A 15/16-23
Legislative Council
Agenda
Wednesday 27 April 2016 at 11:00 am
I. Tabling of Papers
| Subsidiary Legislation / Instruments | L.N. No. | |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Merchant Shipping (Prevention of Oil Pollution) (Amendment) Regulation 2016 | 47/2016 |
| 2. | Merchant Shipping (Local Vessels) (Amount of Insurance Cover) (Amendment) Notice 2016 | 48/2016 |
Other Papers
II. Questions for Written Replies
1. Hon Albert CHAN to ask: (Translation)
In reply to my question raised at the Legislative Council meeting of 13 May 2009 in respect of curbing Mainland fishing vessels illegally entering and fishing in Hong Kong waters, the Government indicated that the existing legislation had been effective in combating the illegal fishing activities concerned, and that the departments concerned would continue to enforce the law stringently as well as enhance their communication and co-operation with the Mainland authorities so as to combat such illegal activities. However, I have recently received complaints from quite a number of members of the public, claiming that the situation of Mainland fishing vessels entering and fishing illegally in Hong Kong waters (particularly the waters south of Lantau) remains serious and has been deteriorating in recent years. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of last year's manning scale of Marine Police officers patrolling the waters south of Lantau (covering the waters near Tai A Chau, Siu A Chau, Peng Chau and Cheung Chau); (2) of the number of Mainland fishing vessels intercepted for suspected illegal fishing and the number of Mainland fishermen involved, as well as the respective numbers of persons prosecuted and convicted for illegal fishing, in each of the past seven years; and (3) whether the authorities have, since 2009, allocated more resources than before for combating the aforesaid illegal fishing activities; if they have, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; whether they will consider allocating additional resources for law enforcement, improving the existing prosecution mechanism, raising the relevant penalties, or taking other measures, so as to further curb such activities, thereby safeguarding the rights and interests of local fishermen, and conserving Hong Kong's marine ecosystem; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
2. Dr Hon Elizabeth QUAT to ask: (Translation)
Given that the population of Sai Kung has been increasing incessantly in recent years, traffic congestion occurs frequently at certain sections of Hiram's Highway, which is the major road linking up Sai Kung with East Kowloon and Tseung Kwan O. Moreover, Sai Kung is praised as the Back Garden of Hong Kong and quite a number of members of the public and tourists go to Sai Kung for recreational purpose during holidays. The high traffic volume so generated has overloaded Sai Kung's transport infrastructures. On the other hand, in recent years, many members of the public and tourists take leisure boats from Sai Kung to visit the Hong Kong Global Geopark of China, resulting in a shortfall of berthing spaces for leisure boats in the inland sea of Sai Kung. Regarding the easing of land traffic congestion and improving the berthing facilities for leisure boats in Sai Kung, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) given that the Hiram's Highway Improvement Stage 1 project is underway, whether the authorities have implemented temporary traffic measures to alleviate the impact of the project on the residents of Sai Kung; if they have, of the details and implementation timetable; if not, the reasons for that; (2) given that some members of the Sai Kung District Council have relayed to me that traffic congestion often occurs on Clear Water Bay Road and New Clear Water Bay Road at present, and they have therefore made the proposals of (i) widening the section of New Clear Water Bay Road near Shun Lee Estate from a three-lane to a four-lane carriageway, (ii) constructing a two-lane-two-way flyover straddling Clear Water Bay Road and spanning from Fung Shing Street at Choi Wan Estate to New Clear Water Bay Road, and (iii) constructing a flyover at the section of New Clear Water Bay Road near St. Joseph's Anglo-Chinese School connecting Lung Cheung Road, Prince Edward Road and Kwun Tong Road, so as to ease the traffic congestion in the relevant areas, whether the authorities will accept those proposals; if they will, of the details and implementation timetable; if not, the reasons for that and the improvement measures to be taken by the authorities to ease the traffic congestion in the areas concerned; (3) whether it will plan afresh and increase the number of berthing spaces for leisure boats in the inland sea of Sai Kung; if it will, of the details and implementation timetable; if not, the reasons for that; and (4) whether it will consider providing ancillary facilities for leisure boats, e.g. provision of water taps, petrol filling stations and fire-fighting installations along the shore; if it will, of the details and implementation timetable; if not, the reasons for that?
3. Hon Charles Peter MOK to ask: (Translation)
The eligibility for registration as electors in the Information Technology Functional Constituency ("ITFC") of the Legislative Council ("LegCo") is based on memberships in bodies specified in the Legislative Council Ordinance (Cap. 542) ("specified bodies"). Under section 3(2A) and (2B) of Cap. 542, an amendment to or substitution of the constitution of a specified body which relates to the following is subject to approval by the Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs ("SCMA") in writing: (a) the objects of the body, (b) the criteria and conditions of membership of the body, or (c) the eligibility of members of the body to vote at a general meeting of the body, but such power of SCMA to give such an approval may be exercised only for the purpose of defining the composition of the relevant functional constituency. On the other hand, it has been reported recently that one ITFC specified body has engaged in a membership conversion programme with a non-specified body, in a bid to evade certain restrictions for elector registration and enable members of that non-specified body to become eligible electors of ITFC. There are views that at present, apart from specified bodies carrying out their own vetting of their members' professional and academic qualifications, there is no mechanism in place to govern membership matters of specified bodies, resulting in a lack of transparency in the eligibility of ITFC electors. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the current number of registered electors in ITFC; whether it knows the current number of ITFC specified bodies which implement membership conversion arrangements with non-specified bodies; (2) whether it conducted, in the past four years, any examination on the administration of memberships of ITFC specified bodies, so as to ensure that their members meet the eligibility requirements for ITFC electors under Cap. 542; (3) of the ITFC specified bodies to which the Independent Commission Against Corruption offered advice on membership administration under its visit-cum-advisory service programme in the past four years; (4) of the number of complaints received by the authorities in the past four years involving membership conversion arrangements of ITFC specified bodies with non-specified bodies, and the related follow-up actions; whether they have studied (i) if those persons who obtained memberships of specified bodies through such arrangements possess recognized professional qualifications, and (ii) if it is against the law for such persons to vote in the LegCo ITFC election when they do not possess the recognized qualifications; (5) whether it has assessed if the aforesaid membership conversion arrangements have violated the requirements in section 3(2A) and (2B) of Cap. 542; (6) whether it has compiled statistics on those ITFC specified bodies which implemented the aforesaid membership conversion arrangements in the past four years, as well as the number of such bodies which had obtained written approval of SCMA for implementation of such membership conversion arrangements and the relevant details; (7) whether the authorities will, upon knowing that changes have been made to the eligibility of membership of a specified body, review the eligibility of the members of such body for registration as electors for the constituency concerned; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (8) whether it has plans to review the relevant provisions of Cap. 542 in the light of the aforesaid membership conversion arrangements, so that measures (such as establishing a monitoring system and conducting random checks proactively) can be put in place to plug the relevant loopholes to ensure the fairness of this year's LegCo Election and the Election Committee Subsector Elections; if it has such plans, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
4. Hon Kenneth LEUNG to ask: (Translation)
