A 15/16-17
Legislative Council
Agenda
Wednesday 17 February at 11:00 am,
Thursday 18 February and Friday 19 February 2016 at 9:00 am on each day
I. Tabling of Papers
Other Papers
| 1. | No. 65 | - | Education Scholarships Fund
Trustee's Report on the Administration of the Fund and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 August 2015 |
| (to be presented by Secretary for Education) | |||
| 2. | No. 66 | - | Report of the Public Accounts Committee on the Reports of the Director of Audit on the Accounts of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region for the year ended 31 March 2015 and the Results of Value for Money Audits (Report No. 65) (February 2016 - P.A.C. Report No. 65) |
| (to be presented by Hon Abraham SHEK, Chairman of the Committee, who will address the Council) | |||
| 3. | Report No. 12/15-16 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 Albert HO to ask: (Translation)
The Land (Compulsory Sale for Redevelopment) Ordinance (Cap. 545) stipulates that any person who owns a specified percentage of the undivided shares in a lot may make an application to the Lands Tribunal for an order for the compulsory sale of all of the undivided shares in the lot ("order for sale") for the purpose of redevelopment of the lot. The Land (Compulsory Sale for Redevelopment) (Specification of Lower Percentage) Notice (Cap. 545 sub. leg. A), which came into operation on 1 April 2010, specifies, in respect of three classes of lots, a lower threshold for the application for an order for sale, i.e. from owning not less than 90% of the undivided shares in the lot to not less than 80%. It has been reported that since the lowering of the application threshold, quite a number of lots under compulsory sale each of which was sold at an auction to the bidder who made the only one bid at the reserve price. On the other hand, under Cap. 545, lots under compulsory sale will generally be sold by auction only, but some property owners have pointed out that such an arrangement lacks flexibility. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the respective numbers of applications for an order for sale received and approved by the Lands Tribunal in each of the past five years and, among those applications which were approved, the number of cases in which the lots concerned were sold at the reserve prices; (2) whether it will amend Cap. 545 to stipulate that the Lands Tribunal, in granting an order for sale, may specify that the lot concerned be sold by open tender; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (3) whether it will amend Cap. 545 to include "the maintenance condition of the building concerned" as one of the considerations that the Lands Tribunal must take into account in deciding whether or not to grant an order for sale?
2. Hon James TO to ask: (Translation)
According to the Guidelines on Wage Payment Monitoring and Reimbursement of Contractor's and Sub-contractors' Contributions to the Mandatory Provident Fund for their Site Personnel ("the Guidelines") issued by the Development Bureau in July 2012, the authorities will reimburse the contractors of public works projects for the contributions to the Mandatory Provident Fund ("MPF") schemes made by them and their sub-contractors for their site personnel. Moreover, under the current requirements, a Labour Relations Officer ("LRO") must be employed for each site to undertake the duties of overseeing the attendance of workers, payment of wages, etc. Some members of the public have complained to me that some contractors requested LROs to fabricate workers' attendance records in order to obtain money fraudulently by claiming reimbursement of MPF contributions from the authorities. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the respective numbers of claims received and approved by the authorities for reimbursement of MPF contributions each year since the implementation of the Guidelines, and set out, by the name of contractor, the name of project, the number of site personnel and the total amount of contributions involved in each of such claims; the general reasons for some of the claims being rejected; (2) given that under the current requirements, contractors must (i) install card reading devices at construction sites for checking and verifying the data (including those on attendance) stored in the construction workers registration cards, or (ii) upon obtaining from the Construction Industry Council an exemption from installing the said devices, complete the workers' attendance reports by hand or by other means, whether the authorities have, since the implementation of the Guidelines, received any complaint about false information in attendance reports and contractors requesting LROs to tender false attendance records; if they have, of the respective annual numbers of such complaints, and the measures adopted by the authorities for ensuring the truthfulness of the attendance records; whether the authorities have regularly looked into the work of LROs to ensure that they are not unduly influenced by contractors; if they have, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (3) given that the Guidelines allow contractors to make wage payments by cheques to casual workers at construction sites who have worked for not more than seven working days, whether the authorities have grasped the situation of contractors making wage payments by cheques, and whether such a practice has shown a rising trend; whether there were contractors who obtained reimbursement of MPF contributions in the past three years without providing any supporting document and declaration in relation to wage payments; if there were, of the details; (4) whether the authorities have assessed if the following situation exists: contractors making wage payments to site personnel by cash in order to evade making MPF contributions for them; if they have assessed and the outcome is in the affirmative, of the measures adopted by the authorities for curbing the situation in order to safeguard the rights of site personnel; and (5) given that the summary of contributions issued by MPF trustees or other supporting documents specified in the Guidelines may be used as proof that the contractors have actually made MPF contributions for the site personnel employed by them, of the number of cases, in each year since the implementation of the Guidelines, in which contractors provided supporting documents other than the summary of contributions when they made claims for reimbursement of MPF contributions and, among them, the number of cases the claims in which were approved; whether the authorities will require that only the summary of contributions will be accepted as proof of contributions in order to eradicate the act of contractors obtaining money fraudulently by claiming reimbursement of MPF contributions; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
3. Hon SIN Chung-kai to ask: (Translation)
In 2003, the analogue sound broadcasting licences ("licences") of Hong Kong Commercial Broadcasting Company Limited ("CRHK") and Metro Broadcast Corporation Limited ("Metro") were renewed for a validity period of 12 years from 26 August 2004 to 25 August 2016 (both dates inclusive). It has been reported that CRHK and Metro submitted applications for renewal of their licences in July and August 2014 respectively. It is now less than seven months away from the expiry date of those licences, but the authorities have not yet announced the relevant application outcome. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) given that section 13E of the Telecommunications Ordinance (Cap. 106) provides that not less than 15 months before the date for any renewal of a licence or such shorter period as Chief Executive in Council ("CEIC") may permit, the Communications Authority ("CA") shall submit recommendations to CEIC concerning the renewal of the licence and the terms and conditions to be imposed, whether CA has submitted its recommendations concerning the renewal of the two licensees' licences; if it has not, of the reasons for that; (2) given that the aforesaid provision also provides that notice of a decision to refuse to renew a licence ("Refusal Notice") shall be given to the licensee concerned at least 12 months prior to the relevant date for renewal of the licence, and the authorities have not yet given any Refusal Notice to the two licensees when it is now less than seven months away from the expiry date of the aforesaid licences, whether this situation reflects that the authorities have no intention to refuse the renewal of the two licensees' licences; if it does not, of the reasons for that; and (3) whether the authorities will expeditiously announce their decisions on the renewal or otherwise of the two licensees' licences, so that they can make early preparation?
