A 17/18-6
Legislative Council
Agenda
Wednesday 8 November at 11:00 am,
Thursday 9 November and Friday 10 November 2017 at 9:00 am on both days
I. Tabling of Papers
| 1. | No. 19 | - | Hong Kong Council on Smoking and Health
Annual Report 2016-2017 |
| (to be presented by Secretary for Food and Health)
| |||
| 2. | Report No. 3/17-18 of the House Committee on Consideration of Subsidiary Legislation and Other Instruments | ||
| (to be presented by Hon Starry LEE, Chairman of the House Committee) | |||
II. Questions for Written Replies
1. Hon Jimmy NG to ask: (Translation)
In November last year, the Innovation and Technology Commission launched, on a pilot basis, the Technology Voucher Programme with a commitment of $500 million to subsidize local small and medium enterprises ("SMEs") in using technological services and solutions to enhance productivity, or upgrade or transform their business processes. As at the end of September this year, 184 funding applications were approved under the Programme; the average amount of funding for each approved application was about $130 000, involving a total funding of about $23.8 million (which accounted for only 4.76% of the commitment for the Programme). Some SMEs have indicated that the modus operandi of the Programme has failed to meet their needs. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) as the authorities pointed out in reply to a question raised by a Member of this Council on the Estimates of Expenditure 2017-2018 that they would review the effectiveness and modus operandi (such as funding scope, funding amount and vetting procedures) of the aforesaid Programme two years after its launch, or when the commitment was forecast to reach $500 million, whichever was the earlier, whether the authorities will conduct the relevant review earlier in the light of the lukewarm response to the Programme so far; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (2) whether the authorities will consider extending the funding scope of the Programme, so that SMEs receiving a grant may apply for funding again when they update the information technology facilities or systems of the relevant projects in future, with a view to enhancing the attractiveness of the Programme; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (3) whether the authorities will consider revising the funding mode of the Programme by setting different funding ceilings for different industries, such as maintaining the cumulative funding ceiling for services sectors at $200 000 while raising that for non-services sectors (including manufacturing and industrial sectors) to $400 000, so as to assist the latter in accelerating their digitalization and automation, and enhancing their productivity and competitiveness; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
2. Hon Andrew WAN to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the statistics on and policy review for private recreational leases, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the number of existing leases and the total area of land involved, with a tabulated breakdown by the following items: (i) type of lessee (i.e. private sports club, uniformed group, social and welfare organization, national sports association, community sports club and civil servants' association); (ii) lease term (i.e. 15 years, 21 years and others (please specify)); and (iii) the District Council district in which the land is located; (2) of the amounts of (i) government rent and (ii) rates actually paid by the lessee of each lease in the last financial year (set out in a table), and the method by which such amounts were arrived at; (3) whether it knows, in respect of each lease in the last financial year, (i) the membership size of the lessee and (ii) the attendance at the venue concerned (set out in a table); and (4) whether the Home Affairs Bureau can complete the policy review for such leases within this year on schedule, and of the details and the timetable of its work to consult this Council and relevant stakeholders on the outcome of the review?