Recently, the media have made known to the public a huge number of confidential documents leaked from a Panamanian law firm ("the Panama Papers"), exposing the fact that quite a number of politicians, public officials and celebrities across the world have set up offshore companies in tax havens and they are possibly involved in illegal activities such as assets hiding, tax evasion, money laundering, etc. Those papers have also revealed that, among the cities in the world, Hong Kong has the greatest number of intermediaries offering services for setting up offshore companies and, for that reason, been dubbed "a top centre for secretive offshore financial services". Such a situation has aroused concerns about whether the intermediaries in Hong Kong are helping their clientele, on a massive scale, to set up offshore companies for the purpose of carrying out the aforesaid illegal activities, and whether such activities will jeopardize the reputation of Hong Kong as an international financial centre. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the respective numbers of (i) reports of suspicious transactions received and (ii) such reported cases found to be substantiated, in each of the past five years by the Joint Financial Intelligence Unit ("JFIU"), which is jointly run by staff of the Hong Kong Police Force and the Hong Kong Customs & Excise Department, together with a tabulated breakdown by trade/sector involved; (2) of the respective staffing establishment of JFIU and its four Data Analysis Teams, together with the average monthly number of reported suspicious transactions handled by each member of those teams; the respective overtime work situations of the various types of JFIU staff last year; (3) whether it has assessed the adequacy of JFIU's current manpower and other resources, and has planned to conduct a comprehensive review of JFIU's structure and functions so as to step up its efforts to combat the aforesaid illegal activities; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (4) whether it knows the number of intermediaries in Hong Kong specialized in offering services for setting up offshore companies; of the legislation and policies the authorities currently have in place to regulate the conduct of business of such intermediaries; and whether it took any enforcement actions in the past three years against the alleged offending intermediaries; if it did, of the details; and (5) whether it has planned to conduct proactive investigations on the basis of the information revealed by the Panama Papers to find out whether any local intermediaries have committed illegal acts, and to publish the results of such investigations locally and internationally; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
5. Hon CHAN Hak-kan to ask: (Translation)
According to a research report on "Challenges of Public Libraries in Hong Kong" released by the Legislative Council Secretariat, despite a sustained uptrend in the number of registered borrowers of public libraries ("libraries") in recent years, the usage of libraries has faced downward pressure over the past decade (e.g. the total number of physical visits to libraries declined by 3% in the period from 2012 to 2014). The causes for such a situation include the growing popularity of Internet usage for information search and online reading (but the circulation of e-books in libraries declined by 7% between 2011 and 2014), and the limited collection of library materials. The per capita library collection of Hong Kong libraries was only 1.9 items last year, which is two-thirds of the average figure of developed places in the world and below international indicators. The distribution of library collection among various districts of Hong Kong is also uneven. Those districts with lower median monthly household income, including Kwun Tong, Sham Shui Po, Kwai Tsing, Tuen Mun and Yuen Long, often have smaller per capita library collection. Moreover, the growth of library e-book collection is rather slow, with e-books accounting for only 1.7% of the total collection and their circulation accounting for merely 0.3% of the total circulation in 2014. On the contrary, the library e-books collection in Singapore surged by nearly three times in five years to 3.5 million copies in 2014, a figure almost 18 times that of Hong Kong. On improving the usage of libraries, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of (i) the number of visits to libraries, (ii) the number of enquiries made on reference materials, (iii) the number of books on loan, (iv) the number of multimedia items on loan and (v) the circulation of e-books, in each of the past five years (set out in a table); (2) whether it will review and adjust the library collections of the libraries in all of the 18 districts across the territory to ensure that per capita library collections of the libraries in various districts are roughly the same; if it will, of the details; if not, of the reasons for that; (3) whether it has plans to allocate more resources for purchasing e-books and digitization of library materials; if it does, of the estimated expenditure; if not, the reasons for that; (4) as it is learnt that the Singaporean authorities offer reading devices, e.g. e-readers and tablets, for loan up to three weeks for people who are in need of them, whether the authorities will, in reviewing the library services, consider making reference to such a practice, so as to enhance public interest in borrowing e-books; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (5) whether it will improve the existing "Multimedia Information" mobile application for libraries, so as to facilitate the public's browsing and viewing of e-books, images as well as audio and video materials of the libraries anywhere and anytime on their mobile devices; (6) as I have learnt that the some 82 000 copies of Chinese e-books in the local libraries are mainly scholarly books, and therefore the average circulation rate of which has been persistently declining in the past three years, whether the authorities will consider purchasing other types of e-books, e.g. novels and other kinds of books for leisure reading and self-improvement, so as to attract members of the public to borrow such e-books; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (7) whether it will step up its publicity and public education efforts to promote the library collections and e-book lending services, so as to promote a reading culture; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
6. Hon Frederick FUNG to ask: (Translation)
Some members of the financial technology ("Fintech") industry have pointed out that while crowdfunding on the Internet has become very popular around the world in recent years, its development in Hong Kong has been extremely slow. Apart from the fact that local crowdfunding activities are small in scale and do not involve any equity investment, most of them are merely fund-raising activities conducted by arts and cultural groups and charitable bodies. Those people consider that such a situation is mainly attributable to the regulatory authorities in Hong Kong adopting a conservative attitude towards crowdfunding activities, and their failure to review and amend the relevant legislation in a timely manner to tie in with the innovations in the relevant technologies and funding approaches. On the contrary, in some jurisdictions, such as the United States, the United Kingdom and Taiwan dedicated legislation has been enacted to cater for crowdfunding activities. For example, in the United States, equity crowdfunding activities may be exempted from the requirements of the relevant securities laws provided that certain requirements relating to investor protection have been met; in the United Kingdom, enterprises are allowed to raise funds from those retail investors who have fulfilled certain financial conditions through equity crowdfunding platforms; in Taiwan, the authorities enacted legislation in the middle of last year to equity crowdfunding, making Taiwan the seventh jurisdiction in the world in which such activities are permitted. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it has carried out any study on how equity crowdfunding activities should be regulated; if it has, of the outcome of the study; whether the authorities will, by making reference to the practices of other jurisdictions, enact legislation and relax relevant requirements, so as to promote the development of equity crowdfunding activities in Hong Kong; (2) whether it has reviewed if the existing financial regulatory regime can tie in with the development of Fintech; whether it has explored how a balance between the protection of investors and the promotion of the development of Fintech can be struck; if it has explored, of the outcome; if not, the reasons for that; and (3) given that the authorities established the Steering Group on Financial Technologies ("the Steering Group") last year to make recommendations to the Government on how to develop Hong Kong into and promote her as a Fintech hub, and that the Steering Group released a report in February this year, whether the Steering Group, in coming up with the relevant recommendations, had drawn on other jurisdictions' experience in promoting the development of Fintech; if the Steering Group had, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
7. Hon Cyd HO to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that the appointment dates available for booking by new cases at the medical specialist outpatient ("SOP") clinics of one public hospital are in general at the end of 2017 the earliest, and those for certain specialties are even as late as May 2018. This situation reflects a serious shortage of manpower for various medical SOP clinics. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:
(1) (i) the current number of specialists in various medical specialties of public hospitals, and among such types of personnel, (ii) the number of those who left the service and (iii) the number of new recruits, in each of the past three years; among the new patients for the SOP clinics, the respective numbers of those who, before receiving the first treatment, (iv) sought treatments at the accident and emergency departments for the diseases concerned and (v) died of the diseases concerned, in each of the past three years (set out in the table below); and
Medical specialties (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) (v) 2013 2014 2015 2013 2014 2015 2013 2014 2015 2013 2014 2015 Cardiology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatric medicine Nephrology Neurology Respiratory medicine Haematology Rheumatology Total (2) the new measures put in place by the Hospital Authority to shorten the waiting time for bookings by new cases at various medical SOP clinics, so that the patients concerned may receive treatments as early as possible?
