A 18/19-11
Legislative Council
Agenda
Wednesday 5 December 2018 at 11:30 am
(or immediately after the meeting for the Chief Executive's Question Time
to be held at 11:00 am that day)
I. Tabling of Papers
| Subsidiary Legislation / Instruments | L.N. No. | |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Road Tunnels (Government) (Amendment) (No.2) Regulation 2018 | 237/2018 |
| 2. | Tsing Ma Control Area (Tolls, Fees and Charges) (Amendment) Regulation 2018 | 238/2018 |
| 3. | Tsing Sha Control Area (Tolls, Fees and Charges) (Amendment) Regulation 2018 | 239/2018 |
| 4. | Fugitive Offenders (France) Order | 240/2018 |
Other Papers
| 1. | No. 45 | - | Independent Police Complaints Council Report 2017/18
(including Financial statements and Independent auditor's report) |
| (to be presented by Hon CHAN Kin-por, Vice-Chairman of the above Council) | |||
| 2. | No. 46 | - | Report of changes made to the approved Estimates of Expenditure during the second quarter of 2018-19
Public Finance Ordinance : Section 8 |
| (to be presented by Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury) | |||
| 3. | Report No. 6/18-19 of the House Committee on Consideration of Subsidiary Legislation and Other Instruments | ||
| (to be presented by Hon Starry LEE, Chairman of the House Committee) | |||
II. Questions
1. Hon WU Chi-wai to ask: (Translation)
The United States-China Economic and Security Review Commission, created by the United States ("US") Congress, has alleged in a report published last month that the Central Authorities have been running counter to the promise of implementing "one country, two systems" and "a high degree of autonomy" in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region ("SAR"). The Commission has therefore recommended that the Congress direct the Department of Commerce and other relevant government agencies to prepare a report to examine and assess the adequacy of the US export control policy for dual-use technology as it relates to the treatment of Hong Kong and China as two customs areas. Moreover, it has been reported that the Mainland authorities are building a nationwide video surveillance network called "Skynet", and some countries in Europe and America have recently ceased issuing licences for exporting components critical for the network to Hong Kong for re-export to the Mainland. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it has gained an understanding if the coverage of the aforesaid dual-use technology includes the items listed in the two lists as set out in Schedule 1 to the Import and Export (Strategic Commodities) Regulations, components related to Skynet, as well as the software and data necessary for the development of a smart city; (2) whether it has assessed, in the event that the US authorities tighten the control on export to Hong Kong, cease to treat Hong Kong as a separate customs area or repeal the Hong Kong Policy Act, the impacts of these three changes of different levels on Hong Kong in those aspects such as its development of innovation and technology as well as into a smart city, and the immigration treatments for Hong Kong residents when entering the US for visits or studies; of the Government's measures to mitigate such impacts; and (3) whether it will request the Central People's Government to once again instruct the offices set up in Hong Kong by the Central Authorities to strictly comply with the stipulation that they may not interfere in the affairs which SAR administers on its own as provided under Article 22 of the Basic Law, with a view to making the US authorities believe that the Central Authorities have all along honoured its promise of implementing "one country, two systems" and "a high degree of autonomy" in SAR, and thus continue to treat Hong Kong as a separate customs area, such that Hong Kong can leverage its distinctive edge in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area which has a condition of "one country, two systems and three customs areas"?
2. Dr Hon CHENG Chung-tai to ask: (Translation)
The United States-China Economic and Security Review Commission, created by the United States ("US") Congress, published a report last month, alleging that Beijing's encroachment on the rule of law and freedom of speech in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has brought an ongoing decline in the territory's rule of law. The Commission therefore called for examining and assessing the adequacy of US export control policy for dual-use technology as it relates to the treatment of Hong Kong and China as two customs areas. In response, the Chief Executive criticized that the report had made unfounded accusations and applied a double standard, and had even put on "tinted glasses" when scrutinizing the relationship between Hong Kong and the Central Authorities. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) given that the Sino-US trade conflicts persist, whether it has assessed if the Chief Executive's response to the aforesaid report will deepen the suspicions of the US authorities about Hong Kong; (2) whether it will withhold the legislative work for implementing the National Anthem Law of the People's Republic of China and Article 23 of the Basic Law, so as to avoid the US authorities' cessation to treat Hong Kong as a separate customs area from Mainland China on account of Hong Kong having lost its unique characteristics; and (3) whether it has assessed if substantial economic losses will be brought to Hong Kong in the event that the US Congress repeals the Hong Kong Policy Act; if it has assessed and the outcome is in the affirmative, of the counter-measures of the Government?
3. Hon LAU Kwok-fan to ask: (Translation)
The Hong Kong Housing Authority ("HA") launched the Tenants Purchase Scheme ("TPS") in 1998 for tenants of selected public rental housing ("PRH") estates to buy the flats in which they lived at a discounted price. Although HA terminated TPS in August 2005, existing and new tenants of TPS estates may still buy the flats in which they live. On the other hand, HA implemented the Buy-or-Rent Option ("BRO") from 1999 to 2003 for prospective PRH tenants to choose between renting or buying the flats in designated housing blocks. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) given that at present, tenants of TPS estates may buy the flats in which they live, why tenants of BRO blocks may not do so; (2) as a number of tenants of BRO blocks have indicated that upon their moving in, some staff members of the Housing Department gave a verbal undertaking that they might in future buy the flats in which they lived, whether the Government will honour the undertaking; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (3) whether it will re-launch BRO and TPS, so as to rebuild the home ownership ladder for the grass roots; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
4. Hon Mrs Regina IP to ask: (Translation)
The Liberal Studies ("LS") subject, which has been offered since 2009 under the senior secondary curriculum, is one of the four core subjects ("compulsory subjects") in the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination ("HKDSEE"). There have all along been controversies on issues of the LS subject such as curriculum, mode of assessment and its retention or otherwise. Moreover, it is learnt that in the admission of students, universities do not give priority consideration or extra credits to the results of the LS subject, and that a number of universities have announced that from the next academic year onwards, they will no longer set the "3322 results" (which include attaining level 2 or above in the LS subject in HKDSEE) as the minimum entrance requirements. It has been reported that the Bachelor's degree and Diploma in Education programmes which tie in with the LS subject will cease operation in the next academic year. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it will consider changing the LS subject from a compulsory subject to an elective one, so that students may freely choose whether or not to take the subject; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that, and whether it will change the grading of this subject from the current seven-level scale to a two-level scale of "pass" and "fail" so as to reduce students' pressure in preparing for the examination; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (2) whether it will reform the curriculum of the LS subject, including the incorporation of more modules on classic literature and theories of natural sciences, so as to nurture students' critical thinking skills; and (3) whether it will reform the mode of assessment for the LS subject so as to avoid unduly focusing on assessing students' language proficiency; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
5. Hon Claudia MO to ask: (Translation)
Last month, the media uncovered that the Guangdong Border Defence Corps ("the Corps") had, since 2012, occupied and cultivated a land parcel with an area of about 20 000 square feet in the Sha Tau Kok Frontier Closed Area ("FCA") and built, without permission, a pedestrian bridge straddling the Shenzhen River. Moreover, members of the Corps from time to time commuted, via that bridge, to and from the land parcel which was located within the territory of the Hong Kong SAR. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the details of the Government's current work on the management of the lands in FCAs; (2) as the Government had been ignorant of the aforesaid land occupation and bridge building incidents for six years, whether the Government has reviewed if there was maladministration and ineffective monitoring on the part of the relevant departments, and the improvements to be made in this respect; and (3) notwithstanding that the Corps has stopped using the occupied land parcel for the time being, whether the Government will request the Mainland authorities to return the land parcel in question to the landowner(s) concerned, hold the relevant persons responsible and apologize to Hong Kong people; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
6. Dr Hon Elizabeth QUAT to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that the ranking of Hong Kong in a world talent report has fallen from the 12th place of last year to the 18th of this year. There are comments that Hong Kong has to catch up expeditiously in respect of attracting and nurturing talents so as to maintain its competitiveness. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) given that some top overseas academic institutions (e.g. the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University) require their students taking artificial intelligence programmes to also take humanities subjects such as languages, music or economics with a view to enabling them to develop broad horizons, an open mind and innovative ideas, whether the Government will request the various universities to make reference to overseas practice and nurture more talents with multi-abilities; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (2) given that 12 member states of the European Union have incorporated programming courses into the curricula in primary and secondary education and the Mainland authorities will introduce artificial intelligence courses in primary and middle school levels, whether the Government will review the education policies and allocate additional resources to cater for innovation and technology development, including incorporating all "Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics" ("STEAM") subjects into the regular curricula in primary and secondary education, devising plans to train up sufficient STEAM teachers, and requesting the various universities to recruit more STEAM academics and increase the number of places for the relevant programmes; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (3) given that quite a number of countries and regions (e.g. Australia and Shenzhen) have put in place measures such as granting incentive payments, concessions and right of abode to attract foreign scientific research professionals, whether the Government will adopt more proactive talent admission policies; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
| Public Officers to reply | : | Chief Secretary for Administration Secretary for Innovation and Technology Secretary for Education |
*7. Hon CHAN Chi-chuen to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that a large number of Mainland fishermen entering Hong Kong waters for illegal fishing has often been seen in recent months. By using serpentine traps for fishing, they have not only contravened the law but also caused serious damage to the ecology of Hong Kong waters. Despite repeated complaints lodged by some villagers to the Police and the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department, the situation has shown no improvement. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the manning scale of Marine Police officers responsible for patrolling the boundary of Hong Kong waters in the past three years; (2) of (i) the number of cases of Mainland fishing vessels suspected of illegal fishing in Hong Kong which were dealt with by the various law enforcement departments, and (ii) the respective numbers of cases in which Mainland fishermen were prosecuted and convicted for illegal fishing, in each of the past seven years; (3) whether the authorities have, since 2016, allocated additional resources for combating illegal fishing activities; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (4) whether it will (i) allocate additional resources for law enforcement, (ii) improve the prosecution mechanism, (iii) raise the penalty, and (iv) take other measures, to curb Mainland fishermen's illegal fishing activities in Hong Kong, so as to safeguard the rights and interests of local fishermen and conserving the ecology of Hong Kong waters; if so, of the details of the measures to be taken; if not, the reasons for that?
