A 14/15-23
Legislative Council
Agenda
Wednesday 22 April 2015 at 11:00 am
I. Tabling of Papers
| Subsidiary Legislation / Instrument | L.N. No. |
|---|---|
| Import and Export (Strategic Commodities) Regulations (Amendment of Schedule 1) Order 2015 (Commencement) Notice | 77/2015 |
Other Papers
| 1. | No. 89 | - | Research Endowment Fund
Financial statements for the year ended 31 August 2014 |
| (to be presented by Secretary for Education)
| |||
| 2. | No. 90 | - | Report No. 64 of the Director of Audit
on the results of value for money audits - April 2015 |
| (to be presented by the President of the Legislative Council)
| |||
| 3. | Report No. 17/14-15 of the House Committee on Consideration of Subsidiary Legislation and Other Instruments | ||
| (to be presented by Hon Andrew LEUNG, Chairman of the House Committee) | |||
II. Questions for Written Replies
1. Hon Christopher CHUNG to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that some people have recently distributed flyers to Indonesian domestic helpers ("IDHs") at locations where IDHs gather during holidays, recruiting them to join the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant ("ISIL"), an international radical organization, and claiming that after joining the organization, they will be sent to carry out "missions" in Xinjiang. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it has assessed if the following acts are illegal: (i) openly pledging one's allegiance to ISIL, (ii) openly claiming one's membership of that organization, (iii) propagating that organization's doctrines and propositions, and (iv) persuading others to join that organization; if such acts are illegal, of the details of the relevant legal provisions; of the respective numbers of Hong Kong residents, visitors and expatriates living in Hong Kong arrested in the past two years for committing such acts; (2) whether the authorities will, in response to the aforesaid incident, consider rolling out publicity and education work for the purpose of appealing to IDHs in Hong Kong to refrain from joining ISIL and to report to the Police any person suspected of recruiting members for that organization; (3) of the number of visitors entering the territory from ISIL-controlled areas in each of the past three years, and whether it knows the number of Hong Kong residents travelling to those areas in each of the past three years; (4) given that some Western countries have now implemented departure restrictions prohibiting their nationals from going to ISIL-controlled areas to prevent them from joining that organization, whether similar departure restrictions are currently imposed in Hong Kong; if so, of the details; if not, whether the authorities will explore the imposition of such restrictions; (5) as it has been reported that ISIL has become increasingly active around the world, whether the Security Bureau and the Police have formulated corresponding measures to closely monitor and guard against the infiltration of ISIL members into Hong Kong; and (6) whether it knows the number of terrorist organizations currently carrying out activities in Hong Kong; of the main channels through which the Government gathers intelligence relating to terrorist organizations?
2. Hon Cyd HO to ask: (Translation)
According to a press release issued by the Police on 21 February this year, the various Regional Command and Control Centres ("RCCCs") received a total of 2 323 016 calls in 2014, of which only 1 289 475 (about 55.5%) were genuine. The remaining 1 033 541 were nuisance or misdialled calls. The Police have all along been appealing to the public not to misuse the 999 hotline service, and members of the public in need may look up the telephone numbers of police stations in various districts on the police web site or the Hong Kong Police Mobile Application ("App") so as to seek assistance directly from police stations. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) how the 999 Emergency Telephone System and sub-system ("ETS and sub-system") tell if calls are genuine, nuisance or misdialled calls; whether the systems have been equipped with an interactive voice response system for diverting or routing non-emergency calls to different police districts or other hotline systems of the Government; (2) of the details of the manpower deployment for answering 999 emergency calls in various RCCCs; whether the staff members responsible for answering calls have received training on the Police Force Ordinance (Cap. 232) and relevant legislation, and whether the Police have provided guidelines to these staff members to assist them in identifying if the calls are emergency calls and the nature of such calls; (3) of the service performance of the Police in responding to 999 emergency calls last year, including the number of calls answered within nine seconds, and the numbers of calls from Hong Kong Island/Kowloon and from the New Territories the response time of which were within nine minutes and 15 minutes respectively; (4) how ETS and sub-system handle the situation where all the 999 hotlines of an RCCC are engaged and there is a sudden surge of calls; whether the way of handling is to automatically route calls to other RCCCs or government hotline systems; if so, of the number of additional staff members that can be temporarily deployed to answer the routed emergency calls and the time needed for making such manpower deployment; of the impacts of the automatic call routing measure on call answering time and on the time required for sending police officers to the scene; (5) how many times for which ETS and sub-system have been updated since their introduction; of the details of the expenditure involved in each updating exercise, and when the systems' serviceable life will expire; and (6) how many times for which the App has been updated since its launch; of the expenditures involved in its development and in each updating exercise, and the respective numbers of downloads of various versions; of the number and nature details of cases seeking assistance through the App in each of the past three years and, among such cases, the number of those identified as nuisance or missent cases?