8. Hon Tommy CHEUNG to ask: (Translation)
To safeguard food safety, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department has prepared a new set of permits for the regulation of online sale of restricted foods ("permits"), which are open for application by the food business sector from 22 February this year. Some members of the food business sector have relayed to me their hope that while the authorities regulate the online sale of restricted foods, they can facilitate business operation as far as possible and expedite the processing of applications for permits, so that operators can commence conducting the business of online food selling as early as possible. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the respective numbers of cases, in each of the past five years, in which the authorities issued verbal warnings to and instituted prosecutions against persons who had conducted online sale of (i) foods manufactured by family-run workshops not granted with a food factory licence, or (ii) foods imported without an import licence as required by the law; (2) of the number of applications for permits received by the authorities since 22 February this year; among them, the respective numbers of applications approved and rejected, as well as the reasons for some of the applications being rejected (set out in a table); (3) of the respective numbers of cases, since 22 February this year, in which the authorities issued verbal warnings to and instituted prosecutions against persons who had conducted online sale of restricted foods without permits; and (4) how the authorities carry out publicity and public education work to enable members of the public to understand the new measures for regulating online sale of restricted foods and to distinguish whether an online seller has obtained the relevant food business licences or permits?
9. Hon Mrs Regina IP to ask: (Translation)
Some members of the public have pointed out that the rehabilitative services in Hong Kong have all along been comprehensive, which are effective in rehabilitating discharged prisoners and reducing the likelihood of their committing crimes again ("recidivism"), thereby making our community safer and helping reduce the workload of the Correctional Services Department and related public expenditure. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the data on Hong Kong's recidivism rates in the past decade and their trend; (2) whether it knows how Hong Kong's recidivism rates compare with those in advanced neighbouring countries; (3) of the measures currently adopted by the authorities to reduce recidivism rates; and (4) whether the authorities will make public the statistics on recidivism rates so that academic institutions may make use of them in conducting long-term tracking studies; if they will not, of the reasons for that?
10. Prof Hon Joseph LEE to ask: (Translation)
Under the existing legislation, corrective contact lenses are classified as a medical device and must be prescribed and supplied on prescription by qualified registered professionals, including optometrists and ophthalmologists. However, the sale and prescription of non-corrective contact lenses (e.g. cosmetic contact lenses which are commonly known as "big eyes") are not regulated. Some optometrists have pointed out that in order to protect the eyes from being injured, members of the public should, before wearing any corrective or non-corrective contact lenses, receive examinations by professionals in respect of the health conditions of their eyes and the curvature of their eyeballs. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether the authorities examined, in the past five years, the situation in which corrective contact lenses were supplied to members of the public by persons who were not registered professionals (including the supply of such lenses at physical and online shops); if they did, of the number of known cases; whether prosecutions were instituted against the relevant offenders; if so, of the number of such cases; (2) whether the authorities know the number of cases in each of the past five years in which members of the public who, after contracting eye diseases due to wearing non-corrective contact lenses, sought consultation at clinics under the Hospital Authority and, among such cases, the number of those involving contact lenses which were not supplied on prescription by registered professionals; if they do not know, whether they will consider collecting the figures of such type of cases; (3) given that the consultant commissioned by the Department of Health ("DH") to study the business impact of the proposed statutory regulation for medical devices has recommended, in the Executive Summary of the DH's Final Report on Business Impact Assessment on Statutory Regulation of Medical Devices, that the prescription of non-corrective contact lenses which are for cosmetic purposes at the retail level should be regulated (e.g. mandating prescription by registered optometrists only) so as to ensure that the contact lenses prescribed will be suitable for users, whether the authorities will accept the recommendation concerned; if they will, of the implementation timetable; if not, the reasons for that; and (4) whether the authorities will step up their publicity and public education efforts so that members of the public will be aware of the risks associated with improper wearing of non-corrective contact lenses; if they will, of the details of the relevant work; if not, the reasons for that?
11. Hon IP Kwok-him to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that the Hong Kong Observatory has forecast that the rainfall in Hong Kong this year will be higher than that in previous years, and the Geotechnical Engineering Office ("GEO") has also forecast that the number of landslide incidents for the year will correspondingly increase. GEO will therefore carry out works so that slopes can better withstand severe rainstorms. In this regard, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the respective current numbers of man-made slopes and natural hillsides on government lands and private lands; whether the Government will, in light of the aforesaid forecasts, carry out comprehensive assessment on the stability of those slopes prior to the onset of the rainy season this year to protect the lives and safety of members of the public; if it will, of the relevant timetable; if not, the reasons for that; (2) given that in 2014, a big tree collapsed from a slope inside a private residential estate at Robinson Road and fell onto a footpath, crushing a passing pregnant woman to death, whether the Government will take relevant precautionary measures in public places (e.g. bus stations and public light bus stations) with heavy pedestrian flows and adjacent to slopes prior to the onset of the rainy season this year to safeguard public safety; if it will not, of the reasons for that; if it will, apart from issuing notices to the relevant private lot owners to remind them of their responsibilities, what other measures the Government will take in respect of places adjacent to slopes on private lands, and what measures the Government will take in respect of places adjacent to man-made slopes and natural hillsides on government lands; and (3) whether it has compiled statistics on the current number of dangerous slopes across the territory which were formed as a result of fly-tipping of soil; if it has, of the number of such slopes which are in danger of collapse; whether the Government will hydroseed the surface layers of those slopes to reinforce them with vegetation; if it will not, of the reasons for that?
