Subsidiary Legislation	L.N. NO.
1. Land Registration Fees (Amendment) Regulation 1995 (Amendment) (No.2) Regulation 1996	145/96
2. Probation of Offenders (Approved Institution) (Consolidation) (Amendment) Order 1996	146/96
3. Solicitors (General) Costs (Amendment) Rules 1996	147/96
4. Solicitors (Trade Marks and Patents) Costs (Amendment) Rules 1996	148/96
5. Declaration of Change of Titles (Civil Service Training Centre and Senior Staff Course Centre) Notice 1996	149/96
6. Declaration of Change of Title (Director, Senior Staff Course Centre) Notice 1996	150/96
7. Pneumoconiosis (Compensation) (Amendment) Ordinance 1996 (4 of 1996) (Commencement) Notice 1996	151/96
8. Official Languages (Authentic Chinese Text) (Metrication Ordinance) Order	(C) 27/96
9. Official Languages (Authentic Chinese Text) (Post Office Ordinance) Order	(C) 28/96

Sessional Papers 1995/96

1. No. 70 - Estimates for the year ending 31 March 1997 General Revenue Account Summaries Revenue by Heads and Subheads

(to be presented by the Financial Secretary)

2. No. 71 - Traffic Accident Victims Assistance Fund

Annual Report by the Director of Social Welfare Incorporated for the year from 1 April 1994 to 31 March 1995

(to be presented by the Secretary for Health and Welfare)

3. No. 72 - Consumer Council

Annual Report 1994-1995

(to be presented by the Secretary for Trade and Industry)

4. No. 73 - Securities and Futures Commission

Approved Estimates of Income and Expenditure for Financial Year 1996/97

(to be presented by the Secretary for Financial Services)

II. QUESTIONS

* 1. Mr. NGAN Kam-chuen to ask : (Translation)

Officials of the Guangdong Province have earlier announced that they would bring Hong Kong into the scope of their planning, and that they would commence the planning and construction of the Tuen Mun-Zhuhai Bridge and the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Bridge on their own. However, the results of the study on the impact of the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Western Corridor (Santin to Wong Kong; Shekou to Yuen Long) and the Tuen Mun-Zhuhai Bridge on the development of the Northwest New Territories have yet to be announced by the Government. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

what progress has been made in the formal consultation channels between the Guangdong and Hong Kong authorities (such as the Infrastructure Co-ordinating Committee) on the Tuen Mun-Zhuhai Bridge and the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Bridge projects; and
what positive measures the Government will adopt to strengthen the communication between the Guangdong and Hong Kong authorities on the question of coordination of infrastructural developments?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Planning, Environment and Lands

* 2. Mr. YUM Sin-ling to ask : (Translation)

Will the Government inform this Council:

of the respective numbers of cases of unidentified gases hitting residential areas and schools in the past three years as well as the districts in which such incidents occurred;
whether the source and type of gases can be identified after investigation; if so, what are the sources and types of these gases, and whether such gases are harmful to human beings; and
whether there is sufficient equipment for detecting unidentified gases, and what contingency measures will be taken in the event of unidentified gases being found?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

* 3. Mr. LAU Wong-fat to ask : (Translation)

In his reply to my question regarding the categories of land in the New Territories raised at the LegCo sitting on 6 March this year, the Secretary for Planning, Environment and Lands stated that land lots in the New Territories could be classified into two broad categories, namely old schedule lots and new grant lots. However, as stated in Annex III of the Sino-British Joint Declaration, there are village lots, small houses and similar rural holdings in addition to old schedule lots in the New Territories. In this regard, will the Government inform this Council of all the land categories in the New Territories, as well as the definition of and differences between the three categories of land mentioned above?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Planning, Environment and Lands

* 4. Mr. Andrew CHENG to ask : (Translation)

It is reported that the Financial Services Branch, the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited ("SEHK") and the Securities and Futures Commission ("SFC") have held meetings to discuss the corporate plans proposed by the SEHK and the SFC respectively and to strengthen the communication between the parties concerned. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

whether any agreement has been reached arising from the meetings mentioned above; if so, what are the details of such agreement;
of the division of responsibilities and the respective roles of the SFC and the SEHK in regard to each of the 17 working plans proposed in the SFC's Corporate Plan; and
of the number of staff in the Financial Services Branch deployed to deal with securities matters; and how it will strengthen the co-ordination between the SEHK and the SFC?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Financial Services

* 5. Mr. Henry TANG to ask : (Translation)

