A 15/16-18
Legislative Council
Agenda
Wednesday 24 February 2016 at 11:00 am
I. Tabling of Papers
| Subsidiary Legislation / Instruments | L.N. No. | |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Maximum Amount of Election Expenses (Chief Executive Election) (Amendment) Regulation 2016 | 34/2016 |
| 2. | International Organizations (Privileges and Immunities) (ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office) Order | 35/2016
|
II. Questions for Written Replies
1. Hon Albert HO to ask: (Translation)
In his election manifesto, the Chief Executive ("CE") made the pledges that "[w]e will adopt measures to progressively reduce the proportion of accrued benefits attributed to employer's contribution in the M[andatory] P[rovident] F[und] account that can be applied by the employer to offset long-service or severance payments" and "[a] special committee … will be set up to follow up on the study on standard working hours conducted by the current administration. This committee will examine issues relating to … legislative proposals on standard working hours". When CE attended a televised panel discussion forum on the 13th of last month, he was queried by the host that it had been more than three years since his assumption of office but he had not yet honoured the two pledges. CE responded that the whole Government had devoted much efforts in promoting constitutional development over the past year or so. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the details of the efforts devoted by the politically appointed officials in various policy bureaux (excluding the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau) to promoting constitutional development over the past year or so; (2) of the number of policy initiatives the implementation of which was affected by the work of the Government to promote constitutional development, and the extent to which such initiatives were affected; and (3) whether it has established a system for determining (i) the relative priorities of various policies and (ii) the efforts to be devoted by various policy bureaux to implementing them, so as to avoid focusing only on certain policies while neglecting others; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
2. Hon James TO to ask: (Translation)
Under section 33(1) of the Telecommunications Ordinance (Cap. 106), the Chief Executive ("CE") may order that any class of messages shall be intercepted ("interception orders") for the purpose of providing or making available facilities reasonably required for: (i) the detection or discovery of any telecommunications service provided in contravention of any provision of the Ordinance or any regulation made under the Ordinance or any of the terms or conditions of a licence granted under the Ordinance, or (ii) the execution of prescribed authorizations for telecommunications interception that may from time to time be issued or renewed under the Interception of Communications and Surveillance Ordinance (Cap. 589). In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the number of interception orders made for the first aforesaid category of actions in each of the past four years, and the number of telecommunications companies or Internet service providers ("ISPs") involved, with a breakdown by message transmission channel (e.g. fixed-line phones, mobile phones, e-mails, social media and instant messaging programs); if it cannot provide such figures, of the reasons for that; (2) of the number of interception orders made for the second aforesaid category of actions each year since the commencement of Cap. 589, and the number of telecommunications companies or ISPs involved, with a breakdown by message transmission channel; if such figures cannot be provided, of the reasons for that; (3) among the interception orders mentioned in (1) and (2) of the respective numbers of orders made by CE (i) on his own motion, and (ii) at the request of government departments (and the government departments making such requests); and (4) whether it has formulated an appropriate mechanism and procedure for the making of interception orders by CE to facilitate the monitoring by the public and to prevent abuse, with a view to protecting the personal privacy of the public?
3. Hon Dennis KWOK to ask:
It has been reported that speculators, in anticipation of further depreciation of the Renminbi ("RMB"), may use the Hong Kong dollar ("HKD") as a proxy to speculate on RMB. Moreover, it is expected that the United States ("US") Federal Reserve's decisions to raise the interest rate will lead to a rise in local interest rates, given the peg of HKD to the US Dollar under the Linked Exchange Rate System ("LERS"). In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether the authorities have policies and measures in place to maintain the stability of HKD in face of massive selling of HKD as a proxy of RMB speculation by hedge funds and other speculators, so as to mitigate the risks of recurrence of situations similar to those in 1998 during the Asian Financial crisis; whether the authorities have assessed if the poor returns of the Exchange Fund in the past year will weaken the ability of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority to deal with speculations on HKD in the near future; and (2) given the recent market turmoil in China, the anticipated further depreciation of RMB, as well as the HKD exchange rate hitting the weak-side convertibility undertaking on several occasions, what policies the authorities have put in place to ensure that market confidence in LERS will not be adversely affected?
4. Hon CHAN Kam-lam to ask: (Translation)
Under the Civil Service Public Housing Quota Scheme ("CSPHQ Scheme"), the Civil Service Bureau issues circulars memorandum annually to invite eligible civil servants to apply for civil service public housing ("CSPH") quotas for that year. The quotas are divided into "general quota" and "special quota", with the latter earmarked mainly for junior police officers as well as other rank and file officers in the disciplined services who will retire within 10 years. Recently, some retired disciplined services staff members have relayed to me that CSPHQ Scheme cannot address their housing needs. Although they had applied for special quota under CSPHQ Scheme before retirement for allocation of public housing ("PH") flats, they had yet to be allocated a PH flat upon retirement and up to the time when they were required to move out of their departmental quarters. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the number of applications for special quota received from retired and retiring disciplined services staff members in each of the past five years and, among such cases, the number of those in which the applicants were allocated a PH flat; whether the authorities adjusted the relevant quota according to the number of disciplined services staff members eligible for applying for PH flats under CSPHQ Scheme each year; (2) as I have learnt that some retired disciplined services staff members now residing in departmental quarters, who had applied twice for special quota but in vain, were rejected when they submitted applications again, of the maximum number of times for which each disciplined services staff member may make such an application; the current number of eligible retired disciplined services staff members who are not allowed to submit applications again because the number of times for which they made such an application has reached the upper limit; as it has been reported that the number of retired disciplined services staff members will peak in the coming few years, whether the authorities will consider relaxing the restriction on the number of times for which that they may make such an application; (3) given that the disciplined services staff members who have submitted applications under CSPHQ Scheme before retirement but have yet to be allocated a PH flat may be granted, while their applications are still being processed, concessions whereby they do not have to move out of the quarters immediately upon retirement, of the current number of such staff members who are residing in departmental quarters, as well as the number of such staff members in each of the next three years as anticipated by the authorities; whether the authorities will require such kind of staff members who have yet to be allocated a PH flat to move out of their departmental quarters; and (4) whether the authorities have studied ways to address the increasing demand for PH flats from retired disciplined services staff?