12. Dr Hon Priscilla LEUNG to ask: (Translation)
The Hong Kong Housing Authority ("HA") announced in February 2014 that it would, free of charge for all of the flats of public rental housing ("PRH") estates and the unsold rental flats of Tenants Purchase Scheme estates, replace the laundry pole holders (commonly known as the "three joss sticks" laundry racks) on the external walls of the flats with rope-operated laundry racks. In reply to a question raised by a Member of this Council on 3 February this year, the Government indicated that the replacement works had been completed for only 14 of the 162 housing estates concerned. On the other hand, it has been reported that the Hong Kong Housing Society ("HKHS") removed the laundry pole holders on the external walls of some of the flats of its housing estates, but afterwards it did not install new laundry racks for the flats concerned nor did it allow the tenants concerned to do so at their own expense. As a result, such tenants can only use the ceiling-mounted laundry hangers between the kitchen and the toilet on the balcony for drying clothes, making it easy for cooking oil smell clinging to such clothes. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the latest progress of HA's laundry rack replacement works, including the respective names and numbers of such housing estates for which (i) the works have been completed, (ii) the works are in progress, (iii) the works contracts have been awarded and the works are in the pipeline, and (iv) the tendering exercises for the works are yet to be conducted, as well as the respective works schedules for items (ii) to (iv); (2) as the authorities have indicated that a three-year warranty is provided for the new laundry racks and that the contractors are required to, apart from conducting pre-installation sample tests on the new laundry racks, conduct second-round tests of such racks in the course of installation for quality assurance, and yet it has been reported that some PRH tenants whose flats have been installed with the new laundry racks have complained that the nylon ropes of such racks get damaged easily, whether the authorities have followed up on the results of the second round tests conducted by the contractors; if they have, of the details; (3) whether HA will (i) consider improving the design of the new laundry racks, (ii) replace the defective new laundry racks for tenants free of charge, and (iii) install new laundry racks of better quality for those flats for which the laundry rack replacement works have yet to be carried out; if HA will, of the details; if not; the reasons for that; and (4) whether the Government will consider advising HKHS to follow the practice of HA by installing rope-operated laundry racks on the external walls of all its rental flats (regardless of whether or not the laundry pole holders there have been removed); if it will, of the details; if not; the reasons for that?
13. Hon IP Kin-yuen to ask: (Translation)
Under subsections (3)(c), (4) and (5) of section 40AF of the Education Ordinance (Cap. 279), recruitment of teachers by incorporated management committees ("IMCs") of schools to fill teaching posts within the establishment of staff ("the establishment") provided for in the codes of aid ("COA") (including the Code of Aid for Primary Schools, the Code of Aid for Secondary Schools, the Code of Aid for Special Schools, and the Code of Aid for Aided Schools applicable to aided schools with an IMC) must be conducted in accordance with the terms and conditions of service as set out in COA. According to a judgment handed down by the Court of Final Appeal on the case of KO Hon-yue v the Management Committee of Fung Kai No. 1 Secondary School for the year 2001 (FACV 8/2011), schools may not terminate the employment of teachers within the establishment simply by adopting the approach of letting employment contracts expire or giving such teachers due notice, and they are required to follow the procedures set out in COA. Moreover, COA has not specified that schools may employ teachers for a defined contract period ("DCP") to fill teaching posts within the establishment. Nevertheless, quite a number of aided schools have been employing teachers on DCP terms to fill permanent teaching posts in their establishment ("regular teachers on DCP terms") in recent years. According to the information provided by the authorities, there are over 1 200 regular teachers on DCP terms in this school year, and their average length of service is 2.1 years and the longest length of service among them is 10 years. Some regular teachers on DCP terms have pointed out that as their contracts need to be renewed annually, they have been deprived of job security, their professional development has been seriously hindered, and a succession problem in the teaching profession has arisen. They have also pointed out that, according to Section 56 of the Code of Aid for Primary Schools and Code 13.2(k)(iv) of the Code of Aid for Aided Schools, teachers on first appointment to a school will serve a probationary period of two years and be employed by the same school thereafter. In the event that the schools wish to terminate their employment (regardless of whether the probationary period has ended), they may not do so simply on the premise that the employment contracts have expired but they have to follow the specified procedures. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it knows since when aided schools have employed regular teachers on DCP terms; (2) of the current number of regular teachers on DCP terms with a length of service of five to 10 years; whether it knows the respective reasons why aided schools have (i) employed those teachers on DCP terms for prolonged periods, and (ii) not converted them to regular teachers on permanent terms over the years (set out such information separately by primary and secondary schools); (3) of the respective numbers, in the past five years, of regular teachers on DCP terms in primary and secondary schools whose employment contracts were not renewed upon expiry or whose employment was terminated by their schools after giving due notice or payment in lieu of notice; whether it knows the reasons why those teachers' contracts were not renewed/employment was terminated; whether it has assessed (i) the legal basis for the schools adopting this practice, and (ii) if such a practice is in breach of the relevant requirements under the Basic Law, the Education Ordinance, the Employment Ordinance (Cap. 57), COA and the common law; (4) whether the Education Bureau ("EDB") conducted any review in the past three years to see if sufficient job security had been provided for regular teachers on DCP terms; if EDB did, of the details; (5) given that EDB has all along been allowing aided schools to employ regular teachers on DCP terms, whether EDB has examined if the relevant practices of employment and termination of employment have violated the relevant requirements under the legislation concerned and COA; if EDB has, of the details; if not, whether EDB will conduct such an examination; if EDB will, when the examination will be completed and the relevant outcome published; (6) as it has been specified in the Code of aid for Primary Schools (1994 edition) and the Code of Aid for Secondary Schools (1994 edition) have provided that the employment of teachers after the two-year probationary period will be permanent and that the termination of the employment of such teachers by the schools must follow specified procedures, of the intent of EDB in setting out such provisions; (7) whether it has assessed if the employment contracts of the teachers within the establishment who have passed the two-year probationary period as mentioned in (6) are permanent contracts and not subject to annual renewal; if it has assessed and the outcome is in the affirmative, and given that the Code of Aid for Primary Schools and the Code of Aid for Secondary Schools published in 1994 contain provisions relating to permanent employment not subject to annual renewal, of the reasons why such provisions have not been included in all the various editions of the Code of Aid for Aided Schools published since 2005; the policy considerations for the decision of EDB not to include such provisions in the Code of Aid for Aided Schools; whether EDB will consider adding such provisions to that code; if EDB will, of the specific timetable; if not, the reasons for that; (8) whether it has examined if EDB's allowing schools to employ regular teachers on DCP terms is in contradiction with the intent of establishing permanent teaching posts; of the reasons for EDB changing the following arrangement: teachers first employed within the establishment will serve a probationary period of two years and will continue to be employed by the same school thereafter; (9) whether EDB has any plans to require aided schools to convert regular teachers on DCP terms to regular teachers on permanent terms; if EDB does, when the relevant work will be completed; if not, of the reasons for that; and (10) given that EDB has repeatedly revised COA, thus giving rise to differences between the terms in the employment contracts for newly appointed and those for existing teachers as well as changes to the legal position of and remuneration packages for teachers, whether EDB will conduct an extensive consultation with frontline teachers before revising COA in future; if EDB will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
14. Dr Hon KWOK Ka-ki to ask: (Translation)
Currently, quite a number of patients suffering from organ failure are waiting for transplant of deceased organs in order to sustain life. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the respective numbers of patients waiting for transplant of various types of deceased organs, and the respective average time for which they had waited, as at April 2016; (2) whether it knows the number of patients who passed away in each of the past five years while waiting for transplant of deceased organs; (3) of the number of members of the public who newly signed the organ donation card in each of the past five years; (4) of the channels through which the authorities promoted organ donation in the past five years and the relevant expenditure incurred; the difficulties encountered by the authorities in promoting organ donation; whether the authorities have conducted regular reviews on the effectiveness of the various publicity channels; and (5) if it knows whether there were Hong Kong residents who sought medical treatment from local public hospitals in each of the past five years due to after-effects of the organ transplant operations they received outside Hong Kong; if there were, the number of such patients and the details?
