A 15/16-26
Legislative Council
Agenda
Wednesday 18 May 2016 at 11:00 am
I. Tabling of Papers
Other Paper
| Report No. 17/15-16 of the House Committee on Consideration of Subsidiary Legislation and Other Instruments | |||
| (to be presented by Hon Andrew LEUNG, Chairman of the House Committee) |
II. Questions
1. Dr Hon CHIANG Lai-wan to ask: (Translation)
Under the current Elderly Health Care Voucher Scheme ("EHCVS"), the Government provides health care vouchers with a total value of $2,000 per person annually to eligible elderly persons aged 70 or above to subsidize their use of private primary care services. The unused health care vouchers each year may be retained and used in future, subject to a cap of $4,000 on the cumulative value of the vouchers. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) as the information provided by the authorities to the Finance Committee of this Council in April this year indicated that in both of the past two years, the annual average values of health care vouchers used by an elderly person had exceeded $2,000, with a significant increase in the value of last year as compared with that of the preceding year, whether the authorities will consider increasing the annual value of health care vouchers so as to ease the burden of medical expenses on the elderly; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (2) as I have learnt that quite a number of elderly persons need to purchase auxiliary medical equipment and buy medicines at pharmacies, but they may not use health care vouchers for such purposes, whether the authorities will consider relaxing the restrictions on the permitted uses of such vouchers; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (3) as the population projections published by the Census and Statistics Department in September last year indicated that the percentage of elderly persons aged 65 and above in the population would rise sharply, i.e. from 15% in 2014 to 23% and 30% in 2024 and 2034 respectively, whether the authorities will consider afresh lowering the minimum age requirement for EHCVS to 65 so that more elderly persons will benefit from it; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
| Public Officers to reply | : | Secretary for Food and Health
Under Secretary for Food and Health |
2. Hon Tony TSE to ask: (Translation)
The Government introduced a new nature conservation policy at the end of 2004 to better achieve the nature conservation objectives and, in particular, to enhance conservation of ecologically important sites which are in private ownership. Under the policy, the Government has identified 12 priority sites for enhanced conservation ("priority conservation sites") and for implementation of two pilot schemes, namely the Management Agreement Scheme ("MA Scheme") and the Public-private Partnership Pilot Scheme ("PPP Scheme"), to conserve these ecologically important sites. Under the MA Scheme, eligible non-profit making organizations will receive funding for entering into MAs with the landowners of conservation sites for enhancing the conservation of the sites concerned; whereas under the PPP Scheme, limited development by the proponents will be allowed at the ecologically less sensitive portion of the priority conservation sites, provided that the development plan and scale are agreed by the Government and the proponents undertake to conserve and manage the rest of the sites that is ecologically more sensitive on a long-term basis. However, some members of the surveying sector have relayed that it has been more than 10 years since the implementation of the aforesaid policy and, apart from setting up a small-scale conservation area of about two hectares at Wo Shang Wai, Yuen Long, the policy has not achieved any notable progress and results in other conservation sites. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the number of agreements entered into so far under the MA Scheme, and set out, by priority conservation site, the name of the managing organization, the amount of funding granted and the size of the conservation site under each agreement, as well as the date on which the agreement was entered into and its validity period; the number of applications rejected; and the number of applications which were approved but ended up with no agreement entered into and the reasons for that; (2) of the number of applications received by the authorities so far under the PPP Scheme, and set out, by priority conservation site, the date of submission, the proposed scale of development, the date of completion of the vetting and approval procedure and the result of each application; the number of applications still in the process of vetting and approval; and (3) whether it conducted a comprehensive review in the past three years of the specific implementation, the vetting and approval mechanism and the effectiveness, etc. of the aforesaid two pilot schemes; if it did, of the review outcome, follow-up work and overall effectiveness of the two schemes as well as the new nature conservation policy (including whether the intended results were achieved); if not, the reasons for that and whether it will conduct such a review?
| Public Officers to reply | : | Secretary for the Environment
Under Secretary for the Environment |
3. Prof Hon Joseph LEE to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the nursing manpower in public hospitals, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it knows the following information in respect of each of the specialties in various public hospitals in each of the past five years: the number of nurses, the inpatient bed occupancy rate, as well as the respective nurse-to-bed ratios for the three shifts of morning, afternoon and night (set out by name of hospital and by specialty in a table); (2) as the inpatient bed occupancy rate in various acute hospitals generally exceeded 100% during the recent influenza peak season, of the measures taken by the Hospital Authority ("HA") in respect of manpower, resources deployment and operation to relieve the shortage of nursing manpower, as well as the measures in place to deal with the shortage of nursing manpower in the long run; and (3) given that the Government has mentioned in this year's Policy Address that some 5 000 additional public hospital beds will be provided under its hospital development plan for the coming decade, of the number of beds for specialist services among these additional beds; the projected number of additional nurses to be recruited, occupancy rate of these additional beds, and respective nurse-to-bed ratios for the three shifts of morning, afternoon and night (set out such information by name of hospital); the details of HA's overall nursing manpower plan in the coming decade, and the projected annual numbers of nurses to be recruited (broken down by rank of nurses)?
