A 17/18-20
Legislative Council
Agenda
Wednesday 28 February 2018 at 11:00 am
I. Tabling of Papers
Other Papers
II. Questions for Written Replies
1. Hon CHAN Kin-por to ask: (Translation)
The 2016 Population By-census Main Results, published by the Census and Statistics Department in November last year, has revealed that, among the 3.43 million employees (excluding foreign domestic helpers) across the territory, 382 000 (i.e. 11.1%) worked 60 hours or more a week, and around 32 000 (i.e. 0.9%) even worked 75 hours or more a week. Some working persons have indicated that excessively long hours of work leads to work-life imbalance of employees and easily triggers various kinds of occupational diseases, and there were even cases of sudden deaths of employees suspected to be caused by overexertion at work (commonly known as "deaths from overexertion"). On the other hand, it has been reported that quite a number of Asian countries and regions (such as Japan and Taiwan) have drawn up a definition for "death from overexertion" or "overexertion". In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it knows the number of suspected cases of "deaths from overexertion" in the past five years; (2) whether it will examine the drawing up of a definition for "death from overexertion"; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (3) given that the Chief Executive in Council agreed, at its meeting on 13 June last year, to adopt suitable supportive measures to take forward the recommendations made by the Standard Working Hours Committee in its report, of the latest progress of such work; and (4) whether it will examine the establishment of a dedicated fund to provide subsidies for enterprises to implement measures aiming at achieving work-life balance, such as granting employees additional paid leave, creating a family-friendly working environment and establishing diversified communication channels between employers and employees; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
2. Hon Jeffrey LAM to ask: (Translation)
On 12 November last year, Hong Kong and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations ("ASEAN") signed a Free Trade Agreement ("FTA") and a related Investment Agreement. Upon coming into operation, the two agreements will bring about legal certainty and better market access for Hong Kong in respect of trades in goods and services as well as investment protection. The two agreements may come into operation on 1 January next year the earliest, subject to completion of the necessary procedure. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) how the authorities will tie in with the implementation of the aforesaid two agreements, including how they will (i) strengthen its exchanges with trade associations, professional organizations and members of the industries, (ii) conduct publicity, and (iii) provide channels for enquiry, with regard to the contents of the two agreements and the business opportunities arising therefrom; (2) of the industries and areas in Hong Kong which will benefit economically from the two agreements in their first five years of operation, as anticipated by the authorities; whether it has formulated the relevant quantifiable criteria for assessment; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (3) of the current staff establishments of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices ("ETOs") in Singapore and Indonesia as well as the proposed staff establishment of the ETO to be set up in Thailand; whether the authorities will consider setting up offices in the Chinese embassies in the member states of ASEAN where no ETOs have been set up, so as to promote business and trades between Hong Kong and those member states of ASEAN; and (4) given that under the two agreements, Hong Kong and ASEAN will conduct economic and technical cooperation activities in five priority areas, viz. customs cooperation, professional services, small and medium enterprises cooperation, trade facilitation/logistics and e commerce cooperation, of the details and implementation timetables for such work?
3. Hon Dennis KWOK to ask: (Translation)
Since 1 September 2014, the Environmental Protection Department ("EPD") has implemented a new measure to detect, by using roadside remote sensing equipment, petrol and liquefied petroleum gas vehicles with excessive emissions on the road. Where EPD staff have found vehicles with excessive emissions, they will issue emission testing notices to the vehicle owners concerned, demanding them to fix their vehicles and send their vehicles to a vehicle emission testing centre within 12 working days for an emission test with a chassis dynamometer. However, some environmental groups have pointed out that the aforesaid and other air quality improvement measures implemented in recent years by the Government have no significant effect. The roadside air pollution problem therefore remains serious. It has been reported that the Air Quality Health Indexes recorded at the general and roadside air quality monitoring stations reached 7 or above (i.e. high, very high or serious health risk) for 44 days and 55 days respectively last year, which were nearly 68% and 77% higher than the corresponding figures of 26 days and 31 days in 2016. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) given that EPD conducted a short-term air quality monitoring study from 2013 to 2015 by installing diffusion tubes at 172 locations across the territory where pedestrian and vehicular traffic were heavy or air dispersion conditions were poor to measure the levels of nitrogen dioxide ("NO2"), of the detailed addresses of such locations and the respective NO2 levels recorded at the various locations; if EPD cannot provide such information, of the reasons for that; and (2) of the respective numbers of (i) registered vehicles across the territory, (ii) vehicles and (iii) vehicle trips monitored through the use of roadside remote sensing equipment by EPD, as well as (iv) vehicles detected with excessive emissions, in each year since 2014, together with a tabulated breakdown by class of vehicles?