4. Hon CHAN Kam-lam to ask: (Translation)
In October 2014, the Energizing Kowloon East Office ("EKEO") under the Development Bureau invited proposals from interested non-profit making organizations ("NPOs") to transform three sites under Kwun Tong Bypass along Hoi Bun Road into spots with creative, artistic and cultural characteristics. EKEO announced last month that a newly established NPO, HKALPS Limited ("HKALPS"), was selected in the absence of competitors. HKALPS is allowed to rent the aforesaid sites at a nominal rent of $1 per annum for a period of four years. Furthermore, the Government will bear the design and construction costs (capped at $20 million) of the sites and the buildings concerned, as well as the related repair and maintenance expenses. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether EKEO has conducted any public consultation exercise on the mode of operation of the facilities at the aforesaid sites; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (2) whether EKEO, upon learning that only one organization had submitted a proposal for the aforesaid project, assessed if there were inadequacies in the invitation-for-proposal exercise, considered amending the arrangements for operating the facilities at the aforesaid sites and inviting proposals from interested organizations afresh, and communicated with the Kwun Tong District Council on such situation; and (3) given that HKALPS is a newly established NPO, how the authorities determined whether HKALPS had sufficient management experience as well as the financial ability and experience required for operating the facilities at the aforesaid sites; how the authorities ensure that the aforesaid sites will be available for public use when the facilities there are being operated by HKALPS?
5. Hon Martin LIAO to ask: (Translation)
While the Hong Kong Government's direction of committing itself to the development of innovation and technology has gained recognition in society, there are queries that the local legislation has not kept pace with the new emerging innovative business models and that the Government has failed to properly address the conflicts between such business models and the inherent ones. It has been reported that some young entrepreneurs from the innovation and technology sector recently told the Chief Executive face to face that there were too many restrictions in the local legislation, which has hindered the development of the innovation and technology industry. The examples mentioned on that occasion included the development of Uber Internet car calling services, autonomous driving technology and Internet finance. The entrepreneurs concerned also expressed their hope that the Innovation and Technology Bureau could assume the role of a co-ordinator to resolve the legislation-related problems faced by them in the development of the innovation and technology industry. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether the authorities know the innovation and technology projects or areas the development of which in Hong Kong was hindered as a result of legislation-related problems in the past five years; if they know, of the projects or areas concerned and the details of the hindrance to their development; the policy bureaux/government departments which handled such cases, the way they handled them and the handling results (set out such information by year); (2) whether the authorities will take the initiative to liaise with the various stakeholders of the innovation and technology industry (including "the academia, the research sector and the industry") to assess and identify the innovation and technology projects (e.g. provision of services under the innovative business models of sharing economy and micropayment) the development of which is in conflict with the existing legislation or business models; of the criteria based on which the authorities will address such conflicts; and (3) whether the authorities will assume the role of a co-ordinator to help remove the conflicts between the local legislation and the development of the innovation and technology industry; if they will, whether the authorities will establish a specific mechanism to address such conflicts, collect the views of the industry and, when the cases involve areas under the purviews of a number of government departments, co ordinate the joint efforts of such departments in addressing the problems concerned?
6. Hon LEE Cheuk-yan to ask:
It has been reported that Cathay Pacific Airways ("CX") received in 2014 nearly 1 100 reports of fatigue in aircrew ("FIA"), representing a rise of 38% as compared to those received in 2013. Moreover, it is learnt that in one of the recently reported cases, both of the two pilots of a freighter were alleged to have dozed off briefly while flying the freighter into anchorage in July last year, which could have turned into a disaster. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether the Civil Aviation Department ("CAD") knows the occurrence of FIA cases; if CAD does, whether it has investigated into those cases; if CAD has, of the outcome; (2) whether CAD knows the total number of FIA reports received by the airlines in Hong Kong last year; if CAD does, of the number of such reports, and whether CAD has taken follow up actions with the airlines concerned with a view to reducing the occurrence of FIA cases; if CAD has, of the details of the actions taken; if not, the reasons for that; (3) whether CAD regularly monitors the flight hours of pilots and the impacts of pilot fatigue on the safety of passengers and aircrew; if CAD does, of the details of the relevant work; (4) of the justifications for CAD's stipulating the standby duty requirement in the Flight Standards CAD 371 (the Avoidance of Fatigue in Aircrew) that if an aircrew member is called out from standby for a flight duty period ("FDP") with a report time after the end of the scheduled standby duty, then the maximum time limit between the start of the scheduled standby duty and the end of FDP shall be 23 hours ("the 23-hour rule"); whether CAD, in the light of a recent scientific research finding that 17 hours of wakefulness is equivalent to 0.05% of blood alcohol content, will review the 23-hour rule with a view to reducing the hours of wakefulness of aircrew and avoid the occurrence of FIA; and (5) whether any CAD officer attended any of the meetings of the Fatigue Risk Management System Committee, which was established by CX in 2011, held in the past five years; if so, of the number of those meetings attended by them; whether CAD has any plan to require all airlines in Hong Kong to set up similar committees for monitoring and managing FIA?