| Public Officers to reply | : | Secretary for Food and Health
Under Secretary for Food and Health |
4. Hon MA Fung-kwok to ask: (Translation)
The stage drama "The Third Lie", the finale to "The Book of Lies - Twins Trilogy", which was presented by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department ("LCSD") and produced by The Nonsensemakers ("the drama group"), was staged in mid-March this year at Tsuen Wan Town Hall. Subsequently, some members of the drama group revealed that, prior to the publication of the programme booklet for the stage drama, LCSD had requested that the brief biography of the drama group's arts administrator-cum-executive producer be amended by removing the word "National" from the name of her alma mater "Taipei National University of the Arts". Due to the fruitless negotiations between the drama group and LCSD, the drama group eventually removed the whole brief biography and replaced it with a photograph showing a graduation certificate awarded by the University. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it has investigated if the aforesaid allegation made by members of the drama group is true; if it has investigated and the outcome is in the affirmative, why LCSD requested the removal of the word "National" from the programme booklet concerned; (2) given that it has been reported that the names of Taiwanese academic institutions containing the word "National" have been published in the publicity materials for some events (e.g. the Hong Kong Literature Festival held in 2014) organized by LCSD in the past, whether LCSD has formulated any criteria or internal guidelines for its staff to follow regarding whether or not the names of Taiwanese institutions containing the word "National" may be published in the publicity materials for various events; if LCSD has, of the details; if not, whether LCSD will consider formulating such criteria or guidelines; and (3) based on the authorities' assessment, whether the aforesaid incident will impact on the future cultural exchange activities between Hong Kong and Taiwan; if the assessment outcome is in the affirmative, of the impact and the remedial measures to be adopted by the authorities; if the outcome is in the negative, the reasons for that?
| Public Officers to reply | : | Secretary for Home Affairs
Under Secretary for Home Affairs |
5. Hon Michael TIEN to ask: (Translation)
The value of total retail sales in February this year dropped by about 20% as compared with that in the same month of last year, the biggest drop in 17 years. One of the reasons for the poor performance of the retail industry is a drop in Mainland visitor arrivals. Since April last year, Shenzhen permanent residents are no longer issued with one-year multiple-entry Individual Visit Endorsements (i.e. multiple-entry endorsements), and they may be issued only with the "one trip per week" Individual Visit Endorsements. The rate of increase of general Mainland arrivals under the Individual Visit Scheme ("IVS") (i.e. excluding those arriving on the multiple-entry endorsements) showed an easing trend as early as two years ago, i.e. 15% for the period from June 2013 to February 2014 down to 6% for the same period in the succeeding year. Some Mainland visitors have indicated that Hong Kong is much less attractive to them than before. Meanwhile, according to the information provided by the Hong Kong Tourism Board, both the number and per capita spending of overnight non-IVS Mainland arrivals in 2015 were higher than those of the general Mainland IVS arrivals, and the percentage of non-IVS Mainland arrivals was also the highest among those of the various types of visitor arrivals. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of a breakdown of last year's 18 million non-IVS Mainland arrivals by the cities from which the visitors came, together with their respective percentages in the total number; (2) whether the authorities concerned will focus their promotional strategies on the non-IVS Mainland visitors as the major target in promoting inbound tourism this and next year, and consider suggesting to the Mainland authorities, on the premise of introducing a quota system, the inclusion of more Mainland cities in IVS, as well as stepping up promotional efforts and offering travel concessions in those Mainland cities with potential so as to attract their people to visit Hong Kong; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (3) given that some of the Mainland people have a negative perception of Hong Kong, of the remedial measures to be taken by the authorities?
| Public Officers to reply | : | Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development
Under Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development |
6. Hon WONG Ting-kwong to ask: (Translation)
At the Legislative Council ("LegCo") meeting on 19 February this year, the Chief Secretary for Administration ("CS") criticized some Members of this Council for pursuing resistance by means of filibustering in this Council (e.g. deliberately creating situations of meetings being adjourned due to a lack of quorum and proposing motions to adjourn proceedings), thereby deliberately impeding the Government's implementation of policies and causing the operation of this Council to lose its balance. In addition, at the LegCo meeting on 20 April this year, the Secretary for Development pointed out that filibusters had resulted in extremely slow progress in the vetting and approval of the funding applications of works projects, which had not only adversely affected the construction industry, but also hindered economic development and weakened Hong Kong's competitiveness. Moreover, a number of chambers of commerce in Hong Kong have jointly pointed out that the growth in Gross Domestic Product is declining year by year, and the retail and tourism industries have found themselves in the midst of a harsh winter. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it has studied the impacts of filibusters on the executive-led system, which has all along been implemented in Hong Kong; if it has studied, of the outcome; given that there are views that filibusters have led to a waste of public money in the amount of $2.55 million daily, whether the authorities have calculated the amount of public expenditure incurred by filibusters since the 2014-2015 financial year; (2) given that CS pointed out at the LegCo meeting on 19 February this year that within the remainder of the current session, the Finance Committee of this Council needed to vet and approve nearly 50 funding proposals, and the Public Works Subcommittee and the Establishment Subcommittee needed to discuss 60 and 30 funding proposals respectively (quite a number of which are pertinent to economic development and improvement of people's livelihood), whether the authorities have studied the impacts of persistent filibusters on aspects such as economic development, infrastructure projects and people's livelihood; if they have studied, of the outcome; if not, the reasons for that; and (3) whether it has studied the impacts of the Finance Committee not being able to timely vet and approve the relevant funding applications of public works projects on contractors, engineers, architects and workers; if it has studied, of the outcome?
| Public Officers to reply | : | Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
Under Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury |
*7. Hon Alan LEONG to ask: (Translation)
At present, the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance (Cap. 503) stipulates the requirements and procedures for the surrender of fugitive offenders ("SOF") between Hong Kong and specified jurisdictions, but Mainland China is not among those jurisdictions. The authorities of Hong Kong and Mainland China are now discussing the formulation of an SOF arrangement between the two sides. On the other hand, in reply to a question raised by a Member of this Council on 3 February this year, the Secretary for Security indicated that in the past, following discussion between the Hong Kong Police Force and the Mainland authorities, the Mainland law enforcement authorities had exercised discretion to return to Hong Kong for investigation or trials certain Hong Kong residents suspected of having committed crimes in Hong Kong. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the latest progress regarding the discussion on the SOF arrangement between the authorities of both sides; the number of meetings held for this purpose by the authorities of both sides in the past three years, the government departments respectively from which the representatives of both sides attending the meetings came, and the discussion directions; (2) whether the Mainland authorities discussed with the Hong Kong authorities in the past three years to seek the Hong Kong authorities' return to the Mainland those Mainland residents in Hong Kong who were suspected of having committed crimes on the Mainland; if so, of the number of such cases; (3) of the number of cases in the past three years in which the Hong Kong authorities discussed with the Mainland authorities to seek the Mainland authorities' return to Hong Kong those Hong Kong residents on the Mainland who were suspected of having committed crimes in Hong Kong; (4) of the Hong Kong authorities' criteria and legal basis for requesting the Mainland authorities to conduct the discussion mentioned in (3); (5) whether it knows the Mainland authorities' legal basis for exercising discretion to return to Hong Kong for investigation or trials certain Hong Kong residents suspected of having committed crimes in Hong Kong; (6) whether the Mainland authorities refused, in the past three years, any request made by the Hong Kong Government for returning Hong Kong residents to Hong Kong; if so, of the number of such cases, and whether it knows the respective reasons for those refusals; and (7) whether the two principles of "non-extradition for political offences" and "non-extradition for death penalty", which are recognized and highly valued by the international community, (i) are applicable to the existing practice of exercising discretion in SOF between the two sides, and (ii) will be applicable to the SOF arrangement currently under discussion between the two sides?
*8. Hon Claudia MO to ask: (Translation)
According to the information on the website of the Urban Renewal Authority ("URA"), the acquisition price which URA offers to an owner-occupier affected by its urban renewal project for purchase of his domestic property is calculated by adding a Home Purchase Allowance ("HPA") on top of the market value (valued on vacant possession basis) of the property concerned. HPA is equivalent to the difference between the market value of the property being acquired and the value of a notional replacement flat, which is a seven-year-old flat of similar size and in similar locality to the property being acquired and located at the middle floor with average orientation ("seven-year-old flat"). In calculating the HPA rate, URA appoints, through open lot-drawing, seven surveyor firms to conduct valuations. The highest and the lowest figures of the seven valuations will then be disregarded and a simple arithmetic average of the remaining five valuations will be calculated to form the HPA rate for the seven-year-old flat ("the calculation mechanism"). On the other hand, URA initiated in March this year the statutory planning procedure of a renewal project at Eight "Wan" Streets in the Kowloon City District ("Eight 'Wan' Streets project"). The affected owner-occupiers may choose, apart from the option of cash compensation, also the flat-for-flat arrangement under which they may use the cash compensation to buy a new flat in-situ in the new development or in the Kai Tak development. Some affected residents have relayed to me that URA has not provided them with the details of the renewal project, thus making it difficult for them to determine whether they should accept the compensation packages offered by URA in the future and support the renewal project. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it knows if URA has reviewed the effectiveness of and made improvements to the calculation mechanism since the mechanism came into operation; (2) whether it knows if URA will, when undertaking major renewal projects, consider including more data on property valuations for use as reference, with a view to arriving at more accurate compensation amounts; (3) whether it knows the residential development projects the flats of which have been reserved by URA for application for purchase under the flat-for-flat arrangement by residents affected by the Eight "Wan" Streets project, and the relevant details; and (4) as it has been reported that URA will turn the redeveloped area covering the former Eight "Wan" Streets into a small community to enable former shop operators to return and operate in that district, whether it knows what measures, in addition to specifying in the tender document of the renewal project that URA has the control of the shops in the district concerned for nine years after redevelopment, URA has put in place to facilitate former shop operators to return to the same district to operate?