Under the pilot scheme to bring in 1 000 professionals from China, 688 applications for allocation of quotas have been approved and 374 employment visas issued to date. At a meeting of the LegCo Panel on Manpower held earlier this year, the Government officials concerned stated that the Immigration Department had already invited companies on the reserve list to submit applications to fill the remaining positions in the scheme. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

how many companies which are successful in their applications have subsequently withdrawn from the scheme, and what are the main reasons for their withdrawal;
whether companies on the reserve list meet the eligibility criteria for application, and if so, why; and how many applications from such companies are being processed by the relevant authority and what is the progress of these applications;
how the remaining positions in the scheme will be handled; and
whether the Government is able to ascertain from the applications received which types of professionals from China are equipped with the expertise and working experience which the territory is short of and which the territory needs most; if so, whether it will consider training up local professionals; if not, why not?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education and Manpower

* 6. Mr. Albert CHAN to ask : (Translation)

Recently, a tragedy occurred in a public housing estate in which a baby girl was bitten to death by a dog, and this has aroused public concern over the problem of keeping of pets by public housing tenants. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

whether the tenancy agreement signed between the Housing Authority and a public housing tenant stipulates a ban on the keeping of pets or a ban on the keeping of dogs; what are the reasons for such a stipulation; and
if the tenancy agreement stipulates a ban on the keeping of all kinds of pets, why the Housing Department's recent publicity efforts are targeted only at those tenants who keep dogs; and what measures the Department will take to ban the keeping of other kinds of pets by public housing tenants?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Housing

* 7. Mrs. Elizabeth WONG to ask :

Will the Government inform this Council whether civil servants are allowed to join political parties; if so, whether they must declare this so as to avoid a conflict of interest arising from the execution of their official duties?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Civil Service

* 8. Dr. LAW Cheung-kwok to ask : (Translation)

Will the Government inform this Council:

whether it has substantially revised its forecasts of the territory's population for the next ten to 20 years in view of the increase in the number of returning emigrants and new immigrants from China in recent years; and
how the population growth in recent years will affect the Government's long-term planning on various fronts?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Financial Services

* 9. Dr. Samuel WONG to ask : (Translation)

The Government informed this Council recently that, owing to the need to impose a longer time interval between flight movements and the restrictions in China's territorial airspace, the anticipated capacity of the runway of the new airport had been revised to 37/38 flight movements per hour against the previous projection of 43 flight movements per hour. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council what will be the actual increase in flight movement capacity at the new airport after discounting the time needed for regular maintenance and repairs of the runway, as compared to the capacity at the existing airport?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Economic Services

* 10. Mr. Fred LI to ask : (Translation)

It has been published in the Government Gazette that the date of implementing section 6 of the Residential Care Homes (Elderly Persons) Ordinance (cap. 459), which was originally intended to come into effect on 1 April 1996, will be deferred to 1 June 1996. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

of the reasons for deferring the implementation date of the above-mentioned section of the Ordinance;
what contingency measures the Government will adopt to deal with those residential care homes which are operated without a certificate of exemption or licence, in the event that the processing of applications for residential care home licences cannot be completed by 1 June 1996; and
what specific measures will be put in place to ensure that the licensed residential care homes are operated in accordance with the statutory requirements?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health and Welfare

* 11. Mr. WONG Wai-yin to ask : (Translation)

The implementation of stage I of the public housing security installation project has been well-received by the residents, but there are some areas which have been queried by the residents as being inadequate, such as the poor quality of security guards and the closed-circuit TVs having blind spots and being unable to cover side entrances. In this regard, will the Government inform this Council:

whether any problems have been identified in stage I of the project; if so, what are those problems and what measures will be taken to resolve the problems; and
what are the specific plan and arrangements for implementing stage II of the security installation project?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Housing

* 12. Miss Emily LAU to ask : (Translation)

In response to my question at the LegCo sitting on 5 July 1995 concerning pollution of beaches, the Government indicated that an inter-departmental committee was looking into various water sports facilities at the time and that it would also examine the need for and the feasibility of developing new beaches. Will the Government inform this Council:

of the progress of the committee's study on developing and opening up new beaches; and
whether consideration has been given to opening up new outing resorts, such as by developing more outlying islands and reinforcing the ferry services linking these islands to urban areas, so that people will have more places to go to spend their leisure in a healthy and inexpensive way?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Recreation and Culture

* 13. Dr. John TSE to ask : (Translation)