7. Hon YIU Si-wing to ask: (Translation)
Quite a number of members of the public have relayed to me that upon finding the travel products purchased by them from certain travel web sites not matching the sale descriptions, they intended to lodge complaints. However, since the companies operating the web sites concerned were not travel agents licensed in Hong Kong and did not even hold a Business Registration Certificate ("BRC") of Hong Kong, coupled with the fact that such transactions were processed through overseas servers, they were unable to seek compensation in Hong Kong. They are therefore of the view that their rights and interests as consumers lack protection. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the number of complaints involving travel web sites received by government departments and relevant organizations in each of the past five years; among such complaints, the respective numbers of those involving web sites operated by (i) companies which were not travel agents licensed in Hong Kong and (ii) companies not holding a BRC of Hong Kong; (2) whether the two following acts done by companies which are not travel agents licensed in Hong Kong and which do not hold a BRC of Hong Kong are subject to regulation by the existing legislation: (i) to sell travel products to Hong Kong residents via the travel web sites operated by them, and (ii) to conduct promotional activities for such products in Hong Kong; if they are subject to regulation, of the details; and (3) if the two aforesaid acts are not subject to regulation, whether there is currently any protection for the rights and interests of the consumers concerned; if there is, of the details; whether the authorities will introduce legislation to regulate such acts, so as to protect consumers' rights and interests and ensure a level playing field for licensed travel agents to do business; if they will not introduce legislation, of the reasons for that; if they will do so, the details of that, and whether the authorities will implement interim measures to enhance protection of consumers' rights and interests before this Council completes the enactment of the relevant legislation; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
8. Hon IP Kwok-him to ask: (Translation)
One of the highlights of this year's Policy Address is to increase housing supply. The Government has indicated that it will conduct re-planning for the development of the land at Tseung Kwan O Area 137 and examine the feasibility of making use of the land concerned for housing, commercial and other development purposes. Moreover, some academics have estimated that Area 137 can accommodate a population of about 100 000. At present, the population of Sai Kung District (including Tseung Kwan O) has already exceeded 460 000, and it is expected that upon the successive completion of the private housing estates near Area 137, the population of the district will exceed 500 000. Some members of the public are worried that the additional population will put immense pressure on the external transport services of Tseung Kwan O. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it knows the respective hourly patronage on the MTR Tseung Kwan O Line during the morning and evening commuting peak hours at present, and the average number of trains for which a passenger awaiting to board a train has to wait during those hours before they can do so; whether the Government has assessed if the carrying capacity of the Tseung Kwan O Line can meet the extra transport demand to be brought about by the additional population; (2) whether it will propose to the MTR Corporation Limited that the Tseung Kwan O Line be extended to run via a new MTR station to be built in Area 137 and further connected to an MTR station on Hong Kong Island (e.g. Chai Wan Station or Shau Kei Wan Station), so as to make it more convenient for the residents of Tseung Kwan O to travel to and from Hong Kong Island; if it will, of the specific work schedule; if not, the reasons for that; and (3) whether it will consider revising the alignment of the Tseung Kwan O-Lam Tin Tunnel, which is under planning, to extend it to Area 137, so as to meet the external transport demand of the residents in that area and nearby; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
9. Dr Hon Helena WONG to ask: (Translation)
At present, there are a few dozens of stalls selling cloth in Yen Chow Street Temporary Hawker Bazaar ("YCS Bazaar") in Sham Shui Po, and their customers are mainly practitioners of the fashion design industry and students taking the relevant programmes, as well as textile and garment lovers. The Government will close down the bazaar permanently in the middle of this year. In December last year, it offered stall owners holding hawker licences with compensation options, which include their surrendering hawker licences in exchange for an ex-gratia payment and drawing lots to select or bid for other stalls on their own to continue their business. In addition, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department ("FEHD") has recently proposed to the unlicensed stall owners of YCS Bazaar that their stalls may be relocated to Tung Chau Street Temporary Market, but some of these stall owners consider that market unsuitable for selling cloth. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) as the option that the stalls be relocated to Tung Chau Street Temporary Market, as proposed by FEHD, involves various problems, such as accommodation for street sleepers, and some of these problems may fall within the remit of other government departments, whether the Government has plans to convene inter-departmental meetings to tackle such problems; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (2) whether the authorities have conducted any survey on the number of stall owners who refuse to accept the relocation option mentioned in (1); if they have, of the outcome; whether the Government has looked into the reasons why these stall owners have reservations about the relocation option; (3) whether it has explored alternative solutions, such as "no removal and no demolition" or the resumption, for relocation of the stalls, a site at Tung Chau Street currently used as an open-air car park; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (4) as the Government has indicated in this year's Policy Address that it will roll out initiatives to support the local fashion design industry, whether the Government has assessed if the closing down of YCS Bazaar will have any negative impact on the development of the fashion design industry, thereby running contrary to the Government's policy of supporting the development of the industry; if it has assessed, of the outcome; if it has not assessed, the reasons for that?