3. Dr Hon Helena WONG to ask: (Translation)
Under the existing requirements, applications for including new drugs in the Hospital Authority Drug Formulary ("HADF") ("applications for new drug inclusion") must be initiated by clinicians, endorsed by the heads of the clinical departments to which such clinicians belong, and reviewed and recommended by the Drug and Therapeutics Committees ("DTCs") of the relevant hospital clusters or hospitals, before they are vetted and approved by the Drug Advisory Committee ("DAC") under the Hospital Authority ("HA"). Upon approval of the applications for new drug inclusion by DAC, the drugs concerned still have to await the decisions of the relevant DTCs for their inclusion in the formularies of the hospitals concerned before they may be used in the hospitals. On the other hand, the Director of Audit pointed out in the Report No. 67 of the Director of Audit ("the Report"), which was published on 31 October last year, that some public hospitals had never made any application for new drug inclusion. Moreover, although 45 non-HADF drugs, which were used by public hospitals and clinics in 2015-2016, had been registered in Hong Kong and some of them were even in regular demand, no application for new drug inclusion in respect of them had ever been made. The Director of Audit also recommended that HA should continue to include appropriate new self-financed drugs in the safety net of the Samaritan Fund ("safety net") to provide subsidy for patients with financial difficulties to purchase drugs which are not covered by the standard fees and charges in public hospitals and clinics. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council if it knows:
(1) the number of applications for new drug inclusion received by DAC since the publication of the Report; (2) among the drugs approved by DAC in 2016-2017 for inclusion in HADF, the number of those which are now in use in the hospitals concerned and whether there are drugs which have yet to be approved by the DTCs concerned for use in their hospitals; if so, of the reasons for that; whether HA will consider publishing annually a list of drugs approved by DAC for inclusion in HADF; (3) whether HA will include the aforesaid 45 drugs in HADF as soon as possible, so that patients of various public hospitals may be prescribed with such drugs; (4) whether HA will conduct a study on streamlining the vetting and approval procedure for applications for new drug inclusion so that new drugs will be permitted to be used in public hospitals expeditiously; (5) the number of meetings held by HA in each of the past three years on the inclusion of new self-financed drugs in the safety net; whether HA will hold such meetings more frequently, with a view to expeditiously increasing the categories of subsidized drugs covered by the safety net; and (6) the respective budgets and expenditures of various hospital clusters on drugs in each of the past three years?
4. Dr Hon CHIANG Lai-wan to ask: (Translation)
Currently, thermal paper is widely used for printing boarding passes, lottery tickets of gambling activities, cash register receipts, etc. It has been reported that the colour-developer coating on most thermal paper contains Bisphenol A ("BPA"). Some studies have found that BPA can be absorbed by the body through skin contact, and excessive intake of BPA may cause endocrine disorder, or may even induce diseases such as breast cancer and ovarian cancer. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether, in the past three years, it conducted laboratory tests on the thermal paper currently used for receipts printed and issued by various government departments and public organizations, to find out if such paper contained BPA; if so, of the results of such tests; if not, the reasons for that; (2) whether it will conduct regular sample tests on the BPA level of the thermal paper available for sale in the market, and publish the results of such tests for public information; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (3) as it has been reported that both Taiwan and Japan have banned the use of BPA-containing thermal paper, and the European Union has also announced that the sale of thermal paper with a BPA level equal to or greater than 0.02% (by weight) will be banned starting from January 2020, whether the Government will introduce legislation to ban the sale of BPA-containing thermal paper so as to safeguard public health; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (4) whether it will consider providing incentives to encourage various industries to use BPA-free thermal paper; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (5) whether it has measures put in place to raise the awareness of the public (especially people such as cashiers who frequently come into contact with thermal paper) of the health risks posed by BPA, in the hope that they will take measures (such as wearing gloves) to avoid long-time skin contact with BPA-containing thermal paper; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
5. Hon Kenneth LEUNG to ask: (Translation)
In December 2015, the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change passed the Paris Agreement on the global response to climate change, with the Parties to the Convention agreeing to control the rise of global average temperature within two degrees Celsius (benchmarking against the pre-industrialization level). In May last year, the Financial Services Development Council published a report entitled Hong Kong as a Regional Green Finance Hub, putting forward a number of recommendations on ways to consolidate Hong Kong's leading position in green finance. Such recommendations include the issuance of benchmark green bonds by issuers controlled by the Government and public organizations, and the nurturing of green finance talents leveraging on the resources of universities and professional bodies, so as to ensure that there is a sufficient supply of such talents. On the other hand, the Airport Authority Hong Kong ("AAHK") has announced that it will issue a green bond in Hong Kong. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether the authorities have taken follow up actions on the recommendations put forward in the aforesaid report; if not, of the reasons for that; if so, the details, including whether they have formulated plans to nurture green finance talents; (2) whether it knows if there are, apart from AAHK, other public organizations planning to issue green bonds within the coming two years; if it knows that there are, of the names of the organizations as well as the contents of and the issuance schedules for the bonds; if not, the reasons for that; and (3) whether the authorities have plans to draw up clear definitions, scopes and information disclosure requirements for various products and projects of green finance, and set up an assessment mechanism that meets international standards, so as to prevent anyone from selling deceptively products and projects the nature of which does not conform with environmental principles (commonly known as "greenwashing"); if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