15. Hon TANG Ka-piu to ask: (Translation)
Some residents in the North District have relayed to me that although the Government has implemented certain measures in recent months to step up its efforts in combating parallel trading activities, such activities are still rampant in the district, causing nuisance to the daily living of residents. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the details of the immigration control measures implemented by the authorities to combat parallel trading activities in the past three years; (2) of the respective numbers of Mainland residents arrested and prosecuted by the authorities for suspected engagement in parallel trading activities in each of the past three years, with a breakdown by the type of travel documents they held and by the offence involved; (3) given that since April last year, Shenzhen permanent residents are no longer issued with one-year multiple-entry Individual Visit Endorsements (commonly known as "multiple-entry endorsements") (those endorsements already issued are not affected and will expire one after another within one year), and only "one trip per week" Individual Visit Endorsements (commonly known as "one trip per week endorsements") may be issued to them, of the respective numbers of Mainland residents who entered the territory with these two types of endorsements, as well as the percentages of such numbers in the total number of Mainland visitors, in the past three months; whether the authorities have assessed the effectiveness of the aforesaid measure in alleviating the problem of parallel trading; (4) in each month in the past three years, of (i) the number of persons put on the "watch list of suspected parallel traders" drawn up by the Immigration Department, (ii) the number of immigration examinations of persons on the watch list conducted by the authorities, and (iii) the number of persons on the watch list refused entries, with a breakdown by immigration control point; (5) in the past three years, of the number of black spots for parallel trading activities and their locations each year, as well as the respective numbers of law enforcement actions taken by the departments concerned at such black spots and Fixed Penalty Notices issued in each month; the current average daily number of times, as arranged by the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, for which cleansing work is carried out on streets near such black spots; (6) of the respective numbers of Fixed Penalty Notices issued by the Police for road obstructions caused by illegal parking and by loading or unloading of goods in connection with parallel trading activities, in each of the past three years; whether the Police took other law enforcement actions (e.g. impounding the vehicles concerned) to combat parallel trading activities; (7) in each month in the past three years, of (i) the number of inspections for industrial buildings conducted by the authorities to combat parallel trading activities, and (ii) the number of warning letters issued by the authorities to owners of industrial building units for breaches of permitted uses as well as (iii) the number of cases where such warning letters were registered at the Land Registry (commonly known as "imposing an encumbrance"), with a breakdown by type of such breaches; (8) whether it knows the progress of preparatory work for the establishment of a proposed boundary shopping mall near Lok Ma Chau Control Point; whether the authorities have provided any assistance for the implementation of the project, and whether they have formulated any plan on how to minimize the impacts of the project on the daily living of residents and the transport in that district; if they have, of the details; and (9) whether the Government held any inter-departmental meetings on combating parallel trading activities last year; if it did, of the number of such meetings held and the government departments which sent representatives to attend such meetings, as well as the conclusions drawn upon reviews at such meetings of the effectiveness of the various measures for combating parallel trading activities; if no such meeting was held, the reasons for that?
16. Dr Hon Kenneth CHAN to ask: (Translation)
According to the Hong Kong Arts Development Council Ordinance (Cap. 472), except for the three official members, the Chairman, Vice-chairman and not more than 22 other members of the Hong Kong Arts Development Council ("HKADC") shall be appointed by the Chief Executive ("CE") for a term not exceeding three years. Of the 22 members, CE may appoint up to 10 members who have been nominated by specified arts interests. The authorities are conducting an exercise to nominate representatives of arts interests for the new term of office of HKADC ("nomination exercise"). In view of the widespread controversies which have aroused over the mechanism and procedures for the nomination exercise for the last term of office, quite a number of members of the arts sector consider that the authorities should improve the mechanism and procedures for the nomination exercise for the new term of office. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it knows the number of registered voters in each arts interest in the nomination exercise for each of the past three terms of office; (2) given that the Home Affairs Bureau ("HAB") submitted a paper on the review of the mechanism and arrangements for the nomination exercise to this Council early this year, of the latest progress of the follow-up actions taken by HAB and HKADC in respect of the tasks set out in the paper; for those tasks the follow-up actions for which have not been taken or are uncompleted, whether the authorities have a specific timetable for their completion; whether HAB and HKADC will review afresh the mechanism concerned and its operation upon completion of the nomination exercise for the new term of office; if they will, of the specific contents of the review; if not, the reasons for that; (3) given that HAB has appointed an agent for the nomination exercise for the new term of office through tendering procedures, of the number of bidding documents received by HAB; the estimated expenditure to be incurred for the nomination exercise for the new term of office, with a breakdown by major expenditure item; and (4) how the Government and HKADC will encourage eligible persons to register as voters for and actively participate in the nomination exercise; of the details of the relevant work?
17. Hon Emily LAU to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the outsourcing of public services, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) given that the authorities have all along been emphasizing that cost effectiveness is the basis for outsourcing public services, but they indicated in reply to my written question raised on 2 March this year that they did not have information on the savings in public expenditure through outsourcing of cleaning and security services by various government departments, how the authorities determine whether outsourcing public services is a cost-effective approach when they do not have such information; (2) how the median wages of civil servants in the past three years compared to those of non-civil service contract staff and outsourced staff who performed comparable duties (with a breakdown of such information by duty); and (3) given the comments that in order to keep costs down with a view to securing service contracts, public service contractors generally will not offer outsourced workers wages whose rates are more generous than the statutory minimum wage rate, and that the Government, being the ultimate employer of a large number of grass-roots workers, is pushing their wages down indirectly and aggravating the problem of working poverty, whether the authorities will consider changing the practice of awarding outsourced service contracts according to the "lowest bid wins" principle, so as to improve the living standard of grass-roots workers?
III. Government Bills
| Committee Stage and Third Reading
| |||||||||||
| Appropriation Bill 2016 | : | The Financial Secretary
| |||||||||
| Amendments to Heads of Estimates in
committee of the whole Council on the Appropriation Bill 2016 | |||||||||||
| Hon Claudia MO, Hon Albert CHAN, Hon CHAN Chi-chuen, Hon Emily LAU, Hon James TO, Hon Albert HO, Dr Hon Helena WONG, Hon Gary FAN, Hon WONG Yuk-man, Hon CHEUNG Kwok-che, Dr Hon Fernando CHEUNG, Hon LEUNG Kwok-hung, Hon LEE Cheuk-yan, Hon Cyd HO, Hon IP Kin-yuen and Dr Hon KWOK Ka-ki to move the Committee stage amendments in the Appendix.