3. Hon Jeffrey LAM to ask: (Translation)
All along, there have been members of the business community relaying to me that when overseas talents and investors decide whether to develop their careers and conduct investment activities in Hong Kong, they will consider whether they can arrange their underage children to be enrolled in the international schools in Hong Kong. As most of them will work or conduct investment activities in business districts after they arrive in Hong Kong, the international school places on Hong Kong Island are the most sought after. In connection with the supply of and demand for international school places, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it knows the average fill-up rate of, the number of students enrolled in and the number of students waiting for admission to international schools as a whole in each of the past three school years, with a breakdown by region (i.e. Kowloon, the New Territories and Hong Kong Island); (2) whether it knows the number and percentage of local students among the students of international schools in each of the past three school years; (3) whether it knows the total number of international school places and the increase in such places in each of the past three school years, with a breakdown by region; and (4) whether it has studied if there was a shortfall in the international school places on Hong Kong Island in the past three school years; if it has not studied, of the reasons for that; if it has studied, the details, and if the study results indicate such a shortfall, whether the Government has any solution in place; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
4. Hon LEUNG Yiu-chung to ask: (Translation)
According to the Report of the Working Group on Long-Term Fiscal Planning (Phase Two) recently released by the Treasury Branch under the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau, in order to improve its financial performance, the Post Office Trading Fund ("POTF") will continue to implement measures to generate revenue and manage costs. These measures include adjustment of the principal postage rates as well as automation and mechanization of postal operations. The Working Group also recommends that POTF should explore outsourcing opportunities. Some non-civil service contract staff employed by Hongkong Post ("HKP") have relayed to me that the outsourcing of services will definitely affect their job prospects. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the respective numbers of staff members in various types of posts in HKP in each of the past five years; the total amount of expenditure on overtime pay incurred by HKP last year; (2) how the current staff establishment in the mail processing centres compares with that before the introduction of the new mechanized letter sorting system in 2009; of the current numbers of staff members in various types of posts in the mail processing centres; (3) of the implementation details of and timetable for HKP's plan to automate and mechanize its postal operations, the amount of expenditure that can be saved and the impacts of such plan on HKP's staff establishment; and (4) whether HKP has plans to outsource its postal services at present; if so, of the details (including the impacts of outsourcing the services on the job prospects of the existing staff members in various types of posts)?
5. Hon KWOK Wai-keung to ask: (Translation)
In May 2013, the Secretary for the Civil Service briefed the Panel on Public Service of this Council on the retirement situation in the Civil Service, pointing out that the retirement of civil servants would peak in the five-year period from 2017-2018 to 2021-2022, and the annual average number of retirees would be about 7 000. To alleviate the situation, the authorities plan to raise the retirement age of new recruits joining the Civil Service from around the middle of this year. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the respective numbers of civil servants of various ranks retiring in each of the coming 10 years as projected by the authorities (with a tabulated breakdown by three salary bands: upper, middle and lower); (2) as some members of the public are worried that the retirement of civil servants will give rise to a succession problem in the Civil Service, whether the authorities have concrete measures in place to ensure that public services and the overall development of society will not be affected; if they have such measures, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (3) whether the authorities have considered giving serving civil servants the option of deferring their retirement when they approach their retirement age; if they have considered, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
6. Dr Hon LAM Tai-fai to ask: (Translation)
Some members of the community have pointed out that since the reunification of Hong Kong, the Central People's Government ("CPG") has all along adhered to the principles of "one country, two systems", "Hong Kong people administering Hong Kong", etc. and acted in accordance with the Basic Law. However, in recent years, some radicals in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region ("SAR") have been advocating the idea of Hong Kong independence. These radicals have also misunderstood and blatantly disregarded the Basic Law and the principle of "one country, two systems", as well as attempted secession of the country and endangered national security. Such members of the community have suggested that as this year marks the 25th anniversary of the promulgation of the Basic Law, the SAR Government should step up its efforts to promote the Basic Law in order to enhance the understanding of the Basic Law among the general public, particularly the youth. In connection with the implementation and promotion of the Basic Law, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it has assessed if CPG is satisfied with the implementation of the Basic Law in SAR; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (2) given that Article 23 of the Basic Law stipulates that SAR shall enact laws on its own to prohibit any act of treason, secession, etc., how the SAR Government will enact laws to implement this provision, and of the legislative timetable; if no timetable is available, of the reasons for that; (3) whether it has assessed if any foreign forces have attempted to sabotage the implementation of the Basic Law since the reunification; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (4) whether