A 18/19-15
Legislative Council
Agenda
Wednesday 16 January 2019 at 11:00 am
I. Tabling of Papers
| Subsidiary Legislation / Instrument | L.N. No. |
|---|---|
| Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance (Public Pleasure Grounds) (Amendment of Fourth Schedule) Order 2019 | 4/2019 |
Other Paper
| Report of the Bills Committee on Electoral Legislation (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 2018 | |||
| (to be presented by Hon CHEUNG Kwok-kwan, Chairman of the Bills Committee) | |||
II. Questions
1. Hon CHU Hoi-dick to ask: (Translation)
Earlier on, the Independent Commission Against Corruption completed an investigation into the case concerning Mr LEUNG Chun-ying, the Chief Executive of the last term, entering into an agreement with UGL Limited and receiving payments from the company during his term of office. The Department of Justice ("DoJ") issued a statement last month, stating that after having carefully considered the investigation reports and relevant materials, it considered that there was insufficient evidence to institute prosecution against Mr LEUNG. Before making the decision, DoJ had not sought legal advice from outside counsel, which was at variance with the practices previously adopted by DoJ for handling the cases concerning the then or former senior public officers such as Mr Antony LEUNG, Mr Rafael HUI, Mr Franklin LAM, Mr Donald TSANG and Mr Timothy TONG. This has aroused criticisms from some members of the public. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) as DoJ pointed out in the aforesaid statement that "… Mr LEUNG's acts in negotiating the takeover with UGL were congruent with the interests of DTZ", whether the facts based on which DoJ arrived at such conclusion included DTZ's written advice stating that its interests had not been undermined; (2) as DoJ pointed out in three statements it issued in 2012 and 2013 that if there were sensitivities with regard to a particular case, legal advice from outside counsel would be sought before making a prosecution decision, whether the incumbent Secretary for Justice ("SJ") has revised such practice since she took office; if so, of the details and reasons for that; if not, why SJ, when responding to media enquiries, remarked that "we shall not brief out any case unless it involves a member of DoJ"; and (3) given that "the decision not to prosecute" made by DoJ has aroused criticisms and queries from some members of the public (including whether the decision was related to Mr LEUNG's position as a state leader), whether DoJ will expeditiously seek legal advice from outside counsel and then review "the decision not to prosecute"?
2. Dr Hon Priscilla LEUNG to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that in recent years, quite a number of people commonly known as "bogus refugees" lodged torture claims or non-refoulement claims ("claims") under the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment immediately upon their arrival in Hong Kong. While their claims are being processed by the Immigration Department, they take up illegal employment in Hong Kong, and even engage in criminal activities such as drug trafficking, possession of arms and armed conflicts, which pose a threat to the law and order of Hong Kong. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it will step up the law enforcement efforts for combating crimes committed by bogus refugees, including deploying additional police officers to patrol the black spots of crimes committed by them; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (2) as the Government has plans to amend the Immigration Ordinance to implement measures to prevent claimants from delaying the screening and repatriation procedure, whether the Government will concurrently make new provisions for removing the incentives for bogus refugees to come to Hong Kong; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (3) whether it will consider converting the defunct Vietnamese boat people detention centres on Tai A Chau and Green Island into transit centres for claimants, as well as immediately repatriating those claimants who have completed their sentence terms for criminal offences to their places of origin; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
3. Hon SHIU Ka-fai to ask: (Translation)
The Government has decided that it will submit proposed legislative amendments within this legislative session to ban the import, manufacture, sale, distribution and advertisement of new types of smoking products, such as e-cigarettes, heat-not-burn cigarettes. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) given that according to an announcement made by Public Health England ("PHE") last month, experimental findings have shown that vaping is at least 95% less harmful to the human body than smoking conventional cigarettes, that PHE encourages smokers to switch to e-cigarettes or other quit aids, and that according to a study commissioned by the United Kingdom Government and conducted by the Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment, heat-not-burn cigarettes produce 50% to 90% less substances harmful to the human body as compared with conventional cigarettes, whether the Government has made reference to such experimental and study findings, and whether it conducted similar experiments and studies in the past three years; if it did not conduct such experiments and studies, of the reasons for that; (2) as an expert study report published by PHE in 2018 has pointed out that there is no evidence that e-cigarettes are acting as a route into smoking for young people, whether the Government commissioned experts in the past three years to conduct similar studies on e-cigarettes and heat-not-burn cigarettes in Hong Kong; and (3) as the Ministry of Health of New Zealand proposed in 2018 that the policy and legislation on tobacco control of New Zealand be amended by switching from the previous approach of favouring a total ban on the sale of less harmful tobacco products to the approach of protecting children and young people from the harmful effects of tobacco products and concurrently offering smokers the opportunities to switch to less harmful tobacco products (including e-cigarettes and heat-not-burn cigarettes), whether the Government will, by making reference to the policy direction of the New Zealand Government, revise its decision of eradicating through legislation, instead of regulating, new types of smoking products on grounds of protecting public health?
4. Hon HO Kai-ming to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the recruitment of civil service lifeguards under the Leisure and Cultural Services Department ("LCSD") as well as the induction training and remuneration for them, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) as LCSD introduced last month a new test item under which applicants for the post of civil service lifeguard must be able to skin-dive to a depth of two metres for carrying out lifesaving duties, but lifeguards may need to skin-dive to a depth of more than two metres when performing lifesaving work, of the criteria adopted by LCSD for setting the requirements of the recruitment interview and trade test for civil service lifeguards; (2) whether LCSD will require that civil service lifeguards must have completed all the induction training programmes before they are arranged to perform lifesaving work, so as to safeguard the life safety of swimmers; and (3) given that the duties of civil service lifeguards include cleaning up oil spill at beaches as well as the faeces or vomit found in swimming pools, whether the Government will consider providing them with a hardship allowance for obnoxious duties; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
5. Dr Hon CHIANG Lai-wan to ask: (Translation)
The Government set up the Child Development Fund ("CDF") in 2008 to provide funding to non-governmental organizations and schools for implementing matching funds for savings programmes and mentorship programmes. It is learnt that the participation in CDF has been poor, with only 17 000 children benefited since its establishment 10 years ago. On the contrary, in countries such as Singapore, the United Kingdom and Canada, universal programmes set up for providing long-term asset accumulation for children have received very positive responses. For instance, the take-up rate of the Co-Savings Scheme set up by the Singapore authorities for newborns was as high as 97% for certain birth cohorts. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it has assessed if the scope of coverage of CDF is too narrow and its subsidy period too short, which have resulted in the poor participation in CDF; (2) whether it will consider expanding the target beneficiaries of CDF from grass-roots children to all children as well as extending its subsidy period; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (3) whether it will draw reference from the practice of the Singapore authorities and set up a universal savings scheme for newborns, and allocate a sum equivalent to 1% of the Government's recurrent expenditure for co-contribution with parents of the newborns (or by a third party) to the scheme annually?
6. Dr Hon CHENG Chung-tai to ask: (Translation)
In recent years, a large number of Mainland inbound tour groups have arranged their tour group members to have meals and go shopping in districts such as Tsuen Wan, Tsing Yi, Hung Hom and To Kwa Wan. Some residents in those districts have relayed that visits by tens of thousands of tourists daily have given rise to a number of problems, which include eateries and shops catering for people's daily needs in the districts being replaced by shops dedicated to receiving tourists, traffic obstruction arising from illegal coach parking, as well as environmental hygiene and noise problems caused by tourists littering and yelling on the streets. As a result, the daily lives of the residents have been gravely affected. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the specific indicators taken into account by the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau in considering whether there is a need to divert the tourists in a certain district to other districts; (2) as many residents consider that the various government departments have not actively addressed the problem of tourists affecting residents' daily lives, and tackling such problem is not the main duty of the Travel Industry Authority to be set up, of the specific measures the Government has put in place to improve the living environment of the districts concerned so that residents' daily lives can resume to normal; and (3) given that the Government has, through the system for application for liquor licences, prevent liquor-selling premises from causing problems such as fire safety, environmental hygiene and noise problems, with a view to striking a balance between the commercial interests concerned and peace for the residents, whether the Government will regulate tourism-related shops in a similar manner?
*7. Hon Gary FAN to ask: (Translation)
According to the Hong Kong Poverty Situation Report on Disability 2013, the unemployment rate of those working-age persons with disabilities ("PWDs") who participated in the labour market was 6.7% in 2013, which was notably higher than the overall rate of the same age group (3.7%). On the other hand, the Labour Department has since 2005 been implementing the Work Orientation and Placement Scheme ("WOPS") under which wage subsidy is granted to employers who employ PWDs. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) among the PWDs employed under WOPS in each of the years from 2015 to 2018, of the respective numbers and percentages of those who were still working for the same employer on expiry of 12 months after appointment; (2) whether it assessed, in the past three years, the effectiveness of the various measures currently implemented to facilitate employment of PWDs (including WOPS, Talent-Wise Employment Charter and the Sunnyway - On the Job Training Programme for Young People with Disabilities); if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (3) given that some non-profit-making organizations have suggested the Government to introduce more appealing measures (e.g. provision of tax concessions) to encourage the commercial sector to employ PWDs, whether the Government will consider adopting such suggestion; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
*8. Hon Alvin YEUNG to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that in recent months, the governments of a number of countries (including the United States, Japan and Australia) have banned, on national security grounds, their respective government agencies and telecommunications service operators from using the telecommunications equipment supplied by Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. ("Huawei") and ZTE Corporation ("ZTE"). Regarding the information security in relation to the use of these two companies' equipment by the Government, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the details of the products of (i) Huawei and (ii) ZTE being used by various government departments (set out separately in tables of the same format as the table below); and
Type of products Quantity Total value Purpose Year of purchase Government department 1. …… (2) whether it inspected, in the past 12 months, those Huawei and ZTE products being used by various government departments to see if there were hidden backdoors or functions which enabled unauthorized persons to steal the information in Government possession; if it did, of the outcome, and the follow-up actions taken by the Government?