10. Hon LEUNG Yiu-chung to ask: (Translation)
Recently, there have been a number of media reports on crime cases allegedly committed by police officers, such as threatening sex workers to provide sex service, colluding with drug traffickers to fabricate false narcotics cases for detection by them, and deceiving public money, etc. Some members of the public have queried that the Police Force has become a hotbed of crime. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) over the past five years, of (i) the number of police officers convicted, broken down by type of crimes, (ii) the detection rate of the crime cases in which the suspects were police officers, broken down by type of crimes, and (iii) the number of police officers who were interdicted from duty as they were alleged to have committed crimes (broken down by the remuneration arrangements during their interdiction), the total number of days of interdiction, as well as the total amount of remuneration received by the police officers concerned during their interdiction; if it cannot provide such information, whether it will compile the relevant statistics; (2) of the mechanism and procedures adopted by the Police for following up the crime cases in which the suspects are police officers; the measures in place to prevent police officers from harbouring their colleagues; (3) whether a mechanism is currently in place to forestall police officers' committing crimes; if so, whether the Government will establish an independent committee dedicated to reviewing if such a mechanism has rooms for improvement, and studying new measures to prevent the problem of police officers committing crimes from worsening; if it will not, of the reasons for that; (4) whether the Police will consider covering cases of crimes committed by police officers on its television programme "Police Magazine", so as to alert members of the public to stay vigilant; and (5) whether it has assessed if the recent incidents of police officers breaking the law deliberately have undermined the credibility of the Police Force, thus constituting a serious social problem; if it has assessed and the outcome is in the affirmative, whether the authorities have examined the roots of the problem and ways to solve the problem at its roots?
11. Dr Hon Fernando CHEUNG to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that in recent months, a spate of incidents occurred in which staff of residential care homes for persons with disabilities ("RCHDs") had allegedly abused RCHD residents. There are comments that as quite a number of RCHD residents have communication and mobility disabilities, it is hard for them to resist or report the abuse inflicted on them. As such, the Government should step up regulation of RCHDs so as to safeguard the rights and interests of persons with disabilities ("PWDs"). In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) given that the Residential Care Homes (Persons with Disabilities) Ordinance (Cap. 613) stipulates that unless with a certificate of exemption ("CoE") which is for the time being in force issued under that Ordinance or the Residential Care Homes (Elderly Persons) Ordinance (Cap. 459), a person must not operate, keep, manage or in any other way have control of a residential care home for PWDs otherwise than under a licence for the time being in force, of the respective numbers of RCHDs which are currently issued with a licence and a CoE, with a breakdown by their mode of operation (i.e. government-subvented, self-financing and private); a breakdown of the number of the RCHDs concerned by validity period of CoE (i.e. of 12 months or less, more than 12 months to 24 months and more than 24 months); (2) whether it has drawn up a target timetable for the transition of all RCHDs operating with CoEs to licensed RCHDs, and what new measures are in place to help the RCHDs concerned to meet the licensing requirements; (3) of the number of inspections conducted on RCHDs by the authorities since the full implementation of Cap. 613 on 10 June 2013, and the number of cases of contravention so uncovered (with a breakdown by type of contraventions), as well as the punishments imposed on those RCHDs which had contravened the Ordinance; (4) whether it will require RCHDs to provide recognized training courses for their staff of various ranks and introduce a registration system for staff of RCHDs, so that RCHD staff will comply with specified work ethics and their services will meet a specified quality; whether it will improve the grade structure for staff of RCHDs to provide an advancement ladder so as to retain talents; and (5) whether it has any new measures in place to step up the regulation of RCHDs, so as to raise the service quality of RCHDs and prevent the occurrence of similar incidents of abuse of RCHD residents?
12. Hon Frankie YICK to ask: (Translation)
To improve roadside air quality and safeguard public health, the Government has implemented the Tax Incentives Scheme for Environment-friendly Commercial Vehicles ("the Scheme") since April 2008 to encourage vehicle owners to switch to commercial vehicles with better emission performance ("environment-friendly commercial vehicles" or "EFCVs"). The Environmental Protection Department ("EPD") reviews the qualifying standards of EFCVs annually, and the new qualifying standards will become effective in April of the following year. Vehicles complying with the latest qualifying standards are eligible for tax concession. However, some members of the transport industry have pointed out that as EPD has updated the qualifying standards too rapidly and too frequently, only a few choices of EFCV models (particularly for heavy duty vehicles) were available (usually only models manufactured in Europe) in the market each time when the new qualifying standards were implemented. Moreover, the relevant ancillary arrangements are also inadequate (e.g. vehicle manufacturers have not opened up to vehicle repair workshops the technology and information necessary for the repair of such vehicles). As such, members of the transport industry have been giving a lukewarm response to the Scheme, resulting in substantially reduced efficacy of the Scheme. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) in each fiscal year since the implementation of the Scheme, of the number of EFCVs in respect of which the Government has granted tax concession, the percentage of such number in the relevant number of newly registered vehicles in the year, and the total amount of tax concession granted, with a breakdown by the prevailing qualifying standards and class of vehicles (including light goods vehicles, medium goods vehicles, heavy goods vehicles, private buses, non-franchised buses, taxis and special purpose vehicles); (2) apart from technological advancements in the automobile industry and the existing statutory emission standards applicable to newly registered vehicles, of the factors, data and indicators based on which EPD determines whether the qualifying standards should be further upgraded; (3) given that some members of the transport industry have indicated that, in terms of performance and price, vehicles manufactured in Japan can better meet the operational needs of small and medium sized logistics companies than those manufactured in Europe, whether EPD will consider upgrading the qualifying standards only when a certain number of choices of European and Japanese models for various classes of commercial vehicles are available in the market; if EPD will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (4) given that some members of the transport industry have relayed that as the Government does not require vehicle agents to open up to vehicle repair workshops the technology and information necessary for the repair of EFCVs, the repair of all such vehicles has to be left in the hands of repair workshops which are related to the vehicle agents, and since the repair fees charged by such workshops are relatively higher and they also take a longer time to complete the repair work, the difficulties faced by members of the industry in their operation are further aggravated, whether the Government will consider following the practices of advanced countries to require vehicle manufacturers to open up, immediately upon the introduction of a new generation of vehicles, the technology and information necessary for the repair of such vehicles, to prevent the vehicle repair trade from being monopolized; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
13. Hon Tony TSE to ask: (Translation)
The Leisure and Cultural Services Department ("LCSD") has installed television ("TV") screens at some of its sports and recreation venues, such as swimming pool complexes and sports centres, for broadcasting Announcements in the Public Interest and live broadcast of the events being held at these venues. It has been reported that LCSD installed 23 46-inch TV screens in the Victoria Park Swimming Pool Complex at a cost of $170,000 in 2013. Nevertheless, 15 of the aforesaid TV screens malfunctioned suspectedly due to the humid environment and were removed in the end. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) how LCSD has disposed of the aforesaid 15 TV screens removed from the Victoria Park Swimming Pool Complex; whether LCSD will install new TV screens at the original locations; if so, of the details (including the date of installation and the expenditure involved); if not, the reasons for that; (2) of the considerations and criteria based on which LCSD determines whether it is necessary to install TV screens at individual sports and recreation venues as well as the number of TV screens to be installed; whether such considerations include the anticipated utilization of such TV screens at the venues concerned; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (3) whether LCSD compiled statistics on the utilization (including the frequency, duration and usage) of such TV screens in the past three years; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (4) of the respective expenditures of LCSD on the installation and maintenance of such TV screens in the past three years; (5) whether LCSD has formulated guidelines on matters relating to the use as well as repair and maintenance of such TV screens; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (6) whether LCSD has implemented measures to protect such TV screens from accelerated wear and tear due to the venue environment; if so, of the details of such measures and the expenditure involved; if not, the reasons for that?
14. Hon James TIEN to ask: (Translation)
In the Policy Address he delivered last month, the Chief Executive stated that "[t]he HKSAR Government will play an active role to facilitate the implementation of the 'Belt and Road' Initiative", "Hong Kong has strong complementarity with the Belt and Road countries, and great potential to create synergy with them", and "[b]y leveraging the combined advantages of 'one country' and 'two systems', industries in Hong Kong, regardless of scale, can perform their role as a 'super-connector'". In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the industries and types of enterprises which are included in the "industries regardless of scale" quoted above, and the specific meaning of the term "super-connector"; (2) whether, since our country announced the development ideas and blueprint of the Belt and Road Initiative in March 2015, the authorities have conducted any survey and study on the strategies and role to be taken by Hong Kong in participating in the Belt and Road Initiative; if they have, of the details; if not, the basis on which the aforesaid remarks in the Policy Address were made; (3) how Hong Kong's small and medium sized enterprises as well as micro-enterprises can participate in and benefit from the development of the Belt and Road Initiative; (4) as the Government has announced in the Policy Address that it will set up a steering committee for the Belt and Road to be chaired by the Chief Executive, as well as a Belt and Road Office, which will be responsible for the strategies, policies and co-ordination work relating of the Belt and Road Initiative, of the reasons why the Government does not task the existing government organizations (such as the Economic Development Commission, the Commission on Strategic Development, the Central Policy Unit, etc.) with such responsibilities and, instead, sets up these two new organizations; and (5) whether it has drawn up a specific timetable for the implementation of the various strategies and measures gearing to the Belt and Road Initiative; of the resources expected to be put in in each of the coming five years, as well as when this will start to bear fruit and the expected results?