it has assessed and reviewed, since the implementation of the Basic Law, the effectiveness of the efforts made by the SAR Government in promoting the Basic Law; if it has, of the indicators for determining the effectiveness, as well as the successes and the failures of such efforts; whether any principal official under the accountability system ("accountability officials") should be held responsible for the failures; if not, of the reasons for that; (5) how the authorities will, in the next two years, enhance the effectiveness of the work to promote the Basic Law and what methods they will use to step up the promotional efforts; of the government departments, organizations or officials dedicated to undertaking such tasks; (6) whether it has assessed the effectiveness of the work of the Basic Law Promotion Steering Committee ("BLPSC") in the past three years; of the conditions for appointment as BLPSC members; whether the authorities have provided relevant training for and conducted assessments of BLPSC members; whether it has studied if BLPSC needs to be restructured; (7) of the details of the estimates of expenditure and the expenditure items for the promotion of the Basic Law and the number of copies of the Basic Law which will be printed and distributed to the public in each of the next five years; (8) according to the Government's target, how many people in Hong Kong should be familiarized with the content of the Basic Law; of the anticipated time for achieving such target; (9) whether it has assessed the impact of shelving the Curriculum Guide of the Moral and National Education subject in October 2012 on the promotion of the Basic Law; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (10) whether it has assessed which parts or provisions of the Basic Law that members of the public have relatively diverse understanding which has caused difficulties in the promotion of the Basic Law; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (11) of the platforms which the authorities provided in the past, is providing at present and will provide in the future for university, secondary and primary students at various levels to learn the Basic Law so as to achieve popularization of the Basic Law education; (12) whether it will review the lesson time and the curriculum guides for subjects such as General Studies for primary education, Life and Society for junior secondary education, Liberal Studies for senior secondary education, etc. as well as enhance the Basic Law related content of such subjects; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (13) whether it will consider including the Basic Law in the scope of examination for the subject Liberal Studies of the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (14) whether it has studied how primary and secondary school teachers at various levels can learn the Basic Law effectively and properly; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (15) given that a member of Hong Kong deputies to the National People's Congress have recently proposed that attendance of courses on national studies courses held on the Mainland should be made an entry requirement for prospective teachers, whether the authorities will adopt such a proposal; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (16) how the Government currently promotes the Basic Law among overseas Hong Kong people and new arrivals from the Mainland and encourage them to learn the Basic Law; whether there is any dedicated government department responsible for such work; whether the authorities organized talks or activities for such persons in the past three years for promoting the Basic Law; if they did, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (17) how the Government promotes the Basic Law among the elderly and retirees at present; (18) given that members from the pan-democratic camp are often alleged by government officials to have misunderstood certain provisions of the Basic Law, how the Government will facilitate such persons to gain a proper understanding of the relevant provisions; (19) whether it will establish a mechanism to assess or evaluate the accountability officials' understanding of the Basic Law and provide systematic training in this respect; and (20) whether it will establish a mechanism to provide Basic Law related training for District Council members, Legislative Council Members and Executive Council Members; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
7. Hon Mrs Regina IP to ask: (Translation)
On 17 March this year, the Chief Executive in Council affirmed the need to expand the Hong Kong International Airport into a three-runway system, the construction cost of which is projected to be around $141.5 billion in money-of-the-day prices. Based on a "joint contribution and user-pay" principle, the Airport Authority Hong Kong ("AAHK") has put forward its funding proposal for the project. It has been reported that AAHK will seek to fund the project through three channels: (i) about $53 billion (38%) from bank loans and bonds issued, (ii) about $47 billion (33%) from the cessation of payment to the Government for 10 years of dividends in relation to airport's operational surplus, and (iii) about $42 billion (29%) from the fees and charges to be imposed on airport users (including introducing an Airport Construction Fee ("ACF") of $180 per departing passenger). In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) given that quite a number of comments have pointed out that the ACF of $180 to be charged on each departing passenger is too high, and that AAHK is currently awarded the highest AAA credit rating by Standard & Poor's, an international rating agency, whether the authorities will discuss with AAHK the raising of the proportions of funds to be financed through the first two channels in the above funding proposal, with a view to lowering the rate of or even dispensing with the introduction of ACF, so as to avoid undermining the competitiveness of the local aviation industry; if they will, of the details; and (2) given that the Government lowered the rate of air passenger departure tax from $100 to $50 in the 1998-1999 financial year in order to assist in the recovery of the tourism industry, whether the authorities will make reference to this practice by lowering the rate or even suspending the imposition of the tax, so as to alleviate the burden posed by ACF on passengers; if they will, of the details?