It is reported that the fines imposed by the court on individuals or companies for repeated violation of environmental protection legislation may be lower than the cost of installing environmental protection facilities, and that such fines are regarded by some businessmen as part of the operating cost. As a result, the imposition of fines has had little deterrent effect. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

of the number of persons or companies prosecuted on more than two occasions in each of the past three years, together with the average fine imposed by the court in such cases and the number of cases in which the court has imposed a custodial sentence;
of the criteria adopted by the Government for proposing the penalties prescribed in the relevant draft legislation before it was approved by this Council;
whether the Legal Department will consider lodging an appeal in the event that the fine imposed by the court is deemed to be too low; if so, how many appeal cases have been lodged by the Department in the past three years, and what criteria are adopted for determining whether or not to lodge an appeal; and
whether the Government has considered amending the legislation to raise the existing penalties so as to increase the deterrent effect; if not, what other measures does the Government have to combat the problem of repeated violation of environmental protection legislation?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Planning, Environment and Lands

* 14. Dr. LAW Cheung-kwok to ask : (Translation)

Is the Government aware of the following information relating to the grant for academic research received by each of the local universities directly from the Government in each of the past three years:

the respective percentages of funds allocated for researches on theoretical topics, practical subjects and local policy issues;
the respective percentages of funds allocated for researches on topics relating to the humanities, science, engineering, social sciences and business studies; and
the number of research projects which have not been completed within the original schedules or in accordance with the stated objectives, and the percentage of funds allocated for these projects out of the total amount of grant for academic research?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education and Manpower

* 15. Dr. Samuel WONG to ask : (Translation)

As the construction of the second runway and the expansion of the passenger terminal at the new airport will cost $5 billion, will the Government inform this Council what impact this investment will have on the overall financial position of the Airport Authority?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Economic Services

* 16. Miss Emily LAU to ask : (Translation)

Will the Government inform this Council:

whether it has any information on the assistance that British consulates can offer to Hong Kong residents who hold British National (Overseas) Passports or British Dependent Territories Citizen Passports when they run into difficulties overseas, and whether there is any difference in the treatment of such Hong Kong residents and British citizens in this regard;
of the measures taken in the past to publicise the British consular services which Hong Kong residents can enjoy overseas; and
whether the Government will follow the example of the British Government in publicising consular services to its nationals?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

* 17. Mr. WONG Wai-yin to ask : (Translation)

Will the Government inform this Council:

of the breakdown of the number of doctors assigned to work in, and the number of people seeking treatment at, the Accident and Emergency Department in each of the hospitals under the management of the Hospital Authority over the past three years;
of the average waiting time before a patient is given treatment;
why there have been instances of patients seeking emergency treatment having to wait for more than three hours at the Accident and Emergency Department of Tuen Mun Hospital; and whether such delay would put patients' lives at risk; and
how the situation mentioned in part (c) above will be improved, and whether the Government will consider increasing the number of medical and nursing staff so as to shorten the waiting time?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health and Welfare

* 18. Mr. IP Kwok-him to ask : (Translation)

Will the Government inform this Council:

of the position of recruiting degree holders of non-Commonwealth tertiary institutions to the positions in the civil service requiring an entry qualification of Matriculation level and above since the Government announced that it would recognise such degrees in civil service recruitments last year;
whether there have been any degree holders of non-Commonwealth tertiary institutions recruited to such positions in the civil service in the three years preceding the implementation of the arrangement mentioned in (a) above; if so, what were the ranks of those recruited and to which departments did they belong; and
in regard to the appointees referred to in (b) above, why their non-Commonwealth degrees were recognised for appointment?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Civil Service

* 19. Mr. IP Kwok-him to ask : (Translation)

According to a survey conducted by an organisation, over 40% of the elderly patients of the general out-patient department of public hospitals have to wait four hours for medical consultation and dispensation of drugs, and the waiting time for medical appointments in specialist clinics is as long as four months. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:

it is aware of the situation described above; if so, what measures are in place to shorten the waiting time; and
consideration will be given to extending the practice of providing 'chips for the elderly' and the arrangement for the elderly to seek consultation by appointment, which are only available at the out-patient department of some public hospitals, to all public hospitals in the territory; if not, why not?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health and Welfare

* 20. Mr. Andrew CHENG to ask : (Translation)

In his reply to my supplementary question raised at the Legislative Council sitting on 31 January 1996, the Secretary for Financial Services stated that the Government would consider the setting up of a standing liaison group to constantly review the note issuing process as well as the process of minting coins. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

whether it will expedite the implementation of the Bank Notes Issue Ordinance passed recently;
of the timetable for setting up the proposed liaison group; and
of the composition and objectives of the proposed liaison group?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Financial Services

* For written reply.