15. Hon Albert CHAN to ask: (Translation)
"The Coastal Watch" project, implemented by World Wide Fund for Nature Hong Kong, released the results of a survey in October last year, revealing that the problem of marine refuse is serious in Hong Kong. Plastic products constitute 60% to 80% of the marine refuse and there are quite a number of abandoned fishing nets. Moreover, in October last year, the stomach and intestines of the carcass of a green turtle, found on the beach of Pak Lap Tsai in Sai Kung, were found to have been fully stuffed with refuse such as nylon strings, plastic strips, etc. Recently, some members of the public have relayed to me that abandoned fishing nets in Hong Kong waters are posing serious threat to marine life. For instance, once an endangered sea turtle is entangled by fishing nets, it may die of suffocation. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the number of reports received by the authorities in each of the past five years concerning marine animals from endangered species being strangled to death by abandoned fishing nets; (2) whether the authorities conducted, in the past five years, any survey on the quantity of abandoned fishing nets in Hong Kong waters; if they did, of the details, including the locations where such fishing nets were found; if not, the reasons for that; and (3) whether the authorities clean up the abandoned fishing nets in Hong Kong waters on a regular basis; if they do, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
16. Hon CHAN Kin-por to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that the Secretary for Food and Health indicated in the middle of last year that over 60% of Hong Kong people could not meet the standard set by the World Health Organization regarding the amount of physical activities. For example, a survey found that on average, Hong Kong people only spent one to two days a week doing physical exercises for 10 minutes. On the other hand, some insurance companies have launched plans to encourage their clients to do more physical exercises. Under the plans, clients make use of a fitness tracker wristband, a device which has become popular in recent years, to record data of their physical activities, and they will be rewarded with premium discounts when the amounts of their physical activities have reached pre-set targets. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it compiles statistics regularly at present on the amounts of physical activities (e.g. the number of hours of aerobic and weight-bearing exercises done per week, the types of physical activities, the step count, the calorie expenditure of the exercises) done by members of the public; if it does, of the latest data; if not, whether the relevant bureaux (e.g. the Food and Health Bureau, the Innovation and Technology Bureau) and government departments (including the Leisure and Cultural Services Department ("LCSD")) have studied the use of new technological equipment (e.g. fitness tracker wristbands) to collect statistical data on the amounts of physical activities done by members of the public for reference by health assessment studies and healthcare planning to be conducted in future; (2) whether it has assessed if the offer of premium discounts or other concessions to clients is effective in encouraging them to do more physical exercises; if it has assessed, of the outcome; if it has not assessed, the reasons for that; whether it will consider promoting the use of such an approach in other industries, e.g. encouraging healthcare institutions to offer discounts on outpatient clinic services and drug charges to patients whose amounts of physical activities have reached pre-set targets; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (3) whether the Government will enhance the existing measures adopted by relevant government departments in promoting physical activities; e.g. whether LCSD has examined reducing the fees for its recreation and sports facilities, providing more recreation and sports facilities such as fitness rooms, and organizing the "Sport for All Day" more frequently; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
17. Hon KWOK Wai-keung to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the implementation of the Qualifications Framework ("QF"), will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the number and names of the industries which established their own Industry Training Advisory Committee ("ITAC") each year since the launch of QF in 2008; the current number of employees in those industries and its percentage in the labour force of Hong Kong; the latest progress of the work of the ITAC of each industry in drawing up its Specifications of Competency Standards; (2) of the current number of practitioners who have obtained qualifications recognition of a certain level under QF and the percentage of such number in the total numbers of practitioners in the industries concerned, together with a breakdown of such figures by industry and QF level; (3) in respect of the industries which have launched their own "Recognition of Prior Learning" mechanism, of the respective numbers of practitioners who have obtained qualifications recognition through such a mechanism so far and the percentages of such numbers in the total numbers of practitioners in the industries concerned, together with a breakdown of such figures by QF level; (4) of the industries the practitioners in which may directly obtain qualifications recognition of a certain level based on the National Occupational Qualification Certificates that they have obtained or the professional qualifications granted by City & Guilds or ITEC in the United Kingdom at present, and the relevant details; and (5) of the details of the functions discharged and the efforts made by the Steering Committee on Qualifications Framework Fund since its inception in September 2014; and the work objectives of the Committee in the remainder of the current term of office of its members?
18. Dr Hon LEUNG Ka-lau to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that there has been serious wastage of obstetricians and gynaecologists in public hospitals under the Hospital Authority ("HA") in recent years. Regarding the statistics on the obstetrics and gynaecology departments of public hospitals, will the Government inform this Council if it knows:
(1) the information on the items set out in the table below, in each of the past five years (i.e. from 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2015) (set out the information in the table below);
Item 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Number of appointments booked for obstetric services Number of outpatient attendances for antenatal checks Numbers of outpatient clinic attendances and admissions to day wards for gynaecologist services (including outpatient services for gynaecological urology and oncology, and reproductive medicine) Number of deliveries Number of caesarean sections performed Number of gynaecological operations of all types performed (2) in respect of the full-time doctors of various ranks (namely Consultant, Senior Medical Officer/Associate Consultant and Specialist/Resident) in each of the past five years, the respective (i) numbers, percentages and length of service of doctors who had left, (ii) average time taken to fill the vacancies concerned, (iii) numbers and average numbers of years of experience of newly recruited doctors, and (iv) numbers of unfilled vacancies at year-end (set out such information in a table); the measures taken by HA to alleviate the shortage of medical manpower; and (3) the following information of full-time doctors at present: (i) number of doctors breakdown by rank, (ii) median length of service, (iii) doctor-to-patient ratio, and (iv) average number of working hours per week, as well as the average numbers of deliveries, outpatient consultations and operations they performed last year?