8. Dr Hon KWOK Ka-ki to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that a developer plans to lease a car parking site at the junction of San Sham Road and San Tin Tsuen Road in Lok Ma Chau to a foundation for the construction of a boundary shopping mall ("shopping mall") in the hope that it will open in time before the "National Day Golden Week" this year. The authorities have indicated that they have coordinated relevant government departments to provide advice on the information required to be submitted, the statutory procedures concerned, etc. to the project proponent, and will closely keep in view the progress of the project. It has been reported that a number of logistics companies are currently renting areas on the car park for use as logistics support bases, and the proprietor of one of the companies has disclosed that the car park operator is considering relocating them to a nearby site where a fish pond is situated for their continued operation. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it has fully consulted the local residents on the shopping mall project; if it has, of the means of the consultation and the number of consultation sessions conducted, as well as the feedback of the residents; if not, how the authorities ensure that the shopping mall project is in line with the wishes of the residents; (2) whether it knows if the aforesaid foundation and developer have signed any agreement on the shopping mall project; if they have, of the details, including the effective date; (3) whether the development of the shopping mall on the aforesaid site complies with the planned land use; if it does not, whether it knows the details and timetable of the application for changing the planned land use of the site to be made by the foundation; (4) whether it knows the estimated cost of, the tendering arrangement for and the expected completion date of the project to construct the shopping mall, as well as the opening date of the shopping mall; (5) whether it knows the operation mode of the shopping mall and if the foundation will select the operator or tenants of the shopping mall by open tender; if the foundation will, of the relevant tendering procedures and criteria as well as the duration of the operation; if not, the justifications for that; (6) of the details of the ancillary transport facilities for the shopping mall; whether the authorities have conducted a detailed assessment on the impacts of the transport demand arising from the shopping mall on the nearby transport network and public transport services; if they have, of the details; whether the authorities will increase the relevant transport infrastructural facilities and public transport services; if they will, of the details; if not, how the authorities ensure that the existing transport infrastructural facilities in the area are sufficient to meet the transport demand arising from the shopping mall; (7) whether the operation of logistics business on the aforesaid site where the fish pond is situated complies with its planned land use; if it does not, whether the authorities know the relocation arrangement for the existing tenants to be made by the car park operator and whether it will provide relocation subsidies to them in the event that the Town Planning Board does not approve the relevant application for changing the planned land use; and (8) whether it has assessed the respective impacts that the shopping mall project and the conversion of the nearby fish pond to a logistics site will have on the surrounding environment and ecology; if it has not, whether the authorities will require the shopping mall project proponent to conduct an environmental impact assessment study in this respect; if they will, of the details?
9. Hon Frederick FUNG to ask: (Translation)
The Quota and Points System ("QPS") was introduced by the Hong Kong Housing Authority ("HA") in September 2005 to rationalize and re-prioritize the allocation of public rental housing ("PRH") to non-elderly one-person applicants. HA has implemented the refined QPS for PRH ("new QPS") since 1 February this year to increase the annual PRH quota for applicants under QPS, refine the points system and check the eligibility of applicants. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the number of PRH units allocated to non-elderly one-person applicants by HA in each of the past five years, and the number of PRH units reserved for such applicants in each of the next five years; (2) of the number of non-elderly one-person applicants who passed the detailed eligibility vetting ("the eligibility vetting") last year; the number of such persons who have not yet been allocated PRH units; whether the new QPS has impacted on the waiting time of these applicants, resulting in their having to wait longer for PRH allocation or eligibility vetting; (3) of the number of non-elderly one-person applicants who have waited for PRH units for 10 years or more as at 31 March this year; (4) whether HA has assessed, upon the implementation of the new QPS, how much longer, on average, those non-elderly one-person applicants who have waited for PRH units for 10 years or more have to wait before they are allocated PRH units; and (5) whether HA will conduct a comprehensive review of the new QPS, including a study on the impacts of the new QPS on the waiting time of non-elderly one-person applicants who have waited for PRH units for 10 years or more, in particular if the new QPS is unfair to those applicants who have passed the eligibility vetting, and whether HA has neglected such applicants' reasonable expectations for timely PRH allocation; whether HA will exercise discretion in handling the applications from such persons, so that they can be expeditiously allocated PRH units; if HA will not, of the reasons for that?
10. Hon WU Chi-wai to ask: (Translation)
Regarding land use and survey as well as the publication of land information in Hong Kong, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) as at 31 March this year, of (i) the total area of the lands held under Block Government Leases and, among them, (ii) the total area of the lands used for residential purposes; (iii) the total area of the lands used for agricultural purposes; and (iv) the total area of the lands not covered by any statutory plans, broken down by District Council ("DC") district, and set out such information according to the table below; DC district (i) among those in (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) (2) in respect of the lands held under Block Government Leases but not covered by any statutory plan, whether the construction of buildings on such lands is currently subject to any planning restrictions (e.g. building height restrictions); whether the lessees may apply to the Government for redeveloping the buildings on such lands; if so, of the respective numbers of the relevant applications received and approved by the Government in each of the past three years; (3) of the date and scope of the latest survey conducted by the Government on the lands held under Block Government Leases; whether it has plans to carry out a large-scale survey on such lands in the coming two years; (4) given that according to the information of the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department ("AFCD"), there were about 711 hectares of active farmland and about 3 781 hectares of fallow farmland as at December 2014, how AFCD defines "active farmland" and "fallow farmland" and how it came up with such figures; (5) of the respective total areas of active farmland and fallow farmland granted by the Government as at 31 March this year; and (6) given that in reply to a question raised by a Member of this Council in November 2013, the Government said that the Lands Department was planning to set up an online platform to provide online version of survey and mapping information gradually, facilitating the public to purchase various kinds of digitally imaged survey and mapping products (e.g. the Demarcation District Sheet, Lot Index Plan and Land Record Sheet), of the latest progress of such work and when the relevant services will be available to the public?
11. Hon CHAN Hak-kan to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that as the minute plastic beads ("microbeads") contained in beauty and skin care products are less than 1 mm in diameter, they cannot be filtered out by the existing sewage treatment facilities. The microbeads discharged into the sea seriously affect marine ecology, which has aroused the concerns of the environmental protection authorities in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, etc. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it has compiled statistics on the number of beauty and skin care products containing microbeads available on the market in Hong Kong at present; whether the Government will publish a list of such products; (2) whether it has compiled statistics on the concentration of microbeads contained in the water discharged into the sea by local sewage treatment works; (3) whether it has studied the level of microbeads in the sea water within Hong Kong waters, and assessed the impact of microbeads on the local marine ecology; (4) whether it will follow the practice of some countries in Europe and America by completely banning the import, sale and manufacture of products containing microbeads in Hong Kong; if it will not, what measures the Government has in place to reduce the impact of microbeads on the local marine ecology; if it will, of the details; (5) whether it will educate the public on the impact of microbeads on the ecosystem and encourage the public to reduce the use of beauty and skin care products containing microbeads; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (6) whether it will implement a labelling scheme to encourage manufacturers and agents of beauty and skin care products to affix labels to their products specifying whether such products contain microbeads?
12. Dr Hon Kenneth CHAN to ask: (Translation)
The operation support systems of the Hong Kong Police Force ("HKPF"), comprising the Operational Nominal Index Computer System ("Index System") and the Criminal Intelligence Computer System, store the criminal records of individuals, data concerning wanted persons and missing persons, as well as intelligence. Regarding the management and operation of those systems, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of (i) the respective current numbers of information items on Hong Kong residents and non-Hong Kong residents stored in the aforesaid systems, and (ii) the respective numbers of information items added to and deleted from the aforesaid systems in each of the past three years, with a breakdown by type of information (e.g. fingerprints, palm prints, photographs, DNA samples, criminal records, etc.); the criteria for the collection and deletion of such information; (2) whether it has formulated guidelines on the collection procedure, collection targets, collection restrictions, time limit for storage and deletion procedure for the information stored in the Index System and reviewed the guidelines regularly; if so, of the details; if it cannot provide the details, the reasons for that; whether it can publicize the guidelines; if it cannot, of the reasons for that; (3) whether it will consider commissioning the Audit Commission, the Office of the Ombudsman or the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data to scrutinize or review the management and operation of the Index System, so as to ensure that the system does not store any excessive and unnecessary information, and that the personnel concerned operate the system in accordance with the established procedures; if so, of the details of the scrutiny and review; if not, the reasons for that, and whether HKPF has any plan to conduct the relevant review; and (4) given that HKPF will submit a funding application to the Finance Committee of this Council for replacing the infrastructure platform for the aforesaid two systems, whether HKPF will consider reviewing the management and operation of the systems at the same time; if so, of the details of the review; if not, the reasons for that?
13. Hon James TO to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that the Singaporean Government has pre-equipped newly constructed Housing and Development Board flats with a smart network system, comprising a Smart Elderly Alert System which uses sensors to record the daily movement patterns of elderly singletons at home and, on detecting any irregular conditions (such as falling unconscious) of the elderly persons, informs (through cloud communication technology) their children or elderly institutions to take rescue actions for them. Besides, the British Government launched in 2012 a scheme called 3 Million Lives on elderly care by deploying smart technology systems. It has also been reported that smart technology can significantly reduce the manpower required for elderly care and can effectively monitor elderly safety. Regarding the utilization of smart technology systems for elderly care in Hong Kong, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it has estimated the respective numbers of elderly singletons living in public housing and private accommodation; of the annual number of cases in which elderly singletons encountered accidents or died suddenly at home in each of the past five years, with a breakdown by 18 District Council districts and type of housing (i.e. public housing and private accommodation); (2) given the rapid ageing of the Hong Kong population, whether the Hong Kong Housing Authority and the Hong Kong Housing Society will introduce relevant smart technology systems to newly constructed public housing units for use by elderly singleton tenants; if so, of the plans and timetables; if not, the reasons for that; (3) whether it will encourage private residential property developers to introduce relevant smart technology systems to newly constructed buildings; if so, of the details; and (4) given that as early as 2007, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University successfully developed the TeleCare System with functions identical to those of the aforesaid smart technology systems, but that system has not gained popularity, whether the Government will, by making reference to the practices of the Singaporean Government and the British Government, (i) purchase with public money, (ii) use in public housing or (iii) encourage public-sector organizations and statutory bodies invest in and promote, such smart technology systems which cannot be commercialized despite their benefit to people's well-being?
