4 items of subsidiary legislation and 2 other papers to be laid on the Table of the Council set out in Appendix 1

Members to ask 22 questions (6 for oral replies and 16 for written replies)

Contents of 22 questions, Members to ask such questions and public officers to reply set out in Appendix 2

Dr Hon Pierre CHAN to ask:

The Hospital Authority ("HA") has made available two designated rooms in each of the 18 public hospitals with accident and emergency ("A&E") departments across the territory to provide victims of sexual violence with one-stop services, including diagnosis and treatment, statement taking and forensic examinations. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon Kenneth LAU to ask:

It has been reported that quite a number of video games in the market provide functions for gamers to join lucky draws in the games, upon making extra payments (i.e. the Internet term "in-game purchases"), to purchase virtual commodities such as game props ("virtual lucky draws"). In addition, some video game manufacturers induce gamers to make incessant in-game purchases by using various tactics. As a result, some gamers, in the hope of getting their favourite virtual commodities by lucky draws, have become addicted to in-game purchases. Details such as the probability of drawing commodities and the lucky draw prizes are not disclosed in such games, and the terms of use of such games lack protection for the gamers. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon Elizabeth QUAT to ask:

In recent years, the applicants of quite a number of judicial review ("JR") related cases have been granted legal aid, which enabled them to engage, by using public money, counsel of their choice to act for them in challenging the Executive Authorities' decisions. This has aroused queries from some members of the public that legal aid has been abused. Early this month, the Chief Executive indicated that details of the existing legal aid system such as the administration, allocation of cases and assignment of lawyers could be reviewed afresh. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon CHAN Han-pan to ask:

It is learnt that during the occupation of Hong Kong by the Japanese army, the Hong Kong Independent Battalion ("the Battalion") under the Dongjiang Column anti-Japanese aggression guerrilla force of the Communist Party of China rescued quite a number of cultural elites and members of the Allied troops who had been captured, making significant contribution in the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon Wilson OR to ask:

A site of approximately 80 hectares in Area 137 of Tseung Kwan O is currently used as a temporary fill bank by way of Temporary Government Land Allocation ("TGLA") until 31 December this year. In December 2016, a consultant commissioned by the Government commenced a three-year planning and engineering study on such site, but the study has not yet been completed to date. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon Holden CHOW to ask:

Under the Sexual Conviction Record Check ("SCRC") Scheme, schools, residential care homes for disabled persons, private tutorial centres and private interest/activity institutions ("employing organizations") may request prospective employees and contract renewal employees who undertake work relating to children and mentally incapacitated persons ("MIPs") to make an application to the Police for a check on their own sexual offence conviction records. The Police will then disclose the relevant records to the employing organizations directly. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon Michael TIEN to ask:

The Education Bureau ("EDB") has, since the 2010-2011 school year, implemented at junior secondary levels the fine-tuned medium of instruction ("MOI") arrangements for secondary schools under six-year cycles. Under such arrangements, schools are no longer categorized as Chinese-medium secondary schools and English-medium secondary schools, and schools may exercise professional discretion on MOI for individual classes or groups, having regard to their school-based circumstances. If the average proportion of Secondary One ("S1") intake of a school admitted to a class belonging to the "top 40%" group in the previous two years reaches 85% of the size of a class (i.e. 29 students, calculated on the basis of the S1 allocation class size of 34 in 2010), the school will be deemed to have satisfied the "student ability" criterion and, having regard to other prescribed criteria, may then exercise professional discretion on MOI for the class concerned. As announced by EDB in April this year, starting from the 2022-2023 school year, "S1 allocation class size" will be replaced by the "secondary school average class size" in the 2020-2021 school year as the parameter for determining the number of places for which schools will be given professional discretion to determine the MOI arrangements according to the student ability criterion. As the "secondary school average class size" in the 2020-2021 school year is 27 students, 85% means 22 students. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon Christopher CHEUNG to ask:

The Government introduced in June 2012 "the Dedicated Fund on Branding, Upgrading and Domestic Sales" ("the BUD Fund") to provide funding support to non-listed Hong Kong enterprises to enhance their competitiveness and further business development on the Mainland and in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and other economies with which Hong Kong has signed Free Trade Agreements, through developing brands, upgrading and restructuring operations and promoting sales. Moreover, the Government injected $1.5 billion into the BUD Fund in April this year, thereby increasing its approved commitment from $4.5 billion to $6 billion. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon SHIU Ka-fai to ask:

Regarding the supply of niches of public columbaria, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon YIU Si-wing to ask:

Since the outbreak of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 epidemic early last year, cross-boundary passenger services have come to a standstill due to the closure of various boundary control points one after another and the plunge in the number of cross-boundary travellers. As there is no definite time for the resumption of normal traveller clearance between Hong Kong and the Mainland and Macao, all the cross-boundary passenger service operators ("the operators") have been complaining bitterly about their hardship. In the past ten-odd months, apart from paying the recurrent expenses, they had to meet the repair and maintenance costs of their conveyances. Before resumption of operation in the future, they will need to put in a large amount of capital to repair those conveyances which have been left idle in the open air for a long time to ensure traffic safety, and to recruit drivers and other staff members afresh. Those operators consider that as the cross-boundary passenger service sector has made tremendous contributions to the economies of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao over the years, it is incumbent upon the Government to support the sector to tide over the difficulties. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon Mrs Regina IP to ask:

Regarding the arrangements for the subjects of the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education ("HKDSE") Examination, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon LEUNG Che-cheung to ask:

It is learnt that during the period from occupation of Hong Kong by the Japanese army to Japan's surrender, the Hong Kong Independent Battalion of the Dongjiang Column, an anti-Japanese aggression guerrilla force under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, had staged resistance efforts against the Japanese army, and rescued quite a number of cultural elites and members of the Allied troops who had been captured, making significant contribution to the victory in the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. There are views that the Government has not attached much importance to the history of Hong Kong's resistance against Japanese aggression and the conservation of the relevant relics, which has resulted in Hong Kong people's lack of knowledge about the relevant history. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon Starry LEE to ask:

Beta-adrenergic agonists (commonly known as "leanness-enhancing agents") may promote growth and muscle leanness in certain food animal species. Some experts have pointed out that human consumption of meat containing an excessive quantity of leanness-enhancing agents on a long-term basis may increase the risk of developing certain diseases. Since 1 January this year, the Taiwan authorities have allowed the import of pork containing ractopamine (a kind of leanness-enhancing agent) from the United States ("US"). In reply to my relevant question on 11 November last year, the Secretary for Food and Health indicated that the Centre for Food Safety ("CFS") would continue to adopt a risk-based approach to take samples of meat products from Taiwan for testing under the routine Food Surveillance Programme. Earlier on, a media organization reported the results of the sampling tests it conducted on eight pork products from the market, which were manufactured in Taiwan and US: the ractopamine levels in seven products all exceeded the prescribed limits in Hong Kong (by a maximum of 27.6 times) while three products manufactured in Taiwan and one manufactured in US were found to contain clenbuterol, a leanness-enhancing agent prohibited in Hong Kong. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Dr Hon CHIANG Lai-wan to ask:

Regarding the publicly funded student financial assistance schemes administered by the Working Family and Student Financial Assistance Agency, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon Frankie YICK to ask:

Some heavy goods vehicle drivers living in Tseung Kwan O have relayed that due to shortage of car parking spaces, they can only park their vehicles on the roadside in the district at night without blocking the traffic. However, they are often issued with multiple fixed penalty notices ("FPNs") by the Police for illegal parking, causing them to lose a whole day's worth of income. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Ir Dr Hon LO Wai-kwok to ask:

As a number of major convention and exhibition events in Hong Kong were either postponed or cancelled last year under the impact of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 epidemic, and coupled with the fact that cross-boundary travels of people have been hindered by quarantine measures, it has been difficult for enterprises to contact potential overseas clients and promote their products to those clients. Members of the industrial and commercial sectors generally consider that the Government should more pro-actively promote the products and technologies of local scientific researches and assist the sectors in using information technology to enhance operation efficiency and promote their products to overseas clients, thereby opening up new opportunities. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Dr Hon Priscilla LEUNG to ask:

In recent months, a number of Hong Kong people who have purchased properties in the Mainland cities of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area ("Greater Bay Area") have sought my assistance. Earlier on, as they had planned to pay for the properties via the Mainland bank accounts under their names, they entrusted money changers to remit Renminbi ("RMB") to those accounts. Afterwards, Mainland law enforcement agencies froze the accounts concerned on the grounds that the money involved was connected with unlawful acts under investigation. Some of such accounts have so far been frozen for more than one year. They have sought assistance from the Customs and Excise Department ("C&ED") and the Consumer Council ("the Council"), but to no avail. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon Tony TSE to ask:

Regarding land uses, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon Alice MAK to ask:

Regarding the work of the Town Planning Board ("TPB"), will the Government inform this Council:

Hon Paul TSE to ask:

In recent months, my office has received a growing number of requests for assistance related to the enforcement of small claims judgments. The assistance seekers indicated that they had filed a case at an earlier time against the debtor in the Small Claims Tribunal ("SCT") and obtained a judgment in their favour, but the debtor still refused to pay the judgment sum, rendering the judgment de facto void. In addition, some members of the public have pointed out that despite an increase of the jurisdictional limit of SCT from $50,000 to $75,000 on 3 December 2018, such a claim limit is still a far cry from the amounts involved in civil disputes in recent years. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon CHAN Hak-kan to ask:

The Wild Animals Protection Ordinance (Cap. 170) stipulates that any person who, without permission, possesses hunting appliances, or hunts wild animals by means of hunting appliances, shall be guilty of an offence and be liable on conviction to a maximum fine of $50,000. It has been reported that a number of incidents have occurred recently in which animals and members of the public were injured by animal traps illegally set up in the rural areas. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon Elizabeth QUAT to ask:

Between 2006 and 2015, there were six cases on average each year in which children died of assault. The number of new cases of child abuse has risen persistently in recent years, which can be seen by the fact that the number in 1999 rose by 75% to more than 1 000 in 2019. There are views that the current number of reported cases of child abuse may just be the tip of the iceberg, as reporting of suspected child abuse cases is made only on a voluntary basis. On the other hand, a sub-committee of the Law Reform Commission has recommended the introduction of a new criminal offence, namely "failure to protect a child or vulnerable person where the child's or vulnerable person's death or serious harm results from an unlawful act or neglect" ("the new offence"). In this connection, will the Government inform this Council: