A 17/18-27
Legislative Council
Agenda
Wednesday 2 May 2018 at 11:00 am
I. Tabling of Papers
| Subsidiary Legislation / Instruments | L.N. No. | |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Medical Council (Election and Appointment of Lay Members) Regulation | 67/2018 |
| 2. | Dutiable Commodities (Amendment) Ordinance 2018 (Commencement) Notice | 68/2018 |
| 3. | Inland Revenue Ordinance (Amendment of Schedule 16) Notice 2018 | 69/2018 |
| 4. | Smoking (Public Health) (Designation of No Smoking Areas) (Amendment) Notice 2018 | 70/2018 |
| 5. | Trade Descriptions Ordinance (Amendment of Schedule 1) Notice 2018 | 71/2018 |
Other Papers
| 1. | No. 100 | - | Gifted Education Fund Financial statements and Report of the Director of Audit for the period from 15 November 2016 (date of establishment) to 31 August 2017 |
| (to be presented by Secretary for Education)
| |||
| 2. | No. 101 | - | Supplementary Legal Aid Fund Annual Report 2016 |
| (to be presented by Secretary for Home Affairs)
| |||
| 3. | No. 102 | - | Financial Reporting Council Annual Report 2017 |
| (to be presented by Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury)
| |||
| 4. | No. 103 | - | Supplemental Report of the Public Accounts Committee on Report No. 69 of the Director of Audit on the Results of Value for Money Audits (May 2018 - P.A.C. Report No. 69A) |
| (to be presented by Hon Abraham SHEK, Chairman of the Committee, who will address the Council) | |||
II. Questions for Written Replies
1. Hon HUI Chi-fung to ask: (Translation)
Under the existing requirements, the Liquor Licensing Board ("LLB"), after consultation with the Police or other government departments, may grant a liquor licence with additional conditions with which a licensee must comply (e.g. restrictions on liquor selling hours), in order to strike a balance between the commercial interests of the operator and the peace and law and order of the area. With regard to applications for renewal of liquor licences, LLB will consider the track record of the licensed premises concerned, including whether the premises have caused any nuisance to nearby residents. In addition, the Police may recommend to LLB the revocation of a liquor licence if they find that the licensed premises concerned are associated with serious crimes or in serious breach of the licensing conditions. Since 3 August 2015, the validity period of a liquor licence has been extended from one year to two years or a shorter period as LLB so decides. On the other hand, some licensed bar operators have relayed to me that the incessant increase in the number of unlicensed bars in recent years has seriously affected their business environment. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council of:
(1) the current number of premises issued with a liquor licence, and among such premises, the number of those which have been granted renewed licence of two years (and set out a breakdown by District Council ("DC") district); (2) (i) the number of times for which the Police recommended the inclusion of additional conditions in a liquor licence intended to be granted by LLB, and (ii) the number of liquor licences granted by LLB with additional conditions as per such recommendations, in each of the past three years (and set out a breakdown by the DC district to which the relevant licensed premises belonged); (3) (i) the number of liquor licences the revocation of which was recommended by the Police, and (ii) the number of liquor licences revoked by LLB as per such recommendations, in each of the past three years (and set out a breakdown by the DC district to which the relevant licensed premises belonged); and (4) the number of law enforcement operations carried out by the Police to combat unlicensed bars, and the respective numbers of persons arrested and prosecuted for allegedly operating unlicensed bars, in each of the past three years?
2. Hon Frankie YICK to ask: (Translation)
In recent years, more and more members of the public use telephones or mobile phone applications to call taxis or goods vehicles. It has been reported that most of the drivers of such vehicles place several mobile phones or tablet computers (the highest number of devices being 13) on the dashboard so that they can communicate with their customers at any time. It is not uncommon for such drivers to get distracted as a result of their communicating with customers while driving, which jeopardizes road safety. As indicated by the Police's figures, the resultant casualties of last year's traffic accidents which were caused by inattentive driving were 5 735, of which 50 persons were killed and 608 persons were seriously injured. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the respective numbers of drivers who were charged with the offences of dangerous driving and careless driving in each of the past five years because their using mobile phones or tablet computers while driving had undermined driving safety; (2) of the measures to eradicate the situation of drivers being distracted due to their using multiple mobile phones or tablet computers while driving; and (3) of the progress so far of the Government's study on the introduction of legislation to regulate the number of mobile phones or tablet computers permitted to be placed on a dashboard?
3. Dr Hon Pierre CHAN to ask: (Translation)
In December 2013, the Government consulted the Panel on Transport of this Council on a proposal to raise the mandatory requirement of using child restraint device in private cars. The Government indicated that after conducting an opinion survey and drafting the legislation, it would introduce a legislative proposal into this Council in the 2014-2015 legislative session. However, no progress of the relevant work has been seen so far. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the casualties of passengers under the age of 12 in traffic accidents in each of the past five years and the percentage of such numbers in the relevant total casualties (set out in tables of the same format as the table below);
Year: _______Vehicle class Killed
Number (%)Seriously injured
Number (%)Slightly injured
Number (%)Private car Student service vehicle Public bus Public light bus Taxi Others (if any) (2) of the details of the work (e.g. research studies, consultation exercises and opinion surveys) undertaken by the Government since the aforesaid proposal was put forward in December 2013; and (3) why the Government has not yet introduced the relevant legislative proposal into this Council; whether it will strive to have the relevant legislative proposal passed before the end of the current term of the Government; if so, of the timetable?