5. Prof Hon Joseph LEE to ask: (Translation)
According to a report released by the World Health Organization last year, about one-third of elderly people (i.e. persons aged 65 or above) are suffering from disabling hearing loss. It has been reported that some merchants, knowing well that the continuous increase in the elderly population will bring about enormous business opportunities, have set up audiology centres to offer hearing tests and sell hearing aids to elderly people. Due to a lack of regulation, some audiology centres sell hearing aids at fluctuating prices, and have not employed any audiologist or audiology technician, with the work of conducting hearing tests, drafting reports on hearing tests and fitting hearing aids for elderly people being entrusted to salespersons only. As a result, some elderly people have bought unsuitable yet expensive hearing aids, with their hearing impaired rather than improved. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it has compiled statistics on the current number of elderly people with disabling hearing loss in Hong Kong; if it has, of the relevant figures; if not, the reasons for that, and whether it will compile such statistics; whether it has any targeted policy in place to provide assistance for such elderly people; if it does, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (2) whether it knows if general outpatient clinics of the Hospital Authority ("HA") will arrange hearing tests, audiological treatment and fitting of hearing aids for elderly people seeking consultations at such clinics; if such services will be arranged, of the specific procedure and the average waiting time for these three types of services at present; if not, the reasons for that; (3) whether it knows the current respective (i) ratios of audiologists and audiology technicians to the population, and (ii) numbers of these two types of personnel employed by HA and the Department of Health; whether it has assessed if there are now sufficient numbers of these two types of personnel in Hong Kong; if it has and the assessment outcome is in the negative, whether it has specific policies and measures in place to address the problem; if it does, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (4) given that quite a number of elderly people lack the financial means to buy hearing aids, which are sold at a price ranging from as high as several thousand to several tens of thousand dollars, whether the authorities have plans to offer subsidy to elderly people, and whether the costs for hearing tests and hearing aids will be included (with no upper limit) in the scope of application of the Elderly Health Care Voucher Scheme to enhance the safety and quality of life of elderly people; if they do, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
6. Dr Hon LAM Tai-fai to ask: (Translation)
Earlier on, the Education Bureau ("EDB") accepted the recommendations set out in a report submitted by the Coordinating Committee on Basic Competency Assessment and Assessment Literacy ("the Committee") after its review on the Territory-wide System Assessment ("TSA"), including the implementation of a tryout study ("the Tryout") at Primary 3 level ("P3") this year. The Committee envisages that the data and results of the Tryout will be available in October this year, a review report will be submitted to the authorities in November and the Online Question Bank can be updated by the end of this year. The Committee considers that in order not to affect the effectiveness of the Tryout, the Tryout should be of a representative scale, and it therefore recommends that 50 primary schools (representing about 10% of the primary schools in the territory) of different types be invited to participate in the Tryout (if an individual school declines the invitation, the authorities will invite another school of the same type as replacement), while other schools may participate on a voluntary basis. The Committee also recommends a territory-wide implementation of the Tryout scheme next year after drawing a conclusion on the effectiveness of the Tryout. However, some of the members of the education sector and Members of this Council are dissatisfied that the Government has, before reaching a conclusion that the Tryout is effective, openly stated that the relevant scheme will be implemented territory-wide next year. They also call on parents in the territory to refuse to let their children participate in the TSA under the Tryout and to uphold the proposition that the P3 TSA should be abolished in the long run. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it knows the reasons and justifications for the Committee to set at 50 the number of primary schools to be invited to participate in the Tryout; (2) of the standards, principles and conditions based on which it will select the 50 primary schools to be invited to participate in the Tryout; (3) of the person or organization responsible for drawing up the selection standards, principles and conditions mentioned in (2); (4) of the relevant standards, principles and conditions which the 50 primary schools to be invited to participate in the Tryout need to meet; (5) of the proportions of various types of schools in the 50 primary schools to be invited to participate in the Tryout; among them, the respective numbers of Direct Subsidy Scheme schools, government schools, subsidized schools and other types of schools; (6) when it will issue letters inviting the primary schools concerned to participate in the Tryout, and of the deadline for them to reply; (7) whether it will publish a list of the primary schools invited to participate in the Tryout, as well as a list of the primary schools which have accepted the invitation; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (8) whether it will publish a list of the primary schools which have refused to participate in the Tryout and the reasons for their refusal; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (9) whether all of the primary schools enrolling voluntarily to participate in the Tryout will be accepted; if not, of the reasons for that; if they will, whether it has assessed if such an approach will result in the data of the Tryout becoming biased or unbalanced, thus compromising the representativeness, credibility and recognition of the Tryout; (10) whether the authorities will consider shelving the Tryout in the event that the number of primary schools accepting the invitation falls short of 50 or is below a certain number of primary schools in the end; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; whether there will be any alternative plans; (11) whether it has assessed the minimum number of students needed to participate in the TSA under the Tryout if the data are to have representativeness, credibility and recognition; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (12) how it monitors and ensures that the level of difficulty and the question types of the assessment items of TSA as recommended under the Tryout can accurately assess the basic competencies of P3 students; (13) how it ensures the primary schools which have accepted the invitation to participate in the Tryout will not drill their students for the purpose of coping with the TSA in the Tryout; (14) how it ensures and convinces stakeholders of the education sector that the data obtained from the Tryout will not be used as a tool by the officials of EDB for determining the banding and performance of a school, or even as a justification for closure of schools; (15) whether it will set up an independent committee to study and review the data obtained from and the effectiveness of the Tryout; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (16) of the standards and