*9. Hon Gary FAN to ask: (Translation)
Recently, the media have uncovered that some Mainland officials have long been selling quotas on Permits for Proceeding to Hong Kong and Macao (commonly known as "One-way Permits")("OWPs"), and an OWP may fetch as much as HK$2 million. The Director of Audit's Report No. 66 has recommended that the Immigration Department needs to issue guidelines to set out clearly the procedures required for considering the supply of local manpower as well as the market levels of salaries and benefits in processing the applications under the General Employment Policy and the Admission Scheme for Mainland Talents and Professionals ("ASMTP"). On the other hand, all public hospitals have stopped accepting delivery bookings from non-local pregnant women since 1 January 2013, and private hospitals have also unanimously agreed not to accept any delivery bookings, since 2013, made by doubly non-permanent resident ("DNR") pregnant women (i.e. Mainland pregnant women whose spouses are not Hong Kong permanent residents) (commonly known as "zero-quota policy"). Regarding Mainland residents' acquisition of the right of abode ("ROA") in Hong Kong through various means, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the number of Mainland residents who came to settle in Hong Kong on OWPs in each year since 2003, and among such residents, the number of those who were subsequently repatriated after being ruled by the court that their OWPs were obtained by illegal means; (2) whether it has approached the Mainland authorities to gain an understanding about the situation where Mainland officials have long been selling OWP quotas; as the processing, vetting and approval of applications for OWPs fall within the remit of the Mainland authorities, whether the Government has taken the initiative to investigate if any OWPs held by Mainland residents who came to settle in Hong Kong have been obtained by illegal means; (3) of the respective numbers of people who (i) applied to stay in Hong Kong, (ii) were allowed to stay in Hong Kong and (iii) eventually acquired ROA in Hong Kong, under the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme, Capital Investment Entrant Scheme, ASMTP and Immigration Arrangement for Non-local Graduates in each year since 2003, and among such people, the number and percentage of those who were Mainland residents; (4) whether it has formulated measures to improve the vetting and approval procedures in respect of various admission schemes so as to ensure that foreign workers will not affect the employment and wage levels of local workers; (5) of the respective numbers of live births born to DNR pregnant women ("DNR babies") in public and private hospitals in Hong Kong in each year since the implementation of the zero-quota policy; and (6) as it is learnt that albeit the zero-quota policy, there still have been cases of Mainland pregnant women crossing the boundary shortly before labour to give birth in Hong Kong, thereby using local healthcare resources, whether the authorities will examine the causes of such a situation and consider amending Article 24 of the Basic Law so that DNR babies to be born in the future will not have ROA in Hong Kong?
*10. Hon CHAN Kin-por to ask: (Translation)
Under sections 17C and 33 of the Public Order Ordinance (Cap. 245), any person who, while present at any public meeting or on the occasion of any public possession, or in any public place, without lawful authority or reasonable excuse, has with him any offensive weapon shall be guilty of an offence. In recent months, some members of the public were assaulted with knives on the street for no reason, and a convenience store owner was even stabbed to death by a thief with a knife. Besides, two protesters taking part in a demonstration were recently prosecuted for possession of offensive weapons of chili oil liquid containing capsaicin, dihydrocapsaicin and isopropyl alcohol. The aforesaid incidents have aroused public concerns about personal safety in public places. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) (i) of the number of cases involving possession of offensive weapons in public places handled by the Police, broken down by type of offensive weapons (e.g. arms, sharps, corrosive fluid, etc.), and (ii) among such cases, the number of cases resulting in injuries or deaths, and the total casualties, in the past three years; whether it has assessed if such kind of crimes has showed a worsening trend; if it has assessed and the outcome is in the affirmative, of the details; (2) whether the Police have devised uniform criteria for defining "offensive weapon" for frontline police officers' reference in determining whether the articles seized from suspected persons are offensive weapons; (3) whether the authorities will put in place special measures to combat crimes involving possession of offensive weapons, e.g. deploying more police officers to perform patrol duties and conduct searches on the belongings of suspected persons in districts with relatively poor law and order situation, low pedestrian flow and a relatively large number of round-the-clock shops; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (4) whether it has considered adopting special measures for enhancing the protection for the personal safety of pedestrians on streets with low pedestrian flow and that of staff of round-the-clock shops, e.g. installing sufficient number of closed-circuit television cameras on such streets, as well as encouraging all round-the-clock shops to install alarm systems connected to police stations; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
*11. Hon Steven HO to ask: (Translation)
At present, quite a number of wild birds often forage in fish ponds and agricultural fields in the New Territories. However, the Wild Animals Protection Ordinance (Cap.170) provides that no person shall, except in accordance with a special permit, hunt or wilfully disturb any protected wild animal. Some fish farmers and farmers have repeatedly relayed to me that under the policy for the protection of birds formulated in compliance with that Ordinance, the bird-proof measures which they may take are ineffective and their setting up is cumbersome. Moreover, even if the bird-proof measures taken by them are lawful, some radical environmentalists still often interfere and complain against them, thus making it difficult for fish farmers and farmers to protect their private properties, and causing heavy losses to them. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the respective expenditures incurred by the authorities in each of the past three years on (i) the protection of birds, (ii) promoting the development of fish cultivation and agriculture, and (iii) assisting such industries in preventing birds from foraging cultured fish products and crops, together with the details and effectiveness of such efforts; (2) of the following in the past three years: (i) the number of complaints received by the authorities about alleged unlawful bird-proof measures taken by fish farmers and farmers, (ii) the average and longest periods of time taken by them to handle those cases, (iii) the number of prosecutions instituted by them for violation of Cap.170, and (iv) the number of convictions thereof; (3) whether it has assessed in the past three years (i) the expenditures incurred by fish farmers and farmers on taking bird-proof measures, and (ii) their financial losses due to birds foraging their cultured fish products and crops; if it has, of the details; if not, whether it will make such an assessment; (4) how the authorities compensated, in the past three years, fish farmers and farmers for their expenditures and financial losses as mentioned in (3); of the measures the authorities have put in place to assist them in reducing such expenditures and financial losses; and (5) whether it will review the policy for the protection of birds and implement effective measures so that fish farmers and farmers will not have to bear the expenditures and financial losses arising from their compliance with such a policy, with a view to enabling the sustainable development of fish cultivation and agriculture; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
*12. Dr Hon LAM Tai-fai to ask: (Translation)
The Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress ("the Chairman") is visiting Hong Kong at present. The three-day itinerary includes attending the "Belt and Road Summit" as well as a welcome dinner hosted by the Chief Executive. This is another visit to Hong Kong by a state leader after the visit of the former State President to Hong Kong three-odd years ago in July 2012. Some information sources have pointed out that in this visit to Hong Kong, the Chairman will focus on economic issues and national development, commenting mainly on how Hong Kong can capitalize on the opportunities arising from national development, including the need for Hong Kong to consider how its strengths can contribute to the country. Some market practitioners hope that the Central Authorities will announce further details on the implementation of a stock connect for cross-boundary trading of stocks listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange and the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong ("the Sz-HK Stock Connect"). In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:
(1) it knows if there is any other purpose, in addition to attending the said forum, of the Chairman's present visit to Hong Kong; if there is, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (2) it knows if the Chairman will, representing the Central Authorities, announce or take forward some new policies concerning Hong Kong during this visit; if he will, of the contents of the policies; if not, the reasons for that; (3) it has recommended the Chairman to conduct visits to various districts to meet with members of the public, so as to understand the various livelihood issues facing the grassroots and the middle class; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (4) it has recommended the Chairman to visit tertiary institutions and meet with their teaching staff and students; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (5) it has recommended the Chairman to meet with various industrial and commercial organizations to get an update on Hong Kong's economy; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (6) it has recommended the Chairman to meet with Members of this Council from various political parties and factions, including Members with no affiliation; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (7) it has reviewed the past experience in receiving state leaders during their visits to Hong Kong; if it has, of the details, and whether it has, in light of the experience gained, stepped up the security measures for the Chairman's visit (e.g. deploying additional number of police officers to maintain order); if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (8) it has assessed if incidents similar to the riot in Mong Kok will occur during the Chairman's visit; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (9) it has truthfully reported to the Chairman on the recent public sentiments and opinions in Hong Kong, as well as those recent incidents that were more conspicuous (including views advocating the independence of Hong Kong, the Causeway Bay Books incident and the riot in Mong Kok); if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that, and whether it will make such a report; (10) it has taken this opportunity to seek to understand from the Chairman whether the Central Authorities have changed the policy on governing Hong Kong; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that, and whether it will seek such an understanding; (11) it has given an account to the Chairman of the preparatory work of the Sz-HK Stock Connect on the part of Hong Kong, and whether it has sought to understand from the Chairman the timetable for announcing the implementation of the Sz-HK Stock Connect; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that, and whether it will give such as account and seek such an understanding; and (12) it has recommended the Chairman to express the Central Authorities' views and stance on the views advocating the independence of Hong Kong; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
*13. Dr Hon CHIANG Lai-wan to ask: (Translation)
Some secondary teachers have pointed out that effective life planning education can help secondary students make wise decisions in choosing subjects for further studies or their career paths upon graduation. They have also pointed out that well-qualified teachers are the foundation of effective life planning education. Besides, starting from the 2014-2015 school year, the Education Bureau has been providing public sector schools and Direct Subsidy Scheme schools operating classes at senior secondary levels with an annual recurrent grant of about $500,000 to support the schools in implementing life planning education and providing counselling services on further studies and employment. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether the teachers presently responsible for coordinating and implementing life planning education in secondary schools need to attain any special qualifications or academic achievements; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that, and whether it will consider requiring that such teachers must attain specified qualifications or have received relevant training; (2) whether it has put in place measures to enhance the quality of teacher training on life planning education, with a view to making the training professional; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (3) whether it has devised quantitative indicators, such as objectives, criteria and time limits, for assessing the effectiveness of life planning education, so as to prevent the relevant grant from being used for irrelevant purposes; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
*14. Hon James TO to ask: (Translation)
At present, the information to be submitted with an application for registration of a society to the Societies Office under the Societies Ordinance (Cap. 151) include the address(es) of the principal place of business of the society and its branch(es) and of the place(s) or premises owned or occupied by the society ("registered addresses"). It has been reported earlier that the registered addresses of more than 1 000 societies are school addresses. However, the principals of a certain number of the schools concerned have indicated that they have no knowledge about it and worry that some people may be mistaken that the operation of such societies has been approved of by the schools. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the current number of societies registered under the Societies Ordinance, with a tabulated breakdown by type to which the premises of the registered address belongs (e.g. residential property, commercial building and school); (2) of the number of notifications received by the Societies Officer in the past five years on registered societies having dissolved themselves; (3) whether the Societies Officer has conducted sampling checks to verify the authenticity of the information pertaining to the application for registration of a society; if so, of the number of applications verified in the past five years; if not, the reasons for that; (4) of the number of societies whose registrations were cancelled under the Societies Ordinance by the Societies Officer in the past five years; (5) whether the Societies Office discovered, in the past five years, any case of the provision of false registered addresses in the applications for registration of society; if so, of the number of people involved and whether those people were prosecuted; if so, the punishments imposed on those convicted in general; and (6) given that at present, the Societies Office makes public only the names and registered addresses of the societies and their branches which have been registered or exempted from registration, whether the Societies Office will consider making public more information about the registration of those societies, such as the dates of registration, the names of the office-bearers?
*15. Prof Hon Joseph LEE to ask: (Translation)
Hong Kong has experienced several major outbreaks of infectious diseases in recent years. Some healthcare professionals have pointed out that medical laboratory tests can assist them in expeditiously identifying the infectious agents, which facilitates their formulation of measures to combat the epidemics and delivery of effective treatment to patients. They have also pointed out that in recent years, the workloads of both public and private medical laboratories have increased substantially. Regarding the manpower situation of medical laboratory work, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it knows the number and the scope of duties of registered medical laboratory technologists at present, with a breakdown by rank; (2) whether it knows the respective numbers of medical laboratory technologists of various ranks working in the Department of Health ("DH"), public hospitals, private hospitals and private laboratories at present; (3) whether it knows the total number of medical laboratory tests conducted by public hospitals and DH, and the average daily number of laboratory tests handled by each laboratory technologist, in each of the past three years; and (4) apart from the increase of 54 places in the degree programmes in medical laboratory science in the 2016-2017 to 2018-2019 triennium, whether the authorities have plans to further increase the number of relevant training places, so as to meet the increasing demand for medical laboratory services; if they do, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
*16. Hon IP Kin-yuen to ask: (Translation)
The 2015 Policy Address pointed out that the community colleges of University Grants Committee-funded institutions ("funded institutions") "have experienced rapid growth and some have accumulated large surpluses. We will ask the institutions to critically review their financial position and consider ways to use their surpluses to benefit their students, such as lowering tuition fees and offering scholarships or bursaries for underprivileged students." In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it knows, in respect of each funded institution in each of the past five years, (i) the surplus accumulated from the operation of self-financing programmes by its community college, (ii) the total amount of students' tuition fees reduced or waived and (iii) the total amount of scholarships or bursaries offered for underprivileged students (set out in a table); and (2) of the latest progress and effectiveness of the aforesaid request raised in the Policy Address?
