities. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether the Government will allocate additional resources to set up "emergency hostels for the youth" and streamline the application procedures for admission by not involving allocation by the central referral system, to enable those youth at risk who are reluctant to go home because of poor relationship with their families to take shelter temporarily, and to enable social workers to assist them in tackling problems through intervention, thereby reducing their chances of being exposed to dangers; if it will not, of the reasons for that; how the Government will improve the ancillary services, so as to provide the needy youth with an appropriate shelter to cope with crises; if it will, whether emergency hostel for the youth can be set up one each on Hong Kong Island, in Kowloon and the New Territories; if not, of the reasons for that;
|
| (b) | regarding the problems of inadequate places of residential homes for the youth and schools for social development, etc., how the Government will make specific planning in the long run to expand such services, so as to shorten the waiting time for the needy youth and provide them with appropriate services and care expeditiously; and
|
| (c) | focusing on the problem of those youth at risk with low educational attainment being very difficult to secure jobs after the implementation of statutory minimum wage, how the Government will extend ancillary services which suit the learning and working needs of youth at risk, so as to offer them more job opportunities and assist them in achieving self-reliance and upgrading their qualifications?
|
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Labour and Welfare
*15. Hon Emily LAU to ask: (Translation)
In September this year, the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities of the United Nations will consider the initial report submitted by Hong Kong under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities ("the Convention"). In this connection, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council:
| (a) | whether the authorities will introduce "mainstreaming of the rights of persons with disabilities" for examining if the Government complies with the provisions relating to the rights of persons with disabilities under the Convention in legislation and implementation of administrative and other measures; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
|
| (b) | whether the authorities will standardize the definition of disabilities adopted by various government departments and policy bureaux in accordance with the concept of disabilities as described in the Preamble of the Convention, and collect statistical and research data on persons with disabilities in accordance with Article 31 of the Convention, so as to facilitate the formulation and implementation of policies to give effect to the Convention; if they will, of the details; if not, how the authorities collect data to give effect to the Convention in the absence of a standardized definition of disabilities; and
|
| (c) | given that Article 33 of the Convention stipulates the establishment of independent mechanisms by states parties to promote, protect and monitor implementation of the Convention, whether the authorities have assessed if the Commissioner for Rehabilitation ("C for R") under the Deputy Secretary for Labour and Welfare has sufficient independence and power to promote the implementation of the Convention in various government departments; if they have, of the results; whether the authorities will consider establishing a high level mechanism to promote, protect and monitor the implementation of the Convention; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
|
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Labour and Welfare
*16. Hon Frederick FUNG to ask: (Translation)
Following the retirement of the last batch of non air-conditioned ("AC") buses (commonly known as "hot-dog buses") of Kowloon Motor Bus Co. (1933) Limited on 9 May this year, the franchised bus service in Hong Kong has now entered a fully air-conditioned era. In other words, the air-conditioning system in franchised buses will be turned on at all times, irrespective of whether the weather is cold or warm. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether the authorities had, in the past, conducted any study to ascertain the percentage of fuel consumption in operating the air-conditioning system of buses in the overall fuel consumption of buses, and the savings on fuel expenditure by turning off the air-conditioning system during winter time; if they had, whether they can provide the relevant information;
|
| (b) | whether the authorities had, in the past, made reference to overseas experiences (e.g. the United Kingdom and Ireland which use the same model of buses as that of Hong Kong, but with openable windows) and conducted studies to introduce AC buses with openable windows, so as to save energy by turning off the air-conditioning system during low temperature seasons; if they had, of the results, in particular the feasibility of using such buses in Hong Kong, and the benefits in energy saving and environmental protection to be brought by such buses; and
|
| (c) | whether the authorities will consider requiring all franchised bus companies to select buses with openable windows when they procure new buses, and discussing with all franchised bus companies the conversion of AC buses running on the road at present to buses with openable windows; whether the authorities will conduct a study on prohibiting AC buses from turning on the air-conditioning system under certain weather conditions (e.g. below a certain temperature); whether the authorities can assess the effectiveness of the aforesaid practice in reducing the fuel cost of bus companies and alleviating the burden of travelling expenses on the public?
|
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport and Housing
*17. Hon Abraham SHEK to ask:
It has been reported that half of the 38 judges working in the Court of Final Appeal ("CFA"), Court of Appeal and Court of First Instance ("CFI") of the High Court will reach the statutory retirement age of 65 in the next five years. Although an extra discretionary term of three years may be allowed under "exceptional circumstances" relating to operation needs (after which judges of CFA must retire), it is not known how the exceptional circumstances are defined when it has been reported that a permanent judge of CFA will be replaced by a judge nine months older than him when he retires on turning 65 in October 2012. In addition, it has been reported that about a quarter of the judge and judicial officer ("JJO") posts have been lying vacant for at least nine months, which has aroused concerns that the quality of judiciary work may be affected. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council if it knows:
| (a) | whether the Judiciary has considered any new measures (including increasing the salaries for JJOs) to expedite the recruitment process; if yes, the details; if not, the reasons for that;
|
| (b) | the criteria for extending the term of office for JJOs who approach the retirement age of 65; whether the decision to replace the aforesaid permanent judge of CFA by a judge nine months older than him complies with such criteria; if yes, the details; if not, the details of other affirmative reasons for the decision; whether there were any similar precedent examples in the past three years; if yes, of the details;
|
| (c) | whether the waiting time of the hearing of the cases in the Civil Fixture List of CFI of the High Court had failed to meet the target of 180 days in the past three years; if yes, the details and the justifications for keeping the current target at 180 days in 2012-2013; and
|
| (d) | given that it has been reported that the retirement age of the judges of the British Supreme Court and the Federal Courts in Canada and Australia is set at 70, whether the Judiciary will review and set the retirement age of JJOs on par with that of such common law jurisdictions; if yes, the details; if not, the reasons for that?