principles based on which it will assess if the Tryout is effective and has achieved its objectives; (17) whether the authorities will, prior to the official launch of the Tryout, consult organizations such as the Hong Kong Professional Teachers' Union, the Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers, the Subsidized Primary Schools Council, the Hong Kong Aided Primary School Heads Association and the Grand Alliance of Parents on TSA, as well as the Panel on Education of this Council, and solicit their support; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (18) whether it will conduct public consultation on the specific arrangements of the Tryout; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (19) whether the Secretary for Education will attend the public hearing(s) on the Tryout to be held by the Panel on Education of this Council; if he will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (20) of the circumstances under which it will implement a further Tryout next year; (21) of the circumstances under which it will consider completely abolishing the P3 TSA; (22) whether it will implement a Tryout at Primary 6 level after the publication of the review report on the Tryout at P3; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (23) of the reasons why the Government has, before reaching the conclusion that the Tryout is effective, openly stated that the Tryout scheme will be implemented territory-wide next year?
7. Hon LEUNG Yiu-chung to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that due to old age or other reasons, most of the monks and nuns in Hong Kong rarely officiate at or participate in religious activities of festivals and funerals. As a result, some mainland monks, nuns or individuals have been invited to Hong Kong to officiate at or participate in religious activities and they have received red packets afterwards. Moreover, some Mainlanders, after entering Hong Kong with travel endorsements, have dressed as monks and nuns and appealed for money or sold prayer beads on the streets. On the other hand, it has been reported that last year, a local nun purchased a luxurious apartment with cash, and the source of the funding concerned was suspected to be worshippers' donations. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether the authorities conducted any investigation in the past three years into incidents of Mainlanders coming to Hong Kong to officiate at or participate in religious activities; if they did, of the outcome, including how they handled substantiated cases of Mainlanders coming to Hong Kong to officiate at or participate in religious activities and receiving red packets afterwards; if they did not conduct any investigation in this regard, the reasons for that; (2) of the actions to be taken by the authorities to stop Mainlanders, dressed as monks and nuns, from appealing for money or selling prayer beads on the streets; and (3) whether the authorities have studied if monks and nuns, including the nun in the aforesaid case, are required to report the red packets or donations received from worshippers as taxable income and pay relevant taxes for such income; if they have studied and the outcome is in the affirmative, whether the authorities took any follow-up action in the past three years in respect of cases in which the monks and nuns concerned had failed to file tax returns and pay taxes; if they did, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
8. Hon TANG Ka-piu to ask: (Translation)
In Hong Kong, the patronage of public light buses ("PLBs") ranks the third among all modes of public transport, only after railway and franchised buses. On the other hand, some trade unions of green minibuses ("GMBs") have pointed out that the problems of unsatisfactory remuneration and excessively long working hours, etc. persistently faced by PLB drivers have resulted in shortage and ageing of GMB drivers. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it has grasped the statistics on GMB drivers in the past three years, including the number of GMB drivers, their average age, employment mode (i.e. being employed or self-employed), average weekly working hours, average monthly salary, and general conditions of service (e.g. the number of paid leave days); if it has, of the details; (2) whether it has established a mechanism to discuss, on a regular basis, with stakeholders (including drivers, trade union representatives and operators) of the GMB trade, so as to understand the work arrangements and remuneration package for drivers, and to explore improvement measures; if it has not, of the reasons for that; (3) given that the Transport Department ("TD") had, in consultation with the GMB trade, devised guidelines on the working hours of PLB drivers, whether the authorities have regularly liaised with operators to gauge how far the guidelines have been complied with, and to ensure that PLB drivers are given adequate rest time, in order to safeguard road safety; (4) whether it will consider introducing new measures to ensure that PLB drivers are given adequate rest time, including (i) setting maximum working hours, (ii) following the working and rest time arrangements for bus captains of franchised bus companies (e.g. providing rest breaks and setting fixed meal times), and (iii) with reference to TD's practice of issuing the Guidelines on Bus Captain Working Hours, Rest Times and Meal Breaks to franchised bus companies, issuing similar guidelines to the GMB trade; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (5) whether it knows the current number of GMB operators which have adopted the practice of using a certain percentage of trading receipts as the basis for calculating drivers' salaries (i.e. revenue sharing arrangement), the number of routes they operate, and the details of the revenue sharing arrangement; whether the authorities have formulated measures or policies (e.g. according priority to operators which have adopted a fixed pay system in granting operating rights) to encourage operators to adopt a fixed pay system, so as to attract more people to join the trade, and to prevent PLB drivers from driving at excessive speed in order to earn a higher income under the revenue sharing arrangement; (6) as some GMB drivers have relayed to me that upon appointment, they are required by the operators to pay a specified amount of money to serve as the insurance excess when a traffic accident has occurred, and such an arrangement has resulted in serious wastage of serving drivers and new blood being deterred from joining the trade, whether the authorities have found out which operators require drivers to pay insurance excess at present, and the number of routes they operate; how the Government will address the problem; (7) as some GMB drivers have relayed to me that the terms and conditions imposed by TD on operators in granting GMB operating rights may affect the work arrangements and remuneration package of GMB drivers, but as such terms and conditions have not been made public, it is therefore difficult for GMB drivers to judge whether the operators have complied with the relevant terms and conditions, whether the authorities can publicize such terms and conditions in future; if they cannot, of the reasons for that; and (8) as some PLB drivers have pointed out that the authorities are conducting studies on increasing the seating capacity of PLBs, and the workload of PLB drivers will increase with the addition of passenger seats of PLBs, whether the authorities will, in conducting such studies, explore ways to ensure that GMB drivers will have a share of the economic gains generated by the increase in the seating capacity of PLBs; if they will, of their plans; if not, the reasons for that?