6. Hon Charles Peter MOK to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that the three buildings of Radio Television Hong Kong ("RTHK") at Broadcast Drive have been in use for nearly 40 years and are dilapidated, resulting in severe water seepage occuring during inclement weather. Moreover, the filming and production facilities are also insufficient to meet the demand. Some RTHK staff members have relayed to me that as their workload has increased substantially since RTHK launched the digital terrestrial television broadcasting service in 2014, coupled with a shortage of manpower and hardware, the quality and quantity of RTHK's public broadcasting service have been affected. On the other hand, the funding proposal for the project to construct a New Broadcasting House of RTHK ("the Project") did not obtain the support of the Public Works Subcommittee of this Council in 2014. The RTHK Programme Staff Union last year openly requested the Government to submit afresh to this Council a proposal for the Project, but there has been no progress so far. Moreover, it has been reported that the study on constructing a joint-user building for RTHK and the Government Laboratory was terminated last month, and the Government even downgraded the Project from Category B to Category C. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the reasons why it downgraded the Project to Category C, and whether there is an implementation schedule for the Project at present; (2) whether it has examined if RTHK's manpower and hardware are sufficient to cope with its operational needs; of the measures the Government has in place, before the New Broadcasting House is completed, to assist RTHK in addressing the problems of insufficient space and facilities with a view to mitigating the constraints faced by RTHK in its programme production and operation; (3) of the number and total broadcasting hours of the television programmes produced by RTHK in each of the past five years, as well as the number of staff members and total working hours involved in producing such programmes and their average production cost per hour; (4) as it has been reported that RTHK was granted an additional funding of more than $100 million upon taking up two analogue television channels in April last year, of the (i) dates on which the funds were granted to RTHK and (ii) details of how the funds have been used, including the additional amount of funds allocated to each of the relevant units under RTHK as well as the additional amount of funds and manpower deployed for various uses (set out in a table); and (5) whether it has conducted planning for the long-term development of RTHK; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
7. Hon Paul TSE to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that the personal data of a member of the public had been used fraudulently by others, resulting in his being deemed as a loan referee by finance companies without his knowledge. Subsequently, the victim received within the same period of time telephone calls and short messages from 47 finance companies urging him, in an intimidating manner, to repay loans on behalf of the borrower(s), causing him and his family members to live in a constant state of anxiety. The victim sought assistance from the Police and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data ("OPCPD") but was refused. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it has gained an understanding of the circumstances leading to the incident in which the aforesaid victim was urged to repay loans by 47 finance companies within the same period of time; (2) as I understand that finance companies have an obligation to verify, before approving loans, that the data subjects are aware of and have given consent to the use of their personal data for loan applications, whether OPCPD has assessed if the finance companies involved in the aforesaid case have contravened the requirements under the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (Cap. 486); (3) of the reasons why the Police and OPCPD refused to accept the victim's complaint; the government department or bureau from which the victim may seek assistance; whether it will review Cap. 486 to see if there are loopholes and, if so, plug such loopholes to prevent the recurrence of incidents in which the personal data of innocent members of the public are used fraudulently by others, resulting in their being deemed by finance companies as loan referees without their knowledge; and (4) given that the debt collection activities of and collection of personal data (including personal data of referees) by licensed money lenders are regulated by the licensing conditions imposed by the licensing court on licensed money lenders pursuant to the Money Lenders Ordinance (Cap. 163), which include prohibiting a money lender and his debt collectors from recovering debts from anyone except the debtor, or from harassing anyone while trying to locate the whereabouts of the debtor, and that if a licensed money lender is in breach of any licensing condition, it may constitute a criminal offence and his licence may be revoked, whether the relevant law enforcement departments have assessed if the aforesaid finance companies have breached the Ordinance and the licensing conditions?