*9. Hon LEUNG Che-cheung to ask: (Translation)
In August last year, there were 64 construction works projects under settlement monitoring within the railway protection area, of which 56 involved works in the vicinity of heavy rail and 8 involved works in the vicinity of light rail; and the works for three projects had been suspended due to settlement. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council if it knows:
(1) the latest results of settlement monitoring for the aforesaid 64 works projects; (2) the details of the remedial and mitigating measures carried out by the works contractors concerned for the aforesaid three projects for which works had been suspended, and whether the relevant works have now been resumed; (3) whether there have been projects within the railway protection area newly put under settlement monitoring since August last year; if there have been, of the number and other details; and (4) whether the MTR Corporation Limited ("MTRCL") made any compensation claims in the past five years against the relevant parties for its existing railway facilities having been affected by nearby construction works; if MTRCL did, of the details?
*10. Hon SHIU Ka-chun to ask: (Translation)
At present, the Home Affairs Department may allocate funds from the General Chinese Charities Fund for disbursement of emergency financial assistance to persons who have been affected by natural disasters or accidents and have financial needs. Besides, the Emergency Relief Fund established by the Government may provide financial assistance to persons in need of urgent relief as a result of natural disasters (including typhoons). Some members of the public, who had been affected by super typhoon Mangkhut in September last year, have relayed to me that while their applications made to the two Funds had been approved, they were told that they might choose only either one of the two Funds, which made them feel confused. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the reasons why persons affected by typhoons may not receive assistance from both of the two aforesaid Funds at the same time; (2) after the onslaught in Hong Kong of severe typhoon Hagupit and super typhoons Hato and Mangkhut in 2008, 2017 and last year respectively, of the respective numbers of applications received, approved and rejected by the Government for assistance made to the two Funds as a result of the typhoons; (3) in respect of each of the two Funds: (i) of the number of working days generally lapsed from receipt of applications to the grant of assistance; (ii) of the criteria adopted for determining the eligibility for application and the amount of assistance to be granted; (iii) whether the maximum amount of assistance was adjusted in the past decade; if so, of the details; and (iv) whether persons whose accommodations have been found with irregularities may be granted assistance; and (4) whether the Government, before and after the onslaught of Hato and Mangkhut in Hong Kong, briefed those residents in the vicinity of flooding blackspots the procedure and eligibility for applying for assistance from the two Funds?
*11. Hon Paul TSE to ask: (Translation)
Since the establishment of the unified screening mechanism for non-refoulement claims in 2014, the total expenditure on processing non-refoulement claims and the related work has been as high as $4.9 billion, and the relevant government expenditure in the current financial year alone stands high at $1.3 billion. In the past four financial years and the current financial year, the total expenditure on the provision of publicly funded legal assistance to non-refoulement claimants by the Government was $700 million odd. However, only less than 1% of the claims concerned were substantiated. Some members of the public and the media have criticized that while the Government has spent a huge amount of public money year after year to support claimants making claims and lodging appeals, it has provided negligible support to those Hong Kong permanent residents who have been sent to jail wrongfully in the Philippines (including Mr TANG Lung-wai, Mr CHEUNG Tai-on who had been involved in the same case but passed away in the jail before lodging his appeal, as well as the four Hong Kong people who have recently been sentenced to life imprisonment upon conviction of possession of drugs and have lodged appeals). In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the amount of public expenditure on the provision of publicly funded legal assistance to non-refoulement claimants (including the lodging of appeals) in the past two years; (2) of the estimated expenditure related to non-refoulement claims in the next financial year; (3) whether it has provided any legal assistance to the aforesaid Hong Kong people currently imprisoned in the Philippines; if not, whether it has assessed if the fact that the Government has spent a huge amount of public money year after year to provide legal assistance to non-refoulement claimants who are not Hong Kong permanent residents but has never provided legal assistance to those Hong Kong people will give the public an impression of favouritism and that the Government is not helping those who should be helped, thereby causing the public to lose confidence in the Government's commitment to safeguard the rights and interests of those Hong Kong people who are in distress outside Hong Kong (especially in the Philippines); and (4) whether it will consider changing the policy so that appropriate legal assistance for meeting litigation expenses will be provided to the aforesaid and other Hong Kong people involved in overseas criminal cases which have passed a test similar to the merits test under the legal aid system in Hong Kong, so as to enable them to receive fair trials?