9. Hon WONG Kwok-kin to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the implementation of interchange concession schemes for public transport, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it knows the details of the interchange concession schemes implemented by the MTR Corporation Limited ("MTRCL") in collaboration with green minibus ("GMB") operators in each of the past five years, including the route numbers, catchment areas, average daily passenger trips benefited and fare discount rates of the GMB routes concerned and, among such GMB routes, the routes which ceased to offer such interchange concessions and the reasons for that (set out in a table); if it does not know, of the reasons for that; (2) whether it knows how the additional fare income and costs arising from the interchange concession schemes are currently shared between MTRCL and GMB operators; (3) as some members of the public have relayed to me that most of the interchange concession schemes currently implemented by franchised bus companies are mainly applicable only to some specified combinations of bus routes, easily causing confusion and inconvenience to passengers, whether the Government will require franchised bus companies to simplify their interchange concession schemes; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (4) of the measures that the Government will take to encourage MTRCL, to introduce, in collaboration with GMB operators and franchised bus companies, more interchange concession schemes?
10. Dr Hon CHIANG Lai-wan to ask: (Translation)
According to the Indoor Air Quality objectives (Good Class) for offices and public places drawn up by the Environmental Protection Department, the 8-hour average concentrations of Total Volatile Organic Compounds ("TVOC") and Formaldehyde ("HCHO") in air should be no more than 261 parts per billion by volume ("ppbv") and 81 ppbv respectively. It has recently been reported in the press that, according to the results of a test, the concentrations of TVOC and HCHO in the gases emitted indoor from various household cleaners ("cleaners") sold in Hong Kong exceeded the aforesaid objectives. The TVOC concentrations in the gases emitted by some cleaners exceeded the relevant objective by more than 50% to 75 times, while those of HCHO exceeded the relevant objective by nearly twofold to 12 times. As pointed out by a medical specialist, prolonged exposure to high concentrations of TVOC and HCHO may cause rhinitis or sore throat, and may even increase the risk of cancer. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it will set, with reference to the relevant international standards, upper limits on the concentrations of TVOC and HCHO in cleaning products sold in Hong Kong; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (2) given that information on the product ingredients and place of origin is not included in the labels on some cleaning products sold in Hong Kong, whether the authorities currently monitor the label contents of such products; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that and whether the authorities will review the labelling requirements; (3) whether it has stipulated safety standards for the composition of cleaning products; if it has, of the penalty for selling products in breach of the standards, and whether it has regularly conducted sample checks on the cleaners sold in Hong Kong to see if they comply with the standards; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (4) whether it has put in place measures to enhance the public's understanding of the proper ways to use various kinds of cleaners, so as to mitigate the effect of improper use of cleaners on indoor air quality; if it has; of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
11. Hon WU Chi-wai to ask: (Translation)
The Food and Health Bureau made public in May 2015 a report of a consultancy study on ways to improve the operating environment of public markets, which was submitted by a consultant commissioned by the Bureau. The consultant selected six markets for the purpose of drawing up physical improvement proposals for further study on potential improvements. Furthermore, the consultant proposed the implementation of a number of non-physical improvement measures (including strengthening of routine management and enforcement work, enabling octopus payment, provision of short-term leasing of promotional areas, etc.) in those six markets. At the meeting of the Subcommittee on Issues Relating to Public Markets ("the Subcommittee") of this Council held in June last year, the authorities advised that they would conduct consultations on the proposals put forward by the consultant, and planned to select in 2016 at least one or two markets among the six markets and propose tailor-made improvement plans for it/them. In addition, the Subcommittee requested the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department ("FEHD") to consult relevant tenants on whether to retrofit air-conditioning facilities in public markets (including cooked food centres) not yet provided with such facilities. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the latest progress of the consultation conducted by the authorities in respect of the aforesaid market improvement proposals, and the views of the tenants; if such consultation has not completed, of the expected completion time; whether they have already selected one or two markets and formulated improvement plans for it/them; if they have, of the details; if not, the expected time for selecting the market(s) and formulating the relevant plans; (2) given that the authorities have indicated that they would be willing to explore the implementation of improvement plans if the stakeholders in markets other than the six selected markets indicate such a wish, whether the authorities have so far taken forward any non-physical improvement measures for other markets; if they have, of the progress, as well as the details, progress and expected implementation dates of such improvement measures, broken down by name of market; (3) regarding the consultation conducted by FEHD on the retrofitting of air-conditioning facilities in markets, of the respective numbers of markets in respect of which the consultation has completed, is underway and has yet to be conducted; among the markets in respect of which the consultation has completed, of the number of markets in which the percentage of tenants in support of the retrofitting proposal has reached the threshold set by the authorities; and (4) of the latest progress of the consultation launched by FEHD in the middle of last year on the retrofitting of air-conditioning facilities in Ngau Tau Kok Market and Cooked Food Centre?