8. Dr Hon Elizabeth QUAT to ask: (Translation)
Some women have relayed to me that the assisted-reproduction services, prenatal screening services and postnatal support (e.g. the provision of lactation rooms and babycare rooms) currently provided by public healthcare institutions for women are inadequate and lag behind those in other places. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) as some women have relayed that in recent years, women in Hong Kong tend to get married at an older age and, as a result, female infertility has become more common, whether it knows the details of the subfertility and assisted-reproduction services currently provided by the Family Planning Association of Hong Kong and public hospitals, including the number of public hospitals providing those services, as well as the quotas, waiting time and charges for those services; in respect of those services in each of the past three years: (i) the average waiting time, (ii) the number of persons waiting for the services, (iii) the age distribution of service users, and (iv) the public expenditure involved; (2) whether it knows if the Hospital Authority ("HA") will provide centralized oocyte cryopreservation service; if HA will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (3) whether it knows the methods currently adopted by public hospitals for conducting prenatal screening for Down's syndrome for pregnant women; in respect of each screening method, (i) the service quota for the current year, and (ii) the number of persons currently waiting for the service and their waiting time (set out such information in a table); (4) whether it knows the factors based on which public hospital doctors determine whether the safeT21 test ("T21 test") or amniocentesis should be adopted for conducting prenatal screening for Down's syndrome for pregnant women; (5) whether it knows the current number of public hospitals providing T21 testing service, and the average waiting time of pregnant women for the service in each hospital; (6) whether it knows the unit cost of and the charge for T21 test, as well as the amount of estimated expenditure set by HA for the current financial year for conducting T21 tests; (7) whether it knows if HA will consider completely replacing amniocentesis with T21 tests for conducting prenatal screening for Down's syndrome for pregnant women in future; if HA will, of the details and timetable; if not, the reasons for that; (8) of the number of newborn babies in each of the past two years who had been breastfed after discharge from hospital; among the various government facilities (including office buildings, cultural and recreational facilities under the Leisure and Cultural Services Department such as sports grounds and libraries, as well as public markets), of the number and percentage of those in which lactation rooms and babycare rooms are provided; (9) whether it will introduce legislation or formulate guidelines to require that separate lactation rooms and babycare rooms be provided in newly set up public places; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (10) of the new measures in place to encourage or promote the provision of more lactation rooms and babycare rooms in private commercial buildings and public places (e.g. MTR stations, shopping malls)?
9. Hon CHAN Hak-kan to ask: (Translation)
The Chief Executive indicated in the Policy Address delivered last month that future public housing developments should include more Green Form Subsidised Home Ownership Scheme ("GSH") units instead of public rental housing ("PRH") units, in order to achieve regularization of GSH. Persons who are eligible for purchasing GSH units include PRH tenants and PRH applicants whose eligibility has been established and who are due for allocation of PRH units in about a year's time. Some members of the public have relayed to me that they have been waiting for PRH for a number of years but their eligibility for allocation of PRH units has not been established. They worry that the regularization of GSH may cause a reduction of the supply of PRH units, thereby lengthening the waiting time for allocation of PRH units. During the period when they are waiting for PRH, their family income may rise beyond the limits, resulting in their losing at the same time the eligibilities for the allocation of PRH units and for purchasing GSH units. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) among the PRH applicants on the PRH Waiting List, of the respective numbers and percentages, as estimated by the authorities at the time when GSH units of the next phase are available for sale, of those applicants: (i) who are eligible for purchasing GSH units, and (ii) who have been waiting for PRH for more than three years, but are ineligible for purchasing GSH units; (2) whether it will relax the eligibility criteria for purchasing GSH units, so as to cover those PRH applicants who have been waiting for PRH for more than three years; and (3) whether it will allocate more sites for building PRH units, so as to ensure that the supply of PRH units will not be reduced as a result of regularization of GSH?