4. Hon SHIU Ka-chun to ask: (Translation)
In December 2011, the Government established, on a pilot basis, a one-stop employment and training centre called "Employment in One-stop" ("EOS") in Tin Shui Wai to provide job seekers with the basic employment services of a job centre, as well as case management and employment support services to be delivered by a non-governmental organization commissioned under an outsourced service contract ("commissioned organization"). In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the details of the basic employment services provided at EOS respectively for (a) the ethnic minorities ("EMs") and (b) all job seekers, in each of the past four years (set out in Table 1);
Table 12014 2015 2016 2017 Total (a) (b) (a) (b) (a) (b) (a) (b) (a) (b) (i) Number of visitors (ii) Number of registered job seekers (iii) Number of cases in which job seekers received job referrals (iv) Number of cases in which job seekers were hired (v) Job fairs: • Number of job fairs • Total number of employers • Total number of job seekers • Total number of job vacancies • Number of job seekers hired (2) of the details of the case management and employment support services provided at EOS respectively for (a) EMs and (b) all job seekers, in each of the past four years (set out in Table 2);
Table 22014 2015 2016 2017 Total (a) (b) (a) (b) (a) (b) (a) (b) (a) (b) (i) Target number of participants (ii) Actual number of participants • Number of cases referred by the Social Welfare Department • Number of other voluntary participants (iii) Number of cases in which participants received job referrals (iv) Number of cases in which participants were hired (and the number of participants hired) (v) Number of participants returning to mainstream full-time schooling (vi) Training activities organized by the commissioned organization: • Number of training activities • Total number of hours of training activities • Number of participants (vii) Referrals to training/retraining courses organized by the Employees Retraining Board: • Number of referrals for enrolling in placement-tied training courses • Number of referrals for enrolling in other courses (viii) Number of referrals for enrolling in training/retraining courses organized by other organizations (ix) Number of referrals to other related community support services (3) as the Government stated in July 2014 that it would review the effectiveness of the service model of EOS after two years, of the outcome of such a review; whether it will make public the review report concerned; if so, when it will do so; if not, the reasons for that; and (4) whether it has plans to (i) establish EOSs in other districts, and (ii) establish in certain districts EOSs dedicated to serving EMs; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
5. Hon Tommy CHEUNG to ask: (Translation)
In July 2015, several samples of drinking water taken from a number of public and private housing estates were tested and found to have a lead content exceeding the provisional guideline value set by the World Health Organization. Recently, some members of the catering industry have relayed to me that since the occurrence of the aforesaid incident, the Water Supplies Department ("WSD") has put in place a number of additional testing procedures in respect of the applications for carrying out water works in restaurants. This, coupled with the time taken for the exchange of correspondence, have led to longer and longer time needed for processing new applications made by restaurants for water supply and installation of water meters. Although the authorities have indicated that they have already added staff for such processing work and refined the relevant processing procedures, the situation has not been improved so far. Such people have also pointed out that during the period when such applications are awaiting vetting and approval, the restaurants concerned may not open for business but still have to pay for rents and staff salaries. As a result, their operating risks and difficulties have greatly increased. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) in every 12 months from 1 July 2013 to 30 June of last year, of: (i) the number of new applications for water supply and installation of water meters received by WSD from restaurants, (ii) the average time taken for processing those applications which were approved, and (iii) WSD's manpower responsible for processing such applications; (2) whether WSD will further increase its manpower or outsource parts of the work procedures, with a view to expediting the processing of such applications; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (3) whether WSD will further refine the relevant procedures, with a view to expediting the processing of such applications; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
6. Hon Christopher CHEUNG to ask: (Translation)
Some members of the public have relayed to me that some shop operators have persistently used goods and miscellaneous items to unlawfully occupy on-street metered parking spaces in front of their shops in order to facilitate the loading and unloading of goods, which aggravates the shortage of on-street parking spaces. Also, some restaurant operators unlawfully occupy such parking spaces so as to operate valet parking business, and they pay parking fees on behalf of the drivers only when law enforcement officers come around, thus causing loss of public money. Regarding unlawful occupation of on-street metered parking spaces, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the number of complaints received by the authorities in the past three years about unlawful occupation of such parking spaces, and the number of the various types of law enforcement operations taken in this respect; the locations at which such acts were more rampant and the relevant details; (2) whether it has estimated the loss of public money in each of the past three years caused by such acts; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (3) of the new measures to curb such acts to ensure that such parking spaces are used only for short-duration parking?
7. Hon Jimmy NG to ask: (Translation)
To maintain Hong Kong's competitiveness as a trading and logistics hub and to align with the international trend, the Government announced in the 2016-2017 Budget that a Trade Single Window ("TSW") would be set up as a one-stop electronic platform for the trading community to submit to the Government trade documents required for all trade declaration and customs clearance purposes. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) as it has been reported that TSW has been piloted in 31 provinces/regions/municipalities on the Mainland and the Mainland authorities will establish a nationwide TSW in 2020 to facilitate connectivity under the Belt and Road Initiative, but the full and mandatory implementation of TSW in Hong Kong will not take place until 2024, of the measures the authorities will put in place so that Hong Kong will not miss the business opportunities and will not have its competitiveness hampered due to the delay in developing TSW; (2) whether it has estimated the amount of annual savings in administrative costs for the relevant sectors such as logistics, retail and import and export upon the full and mandatory implementation of TSW; (3) whether it will formulate guidelines specific to the small and medium enterprises in different sectors and provide them with training and technical support, so as to assist them in adjusting their related procedures and systems to dovetail with the implementation of TSW; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (4) given that TSW will operate round the clock, of the authorities' measures to prevent a backlog of trade documents submitted by traders to the authorities over long holidays; and (5) given that at present, traders may submit Import and Export Declarations and other relevant documents within 14 days after the shipment of goods into or out of Hong Kong, and this long-standing practice allows flexibility in the event of urgent orders and a short delivery period, whether such practice will be retained upon the implementation of TSW; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
8. Hon MA Fung-kwok to ask: (Translation)
The Chief Executive indicated in the Policy Address she presented in October 2017 that the Government would allocate more resources to support the local cultural and arts sector, and would, in the coming years, increase the grants for local artists and arts groups to stage performances and exhibitions on the Mainland and overseas. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) given that the Arts Development Fund (Cultural Exchange Project) under the Home Affairs Bureau provides grants for cultural exchanges between Hong Kong and other places, of the following details about the grant applications in each of the past three years (set out in a table): (i) the number of applications received, (ii) the number of applications approved, (iii) the total amount of grants approved, (iv) the average amount of grants for approved applications, (v) the respective numbers of applications whose amounts of approved grants (a) were less than $100,000, (b) ranged from $100,000 to less than $300,000 and (c) were $300,000 or above, (vi) the respective numbers of artists and arts groups involved in the approved applications, (vii) a breakdown on the number of approved applications by the types of activities involved (e.g. exhibition, drama, dance, music, opera, visual art and others), and (viii) a breakdown on the number of approved applications by the regions (e.g. the Mainland, North America, Europe, Asia and Australia) where the activities involved were held; (2) whether the Government will consider relaxing the criteria for applying for and approval of grants under the funding scheme mentioned in (1) (e.g. expanding the scope of the projects which are eligible for grants, increasing the percentage of the grants in the budgeted total expenditure), with a view to enhancing the promotion of cross-boundary cultural exchanges; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (3) given that in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Government earmarked an additional provision of some $50 million in 2017-2018 to support cross-boundary cultural and arts performances and related activities conducted by local artists and arts groups, of the name(s) of the arts group(s) and the amount of grant involved in each performance/activity for which grant was given, as well as the date(s) and place(s) for holding the activity; whether the Government has assessed the effectiveness of such performances/activities; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (4) whether the Government will consider providing, on a regular basis in each year from this financial year onward, the some $50 million provision mentioned in (3) to support more local artists and arts groups to conduct cross-boundary cultural exchanges; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that ; (5) of the current measures taken by overseas Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices ("ETOs") and Offices on the Mainland ("the Mainland Offices") to strive for opportunities for Hong Kong artists and arts groups to stage performances and exhibitions in the countries/regions concerned; whether the Government has assessed the effectiveness of those measures; if so, of the details; the details of the support offered at present by ETOs and the Mainland Offices to Hong Kong artists and arts groups when they stage performances and exhibitions in the places concerned; (6) given that the Hong Kong Office in Beijing has set up a Cultural Exchange Division, whether the Government will consider setting up cultural exchange divisions or appointing dedicated staff in various ETOs and other Mainland Offices, so as to assist Hong Kong artists and arts groups in conducting cross-boundary cultural exchanges in the places concerned; (7) of the efforts made by the Government in the past two years to promote cross-boundary cultural exchanges between local cultural and arts sector and their counterparts in the countries along the "Belt and Road", as well as the Government's promotion plans in the coming three years; and (8) whether the Government has any plans to implement cooperation initiatives with the relevant authorities of the Mainland cities within Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area, with a view to promoting cross-boundary cultural exchanges and opening up more development opportunities for local artists and arts groups?
9. Dr Hon Pierre CHAN to ask: (Translation)
Quite a number of public hospital doctors have relayed to me that the medical inpatient bed occupancy rates of public hospitals published daily by the Hospital Authority ("HA") during influenza surges do not reflect the actual situation. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council if it knows:
(1) the following information on each of the public hospitals listed in the table below as at midnight each day from the 21st to 27th of last month: (i) medical inpatient bed occupancy rate, (ii) number of medical inpatients, (iii) actual number of medical inpatient beds, (iv) number of medical regular beds, (v) number of medical time-limited beds, (vi) number of medical temporary beds, and (vii) number of beds for other specialties occupied by medical patients due to full occupation of medical wards (set out the figures in tables of the same format as the table below);
As at midnight on __ January 2018
Hospital
clusterHospital (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) (v) (vi) (vii) Hong Kong East Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital Ruttonjee and Tang Shiu Kin Hospitals Hong Kong West Queen Mary Hospital Kowloon Central Kwong Wah Hospital Queen Elizabeth Hospital Kowloon East Tseung Kwan O Hospital United Christian Hospital Kowloon West Caritas Medical Centre Princess Margaret Hospital Yan Chai Hospital New Territories East Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital North District Hospital Prince of Wales Hospital New Territories West Pok Oi Hospital Tuen Mun Hospital (2) whether the base numbers of beds used by various public hospitals for calculating medical inpatient bed occupancy rates include (i) medical time-limited beds, (ii) medical temporary beds, (iii) beds in the wards of various medical specialties (e.g. nephrology, cardiology), (iv) beds in the departments of medical sub-specialties such as rehabilitation, palliative services as well as beds in isolation wards, (v) beds for the Accident and Emergency ("A&E") specialty occupied by patients waiting for admission to medical wards, and (vi) beds for other specialties occupied by medical patients; (3) whether the numbers of medical inpatients calculated by various public hospitals include the numbers of medical patients occupying the various types of beds as follows: (i) medical time-limited beds, (ii) medical temporary beds, (iii) beds in the wards of various medical specialties (e.g. nephrology, cardiology), (iv) beds in medical sub-specialties such as rehabilitation, palliative services as well as beds in isolation wards, (v) beds for the A&E specialty, and (vi) beds for other specialties; (4) whether the HA headquarters has issued guidelines to various public hospitals on the method for calculating medical inpatient bed occupancy rates; if so, whether HA can provide the relevant documents; if not, whether a consistent calculation method has been adopted by various hospitals; (5) whether HA reviews regularly the usage of hospital beds in various public hospitals; if so, of the details; and (6) whether HA will publish the actual numbers of (i) medical inpatients and (ii) medical inpatient beds in various public hospitals as at midnight each day during influenza surges, so as to enhance information transparency?
10. Hon HO Kai-ming to ask: (Translation)
In January this year, the Government announced that in order to fully capitalize on Sham Shui Po being a traditional garment and fabric wholesale and retail hub, it planned to set up a design and fashion base in the district. The plan aims to nurture a new generation of design talents and fashion designers for Hong Kong, and link up the design, manufacturing and retail elements of the fashion industry. However, many practitioners in the fashion industry have pointed out that fashion manufacturers have continuously relocated their production processes to other places over the years, leading to a decline of the local fashion industry. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it knows the respective numbers of (i) establishments which and employees who engaged in the fashion industry and (ii) persons completing fashion design training programmes and clothing technology training programmes, in each of the past five years; (2) whether the authorities will step up (i) the matching of fashion manufacturers with fashion designers and (ii) the technical support provided for the latter to develop local fashion products of original design; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (3) whether the authorities will adopt other measures to promote the development of the fashion industry, such as the granting of land for the construction of a fashion centre that gathers the design, manufacturing and retail elements, thereby giving full play of the clustering effect; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (4) as the Chief Executive stated in the Policy Address delivered in October last year that "there is much room for development by combining design and industry", whether the authorities will adopt concrete measures to encourage manufacturers to move back to Hong Kong to set up factories for the production of high value-added fashion products, in order to promote the collaboration between fashion designers and fashion manufacturers in manufacturing fashion products under the brand of "Made in Hong Kong"; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
11. Hon Andrew WAN to ask: (Translation)
At present, apart from providing departmental quarters and other civil servant quarters for some civil servants, the Government also implements the Civil Service Public Housing Quota Scheme ("CSPHQ Scheme"), which enables junior civil servants as well as rank and file officers of the disciplined services to enjoy better opportunities for allocation of public rental housing ("PRH") units than the general public. Over the four years starting from 2015-2016, a total of 1 000 additional quota places were provided under CSPHQ Scheme. The Government also made an arrangement in 2016 for a special one-off allocation of 200 PRH units to some of the applicants under CSPHQ Scheme and 250 Green Form Certificates to them for purchase of Home Ownership Scheme ("HOS") units. Some members of the public are concerned whether the aforesaid measures will result in the average waiting time of general PRH applicants becoming increasingly longer (which has now risen to 4.7 years). In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the respective numbers of PRH units and HOS units newly completed in each year since 2014-2015; (2) regarding (i) disciplined services departmental quarters and (ii) other civil servant quarters, of the respective numbers of existing and newly completed units in each year since 2014-2015 (set out in Table 1);
Table 1
Year Total number of
existing unitsTotal number of
newly completed units(i) (ii) (i) (ii) 2014-2015 2015-2016 2016-2017 2017-2018 2018-2019
(Estimates)(3) of the respective numbers of units of disciplined services departmental quarters and other civil servant quarters which are expected to be completed within the coming five years; (4) of (i) the number of retired disciplined services officers, the respective numbers of applications submitted by retired/retiring disciplined services officers under CSPHQ Scheme for (ii) allocation of PRH units and (iii) purchase of HOS units, and the respective numbers of retired disciplined services officers who (iv) were allocated PRH units and (v) obtained approval for purchasing HOS units under the Scheme, in each year since 2014-2015 (set out in Table 2);
Table 2
Year (i) Number of applications Number of
successful applicants(ii) (iii) (iv) (v) 2014-2015 2015-2016 2016-2017 2017-2018 2018-2019
(Estimates)(5) of the respective breakdowns of the numbers of applicants mentioned in (4)(ii) and (iii) and other civil servants who applied for PRH units under CSPHQ Scheme since 2014-2015 by the age group to which they belonged; (6) given that the Chief Executive introduced in the Policy Address she delivered in October last year an initiative for extending the length of service of civil servants so that some serving civil servants may choose to retire at the age of 65, of (i) the number of civil servants covered by the initiative and (ii) the impact of the initiative on the demand for civil servant quarters; and (7) of the number of PRH units allocated by the Hong Kong Housing Authority in each of the past 10 years, with a breakdown by type and relevant percentages; the respective current average waiting times of retired disciplined services officers and other civil servants for allocation of PRH units, and how such times compare with that of general PRH applicants?