12. Hon Frederick FUNG to ask: (Translation)
Earlier on, an organization released the findings of its study, which revealed that the play equipment in children's playgrounds for public use in Hong Kong ("children's playgrounds") lagged behind in various aspects when compared with those in children's playgrounds overseas. According to the findings of the study, the play equipment at children's playgrounds in Hong Kong lacks space for promotion of children's social interaction, and fails to offer physical challenges to children (e.g. swings, merry-go-rounds and climbing structures are not available, as well as the slipways of the slides are not slippery enough and too short); as for sensory experience, the excessive emphasis on safety of the design of children's playgrounds in Hong Kong has rendered the play equipment monotonous and boring. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the number of complaints about the play equipment in children's playgrounds received by the authorities in each of the past three years, with a breakdown by the content of the complaints (e.g. play equipment posing danger and showing signs of damage); (2) given that there are views that, for the purpose of reducing costs, the authorities have all along been using a "cookie-cutter" approach in constructing children's playgrounds with homogeneous design, of the considerations and procedure based on which the authorities design children's playgrounds and provide the relevant play equipment at present; (3) whether the authorities will conduct in-depth exploration with relevant stakeholders and experts in the light of the philosophies and factors behind the design of children's playgrounds (i.e. catering to children's needs for social interaction, physical challenges and sensory experience), so as to formulate a comprehensive plan for renovating the play equipment in children's playgrounds; and (4) whether the authorities will draw up criteria for the provision of play equipment in children's playgrounds, and adopt a site-specific design approach to provide suitable play equipment catering to children's play needs; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
13. Dr Hon KWOK Ka-ki to ask: (Translation)
Some members of the public have relayed to me that the Hong Kong Planning Standards and Guidelines ("HKPSG") merely prescribe in broad terms that the planning of social welfare facilities such as district elderly community centres and day care centres for the elderly should be "determined taking into account the elderly population, demographic characteristics, geographical factor, existing service provision and service demand", and do not require the authorities to conduct planning in accordance with objective criteria (e.g. the estimated number of users of such facilities). Moreover, HKPSG simply take population as the planning standard for the provision of open space and recreation facilities in various districts, without taking into account the demographic characteristics which may vary from district to district. The aforesaid situations have resulted in mismatches between the supply and demand of such facilities in quite a number of districts, and people in need having to travel across districts for using such facilities or obtaining such services. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the following statistics in respect of each District Council ("DC") district at present: (i) a breakdown of the number of Comprehensive Social Security Assistance recipients by category of the cases, (ii) the elderly (i.e. persons aged 65 or above) population, (iii) the youth (i.e. persons aged between 10 and 20) population, and (iv) the ethnic minority ("EM") population (set out in a table); (2) regarding the social welfare services provided by the authorities respectively for various categories of residents (including (i) the elderly, (ii) youths, (iii) EMs, and (iv) the chronically ill) in each DC district, of the expenditure incurred last year, the current number of service quotas, and the area of the facilities currently used for providing such services (set out in a table); (3) of (i) the area and (ii) the number of open space and recreation facilities in each DC district at present (set out in a table); (4) whether the Planning Standards Sub-Committee ("PSSC") has regularly reviewed HKPSG; if PSSC has, of the details; if not, how the authorities ensure that social welfare facilities, open space and recreation facilities planned for various districts in accordance with HKPSG are sufficient to meet the demand of local residents; and (5) whether the authorities will formulate a set of objective criteria based on demographic characteristics for assessing the demand for social welfare facilities in various districts; if they will, of the details; if not, how the authorities ensure that there are sufficient social welfare facilities and service quotas in each district, so that people in need do not have to travel across districts to use such facilities or obtain such services?