*12. Hon LEUNG Yiu-chung to ask: (Translation)
The Government has established a debarment mechanism and a demerit point system in respect of the outsourced service contracts (excluding construction ones) that rely heavily on the deployment of non-skilled employees. Under the debarment mechanism, the tenders submitted by outsourced service contractors ("contractors") will not be considered for a period of five years from the date on which the contractors are convicted of having contravened a specified ordinance relating to employment rights and benefits. Under the demerit point system, contractors may be awarded demerit points if they have failed to sign the Standard Employment Contract ("SEC") with their employees or have breached the clauses in SEC in respect of wages, working hours and payment of wages by autopay. In addition, the Government may issue verbal warnings, written warnings and default notices to contractors who are in breach of the contracts, and may also withhold payment of monthly service charges or make deductions thereof. Regarding outsourced service contracts, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the number of outsourced service contracts of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department ("FEHD") that will expire in the coming three years, together with a tabulated breakdown, by (a) type of service (i.e. cleansing or security) involved in the contract and (b) District Council ("DC") district, of the following relevant information: (i) names of contractors, (ii) service districts and details, (iii) contract values, (iv) number of non-skilled employees, (v) total amount of wages and (vi) expiry dates of the contracts; (2) whether it knows, in respect of the non-skilled employees of FEHD's cleansing and security service contractors respectively, of their (i) monthly salary ranges, (ii) average working hours, (iii) average length of employment and (iv) age distribution, in each of the past three years (set out in a table); (3) of the number of Workman II currently employed by FEHD; among them, the (i) number, (ii) minimum pay point, (iii) maximum pay point and (iv) average weekly working hours of those who are required to carry out cleansing duties in public places, and whether they are entitled to the relevant travelling allowance and hardship allowance as they need to work under inclement weather; (4) of the current number of refuse collection points ("RCPs") under FEHD, and among such RCPs, the respective numbers of those provided with (i) individual rest rooms, (ii) changing rooms, (iii) water dispensers and (iv) mobile refuse compactors, with a tabulated breakdown by DC district; (5) in respect of the current contracts for the provision of (a) property management, (b) cleansing and (c) security services respectively at public rental housing estates, of the following details: (i) effective dates, (ii) expiry dates, (iii) names of contractors, (iv) contract values, as well as the (v) numbers, (vi) total amounts of wages, (vii) monthly salary ranges, (viii) average working hours and (ix) age distribution of the non-skilled employees (set out in a table); (6) of (i) the respective numbers of verbal warnings, written warnings and default notices issued by FEHD to its cleansing service contractors, (ii) the number of times for which FEHD made deductions of the monthly service charges paid to its cleansing service contractors and the total amount of deductions involved, and (iii) the number of times for which FEHD award demerit points to its cleansing service contractors, in the past five years; (7) of the respective numbers of cases in which FEHD imposed punishments on its cleansing service contractors in each of the past five years for breaching (a) the clauses relating to the demerit point system and (b) other clauses in SEC, as well as the following details of such cases: (i) names of contractors, (ii) number of breaches, (iii) details of the breaches, (iv) the respective numbers of verbal warnings, written warnings and default notices issued, and (v) total amount of the monthly service charges deducted; (8) of the cumulative number of written warnings or default notices that FEHD's contractors have received within a period for breaching clauses in SEC which are unrelated to the demerit point system before deductions are made to monthly service charges paid to them and punishments are imposed on them under the debarment mechanism; and (9) of the respective numbers of complaints received by FEHD last year about its cleansing service contractors (i) underpaying wages, (ii) defaulting on wage payments, (iii) failing to sign SEC, (iv) exceeding working hour limits and (v) failing to make severance payments/long service payments; among each category of complaints, the number of those found substantiated, and the number of contractors penalized as a result (with a breakdown by form of punishment)?
*13. Hon CHEUNG Kwok-kwan to ask: (Translation)
The TransUnion Limited ("TransUnion") is the major credit reference agency in Hong Kong and it holds the personal data and credit records of 5.4 million members of the public. Earlier on, some reporters collected from the public domain the personal data of certain public figures and obtained, using such data, from TransUnion's website the credit records of those public figures, thereby revealing that the website had a serious security loophole. This incident, coupled with the fact that several other incidents of massive leakage of clients' personal data by commercial organizations have occurred recently, has aroused grave public concerns about the issue of information security of commercial organizations. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it knows the channels through which TransUnion collects the credit data of members of the public, and the scope of such data; (2) given that at present, if members of the public indicate that they do not consent to financial institutions' provision of their personal data to TransUnion and access to their credit records, financial institutions will not approve their applications for personal loans or credit cards, whether the Government will review and improve this situation with a view to enhancing the protection for the privacy of members of the public; (3) whether it has studied how other jurisdictions regulate financial institutions' handling their clients' personal data and credit records; (4) whether it will review the role of credit reference agencies and consider subjecting such agencies to the regulation of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (5) given that certain personal data of public officers, such as government officials and councillors, can be easily found through searching on the Internet, whether the Government will study how, on the premise that the transparency of governance will not be undermined, the protection for the personal data of such public officers against abusive use can be enhanced; and (6) whether it will examine conferring greater law enforcement powers on the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data to enhance the protection for the privacy of members of the public?
*14. Hon Jimmy NG to ask: (Translation)
The consultancy study report on the Demand Study for New Convention and Exhibition Facilities in Hong Kong published in 2015 pointed out that 84 400 and 132 500 square metres of additional convention and exhibition ("C&E") space would be needed in Hong Kong by 2023 and 2028 respectively. The Government has anticipated that not until 2026, at the earliest, will the sites of the three government towers in Wan Chai North and the adjacent Kong Wan Fire Station be vacated for the provision of additional C&E venues and other uses. As phase two expansion plan of the AsiaWorld-Expo ("AWE") is currently at the stage of discussion with the Hong Kong Airport Authority, its implementation schedule has yet to be drawn up. The industry is therefore worried that the shortage of C&E facilities can hardly be ameliorated in the short to medium term. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it knows the respective numbers of days of last year on which the exhibition venues of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre ("HKCEC") and AWE reached saturation; the respective numbers of exhibitions, held in HKCEC and AWE in each of the past five years, for which all the exhibition areas of the respective venues were hired, with a breakdown by theme type to which the exhibitions belonged; (2) whether it knows the respective numbers of applications for renting venues for C&E events turned down by the administrators of HKCEC and AWE last year due to shortage of space, and the economic loss caused by such situation to Hong Kong in each of the past five years; (3) of the short-term measures taken to alleviate the shortage of C&E facilities and the effectiveness of such measures; (4) whether it has measures in place to expedite the vacation of the sites of the three government towers in Wan Chai North and the Kong Wan Fire Station; if not, of the reasons for that; (5) when the Government plans to finalize the phase two expansion plan of AWE with the Hong Kong Airport Authority; of the anticipated date of completion of the plan and the area of C&E facilities that can be provided by then; and (6) whether it has assessed if Hong Kong will still face the problem of shortage of C&E facilities upon the completion of the new C&E facilities currently under planning; if it has assessed and the outcome is in the affirmative, of the solutions?
*15. Hon CHAN Hak-kan to ask: (Translation)
The Government is implementing, through the use of existing sewage treatment facilities for food waste/sewage sludge anaerobic co-digestion, the Food Waste/Sewage Sludge Anaerobic Co-digestion Trial Scheme ("the Trial Scheme"), as an additional part of the network of the Organic Resources Recovery Centre ("ORRC") to help raise Hong Kong's food waste treatment capability. To this end, the Government is constructing food waste pre-treatment facilities at the Shuen Wan Leachate Pre-treatment Works at Tai Po, which are expected to provide a maximum of 50 tonnes of pre-treated food waste per day to the sewage sludge anaerobic digestion system at the Tai Po Sewage Treatment Works for anaerobic co-digestion. The works concerned commenced in December 2017 and the facilities concerned are scheduled for commissioning this year. Regarding the handling of food waste, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) as the report Monitoring of Solid Waste in Hong Kong pointed out that the daily quantity of food waste disposed of at landfills was some 3 662 tonnes in 2017, representing a year-on-year increase of 1.7%, and the quantity of recyclable food waste recovered accounted for only 0.8% of the total quantity of food waste, whether the Government will introduce further measures to reduce the quantity of food waste landfilled and increase the recycling rate of food waste; (2) whether it has estimated the treatment capacity of food waste recycling facilities and its percentage in the total quantity of food waste, in each of the coming five years; (3) of the concerns raised by Tai Po District Council on the Trial Scheme and the Government's response to them; (4) of the quantity of sewage sludge and other waste expected to be generated under the Trial Scheme and the methods of their disposal; (5) as the food waste to be treated under the Trial Scheme will mainly come from the food factories in Tai Po Industrial Estate and other commercial and industrial establishments in the district, whether the Government will consider collecting food waste also from the housing estates in the district for treatment under the Trial Scheme; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (6) of the number of sewage treatment works in Hong Kong that can carry out food waste/sewage sludge anaerobic co-digestion, and the total daily quantity of food waste that can be treated by them; (7) of the implementation situation of the Food Waste Recycling Projects in Housing Estates in each of the past three years, including the number of housing estates funded and the average daily quantity of food waste recycled; whether it will promote the project to housing estates which have not yet participated in the project; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (8) of (i) the output of electricity generated from the treatment of sewage sludge and (ii) the amount received from the sale of electricity (if any) to power companies by ORRC and the sludge treatment facility T·PARK, in each of the years since their establishment?
*16. Hon Tony TSE to ask: (Translation)
The quarries in Shek O and Lam Tei as well as that on Lamma Island have ceased or will cease operation shortly. Regarding the long-term development for the sites of those quarries, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the (i) area, (ii) boundary (marked on a map) and (iii) planned use of the Shek O Quarry site; (2) given that the Shek O Quarry site is currently used as a casting yard for immersed tube tunnel units for the Shatin to Central Link railway project and the Route 6 - Trunk Road T2 works project, of the expected time when the Government can resume the site for long-term development; (3) of the (i) area, (ii) boundary (marked on a map) and (iii) planned use of the Lam Tei Quarry site, and (iv) the expected time when the Government can resume the site for long-term development; given the proximity of the site to Tuen Mun town, whether the Government will consider using the site for housing development; and (4) of the (i) area, (ii) boundary (marked on a map), (iii) planned use and (iv) existing use (if any) of the Lamma Quarry site, and (v) the expected time when the Government can resume the site for long-term development; as the Government has commenced a study on the future development of the site, and conducted a two-stage public consultation on this between 2012 and 2014, of the outcome of the consultation and the study?
*17. Hon James TO to ask: (Translation)
In response to the Report of the Commission of Inquiry into the Collision of Vessels near Lamma Island on 1 October 2012, the Transport and Housing Bureau set up an Internal Investigation Team ("the Team") in June 2013 to investigate whether there were maladministration and negligence of duty on the part of Marine Department officers in carrying out their duties in relation to Lamma IV. The Team submitted its investigation report to the Civil Service Bureau and the Police in 2014 to facilitate the conduct of disciplinary actions and criminal investigations respectively. In addition, some family members of the deceased have told me that they have not yet been issued the death certificates for the persons who died in the collision incident. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) given that the Government has so far refused to make public the investigation report but only made arrangements for Members of this Council who had signed a confidentiality undertaking to peruse a redacted version of the investigation report, whether the Government will (i) consider afresh making public the investigation report and (ii) return to Members of this Council the notes they took while perusing the investigation report; (2) of the reasons why death inquests in respect of the 39 persons who died in the collision incident have not yet commenced and when they are expected to commence; (3) of the reasons why the death certificates for the persons who died in the collision incident have not yet been issued and when they are expected to be issued; and (4) given that the non-issuance of the death certificates has resulted in some insurance companies refusing to pay the deceased's family members the death benefits in respect of the life insurance policies taken out by the deceased and has rendered some properties jointly owned by the deceased and their family members not capable of being assigned, how the Government will assist the deceased's family members in dealing with such matters?
*18. Hon Kenneth LEUNG to ask: (Translation)
Under the Cross-boundary Movement of Physical Currency and Bearer Negotiable Instruments Ordinance (Cap. 629) ("the Ordinance"), which has come into operation since July last year, if a traveller who arrives at a specified control point from a place outside Hong Kong is in possession of a large quantity of currency and bearer negotiable instruments ("CBNIs") (i.e. CBNIs of a total value of more than HK$120,000), he or she must make a written declaration to an authorized officer. Moreover, a traveller who is about to leave Hong Kong, or who arrives in Hong Kong (other than at a specified control point) from a place outside Hong Kong, must disclose, upon the requirement of an authorized officer, whether he or she is in possession of a large quantity of CBNIs, and a person disclosing that fact must make the aforesaid written declaration. Such declaration is also required for import or export of a large quantity of CBNIs under other circumstances as specified in the Ordinance. Regarding the implementation of the Ordinance, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the number of declarations received by the Customs and Excise Department ("C&ED") since the Ordinance came into operation and the total amount of money involved, with a breakdown by declarations made (i) by travellers and (ii) under other circumstances; (2) of the number of breaches of the declaration or disclosure requirements uncovered by C&ED since the Ordinance came into operation, as well as the respective numbers of (i) written warnings issued and (ii) prosecutions instituted against the persons concerned, and the total amount of money involved; (3) whether it has allocated additional manpower and other resources to C&ED for the enforcement of the Ordinance at various control points; if so, of the details; of the mechanism for selecting travellers for examination for the enforcement of the Ordinance, and the number of such examinations conducted to date; and (4) of the channels through which the Government has publicized such declaration or disclosure requirements to inbound travellers and Hong Kong residents, so as to prevent them from inadvertently breaching the law?
*19. Prof Hon Joseph LEE to ask: (Translation)
In the 2018 Policy Address she delivered on 10 October last year, the Chief Executive proposed to extend the statutory maternity leave for eligible employees from the current 10 weeks to 14 weeks. Although the relevant legislative amendments have yet to be passed by this Council, the Government and the Hospital Authority ("HA") have implemented the measure to extend maternity leave for their employees since 10 October and 25 October last year respectively. Regarding the manpower implications of the measure to extend maternity leave, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it has estimated the total number of nurses and allied health professionals employed by the Department of Health ("DH") who will take maternity leave within this year, with a breakdown by their rank, the district in which they work and nature of their work; (2) whether it knows if HA has estimated the number of nurses and allied health professionals in public hospitals who will take maternity leave within this year, with a breakdown by their rank as well as by the hospital cluster, hospital and department in which they work; (3) whether DH and HA have employed additional staff to meet the additional manpower needs brought about by the measure to extend maternity leave; if so, of the details (including the respective numbers of additional staff members employed and the expenditures involved), and whether the additional manpower is sufficient to meet the needs; if they have not employed additional staff, the reasons for that; and (4) whether it knows, among the various service units (e.g. residential care homes for the elderly and residential care homes for persons with disabilities) operated by subvented social welfare organizations, the number and percentage of those which have implemented the measure to extend maternity leave; whether it has assessed the additional manpower and other resources needed by such units for implementing the measure; whether it will allocate additional resources to such organizations, so that they can implement the measure expeditiously; if so, of the details, if not, the reasons for that?
*20. Hon LAM Cheuk-ting to ask: (Translation)
At present, members of the Board of the MTR Corporation Limited ("MTRCL") include four government officials, namely the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, the Secretary for Transport and Housing, the Permanent Secretary for Development (Works) and the Commissioner for Transport. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the respective roles and duties of the aforesaid four officials in the Board of MTRCL; and (2) whether it knows the number of meetings convened by the Board of MTRCL since 1 July 2017; the respective numbers and percentages of such meetings attended by the four officials, as well as the reasons for each occasion (if any) of their absence from the meetings, and whether they appointed representatives to attend such meetings; if so, of the post titles of the appointed representatives; if not, the reasons for that?
*21. Hon WU Chi-wai to ask: (Translation)
A lifeguard union has pointed out that currently, public swimming pools, public beaches and private swimming pools are often plagued by the problem of not having sufficient number of lifeguards on duty. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the number of private swimming pools issued with a licence by the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department ("FEHD") under the Swimming Pools Regulation (Cap. 132 sub. leg. CA) ("the Regulation") as at 31 December last year, with a breakdown by District Council district set out in a table; (2) as the Regulation stipulates that the licensee of a swimming pool shall, at all times during which the pool is open to swimmers, deploy not less than two lifeguards possessing valid certificates of competency in life saving and first aid to be in attendance at the pool, of (i) the number of inspections of licensed private swimming pools carried out by FEHD officers for this requirement, (ii) the respective numbers of cases of FEHD receiving reports and substantiating that a licensee has breached this requirement, and (iii) the details of the follow-up actions taken by FEHD on the substantiated cases, in each of the past three years; (3) as a lifeguard union has pointed out that the pay levels of the lifeguards of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department ("LCSD") are lower than the market levels, resulting in recruitment difficulties and insufficient lifeguards at public swimming pools and public beaches, of the respective pay levels of newly recruited civil service lifeguards and contract seasonal lifeguards under LCSD in each of the past three years, and how such pay levels compare with the market levels; and (4) as LCSD requires that all serving and newly recruited lifeguards must possess the Pool Lifeguard Award and the Beach Lifeguard Award issued by the Hong Kong Life Saving Society, whether it knows the number of persons who took the examinations for lifeguard awards in each of the past three years; if such figures are not available, whether it will compile such statistics; whether it will adopt new measures to attract more people to take such examinations for lifeguard awards?