*8. Hon Andrew WAN to ask: (Translation)
According to a funding agreement signed between the Government and the Hong Kong Football Association ("HKFA"), the Government allocates to HKFA a maximum of $25 million annually from April 2015 to March 2020 for the implementation of a Five-Year Strategic Plan. Recently, some news reports have alleged that HKFA failed to follow the established procedure when it recruited the Head Coach of the Hong Kong Football Representative Team. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council if it knows:
(1) (i) the details of the procedure made by HKFA for the recruitment of the Head Coach and (ii) the measures taken by HKFA to ensure that the conduct of the recruitment exercise complied with the procedure and the principles of openness, impartiality and prudent use of public funds; (2) in respect of the funding allocated by the Government to HKFA in each year since April 2015, the respective (i) amounts and (ii) percentages used for meeting the various expenses; whether the funding agreement has specified a maximum percentage for each type of such expenses in the total amount of the allocation; (3) the total amount paid for the remuneration and fringe benefits for the Chief Executive Officer ("CEO") of HKFA in each year since April 2015; as the former CEO has left upon contract expiry since September this year, the recruitment procedure as well as the remuneration and fringe benefits for the successor; and (4) the respective current remuneration and fringe benefits for the following HKFA posts: (i) Referees Manager, (ii) Head Coach, (iii) Technical Director, (iv) Head of Football Development, (v) General Secretary, (vi) Head of Competitions, and (vii) Head of Corporate Governance?
*9. Hon LEUNG Yiu-chung to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the issuance of Hong Kong identity cards by the Immigration Department, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the respective numbers of Hong Kong Permanent Identity Cards ("HKPICs") and Hong Kong Identity Cards issued in the past decade, with a breakdown by the applicants' gender and the age group (i.e. aged (i) below 16, (ii) 16 to 24, (iii) 25 to 40, (iv) 41 to 64 and (v) 65 or above) to which they belonged when they applied for the identity cards; and (2) of a breakdown, by the following circumstances of issuance, of the number of HKPICs issued in the past decade: (i) permanent residents applying for the first time upon reaching the age of 11; (ii) permanent residents applying for a replacement card upon reaching the age of 18; (iii) Chinese citizens, who had met the eligibility criteria for application as they had ordinarily resided in Hong Kong for a continuous period of not less than seven years, applying for the first time; (iv) non-Chinese citizens, who had met the eligibility criteria for application as they had ordinarily resided in Hong Kong for a continuous period of not less than seven years and had taken Hong Kong as their place of permanent residence, applying for the first time; (v) children under the age of 11 applying in connection with their applications for a Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Passport; (vi) cardholders applying for a replacement card because their cards were lost, destroyed, damaged or defaced; (vii) cardholders applying for a replacement card because they had changed the registered particulars on their cards; and (viii) applications made in other circumstances, with a breakdown of such number by the 10 most common circumstances?
*10. Hon Steven HO to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that with the intake of more than 20 housing estates in Yuen Long and Tuen Mun in the past five years, the population of the two districts has increased by 67 000 in the past decade. Some residents of Tuen Mun and Tsuen Wan who travel daily to Hong Kong Island for work have relayed that the traffic congestion along Tuen Mun Road and the crowdedness in train compartments of the West Rail Line during peak hours every day are aggravating, making it both time consuming and very tiring for them to commute to and from work. They hope that the Government will introduce measures expeditiously to improve the external transport services for those districts. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it has surveyed the respective average times taken by members of the public to commute, by various means of transport, (i) between Tuen Mun and Central and (ii) between Tsuen Wan and Central, during peak and non-peak hours in each of the past five years; if so, of the details; (2) whether it has surveyed the (i) average daily vehicular traffic flow of Tuen Mun Road and (ii) average daily patronage of the West Rail Line in each of the past five years; if so, of the details; whether it has projected the relevant figures for each of the coming five years; if so, of the details; (3) whether it will re-commission the ferry route between Central and Tsuen Wan as well as that between Central and Tuen Mun to provide service full-day or during peak hours; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (4) of the specific plans and measures, implemented now and in future, to alleviate the hardship suffered by Tuen Mun and Tsuen Wan residents in commuting to and from work?
*11. Dr Hon Fernando CHEUNG to ask: (Translation)
At present, there are 45 registered nursing homes for elderly persons ("NHEPs") in Hong Kong. The Private Healthcare Facilities Bill ("the Bill") proposed to bring NHEPs within the ambit of the Residential Care Homes (Elderly Persons) Ordinance (Cap. 459) and its Regulation. When the Council went into Committee during its scrutiny of the Bill on the 15th of last month, the Government moved an amendment to delete a clause which sought to provide that the minimum area of floor space for each resident ("area/resident") for NHEPs shall be 6.5 square metres. The amendment and the amended Bill were subsequently passed. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the following information in respect of each of the aforesaid 45 NHEPs: (i) the net operational floor area, (ii) the number of places offered and (iii) the area/resident; (2) given that the current legislation has not provided for the minimum area/resident for NHEPs, of the measures put in place by the Government to ensure that the area/resident in NHEPs will not fall below 6.5 square metres; (3) whether it will issue a code of practice to operators of NHEPs on the minimum area/resident and other matters; if so, of the timetable of the relevant work; and (4) of the respective additional numbers of (i) NHEPs and (ii) places for elderly person therein in each of the past 10 years?
*12. Hon SHIU Ka-fai to ask: (Translation)
The Government proposes to establish a statutory Do-not-call Register to enhance the regulation of person-to-person telemarketing calls, and plans to introduce the relevant bill into this Council within the current Legislative Council term. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it has examined if the enactment of the proposed legislation can eradicate (i) telemarketing calls pretended to have come from legitimate financial institutions, and (ii) overseas telemarketing calls; if it has examined and the outcome is in the negative, whether it will review if it is still necessary to enact the legislation; (2) whether the proposed legislation will require any person or company to obtain the prior consent of each of the persons with whom that person/company has business connections before calling such persons to carry out marketing activities; if so, whether it has assessed if this requirement is practicable; (3) whether it will stipulate in the proposed legislation that the prior consent of the targets of marketing activities may be obtained through instant messaging applications; (4) regarding the practice that a person makes calls to new acquaintances, using the contact information on the business cards obtained on social occasions, to introduce products or services to them, whether the Government has plans to bring this practice within the ambit of the proposed legislation; (5) given that some trades and industries need to contact their clients from time to time (e.g. reminding their clients to renew their service contracts which will expire soon), whether it has assessed if this kind of normal business activities will be impeded after the enactment of the proposed legislation; and (6) whether it has assessed the changes in Hong Kong's business environment and the daily operation of small and medium enterprises upon the enactment of the proposed legislation; if so, of the outcome; if not, the reasons for that?
*13. Dr Hon CHIANG Lai-wan to ask: (Translation)
Last month, the Hospital Authority ("HA") announced three medical incidents, in which healthcare workers had failed to spot at an opportune time the abnormal lung shadows appearing on the X-ray films of three patients (from the Prince of Wales Hospital, Princess Margaret Hospital and Queen Mary Hospital respectively) who were suffering/suspected of suffering from lung cancer, resulting in delays in the diagnosis and treatment of the patients for periods as long as 20 to 33 months. Under the existing mechanism, the patients concerned and their family members may lodge complaints and claims with HA in respect of medical incidents. In the past three years, HA received a total of 342 claims arising from medical incidents. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council if it knows:
(1) the respective current stages of lung cancer from which the patients in the aforesaid incidents are suffering, and the follow-up treatment they are receiving; (2) as HA has established a Root Cause Analysis Panel to investigate the aforesaid incidents, the scope and progress of the investigation; (3) the number of patients who underwent chest X-ray examinations, and the number of such patients diagnosed with lung cancer, at each public hospital in each of the past three years; (4) regarding those patients who underwent chest X-ray examinations at the aforesaid three hospitals in the past three years but abnormalities were not spotted in their X-ray films at that time, whether HA will arrange experienced radiologists to read afresh the X-ray films concerned so as to expeditiously diagnose and treat patients of oversight cases; if HA will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (5) the number of claims arising from medical incidents reported since January 2015 under the medical incidents insurance scheme of HA, broken down by public hospital, as well as the number of such claims referred to mediation and the amount of compensation involved; (6) whether HA will review the manpower and workload of the relevant departments of public hospitals and ensure that all X-ray films are read by experienced radiologists; if HA will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (7) whether HA has measures in place to avoid the recurrence of similar types of incidents so as to protect patients' rights and interests; if HA does, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
*14. Hon Jeremy TAM to ask: (Translation)
On 21 September this year, the Environmental Protection Department set up a temporary wood waste collection area ("the collection area") in the Kai Tak Development Area for collecting and temporary storing the huge quantity of tree waste generated due to the onslaught of super typhoon Mangkhut in Hong Kong. The collection area stopped receiving tree waste on the 10th of last month. Besides, it is learnt that quite a large quantity of yard waste is generated in Hong Kong each year. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the quantity in tonnes of tree waste collected in the collection area during the period of its operation; a breakdown of that quantity of waste by disposal method, as at the 30th of last month; (2) of the respective quantities of yard waste (i) collected and (ii) discarded at landfills, by the various government departments in each year from January 2014 to the 30th of last month; (3) whether it has studied those yard waste disposal methods which are, as compared with disposal at landfills, more environmentally friendly feasible and effective; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (4) of the latest implementation progress of the various measures to reduce yard waste at source, which were put forward in A Food Waste and Yard Waste Plan for Hong Kong 2014-2022, and the effectiveness of such measures?
*15. Hon Vincent CHENG to ask: (Translation)
Some parents have relayed that as they need to supervise their children's completion of a large quantity of homework every day, their relationship with the children is very tense and the children have lost interest in learning. It is learnt that the phenomenon of excessive homework has spread from primary and secondary schools to kindergartens. On reducing homework and promoting happy learning, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it has compiled statistics on the respective average time spent daily on homework by primary, secondary and kindergarten students in each of the past three years; if so, set out the relevant figures in a table by type of kindergartens (i.e. half-day, whole-day and long whole-day) and by type of primary and secondary schools (i.e. government, aided/caput, Direct Subsidy Scheme and private), and whether the homework load has shown an upward trend; if it has not compiled such statistics, whether it will do so expeditiously; if it will, when it will do so; if not, of the reasons for that; (2) whether it has compiled statistics on the average number of tutorial sessions per week in primary schools at present; if so, set out the relevant figures by type of schools in a table; (3) whether it conducted any review in the past three years on the effectiveness of the tutorial sessions of primary schools in alleviating the homework burden of students; if so, of the findings; whether it will specify in the relevant guidelines a minimum number of tutorial sessions per week; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (4) as the Government's Task Force on Prevention of Youth Suicides has recommended in the report it submitted earlier that the quality of homework should be improved, and indicated that the Education Bureau will provide advice to and support for schools through school inspections and visits so as to improve the quality of homework for students and make doing homework more meaningful, of the details of this recommendation, whether the Government will consult the stakeholders on this recommendation, and the implementation timetable; (5) whether it will conduct an in-depth study on reducing homework load for secondary, primary and kindergarten students as well as promoting happy learning, so as to formulate specific and long-term policy objectives; and (6) given that for many years, the authorities of Finland have been advocating happy learning and happy teaching, and increased the rest time in schools for both students and teachers (a 15-minute break for every 45 minutes' class time), while in general a break of just 10 to 15 minutes for every class time of about two hours in Hong Kong, whether the Government will request schools to schedule more rest time when drawing up class timetables, in the hope that students will be more concentrated in class after taking breaks?
*16. Hon James TO to ask: (Translation)
A well-known legal maxim says that "justice delayed is justice denied". Regarding the time taken for certain judicial processes, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) in respect of the civil cases disposed of by the High Court in each of the past three years, of (i) the number of such cases, (ii) the median time interval between the dates on which the rulings were made and the dates on which the judgments were delivered ("time for preparing judgments"), and (iii) a breakdown, by the time for preparing judgments (i.e. more than six months, more than 12 months, more than 18 months, more than two years, and more than three years), of the number of cases and their percentages in the total; (2) in respect of the applications for leave to lodge civil appeals disposed of by the Court of Appeal of the High Court in each of the past three years, of (i) the number of such cases, (ii) the median time interval between the dates on which the applications were filed and the dates on which the results were announced ("time for processing applications for leave to appeal"), and (iii) a breakdown, by the time for processing applications for leave to appeal (i.e. more than six months, more than 12 months, more than 18 months, more than two years, and more than three years), of the number of cases and their percentages in the total; (3) in respect of the cases on which the Family Court delivered judgments in each of the past three years, of (i) the number of such cases, (ii) the median time for preparing judgments, and (iii) a breakdown, by the time for preparing judgments (i.e. more than six months, more than 12 months, more than 18 months, more than two years, and more than three years), of the number of cases and their percentages in the total; and (4) whether it will review if the time taken for the judicial processes mentioned in the aforesaid three items is satisfactory, and explore the measures (e.g. allocating additional resources to the Judiciary and reducing judges' work other than handling cases) to allow more time for judges to concentrate on the preparation of judgments and handling of the aforesaid processes, so that injustice to litigants can be avoided?
*17. Hon LAM Cheuk-ting to ask: (Translation)
The Government launched the Accredited Registers Scheme for Healthcare Professions ("AR Scheme") in 2016. The AR Scheme aims to enhance the current society-based registration arrangement of the relevant professions under the principle of professional autonomy and it operates under the principle of "one profession, one professional body, one register". The Accreditation Agent appointed by the Department of Health is responsible for accrediting for each profession one professional body that has met the prescribed standards under the AR Scheme, and the accredited professional body is responsible for administering the relevant register of professionals. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it will issue guidelines to those accredited professional bodies to stipulate that when vetting and approving applications for inclusion in the relevant register of professionals, they should not require applicants to submit practice information which contains personal data and medical records of their patients, so as to protect patients' privacy; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (2) of the specific measures in place to ensure that in setting the relevant accreditation standards for their professionals, accredited professional bodies uphold the principle of fairness and reasonableness, and do not exclude qualified professionals as far as possible; and (3) as I have learnt that two professional bodies of clinical psychology with representativeness in the profession (namely, the Division of Clinical Psychology of The Hong Kong Psychological Society Limited and the Hong Kong Association of Doctors in Clinical Psychology) have vastly divergent views on the standards to be adopted for accreditation, whether the Government has formulated measures to continue to take forward the AR Scheme for the clinical psychology profession under the circumstances that such differences cannot be resolved?
*18. Hon Holden CHOW to ask: (Translation)
It is learnt that at present, quite a number of owners of pleasure vessels ("PVs") provide, at the same time when renting out PVs to customers, water play equipment such as jet-skis or inflatable banana boats to them. Under the existing legislation, jet-skis are required to be issued with a relevant licence while non-mechanized inflatable vessels such as banana boats are not required. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether vessel owners providing jet-skis or banana boats are required to take the initiative and expeditiously report to the Marine Department ("MD") after any accident involving such equipment has occurred; if so, of the details (including the reporting mechanism and penalty for non-compliance); if not, the reasons for that; (2) given that PV owners who intend to use their vessels for towing inflatable vessels such as banana boats, must apply in writing for and obtain the approval of MD, of the penalty to be imposed on those PV owners who do not comply with this requirement; and (3) of the number of cases in which prosecutions were instituted in each of the past five years by MD against the persons concerned for contravention of the law involving jet-skis or banana boats?
*19. Hon Charles Peter MOK to ask: (Translation)
It is learnt that from July this year onwards, all the double-deck buses procured by franchised bus operators will be equipped with electronic stability control systems and speed limiters. Besides, an intelligent traffic safety system incorporating a global positioning system, vehicle-mounted radar and various types of sensors can provide drivers with various types of driving assistance (including warnings of frontal collision, lane departure and blind spot; detection of fatigue driving and driving stability; as well as autonomous emergency braking system). Apart from that, it can provide running data and records for analysing the driving behaviour of drivers when traffic accidents occurred. Regarding the application of intelligent traffic safety technologies to enhance road safety, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the following statistical information from January to October this year and how such information compares with that in the same period last year: (i) the average daily number of passenger trips of franchised buses; (ii) the casualties of traffic accidents; (iii) the pedestrian casualties of traffic accidents; (iv) the three categories of vehicles having the highest accident rates and their respective accident rates; and (v) the driver factors involved in the traffic accidents and, in respect of each factor, the number of traffic accidents that may be attributed to that factor; (2) whether it has formulated specific strategies and objectives to reduce the casualties of traffic accidents; whether it will devise standards for the use of safety technologies by commercial vehicles, and support the transport sector in researching, developing and applying innovation and technology to enhance road safety; and (3) whether it will examine subsidizing the trial use of intelligent traffic safety technologies on commercial vehicles in order to enhance road safety, thereby reducing the casualties, damage to property and indirect economic loss caused by traffic accidents; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
*20. Hon CHAN Hak-kan to ask: (Translation)
To complement the implementation of the municipal solid waste charging ("MSWC"), the Government will provide recurrent resources to strengthen the relevant waste reduction and recycling work. The provision for the next financial year will be around $300 million to $400 million, which will be increased to $800 million to $1 billion each year from the financial year in which MSWC is implemented. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the respective estimated amounts of the aforesaid provision of $300 million to $400 million to be spent on the following three tasks and the details of the tasks: (i) setting up of outreaching teams across the territory, (ii) provision of free collection service in respect of waste plastics from non-commercial-and-industrial sources and food waste from commercial and industrial ("C&I") sources, and (iii) implementation of a pilot scheme of applying reverse vending machines in the recycling of waste plastic containers; (2) whether it will inject the annual revenues from MSWC directly into a fund dedicated for the promotion of waste reduction and recycling in the community; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (3) regarding the measures to improve (i) refuse collection points and (ii) rubbish bins and recycling bins placed in public spaces, of the relevant work targets, timetables and progress; the respective numbers of rubbish bins and recycling bins placed in public spaces in each of the past three years, as well as the estimated numbers of such bins in the first year in which MSWC is implemented; (4) in respect of the municipal solid waste from households and C&I sources, of the respective (i) quantities generated, (ii) quantities recovered and (iii) recovery rates, in each of the past three years, with a tabulated breakdown by type of waste (i.e. food waste, paper, plastics, metal, glass and others); (5) of the respective quantities and percentages of the solid waste, generated in each of the past three years, which was (i) handled by recovery facilities and (ii) exported; and (6) of the number of reports/complaints about illegal refuse dumping received by the Government, and the number of prosecutions instituted against the persons concerned, in each of the past three years?
*21. Hon Kenneth LEUNG to ask: (Translation)
The United States-China Economic and Security Review Commission, created by the United States ("US") Congress, has alleged in a report published last month that the Central Authorities' encroachment on Hong Kong's autonomy has brought an ongoing decline of the rule of law and freedom of speech. The Commission has also recommended that the Congress direct the Department of Commerce and other relevant government agencies to prepare a report to examine and assess the adequacy of US export control policy for dual-use technology as it relates to the treatment of Hong Kong and China as two customs areas. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it will review if the Government made mistakes in its decisions and in the decision making process regarding the incidents in Hong Kong referred to in the aforesaid report, with a view to providing reference for implementing policies in future, thereby demonstrating to the international community the Government's determination to uphold the core values such as the rule of law and freedom of speech; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (2) whether it knows the specific contents of the dual-use technology mentioned in the report and whether it can provide a relevant list; and (3) whether it has plans to commence lobbying efforts targeting the US authorities and representatives of the various sectors to persuade the US authorities not to tighten the control policy for exporting dual-use technology to Hong Kong; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
*22. Prof Hon Joseph LEE to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that Quangang district of Quanzhou city in Fujian Province is a base for aquaculture farming and edible salt production. On the 4th of last month, an incident occurred in Quangang district in which C9 aromatics ("C9"), a chemical feedstock, was leaked, affecting the coastal waters, aquaculture farms and salt farms there. Some experts have pointed out that humans are susceptible to poisoning and developing cancers by consuming C9-contaminated animals or plants. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it knows if there were imports of (i) marine produce from the aquaculture farms and (ii) edible salt from the salt farms, in Quangang district in the past three years; if there were, whether the Government has banned the imports of such food products upon the occurrence of the aforesaid incident; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (2) as some vegetable importers and wholesalers have indicated that there were imports of vegetables grown in Fujian Province in recent years, whether the Government knows if the water sources and farmland there were contaminated in the aforesaid incident; if they were contaminated, whether it will immediately impose a ban on the imports of the agricultural products therefrom; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
* For written reply
III. Members' Motions
| Stand-over items: Members' motion nos. 1 to 3 (since the meeting of 28 November 2018)
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| 1. | Studying the enactment of an ordinance on regulating subdivided units
Hon Mrs Regina IP moved the following motion: (Translation) That at present, there are in Hong Kong over 150 000 families and elderly singletons waiting for public rental housing, with an average waiting time of 5.3 years, and quite a number of applicants live in units of flats subdivided into separate units (commonly known as 'subdivided units'); according to the estimate of the Government in 2017, there were about 91 800 households living in subdivided units across the territory; the Chief Executive has undertaken in the newly released Policy Address that the Government will actively facilitate various short-term community initiatives to increase the supply of transitional housing and allow wholesale conversion of industrial buildings for transitional housing; in the light of these new initiatives, it is believed that quite a number of transitional housing units leased out in the form of subdivided units will emerge in Hong Kong, but the existing Buildings Ordinance cannot comprehensively regulate the safety of flat subdivision works; in this connection, this Council urges the Government to study the enactment of an ordinance on regulating subdivided units, the contents of which include: | ||||
| (1) | by drawing reference from the Housing Act 2004 of the United Kingdom, establishing a licensing system for regulating the operation of subdivided units, and setting standards for the facilities, number of occupants and area of units, so as to ensure a comfortable and safe living environment for households;
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| (2) | requiring the installation of separate water and electricity meters for each subdivided unit to prevent overcharging of water and electricity tariffs by landlords; and
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| (3) | regulating the rate of rental increase for subdivided units to prevent the households from being heavily burdened by rental.