4. Hon James TO to ask: (Translation)
In the three years from 2015 to 2017, the authorities received each year 19, 44 and 49, or a total of 112, reports that some people had undertaken unauthorized building works to remove or alter approved barrier-free facilities. Under the existing requirements, after finding the reports to be substantiated, the Buildings Department ("BD") will issue statutory orders to the persons concerned in accordance with the requirements of the Buildings Ordinance (Cap. 123) to order such persons to undertake rectification works. In addition, BD has been conducting the Operation Check Walk ("OCW") each year since 1997 to inspect the approved barrier-free facilities in target commercial buildings across the territory to ascertain whether such facilities have been removed or altered, or are obstructed as a result of other addition works. Regarding the barrier-free facilities in commercial premises, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of a breakdown of the aforesaid 112 reports on removal or alteration of approved barrier-free facilities by (i) type of the barrier-free facility concerned, and by the (ii) age and (iii) location of the building concerned, as well as by (iv) BD's way of handling (set out in a table by year); as the number of such reports has shown an upward trend in recent years, whether BD has plans to inspect more commercial buildings; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (2) in each year since the launch of OCW, of the number of (i) commercial buildings inspected by BD, (ii) statutory orders issued by BD to the persons concerned and (iii) cases in which prosecutions were instituted by BD against persons who had failed to comply with the statutory orders (with a breakdown by District Council district); (3) of the criteria based on which BD currently selects commercial buildings for inclusion into OCW, and the procedure and methodologies adopted for inspecting such buildings; (4) as I have learnt that quite a number of members of the public do not know OCW, whether the authorities will step up publicity and public education efforts to enable more members of the public to understand the importance of barrier-free facilities; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (5) whether the authorities will consider requiring restaurants to designate, for use by wheelchair diners, part of the dining area access to which by wheelchairs is relatively easy; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (6) whether the authorities will enact legislation to require that audible vehicle motion sensors be installed at the entrances and exits of public car parks to avoid the occurrence of traffic accidents of blind persons being knocked down by vehicles entering and leaving the car parks; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
5. Hon Martin LIAO to ask: (Translation)
The findings of a survey on career aspirations of Hong Kong and Taiwan university students, published recently by the City University of Hong Kong ("CityU"), have aroused concerns among some members of the community about the issue of the relatively narrower and greater uniformity of Hong Kong university students' career path choices. It has been reported that the survey has found that most young people wish to look for their future jobs according to their interest. However, as in reality quite a number of the industries concerned offer relatively low salaries coupled with uncertain prospect of advancement, the young people may, out of practical considerations, end up choosing to join the civil service that offers a high pay with good fringe benefits, as indicated in the survey's findings that more than half (50.2%) of Hong Kong university students aspire to become civil servants after graduation. On the other hand, among the Hong Kong respondents, 62% indicated that they would consider leaving Hong Kong to work elsewhere and such percentage was far lower than that of about 82% of the Taiwan university students who indicated that they would consider developing their career overseas. Also, when compared with the nearly 46% of the respondents in Taiwan indicating a willingness to develop their career in Mainland China, only 28% of those in Hong Kong were willing to do so. On individual entrepreneurial aspirations, over 66% of the respondents in Taiwan had thoughts of starting up a business, but only about 42% of those in Hong Kong had such thoughts. Given that the Government is doing its best in work relating to young people's concerns about their education, career pursuit and home ownership, and encouraging their participation in politics as well as public policy discussion and debate, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it knows the aspirations in the past three years of Hong Kong's university students and other young people studying in school in areas such as career choices, pursuing career development outside Hong Kong and starting up businesses; if so, please set out the details, including (i) the types of jobs that they aspired to take up and the relevant numbers and percentages of such people, (ii) the number and percentage of those who considered pursuing career development outside Hong Kong and the places outside Hong Kong that they considered leaving Hong Kong for to pursue career development, and (iii) the number and percentage of those who considered starting up a business; (2) whether it knows the actual situations in the past three years of Hong Kong's university graduates and young people with other academic qualifications in areas such as career choices, pursuing career development outside Hong Kong and starting up businesses; if so, please set out the details, including (i) the types of jobs that they took up and the relevant numbers and percentages of such people, (ii) the number and percentage of those who pursued career development outside Hong Kong and the places outside Hong Kong that they left Hong Kong for to pursue career development, and (iii) the number and percentage of those who started up businesses; and (3) whether it will take effective measures to address the concerns about Hong Kong young people's career paths aroused by the aforesaid survey by CityU, and create favourable conditions, so that Hong Kong young people can truly make more diversified career choices according to their interest and potentials and put to use what they have learnt, as well as facilitate them to broaden their horizons so that they will consider career development outside Hong Kong as a viable option, particularly in grasping the opportunities brought about by the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area as encouraged by the authorities; if so, of the details?
6. Hon LAU Kwok-fan to ask: (Translation)
Section 20 of the Residential Care Homes (Elderly Persons) Regulation (Cap. 459 sub. leg. A) stipulates that no part of a residential care home for the elderly ("RCHE") shall be situated at a height more than 24 metres above the ground floor. Some members of the public have pointed out that with the population of Hong Kong ageing continuously, the problem of a shortage of RCHE places has become more acute in recent years, but the aforesaid provision has hindered the supply of RCHE places. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) as the aforesaid provision stipulates that the Director of Social Welfare may, by notice in writing served on an RCHE operator, authorize that any part of such RCHE may be exempted from the provision, whether the Director granted such authorization in the past 10 years; if so, of the reasons for granting such authorization and other details; (2) whether the existing legislation has imposed restrictions on height above the ground floor on other buildings with relatively more elderly persons staying overnight (e.g. hospitals); if not, of the reasons for that; (3) as it has been mentioned in this year's Budget that the Government will pursue a "single site, multiple use" model in multi-storey developments on "Government, Institution or Community" sites, whether the Government will grant authorization to exempt across the board RCHEs located at mixed-use high-rise buildings from the provision; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (4) whether it will expeditiously amend the Residential Care Homes (Elderly Persons) Regulation to relax the restriction on height above the ground floor imposed on RCHEs; if so, of the details and the legislative timetable; if not, the reasons for that?
7. Hon CHAN Kin-por to ask: (Translation)
The Government set up a Working Group on eMPF in June last year to steer the development of an electronic infrastructure to enable standardizing, streamlining and automating Mandatory Provident Fund schemes administration. In the initial stage after establishment, the prime task of the Working Group is to build a centralized electronic administration platform ("e-platform"). In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the latest work progress of the Working Group; (2) of the latest timetable for launching the e-platform; and (3) whether it has plans to apply various types of financial technologies to enhance the effectiveness of the e-platform?
8. Prof Hon Joseph LEE to ask: (Translation)
It is learnt that members of the nursing and supplementary medical professions have all along been requesting the Government to amend the relevant ordinances so as to enhance the credibility, transparency and governance capabilities of the Nursing Council of Hong Kong ("NCHK") and the Supplementary Medical Professions Council ("SMPC"), and to achieve professional autonomy. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) given that a number of amendments to the Nurses Registration Ordinance (Cap. 164) were passed by the former Legislative Council in as early as June 1997, including the addition of section 3(2)(ca), which stipulates that six of the members of NCHK should be elected among registered nurses and enrolled nurses in a manner provided for by the Ordinance, but this provision has not yet been implemented, of the progress of the work undertaken by the authorities for implementing the provision and the timetable for the implementation of the provision; and (2) whether it will consider amending the Supplementary Medical Professions Ordinance (Cap. 359) to stipulate that the chairmanship of the five Boards under SMPC shall be taken up by members of the respective supplementary medical professions for the embodiment of professional autonomy; if so, of the details and the implementation timetable; if not, the reasons for that?
9. Hon IP Kin-yuen to ask: (Translation)
Currently, publishers may submit their textbooks to the Education Bureau ("EDB") for review. Textbooks which have been reviewed and considered as acceptable by the relevant textbook review panels in terms of content, learning and teaching, structure and organization, language, textbook layout, etc. will be included in the Recommended Textbook List ("RTL") issued by the Bureau for reference by schools in the selection of textbooks. It has been reported that recently, the textbook review panels of the Chinese History subject and the History subject made negative comments on the contents of certain textbooks submitted for review. If the publishers concerned do not revise the relevant contents, the textbooks in question will not be included in next year's RTL. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it knows the justifications based on which the relevant textbook review panels made the comments in the right column of the table below in respect of the words and sentences contained in the textbooks submitted for review, as shown inside double quotes in the left column;
Extracts from textbooks Comments made by textbook review panels "Hong Kong lies to the south of China" Inappropriate wording The rise of "modern" Europe, an important episode in world history, has laid "the foundation of western predominance nowadays", resulting in the current globalization process being led by European and American models. Debatable viewpoints The outbreak of "the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937" Inappropriate choice of diction 1. "one-party dictatorship" of CPC
It was stipulated in the Common Programme dated as early as 1949 that the People's Republic of China was under "one-party dictatorship" of CPC…2. "Relationship between the party and the government: the government is inseparable from the party, and under one-party dictatorship of CPC"… Inappropriate choice of diction and unclear concepts In 1949, "the communist China was established and a large number of mainlanders relocated to Hong Kong" Vulnerable to misinterpretation as there is no direct causal relationship between the incidents "China recovered Hong Kong" Inappropriate wording "The transfer of Hong Kong's sovereignty to Mainland China" Inappropriate wording "China insisted on recovering Hong Kong's sovereignty" Inappropriate wording (2) whether the relevant textbook review panels have suggested directions and provided examples to the publishers concerned on ways to amend the textbook contents mentioned in (1); (3) whether the comments made by the textbook review panels represent the stance of EDB; (4) whether there is currently a mechanism for handling complaints lodged by publishers who disagree with the comments made by textbook review panels on the textbooks submitted by them for review; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (5) whether EDB made public, in the past five years, the textbook review reports of the Chinese History subject and the History subject; whether there is currently a mechanism requiring EDB to make public, on a regular basis or after a certain number of years, textbook review reports; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (6) of the reasons for not making public the membership of textbook review panels; the criteria and mechanism for selecting members of textbook review panels; the respective numbers of members in the textbook review panels of (a) the Chinese History subject and (b) the History subject in each of the past five years, with a tabulated breakdown by whether they were (i) primary school teachers, (ii) secondary school teachers, (iii) university teachers, (iv) officials of EDB or (v) other types of persons (please specify); and (7) whether the textbook review panels of the Chinese History subject and the History subject have put forward suggestions to publishers that, in the course of compiling the contents on certain topics in modern Chinese history (e.g. "the rivalry and cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China", "socialist construction" and "reform and opening up") to be used in the textbooks for the subjects, certain historical standpoints should be adopted in relation to the use of historical materials, choice of diction, presentation of viewpoints, making of analyses and selection of pictures; if so, whether the principles for the adoption of historical standpoints must be similar to those adopted by the Mainland authorities; if so, of the details and examples?
10. Hon LEUNG Che-cheung to ask: (Translation)
Some members of the public have relayed that the current cross-boundary portability arrangements for welfare benefits have a very narrow scope, as only those elderly people who are receiving the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance ("CSSA") payments or the Old Age Allowance ("OAA") may continue to enjoy such benefits after they have moved to reside in Guangdong and Fujian Provinces in the Mainland. On the other hand, the then Chief Executive indicated in the 2011 Policy Address that "[w]e need to conduct a comprehensive study on the portability of various welfare benefits, including services provided by residential care homes for the elderly, hospitals and clinics. We will consider whether such services should be extended for our elderly people residing in the Mainland from the perspectives of law, policy and public finance." In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the latest progress of the aforesaid study on the portability of welfare benefits, and when the outcome of the study will be published; (2) whether it will consider expanding the territorial scope of the portability arrangements for CSSA and OAA to cover other provinces of the Mainland and overseas places; if not, of the reasons for that; (3) whether it will consider introducing a portability arrangement applicable to the Disability Allowance; if not, of the reasons for that; and (4) as a research report has pointed out that the citizens of Canada and member states of the European Union may still enjoy certain benefits even if they live abroad, whether the Government will draw reference from such practices and consider comprehensively deleting the permissible limit of absence from Hong Kong from the eligibility criteria for the various welfare initiatives?
11. Hon HO Kai-ming to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the employment of staff in aided schools, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the respective numbers of teaching staff and non-teaching staff employed by aided schools at the beginning of the current school year, with a breakdown by type of school (i.e. secondary and primary schools), type of position, salary level and mode of employment; the respective ratios of the number of these two types of staff to that of students; and (2) whether the authorities conducted reviews in the past five years of the establishment and salary structures of the various types of teaching staff and non-teaching staff employed by aided schools; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
12. Hon LEUNG Yiu-chung to ask: (Translation)
The findings of some surveys have shown that the number of homeless people increased from 1 414 in 2013 to 1 614 in 2015. There were 57, 256 and 384 homeless people in 2013, 2015 and 2017 respectively who stayed overnight in fast food restaurants operating 24 hours a day, showing an upward trend in such numbers in recent years. However, the number of homeless people as recorded by the computerized registry of the Social Welfare Department ("SWD") as at February 2018 was only 1 091. Some members of the social welfare sector have pointed out that the Government has failed to put in place a homeless-friendly policy, and the existing measures are not conducive to helping homeless people overcome their difficulties and reducing the number of homeless people. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the number of homeless people in each of the past five years, with a tabulated breakdown by (i) their gender, (ii) the age group to which they belonged, (iii) for how long they had been sleeping outdoors, (iv) the reason(s) for them to sleep outdoors, (v) the location where they slept outdoors and (vi) the District Council district to which such location belonged, as well as the latest number of homeless people who currently stay overnight in fast food restaurants operating 24 hours a day and the criteria adopted in the surveys; if such figures are unavailable, of the reasons for that, and whether it will consider compiling such statistics; whether it will consider streamlining SWD's current procedure for registering homeless people, and reviewing the criteria adopted for the registration and surveys concerned, so that the data collected can more accurately reflect the number of homeless people; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (2) whether SWD will review and improve the approaches adopted for compiling statistics on the number of homeless people, and include people residing in urban hostels for single persons and temporary shelters ("hostels/shelters") in the relevant statistics; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (3) as currently there are only a total of 640 accommodation places which are subvented by SWD or offered by non-governmental organizations ("NGOs") on a self-financing basis, and such number is far below the actual number of homeless people, whether the Government will consider increasing the number of accommodation places; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (4) whether the Government has studied the reasons why some homeless people (i) are reluctant to move into the hostels/shelters, and (ii) have reverted to sleeping outdoors after living in the hostels/shelters for a period of time; if not, whether it will conduct such a study; if it has studied, of the reasons for homeless people's reluctance to move in and for checking out from the hostels/shelters (whether such reasons include the poor hygiene conditions inside and outside the hostels/shelters as well as air conditioning not being provided in such hostels/shelters), and a breakdown, by the reason for checking out, of the number of people who checked out from such hostels/shelters in each of the past five years; whether the Government will conduct a comprehensive review on the effectiveness of the hostels/shelters and take improvement measures (including improving the hygiene conditions of the hostels/shelters); if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (5) in respect of the homeless people who stayed in each hostel/shelter in each of the past three years, of (i) their respective average, shortest and longest periods of stay, and (ii) a breakdown on the number of such people by the number of months for which they had stayed in the hostel/shelter; whether the Government will consider extending the six-month maximum period for staying in hostels/shelters; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (6) whether it will consider providing additional hostels for the female homeless people; if so, of the details (including the locations of and the numbers of places in such hostels as well as the implementation timetable); if not, the reasons for that; (7) of the respective numbers of operations of removing the property of homeless people placed at public places which were carried out in each of the past five years by the government departments concerned (i) with and (ii) without prior notices; whether it will formulate policies, enact legislation and establish mechanisms for protecting the personal property of homeless people (including a mechanism for homeless people to reclaim their property); if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (8) as currently there are only three integrated services teams operated by NGOs that provide services for homeless people, whether the Government will consider allocating additional resources to expand such services; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (9) whether the Government will consider (i) conducting a comprehensive study on the reasons for homeless people to sleep outdoors, and (ii) conducting a comprehensive review on the existing policies and measures as well as drawing reference from overseas practices, so as to draw up a comprehensive policy on and service guidelines for homeless people; if so, of the details and the timetable; if not, the reasons for that; whether it will consider setting up a dedicated department to deal with matters relating to homeless people; if so, of the details (including the scope of work and staff establishment of such department and the implementation timetable); if not, the reasons for that?