14. Hon Charles Peter MOK to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the recruitment policy for Head of Department ("HoD") posts of the civil service establishment, which are in one-rank grades (i.e. those without related grades from which eligible candidates could be drawn to fill the vacancies concerned), will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the respective titles and salary points of the posts in one-rank grades in various policy bureaux/departments at present; (2) of the criteria based on which the Government has subsumed some HoD posts in one-rank grades; whether such posts are in the promotion ranks of other civil service grades; if they are not, of the general reasons and justifications for that; whether the Government has plans to convert such posts to those in the promotion ranks of civil service grades so as to ensure the smooth and continuous operation of various departments; if it has such plans, of the details; (3) of the recruitment channels for such posts, whether they include internal transfer and open recruitment; the justifications and criteria adopted by Government for determining the recruitment channels for such posts; whether such recruitment channels have been changed since the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government; if so, of the old and new recruitment channels and the years in which changes were made, and set out the information by post title in a table; and (4) whether the holders of such posts are employed on contract terms; if so, of the durations of their current contracts, and set out the information by post title in a table; the post titles, service periods and general way forward after leaving office (including retirement or promotion within the Government) of those persons whose contracts were not renewed upon completion of contracts in the past decade; whether the Government has assessed the impacts of appointing HoDs on time-limited contract terms on the formulation and implementation of policies by the Government?
15. Hon Paul TSE to ask: (Translation)
This Council passed the amendments to the Trade Descriptions Ordinance (Cap. 362) ("the Ordinance") in 2012, and the relevant amendments provided for new offences relating to unfair trade practices e.g. "aggressive commercial practices" engaged in by traders. Earlier on, three persons were convicted by the Court for engaging in "aggressive commercial practices" in the course of selling body care therapy services and they were sentenced to imprisonment, which was the first case under this offence. It has been reported that a member of the public received a telephone call from a person claiming to be a bank staff and demanding him to make immediate and full repayment of his bank mortgage loan. That person also said that he could assist the member of the public in applying for another loan at a low interest rate so as to charge him a handling fee of $100,000-odd. In addition, an owner of a flat under the Tenants Purchase Scheme received a warning letter using letterhead bearing a logo similar to that of the Hong Kong Housing Authority, in which he was told that because he had contravened the Housing Ordinance (Cap. 283) for obtaining an unlawful loan, he might be liable to prosecution and his flat might be repossessed. He was further told that a loan could be offered to him to help him restructure his debts. Some people who have been so harassed indicated to me that even though they did not take out any loan in the end, the intermediaries still sought to extort intermediary charges from them through debt collection agencies by threatening to harass their family members. These people have enquired with me whether the authorities may invoke the amended Ordinance to prosecute the relevant persons and their employers. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the respective numbers of cases received by the Police, the Consumer Council and the Customs and Excise Department since the sections of the amended Ordinance relating to the aforesaid new offences came into operation in July 2013, in which duping, coercion, bait and even unlawful detention were adopted as the means to sell property mortgages and property re-financing, and how the relevant authorities have followed up such cases; (2) whether it has studied the feasibility of invoking the amended Ordinance to prosecute the persons involved in the aforesaid cases and their employers; if so, of the outcome; if not, the reasons for that; and (3) given the continuous soaring of property prices in recent months and the repeated occurrence of cases in which members of the public were harassed by intermediaries engaging in second property mortgages, of the advice that the authorities can offer members of the public on what they should do when they encounter harassment from intermediaries engaging in second property mortgage business; whether the Police, the Customs and Excise Department, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the Consumer Council will study the establishment of a dedicated handling mechanism, an inter-departmental/organizational handling mechanism, or a telephone hotline for offering assistance to helpless members of the public who are subjected to threats and harassment; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
16. Hon Kenneth LEUNG to ask: (Translation)
The Financial Secretary said in the Budget Speech this year that in "[l]ast October, over 20 countries signed a memorandum of understanding in Beijing and formally announced a plan to establish the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (‘AIIB'). We shall endeavour to leverage our strength in financing and asset management to support its establishment and operation, and pursue actively the possibility of our joining AIIB". In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the role and specific tasks undertaken by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region ("HKSAR") Government in the preparatory work for establishing AIIB, and whether it has signed any agreement or memorandum in this connection with the parties concerned; if so, of the contents and other details of such agreements or memoranda; (2) whether it has conducted any detailed feasibility study on issues such as the role of, the positioning of, the rights and obligations for, as well as the risks to be borne by, the HKSAR Government in AIIB; if so, of the details; if not, whether it will conduct the relevant study; and (3) whether it will give this Council and the public an account of the details and technicalities on HKSAR's joining AIIB beforehand; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
17. Dr Hon Elizabeth QUAT to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that on 30 March this year, a fatal traffic accident occurred in Kwun Tong in which a nearside front tyre of a moving public light bus ("PLB") suddenly spun off and hit a female passer-by to death. Some experts suspect that the wheel hub assembly of the PLB concerned was broken due to metal fatigue, causing the tyre to come loose. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) given that owners of commercial vehicles are required to make arrangements each year for their vehicles to undergo examinations at vehicle examination centres ("annual examinations"), of the number of commercial vehicles receiving annual examinations vehicle repair orders for which were issued by vehicle examiners in each of the past three years, with a breakdown by the inspection items involved in such repair orders; (2) whether the wear and tear condition of wheel hub assemblies is one of the inspection items covered by annual examinations for commercial vehicles under the existing legislation; if it is not, of the reasons for that; and (3) whether it will explore imposing a requirement that commercial vehicles reaching a specified age must have the wheel hub assemblies replaced before vehicle licences may be renewed; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
18. Hon Christopher CHUNG to ask: (Translation)
The Working Group on Manufacturing Industries, Innovative Technology, and Cultural and Creative Industries ("MICWG") is one of the four working groups under the Economic Development Commission established in January 2013 and chaired by the Chief Executive. Regarding the work of MICWG and the development of arts and cultural industry in Hong Kong, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the number of meetings held and the issues discussed by MICWG since its establishment; among such issues, the percentage of those relating to the arts and cultural industry; (2) as the ambit of MICWG includes consideration of how the Government may "further promote Hong Kong's design industry and strengthen Hong Kong's role in the art trade (e.g. staging of ArtHK)", what concrete proposals in this respect have been put forward by MICWG; (3) whether the authorities will consider including "facilitating the entry of Hong Kong's arts and cultural industry into the mainland market" in MICWG's ambit; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (4) given that the internationally renowned Art Basel has staged exhibitions annually in Hong Kong since 2013 and attracted quite a number of overseas galleries coming to Hong Kong to participate in the exhibitions, which promote Hong Kong's art trade market, whether MICWG has studied ways to help Hong Kong's arts and cultural industry to develop overseas markets through the exhibitions; if it has studied, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (5) as the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development is currently the only ex-officio member of MICWG, whether the authorities will consider appointing the Secretary for Home Affairs, whose policy portfolio includes arts and culture, to be an ex-officio member of MICWG; if they will not, of the reasons for that; given the fact that a culture bureau will not be established in the near future, whether the authorities will consider setting up a high-level inter-departmental task force to be responsible for the development of Hong Kong's arts and cultural industry?
19. Hon Frederick FUNG to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that as the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has not yet enacted laws on its own to prohibit any act of treason, secession, etc. pursuant to Article 23 of the Basic Law, the Government plans to commence the enactment of an "anti-Hong Kong independence law" immediately after this Council's voting in June or July this year on the proposal of selecting the Chief Executive ("CE") by universal suffrage in 2017. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the authorities' deployment for introducing legislation to implement Article 23; whether such deployment includes phased introduction of such legislation; if so, of the legislative priority of prohibiting acts of secession (including advancing Hong Kong independence), as well as the provision in the Basic Law on which the phased introduction of such legislation is based and the justifications thereof; whether the authorities' naming and criticizing in this year's Policy Address some featured articles on Hong Kong independence published in Undergrad, a magazine of the Hong Kong University Students' Union, is part of such deployment; (2) whether it has assessed if the authorities' phased introduction of legislation to implement Article 23 contradicts the statements made repeatedly by CE and the relevant officials in the past that there was no plan to introduce legislation to implement Article 23; if it has assessed, of the outcome; and (3) whether it has assessed if there is currently only a small number of people in Hong Kong supporting the proposition of Hong Kong independence; if the assessment outcome is in the affirmative, whether it has examined if the frequent criticisms on the proposition of Hong Kong independence by CE and people from the pro-Government camp will give the public the impression that their aim is to exaggerate the problem so as to create public opinions in support of the authorities' introduction of legislation to implement Article 23?
20. Hon CHAN Hak-kan to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that terrorist forces have been expanding incessantly in recent years and emergent terrorist organizations are actively recruiting members from various countries. As pointed out by the United Nations in a report released last year, around 15 000 people had joined the extremist organization Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant ("ISIL"), and its membership had kept growing. It has also been reported that around 300 Chinese have joined ISIL, and such situation has aroused concerns. In order to stop their nationals from leaving the country to participate in terrorist activities abroad, countries such as the United Kingdom and Canada have enacted legislation to empower law enforcement agencies to prohibit their nationals suspected of intending to join terrorist activities abroad from leaving the country, and to refuse those who have engaged in such activities from returning to the country. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether the authorities will, on the premise of not infringing on the freedom to enter or leave Hong Kong granted to Hong Kong residents by Article 31 of the Basic Law, implement departure restrictions to stop Hong Kong residents intending to join terrorist activities abroad from leaving Hong Kong, and to refuse those who have engaged in such activities from returning to Hong Kong; if they will, of the details; if not, the preventive measures the authorities have in place; (2) whether the authorities have studied if the existing legislation and measures are sufficient to prevent extremist organizations from recruiting members in Hong Kong; if they have, of the details; if not, whether the authorities will draw up relevant legislation and measures; and (3) of the details of the authorities' efforts to combat terrorist activities; the outcome of the assessments conducted by the authorities' in the past three years regarding the potential threats of terrorist activities; the respective numbers of persons who were arrested and prosecuted in the past three years for participating in terrorist activities; whether the Hong Kong Government has established channels with overseas law enforcement agencies to exchange intelligence on and conduct joint operations against terrorist activities; if it has, of the details?