10. Dr Hon Elizabeth QUAT to ask: (Translation)
It is learnt that there are more than 7 000 known rare diseases worldwide, and most of them are hereditary diseases, autoimmune diseases and cancers. While the European Union, the United States, Australia, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan have drawn up their official definitions for rare diseases and the relevant medical care policies, Hong Kong has not followed suit. Some concern groups have pointed out that the existing support measures of the Government for patients of rare diseases and cancers also lag behind those of other advanced countries or regions. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether the authorities will expeditiously draw up an official definition for "rare diseases" and the relevant policies on supporting the patients; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (2) given that the Policy Address just delivered has put forward the provision of more assistance for patients with uncommon diseases, whether the "uncommon diseases" mentioned include: (i) non-infectious non-anterior uveitis, (ii) acute lymphoblastic leukemia, (iii) familial amyloid polyneuropathy, (iv) cortical-basal ganglionic degeneration, (v) hereditary thrombocytopenia and (vi) fabry disease; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (3) whether the authorities will establish a database on rare diseases for reference by the relevant personnel when making policy decisions on medical care, making clinical decisions and conducting medical researches; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (4) whether the authorities will set up an one-stop centre for rare diseases at the Hong Kong Children's Hospital to be commissioned shortly, so that tasks such as screening, diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation, research and training relating to rare diseases can be centrally handled there; if so, of the details and the timetable; if not, the reasons for that; (5) as most rare diseases are hereditary diseases, whether the authorities will make improvements to the existing public prenatal check-up services, including extending the scope of such services to cover more non-invasive genetic tests relating to hereditary diseases, and include genetic tests relating to common hereditary diseases in public premarital or prenatal check-up services, with a view to reducing the incidence of newborn babies suffering from rare diseases; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (6) of the top 10 deadliest cancers in Hong Kong at present and, in respect of each of them, (i) the number of new confirmed cases and (ii) the number and age distribution of deaths in each of the past 10 years (set out in a table); (7) of the average length of time taken from a public hospital patient being suspected by a doctor of having cancer to that patient receiving first treatment, and the respective numbers of people queuing to receive the relevant treatments (with a tabulated breakdown by type of cancer); (8) of the drugs newly developed for treating rare diseases and cancers which were registered in Hong Kong in the past 10 years, and the average time taken by the authorities to vet and approve the applications for registration of these drugs; whether the authorities will put in place a mechanism for the speedy registration of drugs for treating such diseases; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (9) whether the authorities will make references to overseas practices and introduce a risk-sharing scheme on drug expenses for the treatment of rare diseases and cancers, under which the Hospital Authority ("HA") is to enter into agreements with pharmaceutical companies on payments for drugs based on the efficacy of drug treatment achieving the target specified, or based on the duration of treatment specified in the agreement concerned, with a view to capping the drug expenses for HA and the patients concerned; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (10) whether it knows the existing number of patient groups which provide support services for patients with rare diseases or cancers and their carers; whether the authorities will enhance the cooperation with such patient groups so as to support these patients and their carers more effectively; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
11. Hon Wilson OR to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that in October last year, there was an outbreak of norovirus gastroenteritis, in which 11 adults and 13 children were infected, at a multi-purpose party venue with children play facilities which was located in an industrial building. In October this year, an outbreak of the same infectious disease occurred at a venue of the same type located in another industrial building, in which 11 adults and 10 children were infected. The two cases have caused public concern about the regulation and hygiene conditions of such type of venues. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it has compiled statistics on the current number of venues of the aforesaid type which are located in industrial buildings across the territory; if so, of the details; (2) whether the operators of such type of venues are required to apply for a licence; if so, whether the operators of the two aforesaid venues have obtained the relevant licences; and (3) whether it has any mechanism put in place at present to monitor the hygiene and operation of such type of venues; if so, whether the mechanism includes regular inspections of such venues by health inspectors; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