(These amendments were also issued on 19 April 2016 under LC Paper No. CB(3) 532/15-16) (Debate and voting arrangements for Committee stage of the Appropriation Bill 2016 (issued on 19 April 2016 under LC Paper No. CB(3) 536/15-16)) | |||||||||||
| Other Public Officers to attend the Committee stage | : | The Chief Secretary for Administration The Secretary for Justice Secretary for Transport and Housing Secretary for Labour and Welfare Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Secretary for Security Secretary for Education Secretary for Food and Health Secretary for the Environment Secretary for Development Secretary for Innovation and Technology Secretary for Home Affairs Secretary for the Civil Service Under Secretary for Home Affairs Under Secretary for the Environment Under Secretary for Transport and Housing Under Secretary for Security Under Secretary for Food and Health Under Secretary for Education Under Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Under Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Under Secretary for Development Under Secretary for Labour and Welfare Under Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Under Secretary for Innovation and Technology | |||||||||
| Second Reading (Debate to resume), Committee Stage and Third Reading
| |||||||||||
| 1. | The Hong Kong Institute of Education (Amendment) Bill 2016 | : | Secretary for Education
| ||||||||
| 2. | Eastern Harbour Crossing Legislation (Amendment) Bill 2015 | : | Secretary for Transport and Housing
| ||||||||
| Secretary for Transport and Housing to move Committee stage amendments
(The amendments were issued on 13 April 2016 under LC Paper No. CB(3) 515/15-16) | |||||||||||
| 3. | Inland Revenue (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2016 | : | Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
| ||||||||
| 4. | Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes (Amendment) Bill 2015 | : | Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
Under Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury | ||||||||
| |||||||||||
| (Debate and voting arrangements for Committee stage of the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes (Amendment) Bill 2015 (issued on 17 March 2016 under LC Paper No. CB(3) 483/15-16(01)))
| |||||||||||
| 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) | |||||||||||
| (Debate and voting arrangements for Committee stage of the Property Management Services Bill (issued on 1 March 2016 under LC Paper No. CB(3) 435/15-16(01)))
| |||||||||||
| 6. | Chinese Permanent Cemeteries (Amendment) Bill 2015 | : | Secretary for Home Affairs
| ||||||||
| Secretary for Home Affairs to move Committee stage amendments
(The amendments were issued on 13 April 2016 under LC Paper No. CB(3) 512/15-16) | |||||||||||
| 7. | Inland Revenue (Amendment) (No. 4) 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 13 April 2016 under LC Paper No. CB(3) 516/15-16) | |||||||||||
| 8. | Promotion of Recycling and Proper Disposal (Product Container) (Amendment) Bill 2015 | : | Secretary for the Environment
| ||||||||
| Secretary for the Environment to move Committee stage amendments
(The amendments were issued on 13 April 2016 under LC Paper No. CB(3) 514/15-16) | |||||||||||
| 9. | Companies (Winding Up and Miscellaneous Provisions) (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 13 April 2016 under LC Paper No. CB(3) 513/15-16) | |||||||||||
| 10. | Electoral Legislation (Miscellaneous Amendments) (No. 2) Bill 2015 | : | Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs
| ||||||||
| 11. | Judiciary (Five-day Week) (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 2016 | : | The Chief Secretary for Administration
| ||||||||
| 12. | Interception of Communications and Surveillance (Amendment) Bill 2015 | : | Secretary for Security
| ||||||||
| |||||||||||
| 13. | Kai Tak Cruise Terminal Bill | : | Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development
| ||||||||
| Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development to move Committee stage amendments
(The amendments were issued on 22 April 2016 under LC Paper No. CB(3) 543/15-16) | |||||||||||
IV. Government Motions
| 1. | 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. |
| 2. | Proposed resolution under the Public Bus Services Ordinance
Secretary for Transport and Housing to move the following motion: Resolved that the franchise granted on 22 September 2015 under section 5 of the Public Bus Services Ordinance (Cap. 230) to Citybus Limited (城巴有限公司) and published in the Gazette as G.N. 7692 of 2015 is not subject to sections 27, 28, 29 and 31 of that Ordinance for the entire period of the franchise. |
| 3. | Proposed resolution under the Public Bus Services Ordinance
Secretary for Transport and Housing to move the following motion: Resolved that the franchise granted on 22 September 2015 under section 5 of the Public Bus Services Ordinance (Cap. 230) to New Lantao Bus Company (1973) Limited (新大嶼山巴士(1973)有限公司) and published in the Gazette as G.N. 7693 of 2015 is not subject to sections 27, 28, 29 and 31 of that Ordinance for the entire period of the franchise. |
| 4. | Proposed resolution under the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Ordinance
Secretary for Security to move the following motion: Resolved that the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters (Sweden) Order, made by the Chief Executive in Council on 16 February 2016, be approved. |
| (The Order is in Appendix I and was also issued on
14 April 2016 under LC Paper No. CB(3) 518/15-16) | |
| 5. | Proposed resolution under the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Ordinance
Secretary for Security to move the following motion: Resolved that the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters (Argentina) Order, made by the Chief Executive in Council on 16 February 2016, be approved. |
| (The Order is in Appendix II and was also issued on
14 April 2016 under LC Paper No. CB(3) 518/15-16) | |
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
|
VII. Members' Motions
| 1. | Motion under the Legislative Council (Powers and Privileges) Ordinance
Hon WONG Yuk-man to move the following motion: That this Council appoints a select committee to inquire into the clashes between the Police and members of the public in Mong Kok from the night of 8 February to the early morning of 9 February 2016 which caused injuries to many people, and other related matters; and that in the performance of its duties the committee be authorized under section 9(2) of the Legislative Council (Powers and Privileges) Ordinance (Cap. 382) to exercise the powers conferred by section 9(1) of that Ordinance. Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Security | ||||
| 2. | Actively studying the establishment of a middle class commission
Hon Tommy CHEUNG to move the following motion: (Translation) That this Council requests the Government to actively study the establishment of a middle class commission. Amendments to the motion | ||||
| (i) | Hon Frankie YICK to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To add "the middle class has always been an important force for maintaining social stability and promoting economic development, but in recent years, the long-standing concerns in the external economic environment, the seriously lopsided development of Hong Kong's industries, the short supply of housing, the polarization between the rich and the poor, and the never-ending political wrangling have caused the middle class to face problems of housing, taxation, education and healthcare, etc., and created a trend of downward mobility of the middle class; the Government's support for the middle class has all along been limited to one-off relief measures such as providing tax rebates, increasing tax allowances, exempting rates or offering electricity charge subsidies, etc., but these measures are just utterly inadequate for the middle class and have not practically alleviated their plight; in addition, as currently there is no precise definition of the middle class, and the Government does not regularly provide statistics and information specific to the middle class, if the authorities or community organizations use such information to formulate policies or measures to support the middle class, such policies or measures will very often be out of focus, biased and superficial; in this connection," after "That"; and to add "to comprehensively review the policies or measures relating to the middle class from a focused and higher-level perspective, so as to alleviate the various problems faced by the middle class and consolidate the strength of the middle class, thereby promoting afresh economic development and strengthening the momentum of upward mobility of the community as a whole; the relevant measures should include: Definition (1) to lay down a clear and precise definition of the middle class, and regularly publish relevant statistics in respect of the definition; Development of industries (2) to adopt a multi-pronged approach to promote diversified development of industries in Hong Kong, so as to create more jobs at the middle and senior levels as well as business start-up opportunities in various industries and professions; (3) to further strengthen regional economic development for integration with the economic development circles of different regions on the Mainland, so as to provide more and better career development opportunities for middle-class professionals within or outside the territory; Housing (4) to expedite the identification of land for developing new development areas, optimize the use of rock caverns and carry out reclamation on an appropriate scale outside Victoria Harbour, so as to increase the supply of residential land on all fronts; and to increase the transparency of the housing plans as well as the supply of and demand for residential land for the next 10 years, and conduct an interim strategic review of and make corresponding adjustment to the relevant plans every five years; (5) to actively study the exploitation of green belt areas and 'brownfield sites' for the purpose of residential development; (6) to introduce a tax allowance for rentals for the marginal middle class; Taxation (7) to adjust salaries tax downwards, in particular widening tax bands for salaries tax and lowering the marginal rate, so as to vigorously alleviate the burden of the marginal middle class; (8) to relax the restrictions on the dependent parent or dependent grandparent allowance by relaxing the eligibility requirement from living in the same unit to living in the same housing estate; Education (9) to introduce a tax allowance for children's education to alleviate the burden of children education expenses on middle-class families; (10) to substantially increase the salaries tax deduction for self-education expenses and the subsidy under the Continuing Education Fund; Healthcare (11) to provide tax deduction for medical insurance contributions; and (12) to provide tax deduction for medical examinations to encourage the middle class to undergo such examinations on a regular basis" immediately before the full stop. | ||||
| (ii) | Hon SIN Chung-kai to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To add "as the Government has disregarded the needs of the middle class over the years," after "That"; to delete "establishment of a" after "study the" and substitute with "concerns of the"; and to delete "commission" immediately before the full stop and substitute with ", which include: (1) raising the various tax allowances, including the basic allowance for individuals, married person's allowance as well as dependent parent allowance, and widening the tax bands for salaries tax and abolishing the standard rate for salaries tax, so that members of the public pay their salaries tax according to the marginal tax rate, thereby alleviating the tax burden on the middle class; (2) reintroducing the Sandwich Class Housing Scheme to increase the opportunities for the middle class to acquire homes; (3) increasing the numbers of days of paid maternity leave and paternity leave and introducing flexible working hours to perfect family-friendly policies and promote a culture of work-life balance; (4) reviewing the teaching quality of government and subsidized schools, and allocating additional resources for such schools to adopt the teaching mode of Direct Subsidy Scheme schools and the merits of International Baccalaureate programmes, so that children of middle-class families can enjoy quality education; (5) upholding local core values and combating corruption to rebuild a society with integrity and fairness, thereby providing the middle class with an environment with fair competition; and (6) formulating proposals for electing the Chief Executive and the Legislative Council by universal suffrage with equal rights to make nomination, to vote and to stand for election in an open, fair and impartial manner, with a view to forging a consensus on promoting democracy, thereby strengthening the middle class's sense of belonging to Hong Kong". | ||||
| (iii) | Hon Christopher CHEUNG to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To add "the middle class, despite being the mainstay of Hong Kong society, has to bear increasingly heavy livelihood and financial burdens and face pressures of downward mobility; in this connection," after "That"; to delete "actively study the establishment of" after "Government to" and substitute with "expeditiously establish"; and to add "to formulate permanent and focused policies and measures, with a view to alleviating the livelihood and financial burdens of the middle class and providing them with more opportunities for upward mobility and room for development" immediately before the full stop. | ||||
| (iv) | Dr Hon KWOK Ka-ki to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To add "as the Government's measures to assist the middle class in recent years have no merit worth mentioning, the middle class has been unable to resolve their livelihood difficulties; in this connection," after "That"; to delete "actively study the establishment of" after "Government to" and substitute with "expeditiously establish"; and to add "whose functions include studying the following matters: (1) immediately constructing subsidized housing on idle Government land and increasing the number of subsidized sale flats to provide the middle class with a home acquisition ladder, and to enable the middle class to purchase flats for self-occupation at reasonable prices; (2) expeditiously implementing 15-year free education and stepping up the regulation of Direct Subsidy Scheme schools to ensure that the tuition fees of such schools are set at a reasonable level, thereby alleviating the burden of children education expenses on middle-class families; (3) refraining from using a salary-based approach to define the scope of application of standard working hours to ensure that the middle class has more leisure time to enjoy life; and (4) stepping up the regulation of private hospitals, enhancing the service quality of public hospitals, allocating additional land for constructing private hospitals, and immediately abolishing the Drug Formulary system, so as to alleviate the healthcare burden on the middle class" immediately before the full stop. | ||||
| (v) | Hon Starry LEE to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To add ", as the middle class is the mainstay of society," after "That"; and to add "to cater for the interests of the middle class and respond to their different demands, as well as to create more opportunities for upward mobility to expand the ratio of the middle-class population, thereby enabling the society to develop in a sustainable, stable and harmonious manner" immediately before the full stop. | ||||
| |||||
| 3. | Reconstructing the image of Hong Kong's tourism industry
Hon YIU Si-wing to move the following motion: (Translation) That according to the Third Quarter Economic Report 2015 published by the Government in November 2015, inbound tourism slackened further in the third quarter of 2015, and overall visitor arrivals to Hong Kong fell by 6.4% as compared to the same period last year, the first decline since the third quarter of 2009; the Report also points out that exports of travel services (covering visitors' spending on shopping, food and beverages, accommodation and entertainment, etc.) fell by 5.6% in real terms in the third quarter, and the average achieved hotel room rate also dropped by 13.1% as compared to the same period last year; as the share of tourists' shopping expenditure in retail sales value has been substantial (around 42% in 2014), the further slackening of inbound tourism has led to a decline in Hong Kong's total retail sales value for seven consecutive months this year, recording the longest downward trend over the past six years; this will also further affect Hong Kong's economy and employment; in this connection, this Council urges the Government to seriously review the reasons for the decline in visitor arrivals to Hong Kong, formulate corresponding measures and allocate additional resources to reconstruct the positive image of the tourism industry, with a view to preventing the continued decline in visitor arrivals to Hong Kong which will affect Hong Kong's economic development. Amendments to the motion | ||||
| (i) | Hon TANG Ka-piu to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To add ", the tourism industry has all along brought a large number of middle-level and elementary job opportunities to the hotel, catering and transport sectors, etc.; however," after "That"; to add "to reverse the present development trend of the Hong Kong tourism industry, which emphasizes quantity rather than quality, so as" after "resources"; to delete ", with a view to preventing the continued decline in visitor arrivals to Hong Kong which will affect" after "tourism industry" and substitute with "and enable healthy development of the tourism industry, with a view to creating more job opportunities and promoting"; and to add "; the relevant measures should include: (1) to expeditiously establish a travel industry authority to centrally monitor travel agents, tour escorts and tourist guides; (2) to adopt decisive measures to combat the use of unscrupulous operation practices in the tourism sector such as 'zero/negative/low-fare' tours and coerced shopping, etc., and step up publicity among visitors to Hong Kong on the need for vigilance against those unscrupulous operation practices and on the channels for lodging complaints; and to examine regulating the proportion and duration of 'arranged shopping' in the daily itinerary of inbound tours from the Mainland; (3) to formulate an overall development strategy for the tourism industry, which should not only facilitate visitors in retail consumption, but also strengthen the development of exploration tourism, including local in-depth tourism, cultural tourism and eco-tourism, so as to attract visitors of different types (including visitors who are with high spending power, young or stay overnight) to Hong Kong; (4) to promote the development of tourism supporting facilities and scenic spots, such as home-stay lodgings, creativity bazaars and night markets, etc., and to amend existing legislation to support and dovetail with such development; (5) to improve the infrastructural facilities (including water and power supply facilities) and transport links on some outlying islands, such as Po Toi Island and Tung Ping Chau, etc., so as to make good use of their rich tourism resources for developing these places as new tourist spots and benefit the economic development of local residents; (6) to improve the hardware ancillary facilities at existing scenic spots and step up the promotion of a 'hospitable culture' among the tourism sector and the public, with a view to upgrading the tourism quality of Hong Kong; and (7) to closely keep in view changes in visitor arrivals to Hong Kong and activities of visitors carrying duty-free commodities into the Mainland for sale (commonly known as 'parallel trading activities'), and to join hands with the Mainland authorities to continuously combat parallel trading activities and formulate timely and appropriate measures, so as to deal with the problem at root and reduce unnecessary conflicts between Mainland visitors and local people" immediately before the full stop. | ||||
| (ii) | Hon POON Siu-ping to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To add ", as the Hong Kong tourism industry and related industries employ over 200 000 employees, which is around 7.6% of the overall employment population in Hong Kong, the livelihood of the 200 000-odd employees will directly be affected if the tourism industry development continues to shrink; yet," after "That"; to add "effective" after "formulate"; and to add "enhance the binding effect of the industry directives issued by the Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong to ensure protection of the rights and interests of front-line staff in the tourism industry, expeditiously establish a tourism industry authority to balance the rights and interests of the operators and practitioners in the tourism industry, and" after "resources to". | ||||
| (iii) | Hon Gary FAN to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To add "the Government has proposed in the 2015-16 Budget that an additional $80 million will be allocated to the Hong Kong Tourism Board to step up its promotion of the tourism industry; however," after "That"; and to add "to develop a greater variety of tourism, including cultural tourism and eco-tourism with local characteristics, etc., to welcome tourists from around the world, and to step up efforts to combat rip-offs such as 'zero/negative-fare' tours and 'shadow tour group members', etc., adopted by Mainland travel agencies, so as" after "resources". | ||||
| (iv) | Hon Paul TSE to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To add "tourism and related industries are of utmost importance to the economy of Hong Kong, but" after "That"; to add "establish a tourism bureau to consolidate the various tourism-related departments and institutions, and" after "the decline in visitor arrivals to Hong Kong,"; and to delete "and allocate additional resources" after "measures" and substitute with "to conduct studies on effective use of resources and overall planning, execution and regulation". | ||||
| (v) | Hon CHAN Hak-kan to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To add "Hong Kong's tourism industry is now facing challenges;" after "That"; and to add "; when formulating measures on promoting the development of the tourism industry, the Government should focus on enhancing the visitor receiving capacity of Hong Kong society, including increasing the number of tourist spots and improving transportation and other ancillary facilities, etc., and take full account of the actual situations in Hong Kong, so as to avoid any adverse impacts on people's daily lives; at the same time, the Government should expeditiously establish a travel industry authority to enhance the regulatory regime for the tourism industry, and step up law enforcement to combat unscrupulous shop operators who rip off visitors" immediately before the full stop. | ||||
| (vi) | Hon Charles Peter MOK to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To add "coupled with the fact that Hong Kong lags behind other Asian competitors due to its shortage of large-scale convention facilities," after "past six years;"; and to add "and expedite the expansion of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre and the planning of new convention facilities to enhance Hong Kong's capacity to hold conventions and attract more high value-added business travellers," after "tourism industry,". | ||||
| (vii) | Hon SIN Chung-kai to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To add "expeditiously establish a travel industry authority to strengthen the monitoring of local travel agents, tour escorts and tourist guides," after "the decline in visitor arrivals to Hong Kong,"; and to add "step up promotion in the international market and" after "resources to". | ||||
| (viii) | Hon Jeffrey LAM to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To add "and" after "the decline in visitor arrivals to Hong Kong,"; to delete "and allocate additional resources to" after "measures" and substitute with ", including giving consideration to examining afresh the entry arrangements and policy for Mainland visitors and relieving Mainland visitors' sentiments, with a view to reversing the decline in visitor arrivals to Hong Kong in the short run; in the long run, the Government should also formulate a comprehensive development strategy and blueprint for the tourism industry, and make stronger efforts to develop different tourism facilities and scenic spots, so as to"; and to delete "continued decline in visitor arrivals to Hong Kong" after "preventing the" and substitute with "persistent shrinkage of visitor arrivals to Hong Kong". | ||||
| (ix) | Dr Hon Fernando CHEUNG to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To delete ", with a view to preventing the continued decline in visitor arrivals to Hong Kong which will affect Hong Kong's economic development" immediately before the full stop and substitute with "; the relevant measures include: monitoring visitor arrivals to Hong Kong based on the actual visitor receiving capacity of Hong Kong, so as to attract visitors from different countries to Hong Kong with planning and promote the sustainable development of the tourism industry; and regulating activities of carrying duty-free commodities into the Mainland for sale (commonly known as 'parallel trading activities') to avoid the impacts of massive parallel trading activities on Hong Kong people's quality of life". | ||||
| |||||
| 4. | Motion for the adjournment of the Council under Rule 16(4) of the Rules of Procedure
Hon Claudia MO to move the following motion: (Translation) That this Council do now adjourn for the purpose of debating the following issue: the successive 'forced disappearance' of the shareholders and managers of Causeway Bay Books. Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Security | ||||