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| Hon Alice MAK, Hon Vincent CHENG, Hon LEUNG Yiu-chung and Hon Andrew WAN to move amendments to the motion
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| (The amendments were issued on 29 October 2018
under LC Paper No. CB(3) 79/18-19) | |||||
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| 2. | Legislating for the protection of whistle-blowers
Hon Jeremy TAM to move the following motion: (Translation) That, unless insiders of business organizations or government agencies ('whistle-blowers') divulge that acts endangering public interests have occurred in their organizations or agencies, it is invariably difficult for the public or the media to verify the occurrence of such incidents; many past incidents involving significant public interests in Hong Kong, such as the unlawful sewage discharge by the sewage treatment contractor of Tuen Mun Pillar Point Valley Landfill in contravention of the standard requirements of the Environmental Protection Department, the frequent glitches in the new Air Traffic Control System of the Civil Aviation Department after its launch, and the shortened steel bars of the diaphragm walls at Hung Hom Station of the Shatin to Central Link of the MTR Corporation Limited, would have gone unnoticed if no one had blown the whistle, and the public would not have known the truth; since there is no dedicated legislation in Hong Kong for protecting whistle-blowers and those who stand up for justice are often subjected to reprisals, including various retributive acts such as harassment, discriminatory actions, dismissal and litigation, many insiders are afraid to blow the whistle; since many countries in the world, including the United Kingdom, the United States and Japan, have already enacted dedicated legislation to protect whistle-blowers, this Council urges the SAR Government to expeditiously enact a whistle-blowing protection law to protect whistle-blowers and safeguard public interests; the areas of legislation should cover: | ||||
| (1) | providing statutory protection to whistle-blowers if the incidents disclosed involve criminal offences, breach of legal obligation, miscarriage of justice, threat to public safety or health, environmental damage, abuse of powers, waste of public money, etc., so as to guard them against any unfair treatment, such as punitive actions like dismissal, pay reduction, demotion, transfer, suspension, financial penalty and denial of learning opportunities;
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| (2) | requiring all business organizations and government agencies to formulate their own internal measures on protecting whistle-blowers, including the setting up of a well-defined mechanism respectively for reporting incidents and protecting whistle-blowers, so as to stamp out any possible retributive acts;
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| (3) | allowing whistle-blowers to disclose to the public incidents endangering public interests in ways they deem fit, including using the media or the Legislative Council as the channels, in addition to the internal reporting mechanism mentioned above;
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| (4) | requiring any persons or organizations responsible for handling the secrets divulged by a whistle-blower to maintain the strictest confidentiality of the whistle-blower's personal information; and
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| (5) | allowing whistle-blowers to apply for personal protection measures from the judicial authorities when they or their families feel their personal safety or freedom under threat.
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| Hon Claudia MO, Hon Kenneth LEUNG and Hon CHAN Hak-kan to move amendments to the motion
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| (The amendments were issued on 29 October 2018
under LC Paper No. CB(3) 80/18-19) | |||||
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| 3. | Motion for the adjournment of the Council under Rule 16(4) of the Rules of Procedure
Hon CHUNG Kwok-pan to move the following motion: (Translation) That this Council do now adjourn for the purpose of debating the following issue: the impact of the recent China-United States relations on Hong Kong's economy. | ||||
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