|
Public Officer to reply : The Chief Secretary for Administration
*18. Dr Hon Priscilla LEUNG to ask: (Translation)
An organization has earlier on conducted a survey on the Mandatory Building and Window Inspection Schemes ("the Schemes") which will be implemented in the second quarter of this year, and found that as many as 70% of the respondents have not heard of the Schemes, and reflected that the details of the Schemes' complementary and support measures have not been announced after a long time, making the owners of the so-called "three nos" buildings (i.e. no management, no owners' corporations ("OCs") and no maintenance) feel very much worried. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the current channels through which the Schemes are publicized; given that the aforesaid survey has revealed that 70% of the respondents have not heard of the Schemes, whether the authorities have assessed if publicity on the Schemes is adequate, and whether they will consider stepping up publicity;
|
| (b) | of the earliest time by which the authorities will inform the OCs or owners of the first batch of target buildings under the Schemes in writing that the Government will make it mandatory for them to inspect their buildings and windows; upon receipt of the notification, the time by which they will be required to start inspecting their buildings and windows; whether the authorities have assessed if under the procedure of the Schemes, OCs or owners have been offered adequate time for preparation;
|
| (c) | of the total number of professionals in the architectural or engineering sector who have registered under the Schemes as registered inspectors ("RIs") so far; whether the authorities have assessed if the target number of at least 300 or more RIs across the territory can be met before the implementation of the Schemes in the second quarter of this year; if not, of the measures to be put in place to attract more professionals to register as RIs;
|
| (d) | of the new subsidy schemes or support and complementary measures the authorities will introduce in respect of the Schemes; among such subsidy schemes and measures, application and implementation details of which have already been announced; regarding those which have not yet announced the details, of the latest time by which such details will be announced;
|
| (e) | of the special measures the authorities have put in place to assist the owners of "three nos" old buildings in complying with the statutory notices and inspect their buildings and windows; and
|
| (f) | of the means adopted by the Government to specifically penalize those owners who refuse to share and pay for the costs of building and window inspection, and ensure that the owners who are willing to share the costs will not be affected and penalized?
|
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Development
*19. Hon KAM Nai-wai to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the Buildings Energy Efficiency Funding Schemes ("BEEFS") and the Energy Conservation Projects for non-governmental organizations ("NGOs") funded by the Environment and Conservation Fund ("ECF"), will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the details of such schemes and projects and set out the relevant information in the tables below:
|
| (i) | information on subsidizing owners of residential, industrial and commercial buildings to conduct energy-cum-carbon audits (“ECAs”) in communal areas of the buildings;
| Year
| Number of applications received
| Number of applications approved
| Amount of subsidies approved
| Contents and details
| Territory-wide participation rate
| Effectiveness
| | 2009
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 2010
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 2011
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Total
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| | (ii) | information on subsidizing owners of residential, industrial and commercial buildings to conduct energy improvement works ("improvement works");
| Year
| Number of applications received
| Number of applications approved
| Amount of subsidies approved
| Contents and details
| Territory-wide participation rate
| Effectiveness
| | 2009
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 2010
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 2011
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Total
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| | (iii) | information on subsidizing NGOs to conduct ECAs in premises owned or occupied by them; and
| Year
| Number of applications received
| Number of applications approved
| Amount of subsidies approved
| Contents and details
| Territory-wide participation rate
| Effectiveness
| | 2009
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 2010
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 2011
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Total
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| | (iv) | information on subsidizing NGOs to conduct improvement works in premises owned or occupied by them; and
| Year
| Number of applications received
| Number of applications approved
| Amount of subsidies approved
| Contents and details
| Territory-wide participation rate
| Effectiveness
| | 2009
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 2010
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 2011
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Total
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| | (b) | given that according to the information provided by the authorities, there were 779 improvement works and 127 ECAs approved by BEEFS with funding amount over $362 million as at January 2012 and, in addition, 187 improvement works and 18 ECAs for NGOs were approved by ECF:
|
| (i) | whether ECF has set any target or criterion for the numbers of and proportion between the two types of subsidized items of improvement works and ECAs; if it has, of the details;
|
| (ii) | whether the authorities have taken the initiatives to find out the reasons for the numbers of approved improvement works, either those involving buildings (565) or those of NGOs (187), were higher than the numbers of ECAs (121 and 18 respectively);
|
| (iii) | whether the authorities have conducted any review in respect of the difference between the numbers of approved projects under the aforesaid two types of subsidized items; if they have, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
|
| (iv) | as the aforementioned schemes ended on 7 April this year, why the authorities neither continue the schemes nor launch a new round of schemes; whether the authorities will consider afresh launching the schemes again; if they will, of the details and the timetable; if not, the reasons for that; and
|
| (v) | whether the authorities plan to provide free energy audits or carbon audits for those buildings in which the aforesaid 779 and 187 improvement works were conducted after completion of such works; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
|
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment
*20. Dr Hon LAM Tai-fai to ask: (Translation)
The Education Bureau ("EDB") has issued a circular memorandum to schools, informing them that the Moral and National Education ("MNE") subject should be implemented in primary and secondary schools starting from the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 school years respectively. In order to allow sufficient time for schools to make preparation and planning, EDB will provide a three-year "initiation period" for schools to make appropriate arrangements: the "initiation period" for primary schools is from the 2012-2013 school year to the 2014-2015 school year and that for secondary schools is from the 2013-2014 school year to the 2015-2016 school year. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether the authorities have assessed the number of schools which will not be able to implement the MNE subject within the "initiation period"; if they have, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
|
| (b) | of the actions the authorities will take in respect of schools which are unable to implement the MNE subject after the "initiation period" for various reasons, such as insufficient manpower, failure to develop the relevant curriculum or objection by parents;
|
| (c) | whether the authorities have any criterion to assess the effectiveness of implementing the MNE subject in schools; if they have, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
|
| (d) | whether the authorities have assessed if there are sufficient qualified teachers in the education sector to implement the MNE subject; if they have, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
|
| (e) | whether the authorities have any specific measure to assist schools in resolving difficulties in recruiting MNE teachers; if they have, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
|
| (f) | whether the authorities have any specific measure to assist schools in resolving difficulties in planning and developing the MNE curriculum; if they have, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
|
| (g) | whether the authorities have assessed if there will be significant variations among schools in terms of curriculum content and quality; if they have, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
|
| (h) | whether the authorities have any measure to ensure that teachers will teach the MNE subject in a politically neutral manner; if they have, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
|
| (i) | given that a one-off cash grant of $530,000 will be disbursed to each school in August this year for its use in the coming four years, covering staff recruitment, procurement of teaching materials and provision of support for teachers' participation in exchange programmes, etc., of the criteria based on which the authorities have arrived at the said amount; whether they will consult schools within the "initiation period" to review if that amount is adequate; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
|
| (j) | given that according to quite a number of public comments, the MNE subject is tantamount to "brainwashing education", whether the authorities have assessed if a negative perception of the MNE subject has been formed among teachers, parents and students, thereby affecting the implementation of the MNE subject; if they have, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
|
| (k) | whether the authorities will examine if the subject of Chinese History should be made a compulsory subject in secondary schools before making the MNE subject a compulsory one, so as to enable students to gain more in-depth knowledge about the development of our country; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
|
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education
* For written reply
III. Bills
(Bill scheduled to be dealt with at this Council meeting)
First Reading
Supplementary Appropriation (2011-2012) Bill
|
Second Reading (Debate to be adjourned)
|
| Supplementary Appropriation (2011-2012) Bill | : | Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
|
Second Reading (Debates to resume), Committee Stage and Third Reading
(Bills originally scheduled to be dealt with at the last Council meeting)
|
| 1. | Competition Bill | : | Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development
|
|
| (i) | Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development to move Committee stage amendments
|
(The amendments were issued on 24 May 2012
under LC Paper No. CB(3)802/11-12)
|
| (ii) | Hon Albert HO, Hon Ronny TONG, Hon Mrs Regina IP and Hon LEUNG Kwok-hung to move Committee stage amendments
|
(The amendments were issued on 23 and 25 May 2012 under
LC Paper Nos. CB(3)799/11-12 and CB(3)811/11-12 respectively)
|
|
| 2. | Mediation Bill | : | The Secretary for Justice
|
| The Secretary for Justice to move Committee stage amendments
(The amendments were issued on 16 May 2012
under LC Paper No. CB(3)766/11-12)
|
| 3. | Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2011 | : | Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
|
| Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Hon WONG Sing-chi
and Hon KAM Nai-wai to move Committee stage amendments
(The amendments were issued on 31 May 2012
under LC Paper No. CB(3)845/11-12)
|
| 4. | Construction Industry Legislation (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 2012
| : | Secretary for Development
|
| Secretary for Development to move Committee stage amendments
(The amendments were issued on 28 May 2012
under LC Paper No. CB(3)829/11-12)
|
| 5. | Personal Data (Privacy) (Amendment) Bill 2011 | :
| Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs
|
|
| (i) | Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs to move Committee stage amendments
|
(The amendments were issued on 30 May 2012
under LC Paper No. CB(3)838/11-12)
|
| (ii) | Hon James TO to move Committee stage amendments
|
(The amendments were issued on 1 June 2012
under LC Paper No. CB(3)850/11-12)
|
|
(Bills scheduled to be dealt with at this Council meeting)
|
| 6. | Legal Practitioners (Amendment) Bill 2010 | : | The Secretary for Justice
|
| The Secretary for Justice to move Committee stage amendments
(The amendments were issued on 6 June 2012
under LC Paper No. CB(3)874/11-12)
|
| 7. | Statute Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2012 | : | The Secretary for Justice
|
| The Secretary for Justice to move Committee stage amendments
(The amendments were issued on 5 June 2012
under LC Paper No. CB(3)873/11-12)
|
| 8. | United Nations (Anti-Terrorism Measures) (Amendment) Bill 2012
| : | Secretary for Security
|
| 9. | Immigration (Amendment) Bill 2011 | :
| Secretary for Security
|
|
| (i) | Secretary for Security to move Committee stage amendments
| (The amendments were issued on 5 June 2012
under LC Paper No. CB(3)869/11-12)
|
| (ii) | Dr Hon Margaret NG to move a Committee stage amendment
| (The amendment was issued on 11 June 2012
under LC Paper No. CB(3)902/11-12)
|
|
| 10. | Buildings Legislation (Amendment) Bill 2011 | : | Secretary for Development
|
| Secretary for Development to move Committee stage amendments
(The amendments were issued on 6 June 2012
under LC Paper No. CB(3)875/11-12) |
IV. Motions
(Motions originally scheduled to be dealt with at the last Council meeting)
| 1. | Proposed resolution under Article 73(7) of the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China and section 7A of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal Ordinance (Cap. 484)
The Chief Secretary for Administration to move the following motion:
Resolved that the following appointments be endorsed -
| (a) | the appointment of the Honourable Mr. Justice Robert Tang Ching as a permanent judge of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal pursuant to section 7 of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal Ordinance (Cap. 484) (the Ordinance);
|
| (b) | the appointment of the Honourable Mr. Justice Syed Kemal Shah Bokhary as a non-permanent Hong Kong judge of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal pursuant to section 8 of the Ordinance; and
|
| (c) | the appointment of the Right Honourable The Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers as a judge of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal from another common law jurisdiction pursuant to section 9 of the Ordinance.
|
| | 2. | 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)
|
| 3. | Proposed resolution under the Eastern Harbour Crossing Ordinance and the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance
Secretary for Transport and Housing to move the motion in Appendix II.
|
(The motion was also issued on 21 May 2012
under LC Paper No. CB(3)782/11-12)
|
| 4. | Proposed resolution under the Tate's Cairn Tunnel Ordinance and the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance
Secretary for Transport and Housing to move the motion in Appendix III.
|
(The motion was also issued on 21 May 2012
under LC Paper No. CB(3)782/11-12)
|
| 5. | Proposed resolution under the Western Harbour Crossing Ordinance and the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance
Secretary for Transport and Housing to move the motion in Appendix IV.
|
(The motion was also issued on 21 May 2012
under LC Paper No. CB(3)782/11-12)
|
| 6. | Proposed resolution under the Tai Lam Tunnel and Yuen Long Approach Road Ordinance and the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance
Secretary for Transport and Housing to move the motion in Appendix V.
|
(The motion was also issued on 21 May 2012
under LC Paper No. CB(3)782/11-12)
|
| 7. | Proposed resolution under the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Ordinance
Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury to move the following motion:
Resolved that the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes (General) (Amendment) Regulation 2012, made by the Chief Executive in Council on 8 May 2012, be approved.
|
(The Amendment Regulation is in Appendix VI.
and was also issued on 10 May 2012
under LC Paper No. CB(3) 742/11-12)
|
| 8. | Proposed resolution under the Import and Export Ordinance and the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance
Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development to move the motion in Appendix VII.
|
(The motion was also issued on 29 May 2012
under LC Paper No. CB(3)830/11-12)
|
(Motions scheduled to be dealt with at this Council meeting)
|
| 9. | Proposed resolution under the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance
Secretary for Food and Health to move the following motion:
Resolved that the following Regulations, made by the Pharmacy and Poisons Board on 22 May 2012, be approved -
(a) the Pharmacy and Poisons (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulation 2012; and
(b) the Poisons List (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulation 2012.
|
(The two Amendment Regulations are in Appendices VIII and IX
and were also issued on 24 May 2012
under LC Paper No. CB(3)805/11-12)
|
| 10. | Proposed resolution under the Employees' Compensation Ordinance
Secretary for Labour and Welfare to move the motion in Appendix X.
|
(The motion was also issued on 28 May 2012
under LC Paper No. CB(3)822/11-12)
|
| 11. | Proposed resolution under the Pneumoconiosis and Mesothelioma (Compensation) Ordinance
Secretary for Labour and Welfare to move the motion in Appendix XI.
|
(The motion was also issued on 28 May 2012
under LC Paper No. CB(3)822/11-12)
|
| 12. | Proposed resolution under the Occupational Deafness (Compensation) Ordinance
Secretary for Labour and Welfare to move the motion in Appendix XII.
|
(The motion was also issued on 28 May 2012
under LC Paper No. CB(3)822/11-12)
|
| 13. | Proposed resolution under the Buildings Ordinance
Secretary for Development to move the motion in Appendix XIII.
|
(The motion was also issued on 25 May 2012
under LC Paper No. CB(3)812/11-12)
|
V. Members' Motions on Subsidiary Legislation and Other Instruments
(Member's motion originally scheduled to be dealt with at the last Council meeting)
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
(Member's Bill originally scheduled to be dealt with at the last Council meeting)
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)
|
| 1. | Motion under Article 73(9) of the Basic Law
Initiated jointly by Hon Albert HO , Hon LEE Cheuk-yan, Hon Fred LI, Hon James TO, Hon CHEUNG Man-kwong, Hon LEUNG Yiu-chung, Hon Emily LAU, Hon Andrew CHENG, Hon Frederick FUNG, Hon Audrey EU, Hon LEE Wing-tat, Dr Hon Joseph LEE, Hon Ronny TONG, Hon KAM Nai-wai, Hon Cyd HO, Hon CHEUNG Kwok-che, Hon WONG Sing-chi, Hon Paul TSE, Hon Alan LEONG, Hon LEUNG Kwok-hung, Hon Tanya CHAN, Hon Albert CHAN and Hon WONG Yuk-man (23 Members) and to be moved by Hon Cyd HO
That, since a motion initiated jointly by not less than one-fourth of all the Members of the Legislative Council charges the Chief Executive Mr Donald TSANG with serious dereliction of duty (details as particularized in the Schedule to this motion) and he refused to resign, this Council, in accordance with Article 73(9) of the Basic Law, gives a mandate to the Chief Justice of the Court of Final Appeal to form and chair an independent investigation committee to investigate the alleged dereliction of duty and report to this Council.
|
Schedule
|
| Details of dereliction of duty of the Chief Executive Mr Donald TSANG are set out below:
Mr Donald TSANG, as the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, accepted advantages or extravagant entertainment offered by other persons without making any declaration, failing to fulfill the duties under Article 47 of the Basic Law that the Chief Executive must be a person of integrity and dedicated to his or her duties
| |
| (1) | Mr Donald TSANG accepted advantages or extravagant entertainment offered by other persons
|
| (a) | Mr Donald TSANG rented a 630m2 odd apartment in East Pacific Garden, Shenzhen at a rate of RMB 800,000 yuan per annum. The owner of the apartment provided the renovation, and the renovation costs are reportedly about RMB 3,000,000 yuan; and
|
| (b) | Mr Donald TSANG and his wife accepted extravagant entertainment offered by other persons on several occasions, including:
|
| | (i) | on their trips to Macao in April 2011 and February 2012, stayed on board the private yacht of other person and returned from Macao to Hong Kong on it, paying only about HK$500 on each occasion (amount corresponding to two tickets of one‐way Macao‐to‐Hong Kong commercial ferry ride); and
|
| | (ii) | in February 2012, travelled to Phuket, Thailand and back to Hong Kong in a private jet of other person and stayed on board the private yacht of other person in Phuket, paying only about HK$5,900 (amount corresponding to two round-trip economy class flight tickets between Hong Kong and Phuket).
|
| (2) | Mr Donald TSANG did not make any declaration during meetings of the Executive Council at which items relating to businesses operated by the persons who offered the aforesaid advantages or entertainment were discussed
According to the reply by the Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs to Members' questions at the Legislative Council meeting of 29 February 2012, Mr Donald TSANG did not make any declaration of his acceptance of advantages referred to in item (1)(a) or his acceptance of entertainment referred to in item (1)(b) during meetings of the Executive Council. Mr TSANG did not make any declaration when the Executive Council deliberated on the issues of the licence of the Digital Broadcasting Corporation Hong Kong Limited ("DBC"), and the owner of the apartment referred to in item (1)(a) is a shareholder of DBC.
|
| (3) | Mr Donald TSANG failed to formulate credible rules governing the Chief Executive's acceptance of advantages or entertainment
It has been reported that Mr Donald TSANG himself formulated internal rules governing the Chief Executive's acceptance of advantages or entertainment; however, the Chief Executive's Office does not have any formal record of the above rules, and the standard claimed is much lower than that for civil servants.
|
| Public Officers to attend | : | The Chief Secretary for Administration
Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs |
|
| 2. | 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.
|
| 3. | 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 |
| | 4. | 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 |
| | 5. | 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 |
| | 6. | Enhancing the accountability of charities and complying with the best practices in corporate governance
Hon Paul CHAN to move the following motion: (Translation)
That the Charities Sub-committee under the Law Reform Commission of Hong Kong is still collating public submissions after completing its public consultation on the consultation paper on charities in end October last year, and at present, except for those charities that are incorporated as companies limited by guarantee with the Company Registry whose financial statements are accessible by the public in the Company Registry, the public has no way to know about the governance and financial information of all other charities, such as those established by way of trust; moreover, currently, except for section 88 of the Inland Revenue Ordinance, in which 'charitable purpose' is defined for the purpose of taxation, there is no other legislation regulating charities and how they use the donations, nor does the Administration have the figures regarding charities established; over the past few years, some suspected cases of charities with strange fund-raising practices, unclear accounts, indiscriminate investments and even transfer of surpluses have been uncovered in society, making the public worry that donations to charities may not be serving charitable purposes; in this connection, this Council urges the Government to expeditiously release to the public the findings of the public consultation on the consultation paper on charities, and before statutory regulation is introduced, consider enhancing the transparency and accountability of charities by adopting measures such as encouraging them to comply with the best practices in corporate governance, strengthen their financial management, and disclose their financial information on a regular basis; at the same time, the Government should expeditiously implement the statutory regulatory proposals in the consultation paper on charities which are generally agreed by the community.
| Amendments to the motion
| | (i) | Hon James TO to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To add ", as" after "That"; to add "many community organizations and members of the public have expressed worry that the activities of charities with different views may be restricted;" after "last year,"; to add ", as well as maintain the autonomy of their organizations" after "basis"; to delete "expeditiously implement" after "the Government should" and substitute with "carefully consider all"; and to delete "which are generally agreed by the community" immediately before the full stop.
|
| (ii) | Hon Alan LEONG to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To add ", given that" after "That"; to delete "before statutory regulation is introduced, consider enhancing the transparency and accountability of charities by adopting measures such as encouraging them" after "on charities, and" and substitute with "encourage charities"; to delete "," after "management"; to add ", so as to enhance their transparency and accountability" after "basis"; and to delete "should expeditiously implement the statutory regulatory proposals in the consultation paper on charities which are generally agreed by the community" immediately before the full stop and substitute with "must ensure that human rights and advocacy of policies are included as charitable purposes, and should also ensure that charities can maintain autonomy and are free from any political interference".
|
| (iii) | Hon CHEUNG Kwok-che to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To add "besides, some people worry that the power of the charity commission mentioned in the consultation paper on charities is too great, which may lead to self-censorship on the part of charities dedicated to empowering the socially disadvantaged and charities which are concerned about such sensitive issues as human rights; at the same time, some social workers are concerned about a proposal in the consultation paper on charities that 'an activity to preserve an existing piece of legislation, where a charity opposes its being repealed or amended, would fall under "political activity"', not to be regarded as dedicated to a charitable purpose, and the proposal runs counter to clause 50 of the Code of Practice for Registered Social Workers, which provides that 'Social workers recognise the need to advocate changes in the formulation of policies and legislation to improve social conditions, to promote social justice and general welfare of the society. Social workers also recognise the need to contribute to the implementation of policies for human welfare'; they consider that the proposal will make social workers of charities act against professional ethics, and render organizations within the definition of 'charity' unable to employ professional social workers any more;" after "charitable purposes;"; to add ": (a)" after "the Government to"; to delete ", and" after "the public consultation on the consultation paper on charities" and substitute with "; (b)"; to add "first" after "introduced,"; to delete "at the same time, the Government should" after "basis;" and substitute with "(c) motivate the public to continue to hold discussions on monitoring charities and their fund-raising practices, and listen to the views of the public and stakeholders; and (d)"; and to add ", and prudently handle the controversial items in the paper, so as to ensure that while undesirable fund-raising practices are effectively monitored, charities dedicated to empowering the socially disadvantaged and charities which are concerned about such sensitive issues as human rights will not be subject to political vetting" immediately before the full stop.
|
Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Home Affairs
|
| 7. | Promoting family harmony
Hon Starry LEE to move the following motion: (Translation)
That, as social problems such as the rising divorce rate, family tragedies, child abuse and neglect of children, as well as compensated dating and drug abuse among young people still occur from time to time in Hong Kong, reflecting that at present some families lack cohesion and mutual love, this Council urges the Government to make stronger efforts in promoting family-friendly policies and enhancing the resilience of families and individuals against adversities, so as to achieve family harmony and promote social inclusion; the proposed measures include:
| (a) | introducing an assessment system regarding the impact of public policies on families to assess the impact of existing social policies, legislation and measures on families, with a view to making relevant improvements;
|
| (b) | providing more support services to dual-income parents, including expanding community childminding services, increasing the childminding places in various districts and providing flexible childminding service hours, etc.; developing after-school remedial centres so that children of dual-income parents can receive appropriate care after school;
|
| (c) | promoting public and private organizations to implement family-friendly employment policies more proactively for creating a family-friendly working environment, including encouraging organizations to provide staff with child care services and implementing flexible working hours, as well as implementing a flexible leave policy which provides special paid leave for employees such as wedding leave, paternity leave, study leave, compassionate leave, etc., when they encounter major family events;
|
| (d) | including all general holidays other than Sundays as paid statutory holidays through a progressive approach of employer-employee negotiation; and promoting 'International Day of Families' to call on the community to cherish the value of family;
|
| (e) | promoting a housing policy which fosters mutual care between the elderly and the young and encouraging the inclusion of residential complementary facilities suitable for both the elderly and the young in the designs of private and public housing; as well as improving community facilities to provide families with more room for parent-child activities;
|
| (f) | actively stepping up publicity on positive family education on parenting, child duties and ethics, as well as promoting family education through community service organizations, schools and the media, etc.;
|
| (g) | allocating more resources for strengthening various promotional activities and research work of the Family Council;
|
| (h) | alleviating the financial burden on families in Hong Kong by offering tax concessions and subsidizing pre-primary education across the board; and
|
| (i) | enhancing social welfare services to provide appropriate support to families in crisis.
|
| Amendments to the motion
| | (i) | Hon WONG Sing-chi to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To delete "as" after "That," and substitute with "given that"; to delete "paternity leave" after "as wedding leave,"; to add "and introducing statutory paternity leave for male employees, so that husbands can enjoy paid leave to help take care of their wives and newborn babies;" after "family events;"; to add "(e) legislating for setting the number of standard working hours at 44 per week and the payment of compensation for overtime work, and assisting Hong Kong people in having an ideal mode of living, with their time evenly distributed among work, rest and leisure activities so as to achieve balanced development in different areas;" after "value of family;"; to delete the original "(e)" and substitute with "(f)"; to add "(g) constructing additional small and large sized public rental housing ('PRH') flats, resuming the Sale of Flats to Sitting Tenants Scheme, allowing eligible white form Home Ownership Scheme ('HOS') household applicants to purchase HOS flats in the secondary market without having to pay the premium, reviewing the allocation and eligibility criteria of PRH to provide affordable and appropriate residential premises to families in need, and encouraging young families to live close to their elderly family members to facilitate their mutual care, strengthen the family support network and promote family harmony and integration;" after "parent-child activities;"; to delete the original "(f)" and substitute with "(h)"; to delete the original "(g)" and substitute with "(i)"; to delete the original "(h)" and substitute with "(j)"; to delete "subsidizing" after "tax concessions and" and substitute with "providing 15-year free education covering"; to delete "across the board; and" after "pre-primary education" and substitute with ";"; to delete the original "(i)" and substitute with "(k)"; and to add "; (l) amending legislation and strengthening support to handle domestic violence, stepping up publicity and training to deepen the understanding and alertness of frontline staff (such as social workers, police officers, as well as education and healthcare personnel, etc.) in relation to the problem of domestic violence, and intervening in a timely manner to help curb domestic violence; (m) setting up a multi-disciplinary mechanism for reviewing family tragedy cases to draw lessons from them, so as to improve the service system and its effectiveness, and assist affected families in restoring a harmonious family life; and (n) strengthening work in family education with a view to reducing marital problems, including incorporating family life education into the secondary education curriculum; providing pre-marital family education services, and strengthening family life education through the media, etc" immediately before the full stop.
|
| (ii) | Dr Hon PAN Pey-chyou to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To delete "as" after "That," and substitute with "given that in recent years,"; to add "(c) relaxing the eligibility criteria of the Work Incentive Transport Subsidy Scheme, expeditiously implementing a dual-track approach to allow applicants to calculate their incomes and assets on either a household or individual basis, so as to prevent family harmony from being affected by disputes and ill feeling arising from family members' unwillingness to disclose their asset and income information;" after "care after school;"; to delete the original "(c)" and substitute with "(d)"; to add "at the same time, increasing paid maternity leave and providing a period of postnatal employment protection to strengthen the protection for women against unreasonable dismissal after delivery;" after "family events;"; to delete the original "(d)" and substitute with "(e)"; to delete "including all general holidays other than Sundays as paid statutory holidays through a progressive approach of employer-employee negotiation" before "; and promoting 'International Day of Families'" and substitute with "amending the Employment Ordinance to increase the number of statutory holidays to put them on a par with the 17 days of general holidays and at the same time requiring employers to raise the compensation to employees for working on holidays"; to add "(f) caring about the situation of employees' overtime work and expeditiously legislating for standard working hours to ensure that employees can strike a reasonable balance on their work and family life, so as to foster mutual love among family members;" after "value of family;"; to delete the original "(e)" and substitute with "(g)"; to delete the original "(f)" and substitute with "(h)"; to delete the original "(g)" and substitute with "(i)"; to delete the original "(h)" and substitute with "(j)"; and to delete the original "(i)" and substitute with "(k)".
|
| (iii) | Hon Ronny TONG to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To add "economic instability makes people's life more stressful, with the result that" after "That, as"; to delete "and" after "across the board;"; and to add "; (j) flexibly handling applications under the Harmonious Families Priority Scheme to allow more families which are willing to take care of their elderly family members to receive housing allocation expeditiously, so as to achieve the policy objective of enhancing home and community care; and (k) abolishing the requirement for the submission of a 'declaration of not providing support to parents' (commonly known as a 'bad son statement') as a prerequisite for applying for Comprehensive Social Security Assistance for the elderly, so that elderly persons and the family members living with them can be spared the embarrassment of a means test, thus realizing the fundamental principle of harmony in families" immediately before the full stop.
|
| (iv) | Hon LEE Cheuk-yan to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To delete "implementing a" after "working hours, as well as" and substitute with "legislating for the introduction of"; to delete "policy which provides" after "flexible leave" and substitute with "so as to provide"; to add "legislating for the implementation of standard working hours and" after "(d)"; and to delete "through a progressive approach of employer-employee negotiation" after "statutory holidays".
|
| Public Officers to attend | : | Secretary for Home Affairs
Secretary for Labour and Welfare |
| | 8. | Building an inclusive society for all
Hon LEUNG Yiu-chung to move the following motion: (Translation)
That, although the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities ('the Convention') came into force in Hong Kong on 31 August 2008, and the Administration submitted the Initial Report of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region under the Convention ('the Report') to the United Nations in early 2010, the contents of the Report lack guiding policies on building an inclusive society, and only focus on addressing the needs of persons with disabilities arising from their physical disabilities, instead of assisting persons with disabilities in integrating into society from social and environmental perspectives, this Council expresses its strong dissatisfaction and deep regret in this regard; in this connection, in order to fulfill the obligations under the Convention, this Council urges the Government to implement the following policies and measures:
| (a) | to expeditiously implement the public transport concessions scheme for the elderly and persons with disabilities ('the scheme') to assist them in integrating into society;
|
| (b) | to expand the coverage of the scheme to all holders of the Registration Card for People with Disabilities, and consider providing transport fare concessions to the escorts of persons with disabilities;
|
| (c) | to add clauses to the franchise agreements of franchised public transport operators, requiring the offer of fare concessions to the elderly and persons with disabilities as well as the provision of barrier-free ancillary facilities;
|
| (d) | to allocate additional resources for increasing the number of barrier-free transportation modes, such as Rehabus and Easy-Access Bus, so as to provide more 'point-to-point' services for persons with disabilities;
|
| (e) | to implement the concept of barrier-free access, expeditiously complete the top 10 ranked proposals on the Provision of Hillside Escalator Links and Elevator Systems, and immediately commence feasibility studies on the remaining proposals;
|
| (f) | to set up a quota system for employing people with disabilities and provide tax concessions, so as to encourage employers to employ more persons with disabilities;
|
| (g) | to provide persons with disabilities with a wage subsidy of no more than 50% of their wages, so that employees with disabilities whose productivity is assessed to be less than 100% may receive wages close to the statutory minimum wage level; and provide an allowance to carers of chronic patients;
|
| (h) | to encourage people from the various social sectors to learn sign language, and promote and teach sign language in primary and secondary schools; and expeditiously motivate healthcare personnel to learn sign language to enhance their communications with patients with hearing impairment, so as to enable them to grasp the conditions of patients with hearing impairment and help treating their diseases;
|
| (i) | to promote the popularization of sign language, require the provision of sign language interpretation in television news broadcasts and foster a culture of respecting the use of sign language, so as to facilitate persons with hearing impairment in grasping social information; and
|
| (j) | to step up consultation with groups for persons with disabilities, so as to make the voices of persons with disabilities heard as well as materialize the integration between the able-bodied and disabled persons.
|
| Amendments to the motion |
| (i) | Hon WONG Kwok-hing to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To delete "although" after "That," and substitute with "even though"; to delete "and" after "2008," and substitute with "the rights and interests of persons with disabilities are not yet under comprehensive protection;"; to add "also" after "Administration"; to add "but" after "2010,"; and to add ", and extend the scheme to cover trams and public light buses, so as" after "('the scheme')".
|
| (ii) | Dr Hon PAN Pey-chyou to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To delete "although" after "That," and substitute with "as"; to add "but" after "2010,"; to add "(a) with government departments and public organizations taking the lead to employ more persons with disabilities, so as to assist persons with disabilities in securing employment; (b) to encourage enterprises to provide non-full time posts for persons with disabilities, so as to enable them to progressively adapt to long hours of work; (c) to provide evening consultation services for persons with disabilities in need, including people recovering from mental illness, so that they can spare more time during the day for participating in community activities and integrating into society; (d) to enhance public education to increase people's understanding about persons with disabilities, with a view to eliminating misunderstanding and discrimination;" after "measures:"; to delete the original "(a)" and substitute with "(e)"; to delete the original "(b)" and substitute with "(f)"; to delete the original "(c)" and substitute with "(g)"; to delete the original "(d)" and substitute with "(h)"; to delete the original "(e)" and substitute with "(i)"; to delete the original "(f)" and substitute with "(j)"; to delete the original "(g)" and substitute with "(k)"; to delete the original "(h)" and substitute with "(l)"; to delete the original "(i)" and substitute with "(m)"; and to delete the original "(j)" and substitute with "(n)".
|
| (iii) | Hon WONG Sing-chi to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To delete "although" after "That," and substitute with "as"; to add "but" after "2010,"; to add "(h) with government departments, public bodies and subvented organizations taking the lead to set an indicator for hiring persons with disabilities and motivate various organizations to formulate recruitment policy and procedures on hiring of persons with disabilities, so as to enable persons with disabilities to have employment opportunities for giving play to their potentials;" after "chronic patients;"; to delete the original "(h)" and substitute with "(i)"; to delete the original "(i)" and substitute with "(j)"; and to delete the original "(j)" and substitute with "(k)".
|
| (iv) | Hon TAM Yiu-chung to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To delete "although" after "That," and substitute with "as"; to add "but" after "2010,"; to delete "and deep regret" after "dissatisfaction"; to add "to enable persons with disabilities to have full participation and enjoy equal opportunities in both social life and personal growth, so as to realize the spirit and core values of the Convention" after "obligations under the Convention"; to add "expeditiously perfect and" after "the Government to"; to add ", and study extending the scheme to green minibuses and trams, etc." after "them in integrating into society"; to delete "commence feasibility studies on the remaining proposals;" after "immediately" and substitute with "respond to and commence feasibility studies on proposals to construct barrier-free access put forward by residents of various districts; (f) to proactively promote barrier-free community facilities, improve community facilities, and provide owners' corporations of buildings with technical and funding support for improving the main entry and exit access of their buildings;"; to delete the original "(f)" and substitute with "(g)"; to add "(h) to proactively support rehabilitation organizations to establish social enterprises, so as to provide employment opportunities for persons with disabilities;" after "more persons with disabilities;"; to delete the original "(g)" and substitute with "(i)"; to delete the original "(h)" and substitute with "(j)"; to delete the original "(i)" and substitute with "(k)"; to delete "and" after "information;"; to delete the original "(j)" and substitute with "(l)"; and to add "; and (m) to promote the creation of new assistance programmes under the Community Care Fund, including subsidizing intermediary institutions to train more guide dogs specially for guiding the way for visually impaired persons so as to improve the daily life of such persons, providing an allowance for adjusting and repairing prostheses of persons with amputated limbs, and subsidizing hearing impaired children of low-income families to purchase hearing aids, etc" immediately before the full stop.
|
Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Labour and Welfare
| | 9. | Perfecting urban management in all districts of Hong Kong
Prof Hon Patrick LAU to move the following motion: (Translation)
That, given that after the dissolution of the former Urban Council and former Regional Council, the urban management strategies for all districts in Hong Kong have failed to yield satisfactory results, this Council urges the Government to strengthen the powers and functions as well as responsibilities of the District Councils, and formulate a set of comprehensive urban management policies, including:
| (a) | based on the latest population projections, to plan afresh the community facilities required in the various districts, and resolve, at the district level, the site selection and timetable problems relating to the construction of schools, hospitals, public rental housing, community centres, columbaria, landfills, incinerators and recycling centres, etc.;
|
| (b) | to implement the management concept of urban beautification, and perfect the street greening and beautification work; and
|
| (c) | dovetailing with harbourfront planning and development, to establish a harbourfront authority for co-ordinating the connective work and management of harbourfronts in all districts of Hong Kong.
|
| Amendments to the motion |
| (i) | Hon CHEUNG Hok-ming to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To delete "given that" after "That," and substitute with "the Census and Statistics Department projects that the population of Hong Kong will continue to grow, but"; to add "to launch thematic district transformation projects with local characteristics in the various districts, such as the Yuen Long Nullah restoration project, the Tuen Mun River Beautification Project, the enhancement of the planning for Tseung Kwan O Town Centre South and the Aberdeen Tourism Project;" after "beautification work;"; and to add "; at the same time, to strive to build a new waterfront promenade in Kowloon linking up Kowloon City, Yau Tsim Mong District as well as Sham Shui Po, and stretching from the West Kowloon Cultural District to Lei Yue Mun, and a new waterfront promenade on Hong Kong Island linking up Central and Western District, Wan Chai District as well as Eastern District, and stretching from Western District to Chai Wan, so that the new waterfront promenades on both sides of the Victoria Harbour will form a world-class 'Victoria Harbour waterfront corridor'" immediately before the full stop.
|
| (ii) | Hon LEE Wing-tat to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To delete "resolve, at the district level," after "various districts, and" and substitute with "strengthen the co-ordination and negotiations among the various policy bureaux and District Councils to resolve".
|
| Public Officers to attend | : | Secretary for Home Affairs
Secretary for Development
|
| | 10. | Promoting animal rights and interests
Hon Fred LI to move the following motion: (Translation)
That, as Hong Kong society attaches increasing importance to animal rights and interests, and in order to motivate people to treat animals well and live in harmony with animals in the community, reduce at source the number of stray animals in the community, and effectively combat crimes of animal cruelty, this Council urges the Government to:
| (a) | strengthen co-operation with District Councils to promote the 'Trap-Neuter-Return' programme on a trial basis, and following the success of the trial programme, implement the programme in all districts of Hong Kong;
|
| (b) | expedite the implementation of the various proposed measures for regulating the pet trade, including introducing Home Animal Breeder Permit and Commercial Animal Breeder Permit, substantially raising the maximum fine for illegal trading of animals to $100,000 and increasing the fine for breaching of licensing conditions to $50,000; and
|
| (c) | establish specialist 'animal police' teams in the Hong Kong Police Force to replace the existing 'Animal Watch Scheme', whose responsibilities include conducting specially tasked investigations into all animal cruelty cases, as well as undertaking publicity and education to make the public aware that cruelty to animals are illegal acts.
|
| Amendments to the motion |
| (i) | Hon CHAN Hak-kan to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To delete ", as Hong Kong society" after "That" and substitute with "the keeping of pets among Hong Kong people has become increasingly common, and our society also"; to delete ", and" after "interests" and substitute with ";"; to add "(a) establish 'animal police' teams specially tasked to investigate cases of animal cruelty and abandonment, enhance the training of frontline enforcement officers on handling cases of animal cruelty and their awareness of such cases, and set up a 'dedicated hotline for reporting animal cruelty', with a view to curbing the situation of animal cruelty and abandonment from becoming prevalent; (b) by making reference to the present animal protection legislation in developed places, review and amend the existing Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Ordinance for the purpose of catching up with international standards, and classify the intentional abandonment of animals as animal cruelty, as well as explore the provision of compulsory psychological counselling and courses on animal protection to convicted persons; (c) request the Department of Justice to pay close attention to the sentencing for cases of animal cruelty, and where sentencing for the cases concerned cannot fully reflect their seriousness, seek sentencing guidelines by applying for reviews of sentences to the relevant courts, so as to truly reflect the social concern about offences of animal cruelty;" after "the Government to:"; to delete the original "(a)" and substitute with "(d)"; to add "and animal rights organizations" after "District Councils"; to delete ";" after "of Hong Kong" and substitute with ", and use humane means to deal with the problem of stray cats and dogs; (e) provide subsidy to the public for neutering their pets, and train more veterinary health care personnel to meet the social demand for the services concerned; (f) improve the hygiene conditions in the animal management centres under the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department and enhance the transparency of stray animal management by allowing Members and animal rights organizations to conduct regular inspections, increase the number of qualified animal adoption organizations and expand the scope of animals for adoption to reptiles and amphibians, so as to facilitate the adoption of animals by a greater number of people and organizations;"; to delete the original "(b)" and substitute with "(g)"; to delete "and" after "$50,000;" and substitute with "(h) enhance people's understanding of endangered animals and relevant regulatory systems, and require that animal traders must provide appropriate labels for identifying endangered species, as well as provide buyers with points to note on keeping endangered species, with a view to strengthening the management of endangered animals;"; to delete the original "(c)" and substitute with "(i)"; to delete "establish specialist 'animal police' teams in the Hong Kong Police Force to replace the existing 'Animal Watch Scheme', whose responsibilities include conducting specially tasked investigations into all animal cruelty cases, as well as undertaking" before "publicity" and substitute with "set up an 'animal protection fund', so that organizations can make applications for organizing more animal welfare activities, and undertake"; and to add "and learn to be a responsible pet owner; (j) introduce appropriate measures, including identifying sites for constructing more parks for pets, and exploring the opening of various recreational venues such as parks and beaches partially or at specific time slots, so that members of the public can bring in their pets; (k) actively identify suitable locations for the provision of public toilets for dogs, increase the number of dog excreta collection bins on street side, and step up the frequency of cleaning and washing, with a view to improving environmental hygiene; and (l) explore the regulation of hospice service for animals through licensing" immediately before the full stop.
|
| (ii) | Hon Albert HO to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To delete ", as Hong Kong" after "That" and substitute with "Hong Kong is a civilized cosmopolitan city, and the local"; and to delete "implement" after "trial programme," and substitute with "openly invite various organizations through the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department to apply for implementing".
|
Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Food and Health
| | 11. | Expeditiously implementing the formulation of standard working hours
Hon IP Wai-ming to move the following motion: (Translation)
That, given that minimum wage and standard working hours must complement each other in order to be able to maximize the effect of protecting grassroots workers and facilitating Hong Kong's economic development, this Council urges the current-term and next-term SAR Governments to, having regard to the well-being of employees at large, spare no efforts in making preparations for enacting legislation on standard working hours and expeditiously implement the relevant tasks, including:
| (a) | to set a deadline and timetable for conducting studies on regulating working hours;
|
| (b) | to establish a 'study group on legislating for standard working hours' comprising representatives of the Government, employees and employers, and academics to follow up the relevant issues;
|
| (c) | to regularly hold discussions in the Panel on Manpower of the Legislative Council and report the progress to the Labour Advisory Board, so as to strengthen the Legislative Council's function of monitoring the Government on the one hand, and increase the transparency of the relevant work on the other, so as to enable the public and the labour sector to know the progress of the studies;
|
| (d) | to proactively ascertain the views of the trade unions of various industries and the relevant stakeholders on standard working hours; and
|
| (e) | to increase the public's knowledge and understanding of standard working hours through various forms of publicity and education.
|
| Amendments to the motion
| | (i) | Hon WONG Sing-chi to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To delete "given that" after "That" and substitute with "minimum wage has been implemented for one year or so, the grass-root workers' living has improved but the working hours of some workers are too long, so"; to delete "and" after "stakeholders on standard working hours;"; and to add "; and (f) to expeditiously implement more family-friendly policies to dovetail with the formulation of standard working hours, so as to help employees give equal attention to their families, relieve their pressure, and also boost their work efficiency and morale" immediately before the full stop.
|
| (ii) | Hon LEE Cheuk-yan to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To delete "to," after "SAR Governments" and substitute with "not to waste any more time, and"; to delete "spare no efforts in making preparations for enacting" after "employees at large," and substitute with "to expeditiously enact"; to delete "expeditiously implement the relevant tasks" after "legislation on standard working hours and" and substitute with "immediately commence preparation for the legislative work"; to delete "deadline and" after "to set a" and substitute with "legislative"; to delete "conducting studies on" after "timetable for"; to delete "follow up the relevant issues" after "and academics to" and substitute with "finalize the details of the bill on regulating working hours"; to delete "studies" after "know the progress of the" and substitute with "legislative work"; to delete "standard" after "stakeholders on" and substitute with "the details of the bill on regulating"; and to delete "standard" after "understanding of" and substitute with "the details of the bill on regulating".
|
Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Labour and Welfare
| | 12. | Report of the Subcommittee on Retirement Protection
Hon CHEUNG Kwok-che to move the following motion: (Translation)
That this Council notes the Report of the Subcommittee on Retirement Protection.
| Public Officers to attend | : | Secretary for Labour and Welfare
Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury |
| | 13. | Reviewing the definition of and the support measures for small and medium-sized enterprises and micro-enterprises
Dr Hon LAM Tai-fai to move the following motion: (Translation)
That, as the European debt crisis is getting worse recently, which may affect the European and even the global economies, coupled with the fact that the United States economy has yet to bottom out and the Mainland economic growth is slowing down, Hong Kong as a small and open economy can hardly remain unaffected, with its export and re-export trades bearing the brunt; internally, the continuous soaring of property prices also poses potential threats to Hong Kong's economy and society; amid the many uncertainties and crises, it is expected that small and medium-sized enterprises ('SMEs') in Hong Kong will face an unstable and difficult business environment; in this connection, this Council urges the Government to plan ahead and roll out appropriate contingency measures to assist SMEs in coping with the challenges and riding out the plight; besides, the Government should review the current definition of SMEs, draw up afresh the definitions of SMEs and micro-enterprises having regard to the actual market conditions with a view to formulating dedicated support policies and measures which are geared to their actual needs, study introducing different levels of profit tax rates for micro-enterprises, SMEs and large enterprises, and set a tax rate lower than the existing level and offer more tax concessions for the former two, so as to support their sustainable operation and healthy development.
Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development
|
(Members' motions scheduled to be dealt with at this Council meeting)
|
| 14. | Report of the Subcommittee
Ir Dr Hon Raymond HO to move the following motion: (Translation)
That this Council notes the Report of the Subcommittee to Study Issues Arising from Lehman Brothers-related Minibonds and Structured Financial Products.
Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
| | 15. | Maintaining a business-friendly environment in Hong Kong
Hon Jeffrey LAM to move the following motion: (Translation)
That, given the recent instability of the global economic environment, the worsening trend of the European debt crisis and the slackening of the Mainland's economic development, and under the situation of the ongoing transition from the current-term Government to the next-term Government in Hong Kong, this Council urges that:
| (a) | the Administration should closely monitor the external economic situation and devise contingency plans for coping with external impact, so as to maintain the stability of Hong Kong's investment market and overall economy as well as to avoid any external impact on Hong Kong's economy at the time of governmental transition;
|
| (b) | given that Hong Kong's economic outlook in the second half of this year is not optimistic, and even the current-term Financial Secretary has foretold that an economic growth of 3% cannot be maintained, the current-term Government should formulate corresponding measures straddling the transition to the next-term Government for coping with Hong Kong's economic slowdown and fluctuations in the property market; and
|
| (c) | the next-term Government should examine the impact of such policies as the minimum wage and those in the Competition Bill, etc., on the local economy as well as on small and medium-sized enterprises at large, so as to protect the business-friendly environment in Hong Kong and raise Hong Kong's economic competitiveness.
|
Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
| (Member's motion originally scheduled to be dealt with at the last Council meeting)
|
| 16. | 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
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|