14. Hon Albert HO to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported in the press that on different occasions in recent months, the Chief Executive ("CE") claimed that local universities were rather abundantly resourced and were even faced with the problem of surplus staff, and he therefore appealed to members of the commercial sector not to make further donations to local universities and to give donations to scientific research projects or primary and secondary schools instead. In response to the relevant press report, the Office of the Chief Executive ("CEO") neither confirmed nor denied that CE had made such an appeal. In this connection, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council:
(1) whether CEO sought, right after the publication of the aforesaid press report, confirmation from CE if the contents of the report were true; if CEO did, of the details, and why CEO neither confirmed nor denied that CE had made the aforesaid appeal; if not, the reasons for that; (2) of the following information concerning each of the institutions funded by the University Grants Committee ("UGC-funded institutions") in each of the years from 2013-2014 to 2015-2016: (i) the rates of changes in the recurrent grants and the amounts involved, (ii) the amounts of funding provision for home financing and other benefits and the rates of changes involved, (iii) the amounts of expenditure on salaries and benefits and their percentages in the overall funding provision, (iv) the rates of changes in other various funding provisions and the amounts involved, and (v) the ratio between the total amount of donations made by the commercial sector or individuals and the total amount of funding provided by the Government in the same year; and (3) whether they have assessed if the commercial sector would respond to CE's appeal and reduce its donations to local universities; if they have assessed and the outcome is in the affirmative, whether the Government will adjust upwards the ratio between the matching grant disbursed to UGC-funded institutions by the Government and the donations secured by such institutions when the next round of "Matching Grant Scheme" is launched; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
15. Hon TANG Ka-piu to ask: (Translation)
Since last year, I have received a total of nine complaints from members of the public alleging that they were misled, deceived or even coerced by staff members of fitness centres into signing contracts for the purchase of services, which involved amounts ranging from $7,000 to $300,000. In addition, the Consumer Council received 220-odd complaints about the sales practices of fitness centres in the first seven months of last year, showing that the problem is serious. There are views that the aforesaid situation reflects that the Trade Descriptions Ordinance (Cap. 362) cannot adequately protect the rights and interests of consumers and the Government should therefore implement a mandatory cooling-off period arrangement for consumer contracts involving pre-payment for services, under which consumers may unconditionally cancel the contracts during the cooling-off period and receive a full refund of the paid fees, with a view to enhancing the protection of consumers' rights and interests. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it has honoured the pledge, made to this Council by the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development in July 2012, i.e. to "explore and studythe arrangement of a cooling-off period, with various stakeholders in greater detail and focus"; if it has, of the details and specific progress of such exploration and study; if not, the reasons for that, and whether it will honour such a pledge expeditiously, including conducting public consultations on the issues concerned; (2) of the industries in Hong Kong the operators of which currently implement self-regulatory cooling-off period arrangements, and the details and effectiveness of such arrangements; (3) whether it knows which countries/regions have made provisions on cooling-off periods in respect of certain categories of consumer contracts; if it knows, of the details; and (4) whether it will, by making reference to the experience of the relevant countries/regions, consider amending Cap. 362 expeditiously to require that consumer contracts involving pre-payment for services should contain cooling-off period provisions; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
16. Hon CHAN Hak-kan to ask: (Translation)
The Government has advised that it has all along been taking actions and allocating resources to improve and enhance the quality of the coastal waters of Victoria Harbour. However, the coastal waters of Victoria Harbour still give off stenches from time to time, which has caused great nuisance to members of the public. On 26 June last year, the Finance Committee of this Council approved a funding application for commissioning a consultancy study on how to reduce near shore pollution and enhance the quality of the coastal waters of Victoria Harbour, but the two-year consultancy study will only commence early this year. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) given that between 2013 and September 2015, the Environmental Protection Department uncovered a total of 157 cases in which the foul water pipes of private buildings were misconnected to the stormwater drainage system within the Victoria Harbour Water Control Zone, but the authorities instituted only 16 relevant prosecutions between 2012 and 2014, of the reasons why the authorities did not prosecute the relevant parties of the remaining cases; whether they will consider stepping up their law enforcement efforts; if they will, of the details; (2) given that problems such as inappropriate handling of minor works or drainage works by minority property owners and contractors, the lack of expertise of the workers making pipe connections, and the complicated pipe alignments of old buildings may result in foul water pipe misconnections, whether the authorities will step up the regulation of implementation procedures for those works, so as to prevent the misconnection of foul water pipes; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (3) given that roadside activities and phenomena (e.g. discharge of sewage generated by eateries' dishwashing activities at rear lanes into stormwater drains, and the flow of street litter into stormwater drains) are some of the sources of coastal shore water pollution, whether the authorities have formulated measures to reduce the pollution caused by such activities to the quality of coastal shore waters; if they have, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (4) of the respective rates of compliance with the Water Quality Objectives (i.e. Dissolved Oxygen, Total Inorganic Nitrogen, Unionized Ammonia Nitrogen and E. coli bacteria) of the various Water Control Zones in Hong Kong in the past three years; and (5) whether the authorities have set performance indicators for the plans on improving the harbour water quality, so as to assess the effectiveness of the works of Stage 1 and Stage 2 of the Harbour Area Treatment Scheme, which costed more than $8.4 billion and $17.3 billion respectively; if they have, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
17. Hon Emily LAU to ask:
It has been reported that the Secretary for Justice visited Macao in July and December 2014 to negotiate with his counterpart in the Macao Government for the agreements on the surrender of fugitive offenders and mutual legal assistance in criminal matters, which have yet to be finalized. On 20 July 2015, the Secretary for Administration and Justice of the Macao Government told the Macao media that as the agreement on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters was being negotiated by the two Governments on the basis of "one country, two systems", the principles concerning mutual legal assistance in criminal matters to be observed in the agreement might not be fully compatible with those provided for in the relevant agreements entered into by the Macao Government with the governments of foreign countries. In this connection, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council:
(1) of the draft provisions of the aforesaid agreements under negotiation; (2) whether they intend to enter with the Macao Government into an agreement observing all of the principles concerning mutual legal assistance in criminal matters provided for in those agreements already entered into by the Executive Authorities with the governments of foreign countries ; and (3) whether the agreement on the surrender of fugitive offenders to be entered into will empower the extradition of the relevant persons from Hong Kong to Macao to stand trial for offences that do not have equivalents in the Hong Kong law, namely treason, subversion, sedition and theft of state secrets?