21. Hon Kenneth LEUNG to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that a Mexican drug trafficking syndicate uses Hong Kong as a base for money laundering and sources in Hong Kong the raw materials for manufacturing methamphetamine (commonly known as "ice"). Regarding the Government's measures to combat money laundering and control of the raw materials for manufacturing drugs, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the details of the current measures for combating money laundering; whether it has assessed the effectiveness of such measures in the past five years; if it has, of the outcome, together with a breakdown of (i) the overall statistics on money laundering cases and (ii) the statistics on money laundering cases relating to drug trafficking, in the past five years (set out in tables of the same format as Table 1 and Table 2);
Table 1Year Number of prosecutions instituted Number of persons prosecuted Total value of assets restrained Amount of crime proceeds confiscated 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Table 2Number of persons convicted Number of convicted persons sentenced to imprisonment for less than one year imprisonment for one to less than two years imprisonment for two to less than three years imprisonment for three to less than four years imprisonment for four to less than five years imprisonment for five years or more 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 (2) whether it has compiled statistics on the nationality distribution of the criminals engaging in money laundering in the past five years; if it has, of the details; and the authorities' new initiatives to educate the public not to engage in money laundering activities; (3) as lawbreakers may use pseudoephedrine to manufacture drugs, of the current control in Hong Kong on such chemical and on drugs containing such chemical; of the import, export and re-export figures of Hong Kong relating to such chemical and drugs as well as the major countries to which they were exported, in each of the past five years; and (4) whether it knows how many types of chemicals, apart from pseudoephedrine, are currently classified by other jurisdictions as the key raw materials for manufacturing drugs; of the export and import control on such chemicals in Hong Kong; and the details of the law enforcement actions in the past five years?
22. Dr Hon Elizabeth QUAT to ask: (Translation)
At present, only one major liquefied petroleum gas ("LPG") supplier has established a price adjustment mechanism, and other LPG suppliers generally follow the prices set by that supplier in adjusting the prices of domestic LPG (including centralized LPG and cylinder LPG) sold by them. Some members of the public have relayed to me that this practice has resulted in LPG prices being quick to rise and slow to drop as well as an allegation of collusive price-fixing. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it knows the respective current numbers of households in Hong Kong using the two aforesaid types of domestic LPG (with a breakdown by District Council district); (2) whether the authorities have studied ways to promote competition in the domestic LPG market; if they have, of the contents and findings of the study; if not, the reasons for that; (3) whether the authorities will consider requesting various LPG suppliers to establish their own price adjustment mechanisms and regularly publish the details of the price adjustments they made; (4) whether the authorities will consider publishing the data on the import and retail prices of LPG of various suppliers on government web sites for public inspection; and (5) given that at present the specifications for cylinder LPG installations (such as the connecting equipment) are not standardized, and distributors often request users to buy the appliances sold by them to facilitate future provision of maintenance and repair services, whether the Government will consider introducing new measures to standardize the specifications for cylinder LPG installations and develop a common carrier system for gas fuel to allow users a free choice of domestic LPG distributors or suppliers, thereby promoting market competition?
IIA. Statement
| Consultation Report and Proposals on the Method for Selecting the Chief Executive by Universal Suffrage | : | The Chief Secretary for Administration |
III. Bills
| First Reading
Electoral Legislation (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 2015 Second Reading (Debate to be adjourned) | ||
| Electoral Legislation (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 2015 | : | Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs
|
| Second Reading (Debate to resume), Committee Stage and Third Reading
| ||
| Appropriation Bill 2015 | : | The Financial Secretary
|
| Other Public Officers to attend the Second Reading debate | : | Secretary for Labour and Welfare
Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Secretary for Education Secretary for Food and Health |
| Amendments to heads of estimates in
committee of the whole Council on the Appropriation Bill 2015 | ||
| Dr Hon Kenneth CHAN, Hon Claudia MO, Hon WONG Yuk-man, Hon Albert CHAN, Hon Gary FAN, Dr Hon KWOK Ka-ki, Hon CHAN Chi-chuen, Hon LEUNG Kwok-hung, Hon Emily LAU, Dr Hon Helena WONG, Hon Albert HO, Hon WU Chi-wai, Hon James TO, Hon Cyd HO, Hon LEE Cheuk-yan, Hon CHEUNG Kwok-che and Dr Hon Fernando CHEUNG to move the Committee stage amendments in Appendix.
(These amendments were also issued on 20 and 21 April 2015 under LC Paper Nos. CB(3)602/14-15 and CB(3)613/14-15 respectively) (Debate and voting arrangements for Committee stage amendments to the Appropriation Bill 2015 (issued on 20 April 2015 under LC Paper No. CB(3) 607/14-15)) | ||
| Other Public Officers to attend the Committee stage | : | The Chief Secretary for Administration
The Secretary for Justice Secretary for Transport and Housing Secretary for Home Affairs Secretary for Labour and Welfare Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Secretary for Security Secretary for Education Secretary for the Civil Service Secretary for Food and Health Secretary for the Environment Secretary for Development Under Secretary for Home Affairs Under Secretary for the Environment Under Secretary for Transport and Housing Under Secretary for Security Under Secretary for Food and Health Under Secretary for Education Under Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Under Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Under Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Under Secretary for Development Under Secretary for Labour and Welfare |
Clerk to the Legislative Council