12. Hon Andrew WAN to ask: (Translation)
On 29 September this year, the Secretary for Development indicated that the Government had identified 210 sites that could be allocated for residential use in the short to medium term, and among which 25 sites had been identified recently. In this connection, will the Government set out in a table the (i) location, (ii) site area and (iii) original planned use of each site (and specify which of the sites were identified recently)?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Development
13. Hon Jeffrey LAM to ask: (Translation)
The governments of the three places, namely the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region ("HKSAR"), the Macao Special Administrative Region and the Guangdong Province are working on the Development Plan for a City Cluster in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area ("the Plan"). On the other hand, the HKSAR Government and the State Ministry of Commerce signed on 28 June this year the Investment Agreement and the Agreement on Economic and Technical Cooperation under the framework of the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement ("CEPA") to further promote economic and trade cooperation between the Mainland and Hong Kong. Some members of the industrial, commercial and professional sectors have expressed concern about how CEPA will be implemented in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area ("the Bay Area") in the future. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the details of the CEPA-related work (such as entering into new agreements with the Mainland, monitoring the implementation of market liberalization measures and providing support to the industrial, commercial and professional sectors) carried out by the Government in each of the past five years, and the manpower and public expenditure involved; (2) whether the Government will, in the coming three years, provide additional manpower and financial resources to take forward the two aforesaid Agreements and support the work related to the Plan; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (3) as quite a number of local enterprises have relayed that when doing businesses on the Mainland, they often encounter the difficulties that "big doors are open, but small doors are not yet open", of the respective numbers of enquiries, complaints and requests for assistance relating to CEPA received by the Trade and Industry Department in each of the past five years, with a tabulated breakdown by nature of the cases and the trade involved; the follow-up actions taken by the Government in respect of such cases; and (4) as the Chief Executive has indicated in the Policy Address recently delivered by her that the Government will set up a Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area Development Office to co-ordinate efforts related to the implementation of the Plan and undertake research and publicity work in relation to the Bay Area development, of the relevant details; whether the Office will explore ways to assist Hong Kong people and enterprises in discovering more new opportunities in the Bay Area through CEPA?
14. Hon LEUNG Yiu-chung to ask: (Translation)
The Employment Ordinance (Cap. 57) stipulates that where at any time an employee has been employed under a contract of employment during the period of four or more weeks (no week shall count unless the employee has worked for 18 hours or more in that week) next preceding such time, he shall be deemed to have been in continuous employment during that period. Employees not in continuous employment are transient workers in general. Regarding the statistics on these two types of employees and self-employed persons, will the Government inform this Council of:
(1) the respective numbers of (i) employees in continuous employment, (ii) employees not in continuous employment and (iii) self-employed persons, in each of the past three years, together with a tabulated breakdown by industry and average number of hours worked per week (i.e. below 18 hours, 18 to 29 hours, 30 to 39 hours, 40 to 44 hours and over 44 hours); and (2) the respective numbers of employees and self-employed persons (i) who were employed for less than three months each time, and (ii) who worked for less than 18 hours per week, in each of the past three years, together with a tabulated breakdown by their characteristics as follows: (a) the trade in which they were engaged, (b) job position, (c) the main capacity apart from the employment (e.g. a family carer or a student), (d) physical condition (i.e. able-bodied or with disabilities), (e) status on receipt of social welfare (e.g. currently receiving Disability Allowance, Comprehensive Social Security Assistance, Old Age Living Allowance or Old Age Allowance, or not receiving any social welfare allowances); (f) type of accommodation (i.e. public housing, private rental accommodation, self-owned property, etc.); (g) education level (i.e. primary, junior secondary, senior secondary, post-secondary or university graduate or above); and (h) age group to which they belonged (i.e. 15 to 18, 19 to 24, 25 to 44, 45 to 64, 65 or above)?
15. Hon CHAN Chun-ying to ask: (Translation)
In recent years, there has been an increase in activities in Hong Kong and elsewhere of raising funds in the name of initial coin offerings ("ICOs"). Earlier on, a relevant platform even advertised extensively in Hong Kong its ICO fundraising activities. On 4 September this year, the People's Bank of China, in collaboration with six other regulatory bodies, promulgated the Announcement on Guarding against the Risks of Financing by Initial Coin Offerings, under which financing by ICOs is regarded as "a form of unapproved and illegal public fund-raising", and such financing activities will be eradicated on the Mainland. On the following day, the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong published a statement on ICOs, elucidating that digital tokens offered or sold by individual ICOs may be regarded as the "securities" defined in the Securities and Futures Ordinance (Cap. 571) and, therefore, the conduct of the ICOs concerned in Hong Kong is subject to the regulation of the securities laws of Hong Kong. On the other hand, in September this year, the Chief Executive Officer of JPMorgan Chase & Co. publicly slammed Bitcoin, a virtual currency, as a fraud. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it has studied the legality and risks of various kinds of digital token financing activities; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (2) of the policy bureau or statutory body responsible for monitoring ICOs that are conducted in Hong Kong and do not fall within the ambit of securities offerings; and (3) given that the price of Bitcoin has risen by over five times since early this year, whether it has evaluated the impact of trading activities of virtual currencies becoming increasingly vigorous on the financial market in Hong Kong; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
16. Hon Tanya CHAN to ask: (Translation)
The Government will start the "Three-step Process" shortly to implement the arrangement of Hong Kong and Mainland customs, immigration and quarantine procedures being carried out at the West Kowloon Station ("WKS") of the Hong Kong Section ("HKS") of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link ("XRL") (the "co-location arrangement"). However, the Government has not yet given this Council an account of the operating arrangements for XRL such as train schedules, as well as the details of the Mainland Port Area in WKS. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of a projection of the (i) number of trains with intermediate stops or terminal stops at the stations listed in Table 1, (ii) number of trains terminating at such stations, and (iii) number of direct trains running to and from such stations with no immediate stops (set out in Table 1 by name of station), among the daily number of XRL trains running to and from WKS during the initial operation of HKS of XRL; Table 1: Number of XRL trains Station (i) (ii) (iii) Futian Shenzhen North Humen Guangzhou South Changsha South Wuhan Zhengzhou/Zhengzhou East Beijing (all stations) Xiamen North/Xiamen Fuzhou South/Fuzhou Hangzhou East/Hangzhou Shanghai (all stations) Nanchang West/Nanchang Guilin North/Guilin Nanning East/ Nanning Guiyang North/Guiyang (2) given that the Government is discussing the service concession agreement for HKS of XRL with the MTR Corporation Limited ("MTRCL"), whether the agreement will include clauses vesting in MTRCL the revenues to be brought by the business facilities in WKS and the property development rights on top of the station; (3) given that the Government has decided to vest the land or interests or other rights in respect of the land of HKS of XRL in its wholly owned Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation ("KCRC"), which will in turn grant the service concession for the operation of HKS of XRL to MTRCL, of the Government's justifications for making such an arrangement; whether the revenues from XRL in future will be vested in KCRC and how the Government will make use of such revenues; (4) whether the Government will immediately publish the (i) detailed plans (including the locations and floor areas of various facilities on each floor, annotated with the specific area in which mainland laws will be enforced) and (ii) Master Layout Plan (including the comprehensive development plan for the properties on top of the station and the open space plan) of WKS; (5) whether the Government, when it estimated in 2015 the revenues from XRL, took into account the impacts of the other soon-to-be-completed cross-boundary infrastructure (e.g. the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge and the Liantang/Heung Yuen Wai Boundary Control Point) on XRL's patronage; if so, of the details; (6) of the progress to date of the discussion between the Government and the China Railway on the operational details (including fare revenue sharing and fare level) of HKS of XRL; apart from mileage, whether the future fare revenues will be shared according to the contribution ratios of both parties in the construction of the XRL network; (7) of the latest estimated floor areas of (i) the comprehensive property developments on top of WKS and (ii) the commercial facilities in WKS; whether the Government has taken into account the revenues to be brought by such property developments and commercial facilities when it estimated the financial viability of XRL; (8) whether the Government has discussed with MTRCL how the operating losses of HKS of XRL will be shared by the two parties in the event that the operating revenues from XRL fall far below expectation; if it has and the Government needs to bear part of the losses, of the Government's plans for raising the funding required, including whether it will seek funding approval from this Council, and whether it will tap the revenues from the property developments on top of WKS to make the payment; and (9) given that the Government submitted in December 2015 a patronage forecast for XRL to a committee under this Council, whether the Government will set out the relevant data in Tables 2 to 9? Table 2 : Daily patronage of the trains of HKS of XRL running to and from the following stations in 2018 Forecast in 2015 Latest forecast
(specify the year)Futian Shenzhen North Humen Guangzhou South Total short-haul services Within Guangdong Province (excluding short-haul services) Hunan Hubei Henan Hebei Beijing Fujian Zhejiang Shanghai Jiangxi Guangxi Guizhou Other provinces/municipalities Total long-haul services
Table 3:Daily patronage of various modes of cross-boundary transportActual figure in 2015 Forecast in 2015
for 2018Latest actual figure XRL Through train Boundary train Cross-boundary coach Cross-boundary ferry Aeroplane Others Total Table 4 : Percentages of various types of passengers with various trip purposes in the (i) overall cross-boundary passengers and (ii) HKS of XRL passengers, in 2018 as forecasted in 2015 Passenger Type Trip Purpose (i) (ii) Hong Kong residents Business Non-business Total Non-Hong Kong residents Business Non-business Total
Table 5:Single trip fares for the following destinations in 2015Destination XRL assumed fares Actual fares of existing
train servicesActual coach fares Futian Shenzhen North Humen Guangzhou South Table 6 : Forecasted fare revenue receivable by HKS of XRL for each trip (specify the year) Destination Fare revenue receivable by HKS of XRL for each trip Futian Shenzhen North Humen Guangzhou South Table 7 : Estimates of revenue and expenditure of HKS of XRL during its initial operation as forecasted in 2015 and the latest forecast Estimates Forecast in 2015 Latest forecast
(specify the year)Operating revenues Fare revenue Non-fare revenue Operating costs Energy Repair and maintenance Staff costs Support services EBITDA Operating margin Table 8 : Population (in million) of the following places in 2018, 2021 and 2031 as forecasted in 2015 Place 2018 2021 2031 Shenzhen Dongguan Guangzhou Guangdong Province Hong Kong Table 9 : Annual rates of growth in gross domestic product of the following places during the two periods from 2015 to 2020 and from 2020 to 2031 as forecasted in 2015 Place 2015 to 2020 2020 to 2031 Shenzhen Dongguan Guangzhou Guangdong Province Hong Kong
III. Members' Motions
| Stand-over item: Member's motion no. 1 (since the meeting of 1 November 2017)
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| 1. | Proposed resolution under section 34(4)of the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance
Dr Hon Priscilla LEUNG to move the following motion: Resolved that in relation to the Trainee Solicitors (Amendment) Rules 2017 (Commencement) Notice, published in the Gazette as Legal Notice No. 164 of 2017, and laid on the table of the Legislative Council on 11 October 2017, the period for amending subsidiary legislation referred to in section 34(2)of the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance (Cap. 1) be extended under section 34(4)of that Ordinance to the meeting of 29 November 2017. | ||
| 2. | Motion of Thanks
Hon Starry LEE to move the following motion: (Translation) That this Council thanks the Chief Executive for her address. Hon WU Chi-wai, Dr Hon Fernando CHEUNG, Hon LEUNG Yiu-chung, Hon Andrew WAN and Dr Hon KWOK Ka-ki to move amendments to the motion | ||
| (The amendments were issued on 3 November 2017
under LC Paper No. CB(3)108/17-18) | |||
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Public Officers to attend are listed in the Appendix.
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