12. Hon LAM Cheuk-ting to ask: (Translation)
On 27 March last year (i.e. the day following the 2017 Chief Executive ("CE") Election), the Registration and Electoral Office ("REO") discovered that two notebook computers placed in a room of the Asia World-Expo (which was the fallback venue for the CE Election) were lost, one of which contained the personal data (including names, addresses and identity card numbers) of 3.78 million Geographical Constituencies electors across the territory. The Police subsequently classified the incident as theft. The then Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs established a task force in April last year to examine the causes of the incident and recommend improvement measures on related issues. The task force submitted its report in June last year. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the progress of the Police's investigation into the aforesaid case; (2) as REO indicated in July last year that it was following up thoroughly the various improvement measures recommended in the aforesaid report, whether those measures will be implemented in the 2018 Legislative Council By-election to be held on the 11th of next month; and (3) as the aforesaid report suggested that the authorities should consider taking follow-up actions by commencing the performance appraisal or disciplinary procedures in respect of the officers and their supervisors concerned, whether the Civil Service Bureau has taken follow-up actions in this regard; if so, of the outcome; if not, the reasons for that?
13. Hon CHAN Chi-chuen to ask: (Translation)
In its reply to a question raised by me on 22 February last year, the Government said that the air quality in Tung Chung continued to improve from 2012 to 2016. However, quite a number of Tung Chung residents have recently relayed to me that they feel that the air quality in Tung Chung has deteriorated in recent months. Given the imminent commissioning of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge ("HZMB"), they are worried that the vehicular flow in Tung Chung will increase upon HZMB's commissioning, thus aggravating the air pollution problem in the district. Regarding the air quality in Tung Chung, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the respective numbers of exceedances of concentrations of various pollutants (including respirable suspended particulates (i.e. PM10), fine suspended particulates (i.e. PM2.5), ozone, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide), as recorded by the air quality monitoring station in Tung Chung last year, against the Air Quality Objectives or other relevant objectives, and the details of the exceedances of each type of pollutants, including the respective average and maximum extent of exceedances and concentrations; (2) of the measures to be implemented to ensure that the air quality in Tung Chung will not deteriorate upon the commissioning of HZMB; and (3) whether it has regularly reviewed the effectiveness of the various air quality improvement measures for improving the air quality in Tung Chung; if so, of the outcome; if not, the reasons for that?
14. Hon Steven HO to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the working environment and employees' rights and interests of the workers employed by outsourced service contractors ("contractors") to provide cleaning services for the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department ("cleaning workers"), will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it knows (i) the number of cleaning workers and (ii) the year-on-year percentage change of such number, in each of the past five years; (2) whether it knows the average number of garbage bags and masks provided to each cleaning worker per week at present; (3) whether the authorities received complaints from cleaning workers in the past five years that the significant staff cutbacks by some contractors had rendered them unable to take a rest day in every seven days to which they were entitled under the law; if so, of the details, and whether the authorities have taken follow-up actions and instituted prosecutions against the contractors concerned; (4) whether it will explore measures to improve the scheme for evaluating tenders for outsourced services, including (i) lowering the weighting of a tender's scores on price aspect against the overall score to, say, not more than 50%, (ii) stipulating that contractors must arrange sufficient manpower and deploy appropriate equipment for providing cleaning services in order to alleviate cleaning workers' hardship, and (ii) stipulating that contractors must offer better remuneration packages for workers; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (5) given that at present, cleaning workers have to lift up the bulky lids of litter containers and tilt them sideways before they can clean the ashtrays on the top of the lids, and that cleaning workers, who are mostly aged, making such a movement are prone to injuries and musculoskeletal disorders, whether the authorities will improve the design of litter containers; if so, of the details; if not, the other solutions to this problem; and (6) whether it will step up publicity and promotion (such as organizing recycling bin design competitions) to urge members of the public to reduce the production of waste and separate waste properly, with a view to reducing the workload of cleaning workers; if so, of the details (including timetable); if not, the reasons for that?
15. Dr Hon CHIANG Lai-wan to ask: (Translation)
According to the findings of Progress in International Reading Literacy Study, the scores of Hong Kong Primary Four students in "engagement in reading lessons" in 2016 ranked the lowest among the 50 participating countries and places around the globe. On the other hand, the reading attainment of students who did not attend tutorial classes after school was even better than that of the students who attended such classes. Some academics have pointed out that parents forcing their children excessively to learn is counterproductive in that it will make children lose interest in learning, and in the end they will only "win at the starting line but lose at the finishing line". On alleviating the study pressure of primary students, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the number of requests for assistance or complaints received from parents of primary students regarding their children being unable to cope with study pressure and the follow-up actions taken, by the authorities in each of the past three years; (2) as it has been reported that the Primary Six students of a primary school which adopted the teaching concept of "happy learning" achieved rather satisfactory results in the Secondary School Places Allocation exercise last year, whether the authorities will promote the teaching concept of happy learning in primary schools across the territory, as so to enhance students' craving for knowledge and motivation to learn; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (3) whether the authorities studied, in the past three years, the implementation of a "zero homework" policy under which schools are required to designate some sessions as tutorial classes so that students can finish at school the exercises of all subjects under teachers' guidance; if so, of the outcome; if not, whether they will conduct such a study; (4) whether the authorities will formulate guidelines on the maximum daily homework load; if so, of the implementation timetable; if not, the reasons for that; and (5) whether the authorities will provide additional resources to schools so that the parent-teacher associations of schools may organize more activities to enable parents to better deal with their children's emotional problems caused by study pressure; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
16. Hon LEUNG Yiu-chung to ask: (Translation)
To take forward the Tonkin Street/Fuk Wing Street Redevelopment Project, the Urban Renewal Authority ("URA") has, since September 2014, made efforts through private negotiation to acquire property titles from owners of 81 affected properties. Early last year, upon having successfully acquired 54 or 67% of the property titles, URA made an application to the Secretary for Development under section 29 of the Urban Renewal Authority Ordinance (Cap. 563) for invoking section 3 of the Lands Resumption Ordinance (Cap. 124) to resume the remaining property titles under the Project which have not yet been acquired, so that the ownership of such titles would revert to the Government ("compulsory resumption of property titles"). Some property owners who have rejected the relevant acquisition offers made by URA have criticized that such a move of URA is tantamount to robbing people of their properties. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the following details concerning the redevelopment projects in respect of which URA applied, in the past decade, for compulsory resumption of the relevant property titles before it had acquired through private negotiation 80% of the total number of the affected property titles (set out one by one in a table): (i) project name and site area, (ii) the number and percentage of the property titles under the project that URA had acquired before making the application, (iii) the number of property titles under the project acquired through compulsory resumption and the total amount of compensation or ex-gratia allowances paid to the owners concerned, and (iv) if the authorities approved the application, the relevant justifications; (2) of the criteria adopted by the authorities for deciding whether or not to approve URA's applications for compulsory resumption of property titles; whether they will consider amending the law to provide that before making an application for compulsory resumption of property titles under a redevelopment project, URA must have respectively acquired specified percentages of the total numbers of property titles (i) in the whole project and (ii) in each lot/each building under that project, so as to take care of the interests of the property owners of different lots/buildings; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (3) whether it knows if there were past cases in which URA implemented redevelopment projects in collaboration with the affected owners; if there were not, whether URA will consider adopting this approach when implementing redevelopment projects; if there were, of the details of such projects (including the project name, site area and number of affected property titles), and whether there were owners who discontinued the collaboration in the course of implementing the projects; if so, of the projects concerned and the reasons for their discontinuing the collaboration; and (4) as it was reported that the Managing Director of URA had earlier indicated that the restriction of "having to acquire the property titles expeditiously" was one of the reasons why most of the redevelopment projects implemented by URA had recorded losses, of the details of such a restriction?
17. Hon Tanya CHAN to ask: (Translation)
Will the Government inform this Council of the following statistical information on judicial review ("JR") cases since the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region:
(1) the respective annual numbers of applications for leave to apply for JR which were (i) filed, (ii) granted and (iii) refused (set out in Table 1);
Table 1
Year (i) (ii) (iii) 1997 … 2017 (2) (i) the annual number of JR cases heard in the Court of Final Appeal and the High Court in which the Government was involved, together with a breakdown of such number by the court judgements which were (ii) in favour and (iii) not in favour of the Government as well as the respective percentages (set out in Table 2);
Table 2
Year (i) (ii) (iii) Number of cases Percentage Number of cases Percentage 1997 ... 2017 (3) the respective annual numbers of legal aid applications (i) received and (ii) approved by the Legal Aid Department ("LAD") in respect of JR cases, and regarding those approved cases, the respective annual numbers of cases in which the court judgements were (a) in favour and (b) not in favour of the legal aid recipients as well as the respective percentages (set out in Table 3); and
Table 3
Year (i) (ii) (a) (b) Number of cases Percentage Number of cases Percentage 1997 … 2017 (4) (i) the total amount of LAD's annual expenditure, and the (ii) amount in and (iii) percentage of such expenditure incurred for JR cases (set out in Table 4)?
Table 4
Year (i) (ii) (iii) 1997 … 2017
18. Hon Jeremy TAM to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the government sites granted by the Lands Department to policy bureaux or government departments by way of temporary government land allocations ("TGLA sites") and the government sites let by the Department to parties outside the Government for temporary uses by way of short-term tenancies ("STT sites"), will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the respective current numbers of (i) TGLA sites and (ii) STT sites in the territory and the (a) location and (b) site area of each site (set out in a table), and (c) mark the locations of these two types of sites separately on maps; among the STT sites, the number of those which have already been committed to long-term planning uses; if such information is not readily available, whether the Government will consider compiling such information; (2) given that in its reply letter to a Member of this Council on 23 November last year, the Government indicated that of the 2 945 hectares of TGLA sites being used as works sites/works areas, about two thirds by area of the sites were expected to become parts of infrastructure facilities, of the titles of the works projects to which such infrastructure facilities belong and, which of them are major infrastructure work projects; whether it has conducted studies on the future uses of the remaining one third by area (about 1 000 hectares) of such sites; if so, of the objectives and contents of such studies; if not, whether it will conduct such studies immediately; of the detailed uses (e.g. for storing tools or workers' belongings) of the works areas during the period when works are in progress; (3) in respect of Annex 4 to the Government's reply to a question raised by a Member of this Council on 7 June last year, of (i) the respective government departments to which TGLA sites were granted for use as "storage", as well as the types of articles being stored on such sites, (ii) the percentage of those TGLA sites for use as "open space" which are currently open for public use, and (iii) the details on the usage of each of the TGLA sites the uses of which were classified as "others" (set out in a table); and (4) as the Government indicated in its reply as mentioned in (3) that it had no readily available information on those TGLA sites which were due to be returned in the coming three years, five years and 10 years, whether the Government has compiled such information since then; if so, of the details (set out in a table); if not, whether it will compile such information?
19. Hon CHAN Chun-ying to ask: (Translation)
As early as in 2007, the then Chief Executive first mentioned in his Policy Address the development of an Islamic financial market and set the introduction of Islamic finance and the development of an Islamic bond ("sukuk") market in Hong Kong as one of the Government's first initiatives. To that end, this Council passed amendments to the Inland Revenue Ordinance (Cap. 112) and the Stamp Duty Ordinance (Cap. 117) in July 2013. In 2014, the Government offered its inaugural sukuk under the Government Bond Programme. The Chief Executive of the last term reiterated in 2016 that Hong Kong would strive to set up a platform conducive to the development of Islamic finance, and its efforts included enhancing the related market infrastructure, providing manpower training, and promoting the development of Islamic financial products and cooperation with other Islamic financial markets. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it has assessed if the Government's efforts in developing an Islamic financial market in the past 10 years have achieved the expected effects, and the major changes in relevant opportunities during the period; if it has assessed, of the details, including the annual changes in Hong Kong's market share in global Islamic financial activities; if not, the reasons for that; (2) whether, for the purpose of developing an Islamic financial market, the current-term Government has specific plans in the areas such as enhancing market infrastructure, providing manpower training, and promoting product development and cooperation with other Islamic financial markets; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (3) whether it has formulated quantitative indicators for the next 5, 10 and 15 years for assessing the effectiveness of its efforts in developing an Islamic financial market; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
20. Dr Hon Fernando CHEUNG to ask: (Translation)
In October 2016, the Planning Department published a topical report entitled "Consolidated Land Requirement and Supply Analysis" ("the Report"), which projected that "from now to long term", there would be a supply of 202, 1 440 and 1 872 hectares ("ha") of lands respectively for (i) economic uses, (ii) housing sites and (iii) uses as Government, Institution and Community sites, open space and transportation facilities. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) given that the Report has classified the lands to be supplied for economic uses into two groups, namely "Market-driven" (121 ha) and "Others", and further classified the former into three items, namely (i) "Central Business District Grade A Offices" (18 ha), (ii) "Industries" (-17 ha) and (iii) "Special Industries" (120 ha), and the latter as a single item of (iv) "Industrial" (81 ha), of a breakdown of these four items by source of land as set out in Table 1;
Table 1
Source of land Market-driven (ha) Others
(ha)(i) (ii) (iii) (iv) Hung Shui Kiu New Development Area Kwu Tung North New Development Area Yuen Long South East Lantau Metropolis (Kau Yi Chau) New Territories North Redevelopment of Multi-Storey Car Park at Murray Road Site 3 & Site 5 at the New Central Harbourfront Topside Development of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link West Kowloon Terminus Redevelopment of Excelsior Hotel Redevelopment of Queensway Plaza West Kowloon Cultural District Bus Terminus at Chung Kong Road Redevelopment of Rumsey Street Multi-Storey Car Park Redevelopment of Wan Chai Government Offices Kai Tak Development Sale Site in Kowloon East Potential Sale Site in Kowloon East Redevelopment of Taikoo Place Urban Renewal Authority Kwun Tong Town Centre Sale Site in Cheung Sha Wan Food and Environmental Hygiene Department's Depot, North Point Water Supplies Department's Depot, North Point Tung Chung New Town Extension Topside Development of Hong Kong Boundary Crossing Facilities Island Sale Site in Kwai Chung Potential Industrial Sites in Fanling, Fo Tan, Kwai Chung and Tsuen Wan Potential Industrial Sites on Stonecutters Island On Lok Tsuen Industrial Area (Intensification) Lam Tei Quarry Sites and Cavern Areas Sale Site in Tsing Yi Tuen Mun Areas 38/49 Airport Island and North Lantau Development Ma Liu Shui Reclamation Others (please specify) Total area 18 -17 120 81 (2) of (i) the respective areas of land used for developing public and private housing among, and (ii) the respective numbers of public and private housing units that may be provided by, the lands to be supplied for housing site, and provide breakdowns of such figures by source of land as set out in Table 2;
Table 2
Source of land (i) (ha) (ii) (unit) Public housing Private housing Public housing Private housing Land Use Reviews - Some 25 Potential Housing Sites (2019-2020 - 2023-2024)
(2017 Policy Address)Land Use Reviews - Some 150 Potential Housing Sites (2014-2015 - 2018-2019)
(2014 Policy Address)Increasing Land Supply - 42 Potential Housing Sites (2013 Policy Address) Kai Tak Development Diamond Hill Comprehensive Development Area Site Ex-Cha Kwo Ling Kaolin Mine (included in the some 150 sites announced in the 2014 Policy Address) Anderson Road Quarry (included in the some 150 sites announced in the 2014 Policy Address) Ex-Lamma Quarry Kam Tin South Public Housing Development (included in the some 150 sites announced in the 2014 Policy Address) Railway Property Developments - Committed Projects Urban Redevelopments Implemented by Urban Renewal Authority Kwu Tung North and Fanling North New Development Areas Tung Chung New Town Extension Hung Shui Kiu New Development Area Yuen Long South Development Tseung Kwan O Area 137 Railway Property Developments - Potential Projects in Medium/Long Term (including Pat Heung Maintenance Depot and Siu Ho Wan Depot) Others (please specify) Total (3) given that the facilities to be provided on the aforesaid 1 872 ha of lands may be classified into two categories, namely (i) "Major special facilities" and (ii) "Population-related facilities", set out, by name of development project and in Table 3, the current situation (i.e. committed/planned/ under advance planning) of the projects and the respective areas which will be occupied by these two categories of facilities;
Table 3
Name of development project Current situation (i) (ha) (ii) (ha) (e.g. North East New Territories New Development Areas) Total area 1 020 852 (4) as it is projected in the Report that within 30 years from 2016, the demand for housing units arising from redevelopment projects would be about 318 400 units, of the respective numbers of public and private housing units that may be provided upon completion of the redevelopment projects concerned; and (5) as the Report estimated that the number of housing units to be provided upon completion of the redevelopment projects concerned would be less than that before redevelopment, of the ratio of these two numbers and how that ratio was arrived at?
21. Hon WU Chi-wai to ask: (Translation)
At present, there are only five vehicle-converted bank mobile branches in the territory, which station, by rotation, in districts where the coverage of banking services is insufficient. Many people therefore still need to travel a long distance to visit bank branches in other districts in order to use banking services, which is particularly inconvenient to the elderly. The Hong Kong Association of Banks ("HKAB") announced in November last year that starting from March this year, it would, in collaboration with EPS Company (Hong Kong) Limited and a chain convenience store, provide for the elderly EPS cash withdrawal service without the requirement to make purchases ("cash withdrawal service for the elderly") at 34 convenience stores located in relatively remote areas, such as the outlying islands and Tin Shui Wai. On the other hand, the Government indicated in 2006 that as the service scope of the Hongkong Post ("HKP") was bound by the Post Office Ordinance (Cap. 98) and the Trading Funds Ordinance (Cap. 430), HKP could not provide withdrawal and deposit services on behalf of banks. However, HKP announced early this month that it would provide cash withdrawal service for the elderly in phases in seven selected post offices starting from April this year. Regarding realization of the concept of financial inclusion, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it knows the specific implementation date for the cash withdrawal service for the elderly to be provided at convenience stores, the service restrictions and other details; whether HKAB is currently discussing with other chain convenience stores, supermarkets or shops the provision of such service; if discussion is underway, of the details and progress; (2) whether it knows if the various banks have plans in the coming three years to (i) launch more mobile branches and (ii) introduce other measures for realizing the concept of financial inclusion; if they do, of the details; (3) of the details of the cash withdrawal service for the elderly to be provided by HKP, including (i) the specific implementation date, (ii) the names of the seven post offices, (iii) the set-up costs, and (iv) the estimated annual recurrent expenditure; as it has been reported that the banks participating in the initiative of providing cash withdrawal service for the elderly at convenience stores need to pay a transaction cost of about $6 per transaction, of the fee that HKP will charge the banks for each transaction of the cash withdrawal service for the elderly; (4) of the criteria adopted by HKP for selecting the seven post offices, and whether HKP has plans to extend the cash withdrawal service for the elderly to other post offices; if so, of the details; (5) of the restrictions imposed by the two aforesaid ordinances in respect of HKP's provision of withdrawal and deposit services on behalf of banks; whether the Government will study the provision of other banking services in post offices; and (6) whether the Government will study setting aside some areas in other government venues (such as the cultural and recreational facilities under the Leisure and Cultural Services Department) for banks to install automatic teller machines or provide other services, in order to further realize the concept of financial inclusion?
22. Hon Holden CHOW to ask: (Translation)
Hong Kong is now in the winter surge of influenza, with sporadic outbreaks of influenza in the community, institutions and schools. As at the 8th of this month, more than 400 winter influenza outbreaks were recorded by the Centre for Health Protection, outnumbering the figure of the same period last year. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it knows, in each of the past five years, the quantities of influenza vaccines supplied to and used by the healthcare systems of the public and private sectors respectively; (2) of the normal differences between the influenza epidemic during the influenza summer surge and winter surge; whether it has compiled statistics on the respective numbers of persons diagnosed with influenza during the influenza summer surge and winter surge in each of the past five years and, among them, the respective numbers and percentages of children and elderly persons; (3) of the methods adopted by the Government for projecting the future trend of influenza epidemic; whether it has formulated new measures to ensure that the supply of influenza vaccines for and the number of hospital beds in the healthcare systems of the public and private sectors in Hong Kong are sufficient for tackling influenza surges; and (4) whether it knows, in each of the past five years, the respective numbers of influenza patients who sought treatment at the accident and emergency departments of public and private hospitals and, regarding those patients among them who needed to be hospitalized for treatment, the respective average duration for which they had to wait for admission to the wards?
III. Government Bill
First Reading and Second Reading (Debate to be adjourned)
Appropriation Bill 2018 : Financial Secretary
IV. Member's Motion
Proposed resolution under section 34(4) of the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance
Hon Alice MAK to move the following motion:
Resolved that in relation to the Hospital Authority Ordinance (Amendment of Schedule 1) Order 2018, published in the Gazette as Legal Notice No. 20 of 2018, and laid on the table of the Legislative Council on 7 February 2018, 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 28 March 2018.
Clerk to the Legislative Council