*22. Hon Holden CHOW to ask: (Translation)
Since July 2017, the Government has been providing tax concessions for qualifying aircraft lessors and aircraft leasing managers. Such tax concessions include setting the profits tax rate for such enterprises at 8.25%, i.e. one-half of the prevailing normal profits tax rate. On the other hand, it was mentioned in last year's Policy Address that the Government would use tax measures to foster ship leasing business in Hong Kong, as well as to promote the development of business of marine insurance and the underwriting of specialty risks in Hong Kong. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the respective numbers of qualifying (i) aircraft lessors and (ii) aircraft leasing managers that have benefited from the aforesaid tax concessionary measures for aircraft leasing business since the implementation of such measures; the respective numbers of these two types of enterprises which were registered in Hong Kong, and the rates of change of such numbers, in each of the past three years; and (2) of the Government's initial thinking regarding the tax measures to be introduced for promoting the development of ship leasing and marine insurance businesses in Hong Kong; whether it will set the profits tax rate for enterprises engaging in such businesses at 8.25%?
* For written reply
III. Government Bill
| Second Reading (Debate to resume), Consideration by Committee of the Whole Council and Third Reading
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| Electoral Legislation (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 2018 | : | Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs
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| Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs to move amendments (The amendments were issued on 9 January 2019 under LC Paper No. CB(3) 296/18-19) | ||
| (Debate and voting arrangements for Electoral Legislation (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 2018 in committee of the whole Council (issued on 15 January 2019 under LC Paper No. CB(3) 314/18-19(01)) (same as the Appendix to the Script of Council meeting of 16 January 2019))
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IV. Members' Motions
| 1. | Motion on "Reviewing the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance Scheme"
Hon SHIU Ka-chun to move the following motion: (Translation) That, given that the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance ('CSSA') Scheme is outdated, the amount of assistance received by CSSA recipients is unable to cover their basic needs in daily lives, this Council urges the Government to immediately review and improve the CSSA Scheme, particularly the mechanism to determine the amount of assistance, so as to safeguard the basic income of CSSA recipients. | ||||
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Dr Hon Fernando CHEUNG, Hon LEUNG Che-cheung, Hon LEUNG Yiu-chung, Dr Hon KWOK Ka-ki and Hon AU Nok-hin to move amendments to the motion
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| (The amendments were issued on 11 January 2019 under LC Paper No. CB(3) 304/18-19) | |||||
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| 2. | Motion on "Increasing housing supply in the short to medium term to rectify the problem of public housing shortage"
Hon James TO to move the following motion: (Translation) That, in the recently announced Long Term Housing Strategy, the Government has revised the new public and private housing supply in the 10-year period from 2019-2020 to 2028-2029 to a ratio of 7:3; however, due to inadequate supply of land for housing construction, it is anticipated that public housing supply in the short to medium term will fail to meet the expected target; in this connection, this Council urges the Government to adopt the following measures to increase public housing supply in the short to medium term: | ||||
| (1) | to invoke the Lands Resumption Ordinance for the massive resumption of brownfield sites and idle agricultural lands in the New Territories, so as to open up new development areas for housing construction purpose;
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| (2) | to fully resume the 172-hectare site of the Fanling Golf Course for developing housing and relevant ancillary facilities;
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| (3) | to conduct studies on converting the use of the site which has been reserved for the second phase development of the Hong Kong Disneyland to public housing development;
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| (4) | to negotiate with the Central Government for releasing certain idle or under-utilized military sites in Hong Kong for housing development purpose;
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| (5) | to effect the participation of the Hong Kong Housing Authority in the 'Letting Scheme for Subsidised Sale Developments with Premium Unpaid' under the Hong Kong Housing Society, and to discuss the scheme with the Hong Kong Housing Society with a view to allowing owners to let their entire flats, subject to a pro-rata sharing of their rental incomes with the Government;
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| (6) | to formulate redevelopment plans for aged public housing estates for the expeditious redevelopment of certain aged public housing estates with higher residual plot ratios, so as to increase the supply of public housing units; and
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| (7) | to use the land resumed by the Urban Renewal Authority for developing subsidized housing (e.g. the 'Starter Homes' Scheme for Hong Kong Residents).
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| Ir Dr Hon LO Wai-kwok, Hon Tony TSE, Dr Hon KWOK Ka-ki, Hon Alice MAK, Dr Hon Fernando CHEUNG, Hon Gary FAN, Hon Wilson OR, Hon CHU Hoi-dick and Dr Hon Junius HO to move amendments to the motion
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| (The amendments were issued on 11 January 2019 under LC Paper No. CB(3) 305/18-19) | |||||
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