18. Dr Hon Elizabeth QUAT to ask: (Translation)
According to a paper submitted to the Panel on Security of this Council by the Security Bureau on 2 February this year, the public expenditure on the handling of torture claims/non-refoulement claims and related work has been increasing continuously in the past few years from $287 million in 2010-2011 to an estimated $644 million for 2015-2016, representing a rate of increase of over 124%. However, such expenditure has not yet included the relevant costs in relation to the legal aid granted to claimants for lodging judicial reviews, the provision of public healthcare services for them, and the institution of prosecutions by the Department of Justice against claimants suspected of having committed crimes. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the number of claimants who were granted leave by the court in each of the past 10 years to lodge judicial reviews in respect of their claims, and the amount of legal aid expenditure incurred in such cases (set out in a table); (2) of the number of claimants' attendances for public healthcare services in each of the past 10 years, and the amount of public expenditure incurred for providing such services (set out in a table); (3) of (i) the number of claimants who were prosecuted for offences allegedly committed by them in each of the past 10 years, and (ii) the amount of public expenditure incurred by the Department of Justice and the Judiciary in handling such cases (with a breakdown of the figures in (i) and (ii) by District Council district to which the place where the offence was committed belonged); and (4) of the estimated expenditure in 2016-2017 for handling torture and non-refoulement claims?
19. Hon KWOK Wai-keung to ask: (Translation)
The Chief Executive ("CE") announced in July 2012 that the Government planned to support non-governmental organizations ("NGOs") with the full capital costs of building youth hostels. The Government also indicated that it would actively assist interested NGOs in rolling out youth hostel projects ("YHPs") as soon as possible. Nevertheless, it has already been three and a half years since CE made the aforesaid announcement, but so far no construction works for YHP have commenced, and some YHPs have been postponed or even shelved due to various reasons. Regarding the housing needs and home ownership aspirations of young people, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the number of hostel units involved, the latest progress and the anticipated completion date of each YHP implemented by the Government in collaboration with NGOs and private land owners; the number of projects postponed and the details concerned; the number of projects shelved and the reasons concerned; the respective numbers of units involved in the projects which have been postponed, scaled down and shelved; whether the total number of units that can be provided by the various projects at present can meet the target of providing 3 000 units in the first round; if the target cannot be met, how the authorities will increase the supply of youth hostels; (2) whether it has formulated standardized arrangements (e.g. the number of people living in each unit, the eligibility criteria and the maximum tenancy period) for youth hostels; if it has, of the details; given that the authorities indicated in February 2013 that the aggregate tenancy for youth hostel units should not exceed five years, how the authorities will respond to young people's aspirations to continue to rent and stay in youth hostel units after living there for five years; (3) as it has been reported that some operating organizations of youth hostels intend to stipulate that if tenants give birth to children during their stay at the youth hostels, their tenancies will not be renewed and they will be required to move out from the hostels after a transitional period, whether the authorities have provided guidelines to the operating organizations on the handling of such kind of situations; if they have, of the details, including whether they have established a mechanism for exercising discretion to allow the aforesaid tenants with urgent housing needs to apply for extending their tenancies; if they have, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (4) apart from providing youth hostels, whether it has formulated new policies to help address the housing needs and home ownership aspirations of young people by enhancing the existing housing ladder; if it has not, of the reasons for that?
20. Hon Charles Peter MOK to ask: (Translation)
Some members of the information technology ("IT") industry have relayed to me that at present, the lack of recognition of the professional status of IT practitioners and the absence of a clear career advancement path in the industry have resulted in persistent shortage and mismatch of talents in the industry. In addition, the quality of IT education in primary and secondary schools varies greatly due to differences in school resources available, and the contents of the IT courses concerned are outdated, thus failing to nurture quality talents required for the development of the IT industry. All these, coupled with the steep decline in the number of students taking the Information and Communication Technology Examination of the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination in recent years, have caused such members of the IT industry to worry about the long-term supply of IT manpower. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) given that the Task Force on Information and Communications Technology ("ICT") Professional Development and Recognition set up under the Digital 21 Strategy Advisory Committee already submitted, in August 2015, its final report on examination of the case of establishing a unified framework for ICT professional recognition ("unified framework"), of the work progress of the authorities in implementing the relevant recommendations; whether they have drawn up a timetable for establishing the unified framework; if they have, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (2) of the details (including the number of training places offered and the average hours of training received by each teacher each year) of the professional training provided in the past three years by the authorities for teachers teaching the subjects of science, technology, engineering and mathematics in secondary schools; the details of the authorities' plans to provide professional training for such teachers in the coming three years (including the timetable); (3) as currently there are only eight partner schools participating in the Enriched IT Programme in Secondary Schools ("the Programme") implemented by the authorities, whether the authorities will expand the scale of the Programme; if they will, of the details (including the timetable, the number of partner schools to be added and the additional resources to be provided); if not, the reasons for that; and (4) whether the authorities will increase the subsidy provided under the Continuing Education Fund for people taking ICT courses, so as to encourage training bodies to provide more courses in this field and to encourage more people to take such courses?
21. Hon Kenneth LEUNG to ask: (Translation)
Recently, some members of the public have relayed to me that some airlines openly sold on their official web sites air tickets for flights not yet approved by the Civil Aviation Department, and put a remark on their reservation systems that the flights were "subject to government approval". The airlines concerned subsequently changed the departure time of those flights unilaterally, without making any compensation to customers who had bought the tickets. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it knows the meaning of the words "subject to government approval" displayed on the ticketing web sites of these airlines; whether the existing legislation prohibits airlines from openly selling air tickets for flights which are subject to approval by the authorities; if not, of the reasons for that; if so, whether the Government has studied if the airlines concerned have breached the law; (2) of the number of complaints received by the authorities in the past five years about the arrangements for the sale of air tickets by airlines and, among them, the number of those which were accepted by the authorities; and (3) whether it knows if the airlines had, when selling air tickets for flights which were subject to government approval, clearly informed their customers that the airlines had the right to change the departure time of flights unilaterally without making compensation; if the airlines concerned had not, whether it has studied if they have violated the provisions relating to "false trade descriptions" and "misleading omissions" in the Trade Descriptions Ordinance (Cap. 362); if it has studied, of the results?
22. Hon James TO to ask: (Translation)
To improve the living environment of public rental housing ("PRH") tenants, the Hong Kong Housing Authority ("HA") implements the "Territory-wide Overcrowding Relief transfer exercises" twice a year and the "Living Space Improvement Transfer Scheme" once a year. PRH tenants with a living space below 5.5 m2 and 7 m2 (calculated on the basis of internal floor area) per person may apply for transfer to larger flats under the two aforesaid transfer schemes respectively. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the respective numbers of applications received and approved by HA under the two aforesaid transfer schemes in the past three years; and the average magnitude of increase in the living space of the transferred tenants; (2) whether HA will concurrently handle applications for transfer to larger flats submitted by overcrowded households and their applications for splitting tenancies; if HA will, of the number of such applications from tenants handled last year; if not, the reasons for that; (3) of the respective numbers of PRH flats set aside by HA for transfer in various districts for flat allocation (i.e. Urban, Extended Urban and the Islands, as well as the New Territories) in each of the past three years; and (4) whether HA will carry out appropriate conversion works for the relevant units before the tenants move in, so as to facilitate tenants with special needs, such as pregnant women, people with disabilities or patients with mental illnesses, in adapting to the new environment more readily?
III. Bills
| First Reading
Appropriation Bill 2016 Second Reading (Debate to be adjourned) | |||||||||||||||||
| Appropriation Bill 2016 | : | The Financial Secretary
| |||||||||||||||
| Committee Stage and Third Reading
| |||||||||||||||||
| Copyright (Amendment) Bill 2014 | ： | Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development
Under Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development | |||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
| Second Reading (Debate to resume), Committee Stage and Third Reading
| |||||||||||||||||
| 1. | Bankruptcy (Amendment) Bill 2015 | : | Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
| ||||||||||||||
| Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury to move
Committee stage amendments (The amendments were issued on 9 December 2015 under LC Paper No. CB(3) 230/15-16) | |||||||||||||||||
| (Debate and voting arrangements for Committee stage of the Bankruptcy (Amendment) Bill 2015 (issued on 15 December 2015 under LC Paper No. CB(3) 252/15-16(01)))
| |||||||||||||||||
| 2. | Deposit Protection Scheme (Amendment) Bill 2015 | : | Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
| ||||||||||||||
| 3. | Promotion of Recycling and Proper Disposal (Electrical Equipment and Electronic Equipment) (Amendment) Bill 2015 | : | Secretary for the Environment
| ||||||||||||||
| Secretary for the Environment to move Committee stage amendments
(The amendments were issued on 28 January 2016 under LC Paper No. CB(3) 340/15-16) | |||||||||||||||||
| 4. | Fixed Penalty (Public Cleanliness Offences) (Amendment) Bill 2015 | : | Secretary for Home Affairs
| ||||||||||||||
| Hon WONG Yuk-man to move Committee stage amendments
(The amendments were issued on 5 February 2016 under LC Paper No. CB(3) 374/15-16) | |||||||||||||||||
| 5. | Property Management Services Bill | : | Secretary for Home Affairs
| ||||||||||||||
| Secretary for Home Affairs to move Committee stage amendments
(The amendments were issued on 29 January 2016 under LC Paper No. CB(3) 345/15-16) | |||||||||||||||||
IV. Motion
Proposed resolution under the Road Traffic Ordinance
Secretary for Transport and Housing to move the following motion:
Resolved that the period extended to 20 June 2016 by Legal Notice No. 54 of 2011, and for which there remains in force the limit on the number of vehicles which may be registered as public light buses specified in the Public Light Buses (Limitation on Number) Notice (Cap. 374 sub. leg. K), be further extended to 20 June 2021.
V. Members' Motions on Subsidiary Legislation and Other Instruments
VI. Members' Bills
| First Reading
Bank of Communications (Hong Kong) Limited (Merger) Bill Second Reading (Debate to be adjourned) | ||
| Bank of Communications (Hong Kong) Limited (Merger) Bill | : | Hon NG Leung-sing
|
| Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
Second Reading (Debate to resume), Committee Stage and Third Reading | ||
| Kowloon Tong Church of the Chinese Christian and Missionary Alliance Incorporation (Amendment) Bill 2014 | : | Dr Hon Priscilla LEUNG |
Clerk to the Legislative Council