19. Hon TANG Ka-piu to ask: (Translation)
Asia Television Limited ("ATV") has repeatedly defaulted on payments of employees' wages since September 2014. Recently, a number of ATV employees were again owed their wages for December last year and last month. As the validity period of ATV's domestic free television programme service licence ("TV licence") will end on 1 April this year, those employees are worried that ATV will close down at any time, and the wages owed to them will then be irrecoverable. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the number of complaints received by the Labour Department ("LD") since October 2014 about ATV's defaulting on wage payments or failure to make Mandatory Provident Fund ("MPF") contributions, the total number of employees and the total amount of money involved in such complaints, as well as the respective numbers of such complaints which were subsequently withdrawn and referred to the Labour Tribunal ("LT"); the average processing time for those complaints which LD has completed handling; (2) of the number of cases in which ATV employees lodged claims at LT since October 2014, to recover outstanding wages; among such cases, of the respective numbers of those cases (i) ruled in favour of ATV, (ii) ruled against ATV, (iii) in which the employer and employees concerned reached out-of-court settlements, and (iv) in which the employees concerned withdrew their claims; the number of cases in which fines were imposed by the court on ATV for defaulting on wage payments and the total amount of money involved; (3) whether LD has set up a dedicated team to deal with and follow up on the issue of ATV defaulting on wage payments; if LD has, of the operation details of the team since its establishment, including (i) the number of complaints the team has received, (ii) the number of complaints into which the team has initiated an investigation, and (iii) the respective numbers of serving and departed employees to whom the team has rendered assistance; whether the authorities have monitored if ATV has made MPF contributions for its employees on a regular basis; if they have, of the details; (4) of the number of times, since October 2014, for which LD has deployed staff to ATV to investigate the situation of ATV employees having been defaulted on wage payments, and the assistance provided for the employees concerned; (5) whether it knows the details of the assets currently owned by ATV; whether it has monitored the transfer and sale of assets by ATV; if it has, of the government department(s) responsible for and details of the relevant work; (6) whether it has assessed the possibility of ATV failing to provide broadcasting services in accordance with the conditions of the TV licence or prematurely discontinuing its broadcasting services due to financial difficulties; if it has assessed, of the outcome; whether it has formulated any contingency plan and set aside manpower to assist hundreds of ATV employees in recovering outstanding wages and seeking employment in the event of premature discontinuation of broadcasting services by ATV; and (7) whether it will encourage other companies issued with TV licences as well as Radio Television Hong Kong to employ serving and departed ATV employees; if it will, of the details?
20. Dr Hon Priscilla LEUNG to ask: (Translation)
Currently, the three District Council Districts, namely Sham Shui Po, Yau Tsim Mong and Kowloon City, have a total population of over one million. However, among the general out-patient ("GOP") clinics set up by the Hospital Authority ("HA") in these districts, only Yau Ma Tei Jockey Club General Out-patient Clinic ("Yau Ma Tei Clinic") provides GOP services both in the evening and on Sundays and public holidays ("non-office hours"). For residents of Sham Shui Po and Kowloon City Districts who wish to seek consultation during non-office hours and those of Yau Tsim Mong District who are unable to book in advance consultation quotas of Yau Ma Tei Clinic, they have to seek consultation at GOP clinics in other districts, accident and emergency departments of public hospitals or private clinics. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:
(1) the respective average numbers of attendances per hour of Yau Ma Tei Clinic (i) during daytime from Mondays to Saturdays and (ii) during non-office hours last year; whether HA has assessed if the consultation services provided by the clinic during non-office hours can meet the demand; (2) given that the Hong Kong Planning Standards and Guidelines ("HKPSG") merely stipulate that one clinic/health centre will be provided for every 100 000 persons for planning purpose but they have not stipulated if it is necessary for such a purpose to be fulfilled in different time periods, what factors HA has taken into consideration before it arrived at the decision that there would be only one GOP clinic providing GOP services during non-office hours in the three districts, namely Sham Shui Po, Yau Tsim Mong and Kowloon City; whether such factors include the population of those districts, the time needed by patients to commute to and from the clinics concerned, and the burden on the accident and emergency departments of nearby public hospitals resulting from patients seeking consultation at those departments due to the unavailability of GOP services; (3) whether HA will consider making arrangements for its GOP clinics in Sham Shui Po and Kowloon City Districts to provide GOP services during non-office hours; if HA will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (4) given that the residents of Sham Shui Po District wish that HA will expeditiously reprovision the Shek Kip Mei Health Centre at the redeveloped Shek Kip Mei Estate, of the progress of the reprovisioning plan, and whether HA will consider making arrangements for the health centre to provide GOP services during non-office hours after its reprovisioning in the light of the demand of the residents in the district?
21. Hon IP Kin-yuen to ask: (Translation)
At present, there are various education funds and scholarship schemes established with public funds, including the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government Scholarship Fund ("HKSARG Scholarship Fund") and the Quality Education Fund. The Chief Executive has stated in his Policy Address this year that with a view to attracting more students from the "Belt and Road" countries to study in Hong Kong, the Government would inject a sum of $1 billion into the HKSARG Scholarship Fund, so as to increase in phases the number of offers under its "Targeted Scholarship Scheme" from currently 10 per year by about 100, and each student can receive a scholarship in the amount of $120,000. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) given that as the balance of the HKSARG Scholarship Fund stood as high as $2.43 billion as at 31 August 2014, the investment returns of that fund should be sufficient to cover the $120,000 scholarship to be offered to each of the aforesaid students from the Belt and Road countries, of the reasons for the Government still proposing to inject funds into that Fund; (2) whether it has assessed if injecting a large amount of public money into various education funds and scholarship schemes would thin out the resources that could be directly invested in the field of education; if it has assessed and the outcome is in the negative, of the justifications for that; and (3) regarding those education funds and scholarship schemes which have been in operation for more than five years and have the balance higher than the amounts when they were established, whether it will consider diverting some money from those funds for allocation to other educational projects or programmes with more pressing needs; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
22. Hon Paul TSE to ask: (Translation)
In response to a question on the Chinachem Charitable Foundation Limited (the "Chinachem Foundation") which I raised on 3 June last year, the Secretary for Justice ("SJ") indicated that since 10 December 2007, the Estate of the late Mrs Nina WANG (the "Estate") had, in accordance with a court order, been administered and preserved by independent interim administrators ("administrators") appointed by the court until any further court order. SJ pointed out that he, as the protector of charities, would actively follow up on the arrangements for and the details of the implementation of the Will, and would continue the discussion with the Chinachem Foundation on the plans for administering the Estate, upon the detailed consideration by the Department of Justice (the "DoJ") of the judgment handed down by the Court of Final Appeal in May last year (that is, the Chinachem Foundation is to hold the Estate as a trustee and will not receive the Estate as an absolute gift). SJ also indicated that DoJ had all along been paying attention to the administration of the Estate and keeping contact with the administrators, including vetting the periodical reports provided by the administrators. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) as the accountants from an accounting firm are serving as the aforesaid administrators, whether the Government has assessed if those accountants have the experience necessary for administering the business relating to the Estate, which is worth tens of billions of Hong Kong dollars; if it has, of the details; (2) of the details of the administrators' work in administering and preserving the aforesaid Estate at present, the monthly fees charged by the administrators, and the expected time when the court will order the termination of the work of the administrators; (3) whether DoJ has, in the course of keeping contact with the administrators and vetting the relevant periodical reports, uncovered any behaviour damaging the value of the Estate, such as negligence, conspiracy to commit a breach of duties, maladministration, etc.; if DoJ has, of the details; (4) whether the data on the balance and expenditure of the properties for charitable purposes under the Estate will be made public regularly, or disclosed upon public enquiry; if so, of the details of the relevant practices; if not, the reasons for that; and (5) of the details and progress of DoJ's discussion with the relevant stakeholders on the various tasks relating to the administration of the Estate, including the stakeholders involved, and whether DoJ has sought directions from the court on the relevant tasks; the expected time for DoJ to come up with the proposals for the implementation of and arrangements for the Will?