III. BILLS

FIRST READING

Electricity (Amendment) Bill 1996
Firearms and Ammunition (Amendment) Bill 1996
Trade Descriptions (Amendment) Bill 1996
Import and Export (Amendment) Bill 1996
Control of Chemicals (Amendment) Bill 1996
Reserved Commodities (Amendment) Bill 1996
Toys and Children's Products Safety (Amendment) Bill 1996
Consumer Goods Safety (Amendment) Bill 1996

SECOND READING

Debates to be adjourned

1. Electricity (Amendment) Bill 1996	:	Secretary for Economic Services
2. Firearms and Ammunition (Amendment) Bill 1996	:	Secretary for Security
3. Trade Descriptions (Amendment) Bill 1996	:	Secretary for Trade and Industry
4. Import and Export (Amendment) Bill 1996	:	Secretary for Trade and Industry
5. Control of Chemicals (Amendment) Bill 1996	:	Secretary for Trade and Industry
6. Reserved Commodities (Amendment) Bill 1996	:	Secretary for Trade and Industry
7. Toys and Children's Products Safety (Amendment) Bill 1996	:	Secretary for Trade and Industry
8. Consumer Goods Safety (Amendment) Bill 1996	:	Secretary for Trade and Industry

Debate to be resumed

9. Appropriation Bill 1996

Financial Secretary

COMMITTEE STAGE AND THIRD READING

Appropriation Bill 1996	:	Financial Secretary

IV. MEMBER'S MOTIONS

1. HONG KONG ROYAL INSTRUCTIONS 1917 TO 1993 (NOS. 1 AND 2)

Dr. C.H. LEONG :

That the Standing Orders of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong be amended by repealing Standing Order No.42(3B)(c) and (d) and substituting -

"(c) if at the sitting of House Committee to consider the bill in preparation for resumption of debate the committee recommends that the second reading debate be resumed at the next sitting of the Council then resumption may take place at that sitting with the permission of the President provided that due notice has been given under subparagraph (e);

(d) subject to subparagraph (e), notice of resumption of debate shall be given by the Member or public officer in charge of the bill not less than 12 clear days before the day on which the debate is to be resumed;

(e) where resumption of debate is to take place 9 clear days or less after the sitting of House Committee at which the bill was considered in preparation for resumption, then notice of resumption of debate shall be given no later than 2 clear days after that sitting".

Housing (Amendment) Bill 1996
Housing (Amendment) (No.2) Bill 1996

SECOND READING

Debates to be adjourned

1. Housing (Amendment) Bill 1996	:	Mr. LEE Wing-tat
Public Officer to attend	:	Secretary for Housing

2. Housing (Amendment) (No.2) Bill 1996	:	Mr. Bruce LIU
Public Officer to attend	:	Secretary for Housing

Debate to be resumed

3. Probate and Administration (Amendment) Bill 1996

Mr. Bruce LIU

Public Officer to attend

Attorney General

COMMITTEE STAGE AND THIRD READING

Probate and Administration (Amendment) Bill 1996

Mr. Bruce LIU

Public Officer to attend

Attorney General

Annex

HONG KONG ROYAL INSTRUCTIONS 1917 TO 1993 (NOS. 1 AND 2)

STANDING ORDERS OF THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL OF HONG KONG

RESOLUTION OF THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

RESOLVED that the Standing Orders of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong be amended ---

in Standing Order No. 60B ---
1. in the heading by adding and Conduct after Interests;
2. in paragraph (1) by adding and Conduct after Interests where it first occurs;
3. in paragraph (1) by adding ---
  (da) to consider and, with the consent of not less than four of the members of the Committee, to investigate any complaint concerning a members conduct in matters of ethics in his capacity as such;;
4. in paragraph (1)(e) by adding and Conduct after Interests;
5. n paragraph (5) by repealing All matters and substituting Subject to paragraph (1)(da), all matters;
6. by adding ---
  (6A) The committee shall have regard to advice given and guidelines issued under paragraph (1)(d) when determining whether a recommendation for sanction under Standing Order No. 65A(2)(Sanctions relating to Interests and Conduct) should be made in respect of a member who is the subject of a complaint concerning his conduct in matters of ethics in his capacity as such.;
in Standing Order No. 64A(4)(g) by adding which arise out of or are related in any manner to his membership of the Council, after his spouse;
in Standing Order No. 65A ---
1. in the heading by adding and Conduct after Interests;
2. by renumbering it as Standing Order No. 65A(1);
3. By adding --- (2) A Member may be admonished, reprimanded or suspended by the Council upon a motion moved by the chairman of the Committee on Members Interests and Conduct in accordance with a recommendation of the committee made under Standing Order No. 60B(1)(e) (Committee on Members Interests and Conduct)..

Last Updated on 29 July 1999

THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ORDER PAPER

Wednesday, 3 April 1996 at 2.30 p.m.

THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
ORDER PAPER