13. Hon WU Chi-wai to ask: (Translation)
To facilitate the construction works of the Shatin to Central Link ("SCL") and the Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link ("XRL"), the Government has loaned a number of sites (e.g. Ma Chai Hang Recreation Ground in Wong Tai Sin and part of the land of the Nam Cheong Park in Sham Shui Po) to the MTR Corporation Limited ("MTRCL") for use as temporary supporting works areas. With the imminent completion of the Hin Keng to Hung Hom section of SCL and XRL, such temporary works sites will be returned to the Government. Regarding the uses of those sites, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the information on each of the sites which are currently on loan to MTRCL to facilitate the aforesaid construction works, including the (i) location, (ii) area, (iii) expected date of return to the Government, and (iv) proposed long-term use (if any); and (2) regarding those sites which will be returned to the Government but whose long-term use has not yet been determined at present, whether the authorities will invite various government departments or public organizations (e.g. the Social Welfare Department and the Hospital Authority) to apply for using those sites; if so, of the details?
14. Hon Holden CHOW to ask: (Translation)
Some Tung Chung residents working at the airport have relayed to me that, at present, they mainly rely on franchised bus services to travel to and from the airport. However, given that the bus routes concerned are circuitous and traffic congestion frequently occurs in Tung Chung Town Centre during rush hours, they have to spend a lot of time on traffic. Moreover, the population of Tung Chung will increase substantially in the coming few years upon the completion of a number of development projects. This will inevitably aggravate the traffic load in the district. On the other hand, the Civil Engineering and Development Department ("CEDD") is currently conducting a Study on Traffic, Transport and Capacity to Receive Visitors for Lantau ("the first Study"), which will cover ways to improve the traffic within Lantau Island (such as the traffic network between Tung Chung Town Centre and the Airport Island). Also, CEDD and the Planning Department ("PlanD") are jointly conducting a Planning, Engineering and Architectural Study for Topside Development at Hong Kong Boundary Crossing Facilities Island of Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge ("the second Study") to consider, among others, the transport connectivity proposals for the Hong Kong Boundary Crossing Facilities ("HKBCF") Island ("the Island") of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge ("HZMB"), North Lantau and the Airport Island. Regarding issues concerning improvements to Lantau Island's traffic and transport infrastructure, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) given that some Tung Chung residents have suggested extending the Tung Chung Line to the Airport Island, whether the scope of the first Study covers such suggestion; if so, of the details; whether the authorities have discussed the suggestion with the MTR Corporation Limited ("MTRCL"); if so, of the outcome; (2) of the latest progress of the second Study; whether CEDD and PlanD have studied my suggestion below: constructing a regional elevated monorail system with stops to be built at places such as Tung Chung, the Airport Island, the Island; if so, of the outcome; if not, the reasons for that; and (3) given the expected completion of HZMB in the third quarter of this year, of the details of the authorities' plans for public transport plying HKBCF and various districts in Hong Kong upon the completion of HZMB; whether the authorities will work with MTRCL to explore the feasibility of building an additional HKBCF Station of the Tung Chung Line?
15. Hon Jimmy NG to ask: (Translation)
The Labour Department received more than 50 000 employees' compensation claims for work-related injuries reported under the Employees' Compensation Ordinance (Cap. 282) in each year from 2013 to 2017. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of a breakdown, by industry and cause of the work injury incidents, of the number of compensation claims for work-related injuries in each of the past five years (set out in a table); (2) whether it has explored new measures that may reduce the occurrence of work injury incidents; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (3) in respect of those industries with a higher number of work injury incidents, whether the Government will allocate additional resources (including manpower) to (i) step up training for the employers and employees of such industries so as to raise their awareness of occupational safety and health ("OSH"), and (ii) draw up more stringent OSH guidelines for such industries; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
16. Hon Paul TSE to ask: (Translation)
In February this year, a Hong Kong woman went missing during a tour to Taiwan. It has been reported that Taiwan Police found, after investigation, that the woman had been killed and they suspect that a Hong Kong man who went to Taiwan with the woman and subsequently returned to Hong Kong alone is the murderer. Under general legal principles, the courts in Hong Kong may not have jurisdiction to hear the case in question which occurred outside Hong Kong, unless there is evidence showing that certain acts of the suspect (e.g. the plotting of the murder) were committed in Hong Kong. Moreover, as the Hong Kong Government has yet to enter into with the Taiwan authorities an agreement on the surrender of fugitive offenders under the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance (Cap. 503), the law enforcement authorities in Hong Kong probably may not surrender the suspect, who has the right of abode in Hong Kong, to the Taiwan authorities. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the progress made so far by the Hong Kong Police and the Department of Justice ("DoJ") in handling the aforesaid case; (2) when it can confirm whether the case will be heard by the courts in Hong Kong or in Taiwan; (3) apart from the suspect voluntarily going to Taiwan, whether there are policies, legislation and procedure based on which the Government may transfer him to Taiwan for trial; if so, of the details; (4) whether DoJ and the Police of Hong Kong may provide, and have provided, assistance to the Taiwan authorities in respect of case investigation (including gathering of evidence); if they may provide and have provided assistance, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (5) when and how the authorities will plug the loophole in the law which has rendered the authorities of Hong Kong and Taiwan unable to surrender fugitive offenders to each other, in order to prevent offenders who have committed very serious crimes from getting away without being punished?
17. Hon CHAN Hak-kan to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that between 2000 and 2004, the Town Planning Board approved with conditions the planning applications made by a developer for its residential development projects in Fung Yuen, Tai Po. Those conditions were subsequently incorporated into the relevant land lease, stipulating that the developer is responsible for the management and maintenance of a garden next to the residential projects. However, some members of the public have complained to me that the developer concerned has not fulfilled those land lease covenants so far. On fulfilling by developers the responsibilities under land lease covenants on the management and maintenance of the sitting-out facilities surrounding development projects, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the number of planning applications for which approval was granted, by the authorities in the past three years, with the conditions of managing and maintaining the sitting-out facilities surrounding development projects, and the area of the sitting-out facilities involved in each approval; (2) whether the authorities received complaints in the past three years about developers failing to fulfill the relevant land lease covenants; if so, of the number of such cases and the details of each case; and (3) whether it has issued warning letters to those developers in (2) who failed to fulfill the relevant land lease covenants; if so: (i) of the number and other details; (ii) in respect of those developers who made rectifications, of the time lapse after warning letters were issued to them and before they did so; (iii) of the number of developers who have not made any rectifications after the deadlines concerned; the average time lapse before further actions were taken by the authorities; and (iv) of the number of developers who have not made rectifications even after the authorities had taken further actions; whether the authorities will consider recovering the sites concerned by invoking the relevant land lease covenants; if so, of the area of the site involved in each case; if not, the other measures in place to press the developers to fulfill the relevant land lease covenants?
18. Hon Charles Peter MOK to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that some members of the public have recently found that video cameras were strapped onto and notices issued by the Food and Health Bureau ("FHB") were hung at certain lampposts, stating that the camera systems have been installed for traffic census purposes. Some members of the public are concerned that such practice may infringe upon their privacy. Regarding the installation of camera systems by the Government in public spaces, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the detailed use of the data collected through the aforesaid camera systems of FHB; (2) of (i) the setting up procedure (including the party responsible for the installation) for such cameras, (ii) the total number of them and (iii) their locations; (3) of the duration of the aforesaid traffic census; the use of the camera systems so far, including (i) the number of times for which video records were made, (ii) the number of video footages taken, (iii) the total length of the video footages, and (iv) the respective numbers of such footages still being kept after 31 days and after six months from the date on which the video records were made; (4) whether FHB has commissioned contractors to undertake the video recording work; whether the video footages contain data (i) which can be used to identify the identities of individuals and (ii) on the interiors of residential units; if so, of the procedures to ensure that the staff of the government departments and/or contractors concerned will properly and conscientiously store, use and destroy such data; (5) as data protection principle ("DPP") 1(1) under the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (Cap. 486) requires that personal data should not be collected unless the data are collected for a lawful purpose directly related to a function or activity of the data user who is to use the data and the collection of the data is necessary for or directly related to that purpose, whether the Government has formulated guidelines on the collection of personal data by using camera systems installed in public spaces, particularly when contractors are involved, to ensure compliance with that principle; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (6) as DPP 4(1) requires that a data user shall take all practicable steps to ensure that personal data held by the data user are protected against unauthorized or accidental access, processing, erasure, loss or use, whether the Government has, in respect of the retention and use of the video footages taken through the camera systems installed in public spaces, (i) consulted the views of the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data, (ii) conducted risk and impact assessments of privacy infringement, and (iii) monitor the compliance with that principle by the staff of the government departments and/or contractors responsible for the relevant work; whether it has put in place a mechanism for the public to lodge complaints about matters relating to the retention and use of such video footages by the Government; and (7) whether it has required staff of government departments and/or contractors responsible for the operation of camera systems as well as retention and use of such video footages to receive training on privacy protection; if so, of the average number of hours of training they received?
19. Hon Kenneth LEUNG to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the protection of consumers' rights and interests of people who purchase goods and services online ("online shopping") and the development of e-commerce, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it has compiled statistics on (i) the person-times of online shopping, (ii) the penetration rate of online shopping, (iii) the total value of online retail sales, and (iv) the per capita spending on online shopping, in each of the past five years; if so, of the details (set out in a table); if not, the reasons for that; (2) of the number of complaints about online shopping received by the authorities in each of the past five years, with a breakdown by nature of complaint; among such complaints, of the number of those involving online stores which have only set up accounts on social media platforms and have not undergone business registration nor operated a physical shop, and whether the authorities have taken the initiative to monitor the business practices of this type of online stores; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (3) given that the Expert Group on E-commerce ("EGE") was established in May 2015 under the Working Group on Manufacturing Industries, Innovative Technology, and Cultural and Creative Industries of the Economic Development Commission, of EGE's current membership as well as (i) the number of meetings held, (ii) the specific work carried out, (iii) the recommendations put forward for promoting e-commerce, and (iv) the achievements made, so far; and (4) whether the authorities have monitored and studied the development trends of e-commerce in Hong Kong and around the world, and reviewed if the existing legislation and regulatory regimes can keep abreast of the latest development, so as to effectively protect the consumers' rights and interests of online shoppers and maintain the market's level playing field; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
20. Dr Hon Elizabeth QUAT to ask: (Translation)
Incidents of cruelty to animals have occurred from time to time in recent years. Last month, a total of 17 dogs in Tai Po and Fanling died of suspected wrong intake of poisoned baits, and a Japanese spitz was allegedly thrown from a height and died tragically. Recently, a mongrel in Wan Chai was also allegedly thrown from a height and died at the scene. Some members of the public have pointed out that such incidents have shown that there are loopholes in the animal protection legislation in Hong Kong, and that the Police have not formulated a proper mechanism for handling cases of cruelty to animals. They hope that the Government will expeditiously review the laws and enact legislation in response to social needs in order to better safeguard animal welfare. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) as the Government has indicated that it will study the existing legislation related to animal welfare, such as the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Ordinance (Cap. 169), and explore the introduction into the law of a concept of positive duty of care of animals on animal keepers, of the latest progress of such work; whether the authorities will (i) create an offence of aggravated cruelty to animals to address certain acts of extreme cruelty to animals (e.g. serial killing of animals by poisoning them) and stipulate a penalty for such offence which is more severe than that under Cap. 169 to enhance the deterrent effect, and (ii) make it mandatory for convicted persons to receive psychological counselling and attend courses on animal-friendly practices; if so, of the details and timetable; if not, the reasons for that; (2) whether the authorities will explore empowering frontline law enforcement officers to take rescue actions when animals are in danger and establishing a system whereby law enforcement departments may issue, to persons who are negligent in taking care of animals, Care Enhancement Notices setting out the areas of improvement which they need to make, so as to prevent more animals from being harmed; if so, of the details and timetable; if not, the reasons for that; (3) as the Commissioner of Police has recently announced that the number of police districts which have assigned a dedicated team to handle cases of cruelty to animals will increase from 13 to 22, of the scope of work of those police officers belonging to such dedicated teams; how the Hong Kong Police Force will deepen its existing work on animal protection to enhance the efficiency of current law enforcement efforts; (4) whether there was an upward trend in the number of cases of cruelty to animals in the past five years; if so, whether the authorities will (i) actively consider establishing an animal police team dedicated to investigating cases of cruelty to and abandonment of animals, stepping up training for frontline law enforcement officers to enhance their ability and alertness in handling such cases, as well as enhancing the knowledge of prosecutors on animal welfare-related legislation to ensure the strict enforcement of the legislation, and (ii) set up a hotline for reporting cruelty to animals; if so, of the details and timetable; if not, the reasons for that; (5) as it has been reported that there are greater difficulties in collecting and adducing evidence for dog poisoning cases when compared with other dog abuse cases in general, including the requirement for the prosecution to prove that a person who places/feeds poisoned baits has a motive to poison dogs in order to stand a better chance of convicting him, whether the authorities will explore the enactment of a dedicated legislation on deliberate acts of animal poisoning and actively review the investigation and prosecution procedures on related offences, so as to ensure that offenders will be brought to justice; if so, of the details and timetable; if not, the reasons for that; and (6) whether the authorities will, by making reference to the United Kingdom's enactment of a new and comprehensive Animal Welfare Act in 2006, expeditiously commence a study and a legislative exercise on introducing an Animal Welfare Ordinance in Hong Kong, so as to ensure that animals are taken care of properly; if so, of the details and timetable; if not, the reasons for that?
21. Hon CHAN Kin-por to ask: (Translation)
It is learnt that since 2011, the Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology of The Chinese University of Hong Kong has run a Multidisciplinary Orthopaedics Rehabilitation Empowerment ("MORE") programme under the sponsorship of the Hong Kong Federation of Insurers. Through early referrals and rehabilitation interventions, the MORE programme enables patients with orthopaedic problems arising from work-related injuries to achieve maximum rehabilitation and return to work as early as possible. The relevant data show that employees with work-related injuries who had joined the MORE programme took shorter periods of sick leave before they returned to work and their return-to-work percentages were also higher as compared with other employees with work-related injuries. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the respective numbers of (i) work injury incidents and (ii) confirmed cases of occupational diseases, reported in each of the past five years, with a breakdown by trade; and (2) whether it will consider, by setting up an inter-departmental task force and making reference to the MORE programme, promoting in Hong Kong the full introduction of orthopaedic rehabilitation services comprising early referrals and rehabilitation interventions, with a view to enabling patients with orthopaedic problems arising from work-related injuries and occupational diseases to recover and return to work as early as possible; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that and the other measures in place to help such employees to recover and return to work as early as possible?
22. Hon IP Kin-yuen to ask: (Translation)
The Report of Strategic Review on Healthcare Manpower Planning and Professional Development released last year put forward a number of recommendations on future healthcare manpower planning in Hong Kong, including making better use of the self-financing sector in the provision of healthcare training to help meet the increasing demand in Hong Kong for manpower in the various healthcare professions. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) in each of the past five years, of (i) the respective attendances of inpatients and outpatients for the various allied health services at public hospitals under the Hospital Authority ("HA"), and (ii) the number of new outpatients waiting for such services and their average waiting times; (2) of the (i) number of post, (ii) number of vacancy and (iii) wastage rate in respect of each allied health grade within the establishment of the public sector in each of the past five years (with a breakdown by HA and each relevant government department); (3) given that the Government is implementing a number of healthcare improvement measures, including implementing the Pilot Scheme on Residential Care Service Voucher for the Elderly, strengthening district-level primary healthcare services, extending the scope of the Visiting Medical Practitioner Scheme to cover privately-run residential care homes for persons with disabilities, providing more allied health professionals at special schools, and achieving the objective of "zero-waiting time" for on-site pre-school rehabilitation services, whether it has assessed the additional manpower demand for each allied health grade to be brought about by the implementation of the various measures; (4) whether it knows the following information in respect of the bachelor's degree and master's degree programmes in occupational therapy and physiotherapy currently offered by the various institutions: (i) name of institution, (ii) name of programme, (iii) number of places, (iv) entrance requirements, (v) ratio of full-time teachers to students, (vi) number of practicum hours, (vii) tuition fees, and (viii) unit costs (with a breakdown by whether the programmes are publicly funded or self-financed); (5) given that The Hong Kong Polytechnic University has, since 2012, launched two-year master's degree programmes separately in occupational therapy and physiotherapy on a self-financing basis, and the Social Welfare Department ("SWD") has implemented a training sponsorship scheme to provide funding support for non-governmental organizations ("NGOs") to sponsor the tuition fees for students recruited by these NGOs and the sponsored students must work for the NGOs concerned for at least two years after graduation, in respect of each of these programmes in each academic year since the implementation of the sponsorship scheme, of the (i) number of sponsored places and the amount of sponsorship approved, and (ii) number of graduates serving in the NGOs concerned under the sponsorship conditions; the respective numbers of sponsored places and the amounts of sponsorship approved under such programmes in the next academic year as estimated by SWD; and (6) whether it knows the following information on the academic and professional accreditation conducted for self-financing degree programmes in occupational therapy and physiotherapy: (i) the respective numbers of meetings held by the boards of the relevant professionals and the attendance rates of their members, in each of the past five years; (ii) the names of the accreditation committees, their memberships and the organizations for which their members work, as well as the time needed for the tasks at various accreditation stages; (iii) the accreditation criteria currently adopted by the various accreditation committees, and the professional organizations consulted prior to the formulation of the accreditation criteria and procedure; (iv) in respect of programmes that have not been granted pre-launch accreditation, the measures to ensure the early announcement of the accreditation results, so as to reduce the number of students who have to bear the risks of not being qualified for registration as a result of the programmes they enrolled for not being accredited; (v) the respective provisions and ordinances pursuant to which self-financing, publicly funded and non-local programmes as well as their graduates are required to apply for registration, and the criteria for making the relevant arrangements; (vi) whether licensing examination with professional accreditation will be introduced; if so, of the timetable; if not, the reasons for that; and (vii) whether the relevant accreditation committees will make reference to the practices of the Nursing Council of Hong Kong and upload various information such as the content of the handbook for accreditation of training institutions and the progress of accreditation of the relevant training onto the Internet for public access, so that those interested in enrolling for the relevant programmes can learn about the accreditation arrangements for such programmes; if so, of the details (including the timetable); if not, the reasons for that?
III. Government Bills
| First Reading and Second Reading (Debate to be adjourned)
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| Inland Revenue (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2018 | : | Secretary for Innovation and Technology
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| Second Reading (Debate to resume), Consideration by Committee of the Whole Council and Third Reading
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| Appropriation Bill 2018 | : | Financial Secretary
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| Other attending Public Officers (Second Reading) | : | Secretary for Innovation and Technology Secretary for Home Affairs Secretary for Labour and Welfare Secretary for Food and Health Secretary for Education | ||||||||
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Amendments to Heads of Estimates in committee of the whole Council on the Appropriation Bill 2018
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| (Debate and voting arrangements for Appropriation Bill 2018 in committee of the whole Council (issued on 30 April 2018 under LC Paper No. CB(3) 559/17-18(01)) (same as the Appendix to the Script of Council meeting of 2 May 2018))
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| Other attending Public Officers (committee of the whole Council) | : | Chief Secretary for Administration Secretary for Justice Secretary for the Environment Secretary for Innovation and Technology Secretary for Home Affairs Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Secretary for Labour and Welfare Secretary for the Civil Service Secretary for Security Secretary for Transport and Housing Secretary for Food and Health Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Secretary for Development Secretary for Education Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Under Secretary for the Environment Under Secretary for Security Under Secretary for Development Under Secretary for Innovation and Technology Under Secretary for Education Under Secretary for Labour and Welfare Under Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Under Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Under Secretary for Food and Health Under Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Under Secretary for Home Affairs Under Secretary for Transport and Housing | ||||||||