III. Member's Motion
| Motion of Thanks
Hon Andrew LEUNG to move the following motion: (Translation) That this Council thanks the Chief Executive for his address. Amendments to the motion | |
| (i) | Hon Frederick FUNG to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To add ", but the address fails to deal with the current core problems of Hong Kong, including disregarding the serious erosion of 'one country, two systems' and the deepening of China-Hong Kong conflicts, and showing no intention to improve the poor relationship between the Executive and the Legislature, coupled with the Chief Executive's incompetence in governance, his wanton instigation of social conflicts, and his refusal to reflect on the blunders in policy implementation and identify inadequacies, etc., causing the public to feel extremely disappointed and angry; in addition, this Council expresses deep regret that on the issues of implementing a universal retirement protection system, enacting legislation on standard working hours, and reducing the Mandatory Provident Fund offsetting proportion, etc., the Chief Executive keeps procrastinating with interminable discussion and consultation, completely reneging on the pledges made by him during his election campaign" immediately before the full stop. |
| (ii) | Hon WU Chi-wai to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To add ", but expresses deep regret that the Chief Executive LEUNG Chun-ying has put the focus of the address on 'One Belt One Road' to curry favour with the Central Government in return for its support for his re-election, while failing to honour his election pledges, which include enacting legislation on standard working hours, abolishing the Mandatory Provident Fund offsetting mechanism, safeguarding academic freedom and the autonomy of educational institutions, allowing declaration of income and assets on a personal basis for the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance Scheme for the elderly, allowing people with loss of one limb to apply for Disability Allowance, defending 'one country, two systems', developing a democratic political system, resolving social conflicts and improving people's livelihood" immediately before the full stop. |
| (iii) | Hon CHEUNG Kwok-che to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To add ", so as to follow the convention of the Legislative Council; but expresses deep regret that the address has not made any undertaking to implement a universal retirement protection scheme, and requests the Government to devise a proposal for the universal retirement protection scheme under the principles of sustainability, robustness, replacement ratio and affordability, expeditiously draw up an implementation timetable and earmark $100 billion as a seed fund for the scheme" immediately before the full stop. |
| (iv) | Hon LEE Cheuk-yan to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To add ", but expresses deep regret that the Chief Executive fails to honour his undertaking to 'adopt measures to progressively reduce the proportion of accrued benefits attributed to employer's contribution in the MPF account that can be applied by the employer to offset long-service or severance payments' as set out in his election manifesto, and continually procrastinates the legislative work on standard working hours" immediately before the full stop. |
| (v) | Hon Cyd HO to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To add ", so as to follow the convention of the Legislative Council; given that in the address, the Chief Executive has reneged on all his promises in the aspects of constitutional development and people's livelihood, focusing merely on currying favour with the Central Authorities while disregarding the interests of Hong Kong people, this Council hopes that this is the last time that Mr LEUNG Chun-ying delivered his address in the capacity as the Chief Executive, and that he will announce not to seek re-election, so that the SAR Government can return to the right track and rekindle hope of Hong Kong people, thereby enabling Hong Kong to have a fresh start" immediately before the full stop. |
| (vi) | Dr Hon Fernando CHEUNG to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To add ", but expresses deep regret that the Government insists on taking forward various major infrastructure projects and the extension of new towns, and quite a number of such infrastructure projects are 'white elephant projects', disregarding people's livelihood and wasting public money; and that the Government has 'jumped the queue' by arbitrarily giving priority to these infrastructure projects over livelihood-related projects in an attempt to coerce Members into approving the relevant funding applications" immediately before the full stop. |
| (vii) | Hon LEUNG Yiu-chung to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To add ", but as the address fails to implement a universal retirement protection system, improve work and livelihood security for employees (including failing to legislate standard working hours and introduce overtime limits), and increase the number of subsidized places for programmes of post-secondary colleges and provide interest-free loans for students enrolled in such programmes, thus hindering young people's opportunities for studying in post-secondary colleges and enhancing their knowledge, this Council expresses deep regret and requests the Government to make improvements expeditiously" immediately before the full stop. |
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Public Officers to attend are listed in the Appendix.
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