*17. Hon Alice MAK to ask: (Translation)
Under the Employment Ordinance (Cap. 57), a female employee who has been employed under a continuous contract for not less than 40 weeks immediately before taking maternity leave is entitled to 10 weeks of paid maternity leave, and the daily rate of maternity leave pay for that period is a sum equivalent to four-fifths of the average daily wages earned by the employee in the 12-month period preceding the first day of the maternity leave. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the fertility rate of Hong Kong female residents and the number of them giving birth, in each of the past three years, with a breakdown of the latter by age, employment status (i.e. full-time/part-time/not in employment/others) and occupation of the women giving birth as well as the type of their employers (i.e. public/private); (2) whether it knows the details of the current stipulations in neighbouring jurisdictions in respect of the number of days of statutory maturity leave and maternity leave pay; and (3) given that civil servants are currently entitled to 10 weeks of full-pay maternity leave, for how long such provision has been implemented, and the number of civil servants who took maternity leave in each of the past three years and the payroll expenses incurred during the relevant periods; whether it will make reference to such provision and enact legislation to stipulate that all employers in the territory must provide their female employees with full-pay maternity leave; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
*18. Hon IP Kwok-him to ask: (Translation)
A local singer held the territory's first ever 4D concert with a series of nine shows at the Central promenade from the 28th of last month to the 7th of this month. However, as the marquee materials used for the temporary structure erected for the concert had failed to meet the relevant fire prevention standards, the Fire Services Department ("FSD") did not issue a fire service certificate and the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department therefore refused to issue a Temporary Places of Public Entertainment Licence ("temporary licence") for the concert. As a result, the premiere show was cancelled just two hours before it was due to start. Subsequently, the organizer concerned was issued with the temporary licence after removing the marquee, enabling the remaining shows of the concert to be held as scheduled. It is learnt that FSD had, during the vetting and approval process of the temporary licence, followed up on the fire safety of the relevant venue on 10 occasions and reminded the organizer of the fire safety requirements to be met. Furthermore, it is learnt that there were a number of past cases in which organizers of major events held in open area were issued with the temporary licence only at the very last moment due to issues concerning venue or other factors. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether the authorities will consider making available, for reference by event organizers and the public, a "condensed info-pack" on application for temporary licences, with contents on the requirements in respect of fire safety (e.g. the fire prevention standards required of decorative materials used in venues), structural safety of structures, electrical installation, environmental protection legislation, crowd management, etc.; if they will, of the implementation timetable; if not, the reasons for that; (2) given that a number of visitors coming from afar for the premiere show ended up leaving in disappointment, whether the authorities have assessed the impact of the incident on Hong Kong's tourism industry; if they have, of the assessment outcome, and whether they have taken remedial measures; if not, the reasons for that; and (3) given the occurrence of a dust deflagration incident at the Formosa Water Park in New Taipei City of Taiwan in June last year which caused 15 deaths and 484 injuries, whether the authorities have learnt any lesson from that incident and introduced more stringent fire safety requirements for major public entertainment events; if they have, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
*19. 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, and some of such documents show that currently three Hong Kong institutions funded by the University Grants Committee ("UGC") ("funded institutions") have set up offshore companies to conduct commercial activities. Given that the extent of information about offshore companies disclosed by such institutions in their financial statements is different, there are queries that those institutions have concealed some information. Regarding the monitoring of use of public funds and conduct of commercial activities by funded institutions, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:
(1) the respective numbers of locally and non-locally registered companies with shares held by each funded institution in the past five years; the information about each company (including the name, date of incorporation, place of registration, list of directors, major business and principal shareholders of the company, as well as the purpose of setting up the company), and whether the institutions have disclosed key information about such companies in their annual reports and financial statements; if it knows, of the details; (2) if UGC has, apart from examining the financial statements submitted regularly by various funded institutions, monitored through other channels the use of public funds by various funded institutions; if UGC has, of the channels concerned; if not, the reasons for that; (3) if UGC has currently put in place a mechanism and formulated guidelines for regulating matters relating to the ways in which funded institutions use public funds on investment activities and set up companies to conduct commercial activities; if UGC has, of the relevant mechanism and guidelines; if not, the reasons for that; (4) given that some funded institutions have not provided detailed information about their non-locally registered companies in their financial statements, whether UGC has plans to require those institutions to make public such information to facilitate monitoring by the public; if UGC does, of the details of such plans; if not, the reasons for that; and (5) if UGC has plans to review and standardize the mechanism for declaration of engagement in commercial activities by various funded institutions, so as to enhance the transparency of institutional governance; if UGC does, of the details of such plans; if not, the reasons for that?
*20. Hon Frederick FUNG to ask: (Translation)
Under the existing requirements, directorate civil servants who wish to take up any outside work during their leave period before they leave office and/or within a specified control period must obtain prior permission from the Secretary for the Civil Service. If they are at Directorate Pay Scale Point 8 ("D8") or equivalent, the control period is three years. It has been reported that the former Commissioner of Police ("CP") (a post with a pay scale point equivalent to D8) who retired just over a year ago, has recently submitted an application to the Civil Service Bureau for taking up outside work, in order to take up a post of a strategic planning consultant with an annual salary of over $1 million in a private organization. As that person indicated, before retirement, that he would not consider joining the commercial sector after retirement because "even selling vegetables would come into contact with police officers", and he would only consider working for charities that paid him $1 a year, his application has raised eyebrows in the community. Moreover, some members of the public have queried that the taking up of the post by that person may involve the transfer of benefits and deferred benefits, which may embarrass the Government and tarnish the image of the Police Force. Some members of the public have even queried that the private organization will gain certain advantages by employing a former CP. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it will take into consideration the following factors in its decision on whether to approve the application: the queries expressed by members of the public towards the application, the applicant's access to much sensitive information during his tenure as CP and the fact that top-level police duties involve different realms of the society; if it will not, of the reasons for that; (2) whether it will review, in a timely manner, the arrangements for directorate civil servants to take up post-service outside work, in particular those senior civil servants (e.g. CP) whose scope of duties and power is wide and work nature is sensitive, and devise a clearer and more stringent regulation regime, e.g. extending the control period and specifying the types of outside work that may be approved; and (3) whether it will consider entering into an agreement with directorate civil servants who will soon leave office for the purpose of specifying the nature of the post-service outside work that they may take up, so as to avoid their taking up new posts which brings embarrassment to the Government and tarnishes the image of the civil service; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
*21. Dr Hon Kenneth CHAN to ask: (Translation)
The Government will introduce free quality kindergarten education starting from the 2017-2018 school year for the implementation of the 15-year free education policy. Recently, some concern groups on learning needs of ethnic minority children have relayed to me their concern about whether the Government, when implementing this policy, will at the same time formulate corresponding measures to provide learning support for non-Chinese speaking ("NCS") students. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the details of the research projects relating to the education of NCS students conducted in each of the past five years by the Government itself or by other organizations using Government funding, and set out in a table for each project (i) the title, (ii) the subject of the research, (iii) the department/organization responsible, (iv) the commencement date, (v) the completion date, (vi) the total expenditure incurred, (vii) the findings, (viii) the date on which the findings were published (if such findings were not published, of the reasons for that, and (ix) how the Government informed the various stakeholders of the findings and engaged them in the discussions of the policy issues concerned); (2) whether the Government will consider, prior to the full implementation of the 15-year free education policy, holding discussion forums, seminars or other public engagement activities so as to collect the views of different stakeholders on the learning support to be provided for NCS students under that policy, with a view to formulating the necessary support measures in the light of such views; if it will, of the details; if not; the reasons for that; (3) regarding the University-School Support Programmes ("USP") under the School-based Professional Support Programmes, how the authorities monitor the implementation of USP, and of the standards adopted for assessing the effectiveness of the support provided under USP for those kindergartens admitting NCS students; and (4) whether the Government will consider allocating additional resources for conducting more researches on and implementing relevant measures for the enhancement of the support for NCS students (e.g. providing more resources for schools admitting NCS students and the teachers concerned to further enhance the learning environment of NCS students as well as the relevant teacher training); if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
*22. Hon WU Chi-wai to ask: (Translation)
The Hong Kong Housing Authority ("HA") announced in March this year that it would arrange contractors to carry out rectification works to replace the non-compliant water pipes in the 11 public rental housing estates affected by excess lead found in drinking water ("the affected estates"). The contractors would first replace the water pipes in the common areas ("common pipes") and then those installed inside the domestic units ("domestic unit pipes"). HA also indicated that the actual time required for replacing the water pipes would depend on factors such as the numbers and design of the blocks of the respective estates, the weather conditions as well as the deployment of workers and other resources. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the current progress of the works to replace the common pipes in respect of each of the affected estates, including (i) the commencement date, (ii) the total length of the common pipes, (iii) the total length of the pipes requiring replacement and, among them, the length of the pipes which have been replaced and its percentage in the total length, (iv) the original anticipated date of completion, and (v) the latest anticipated date of completion; (2) whether HA has agreed with the contractors concerned on the deadlines for completion of the works to replace the common pipes; if HA has, of such deadlines and the penalties for failure to meet the deadlines; if not, how HA monitors the progress of the works concerned; (3) of the earliest time expected by HA when the contractors may commence the works to replace the domestic unit pipes; for those estates having fewer blocks and for which the works to replace the common pipes requiring a shorter time to complete, whether HA will require the contractors concerned to commence the works to replace domestic unit pipes expeditiously; and (4) whether it knows the exact date on which the independent Commission of Inquiry into Excess Lead Found in Drinking Water set up by the Government will publish its investigation findings; whether the Government has plans to make monetary compensation to the residents of the affected estates?
* For written reply
III. Government Bills
| Second Reading (Debate to resume), Committee Stage and Third Reading
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| 1. | The Hong Kong Institute of Education (Amendment) Bill 2016
| : | Secretary for Education
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| 2. | Eastern Harbour Crossing Legislation (Amendment) Bill 2015
| : | Secretary for Transport and Housing
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| |||||||||||
|
(Debate and voting arrangements for Committee stage of the Eastern Harbour Crossing Legislation (Amendment) Bill 2015 (issued on 17 May 2016 under LC Paper No. CB(3) 598/15-16(01)))
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| 3. | Inland Revenue (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2016
| : | Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
Under Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury | ||||||||
| Hon WONG Yuk-man to move Committee stage amendments
(The amendments were issued on 13 May 2016 under LC Paper No. CB(3) 593/15-16) | |||||||||||
|
(Debate and voting arrangements for Committee stage of the Inland Revenue (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2016 (issued on 17 May 2016 under LC Paper No. CB(3) 599/15-16(01)))
| |||||||||||
| 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)))
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| 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)))
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| 6. | Chinese Permanent Cemeteries (Amendment) Bill 2015
| : | Secretary for Home Affairs
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| 7. | Inland Revenue (Amendment) (No. 4) Bill 2015
| : | Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
Under 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
Under 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
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| 12. | 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) | |||||||||||
| 13. | Interception of Communications and Surveillance (Amendment) Bill 2015
| : | Secretary for Security
| ||||||||
| |||||||||||
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. | 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 incident of the alleged airport security breach by the family members of Chief Executive LEUNG Chun-ying during the period from the night of 27 March to the small hours of 28 March 2016, 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 | ||||
| 3. | 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. | ||||
| |||||
| 4. | 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". | ||||
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| 5. | 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 | ||||