Revised version

OP 95/96-27(1) (Issued at 11.00 a.m. on 6.5.96)

THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
ORDER PAPER

Wednesday, 8 May 1996 at 2.30 p.m.

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I. PAPERS

Subsidiary Legislation

II. QUESTIONS
III. MOTION

INTERPRETATION AND GENERAL CLAUSES ORDINANCE

IV. BILLS

FIRST READING
SECOND READING

• Debates to be adjourned
• Debates to be resumed
COMMITTEE STAGE AND THIRD READING

V. MEMBER'S MOTIONS

1. BROADCASTING POLICY
2. REVIEW OF MAJOR ADVISORY AND STATUTORY BODIES

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I. PAPERS

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II. QUESTIONS

1. Mr. Fred LI to ask : (Translation)

According to the findings of a recent survey conducted by a voluntary agency on the opinions of the elderly regarding the provision of primary health care services, an elderly patient has to wait on average for nearly four hours for a general out-patient consultation. The survey also shows that there are two health centres for the elderly in the territory and they also provide medical services at a concessionary rate to the elderly aged 65 and above. In view of this, will the Government inform this Council:

1. whether consideration will be given to setting up more health centres for the elderly in various districts; if not, why not;
2. whether funds will be allocated from the Lotteries Fund and the Elderly Services Development Fund to non-governmental organisations for the provision of health care services for the elderly; and
3. whether consideration will be given to lowering to 60 the age requirement for eligibility to receive medical services at a concessionary rate, so as to reduce the demand for general out-patient services; if not, why not?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health and Welfare

2. Miss CHAN Yuen-han to ask : (Translation)

At present, British citizens are free to stay and work in Hong Kong without a visa. The number of British citizens in the territory at the end of 1994 and 1995 stood at 23 700 and 26 700 respectively but surged to 34 500 at the end of February this year. Will the Government inform this Council:

1. of the reasons for the big increase in the number of British citizens in the territory during the first two months of this year;
2. how it will prevent a large number of British citizens coming to stay in the territory before 1 July 1997 with a view to becoming eligible eventually to apply to become permanent residents of the territory at a later date;
3. whether it will consider requiring employers to comply with the conditions for importing foreign workers under the General Importation of Labour Scheme when they employ British Citizens to work in the territory; and
4. when it will review the current policy permitting British citizens to work in the territory; and whether, apart from British citizens, there are citizens of other countries or territories who can work here without a visa and, if so, whether such an arrangement will also be reviewed as well?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

3. Mr. CHAN Kam-lam to ask : (Translation)

Will the Government inform this Council:

1. whether it will review the Police measures to protect visiting Chinese officials attending public functions in Hong Kong, so as to more effectively protect the personal safety of the officials concerned and to maintain public order at the locations; and
2. how it safeguards the personal safety of the disciplined services personnel carrying out such protection duties?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

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

It is learnt that the Housing Authority will build three large Home Ownership Scheme (HOS) estates on Aberdeen Praya Road, Deep Bay Road and Ap Lei Chau, but the Southern District Board has unanimously agreed that it would object to the plan unless the Government undertakes to improve the overall transport network of Southern District, particularly to construct Route 7 and a second Ap Lei Chau Bridge, at an early date. In view of this, will the Government inform this Council:

1. whether, in order to tie in with the development of the above HOS estates, the Government will implement the Green Island Reclamation Scheme in order to re-instate the Route 7 project in the Public Works Programme; if so, what the details are; and
2. if the answer to (a) is in the negative, whether the Government will include the construction of a second Ap Lei Chau Bridge in its plan to improve the transport network of Southern District?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport

5. Mr. MOK Ying-fan to ask : (Translation)

It is learnt that six cinemas in the territory are operating without a licence at the moment. In view of this, will the Government inform this Council of:

1. the number of cinemas which had started business before obtaining a licence in each of the past five year and, of these, how many have still not obtained a licence and the reasons for it;
2. the time and manpower required by the Buildings Department and the Fire Services Department respectively for processing an application for cinema licence;
3. the reasons why some cinemas have not yet been granted a licence despite these applications having been submitted for more than a year and meeting the structural requirements set by the Buildings Department; and
4. the number of applications for the cinema licence processed by the Buildings Department and the Fire Services Department, and the manpower deployed to process these applications in the two departments in each of the past five years?

Public Officers to reply : Secretary for Recreation and Culture

Secretary for Security

Secretary for Planning, Environment and Lands

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

It is reported that the construction cost of Stages I and II of the public housing development project in Area 30 of Tin Shui Wai has already been overspent by $160 million before the pouring of concrete. According to a spokesman of the Hong Kong Housing Authority, the increase in the construction cost is partly attributable to inadequacies in the initial planning of the project, which have resulted in changes being made to the designs of the foundation and the piling works following detailed site investigation. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council of:

1. the detailed reasons for exceeding the construction cost of the project by more than 13%;
2. the additional expenditure items, and the amounts involved, arising from the inadequacies in the initial planning of the project; and
3. the reasons for inadequacies occurring in the initial planning of the project?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Housing

* 7. Mr. HO Chun-yan to ask : (Translation)

Will the Government inform this Council:

1. of the number of patients seeking treatment, the average waiting time for obtaining chips, and the average waiting time for medical consultation in the general out-patient clinics run by the Department of Health in Yuen Long and Tuen Mun during the past three years;
2. of the breakdown of these clinics by name, location, current staff establishment, daily quota of consultations and daily average number of chips handed out;
3. which of these clinics provide evening and holiday out-patient services, and what the opening hours and daily quota of consultations in such services are; and
4. whether the Department of Health will extend the evening and holiday out-patient services in Yuen Long and Tuen Mun, so as to reduce the number of patients seeking treatment at the accidents and emergency departments of Tuen Mun Hospital and Pok Oi Hospital in the evening and during public holidays?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health and Welfare

* 8. Mr. Michael HO to ask : (Translation)

Will the Government inform this Council of:

1. the existing establishment of nursing staff in different ranks in each of the hospitals under the management of the Hospital Authority;
2. the existing shortfall of nursing staff in different ranks in each of these hospital; and
3. the wastage figures of nursing staff in different ranks in each of these hospitals in the past three years?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health and Welfare

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

Recently, complaints have again been made by the public about contaminated paper-packed drinks. In view of the renewed public concern about the quality of food products, will the Government inform this Council:

1. of the total number of complaints received by the Urban Services Department and Regional Services Department regarding contaminated food products in the past 12 months;
2. of the average time required by the authorities concerned to complete a test on a food product suspected of contamination; and
3. whether measures will be taken by the authorities concerned to ensure the timely completion of such tests and announce the test results at the earliest possible time?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health and Welfare

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

It is learnt that the Government is planning to spend $4 million on a two-year project to study ways to protect Chinese white dolphins and that it will establish a marine sanctuary for this purpose. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

1. of the species of animals and plants which are under the protection of the Animals and Plants (Protection of Endangered Species) Ordinance and their habitats in the territory;
2. whether it has any plans to apply for funds for the establishment of sanctuaries similar to the above for the animals and plants under the protection of the Ordinance; and
3. if the answer to (b) is in the negative, of the measures it will take to protect such animals and plants, and whether it will introduce legislation to prohibit construction works within the habitats of these animals and plants ?

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

*11. Mr. Ambrose LAU to ask : (Translation)

It is learnt that the annual growth rate in expenditure of the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) has been on the decrease since 1994-95, with the result that the overall government expenditure on environmental protection has dropped to a rate of 0.56% of the territory's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 1996/97. This figure is much lower than that in certain developed countries which stands at an annual rate of 1% to 2% of their GDP, and is even lower than that in mainland China which stands at an annual rate of 0.6%. In view of this, will the Government inform this Council:

1. of the reasons for the decrease in the annual growth rate in EPD's expenditure in recent years; and
2. whether it will consider following the examples of the United States and European countries by allocating more resources for the implementation of projects lasting for five years or more, so as to concentrate research work on individual items such as water quality, the air and the soil; and whether it will further consider requiring that environmental issues be taken into account when formulating policies, so that environment protection work can be undertaken more effectively, thereby improving the quality of life in our society?

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

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

According to information provided by the Police, nearly a hundred elderly persons were killed in each of the past two years in traffic accidents involving jaywalking. In comparison with other age groups, the elderly age group had the highest death toll in such traffic accidents. In view of this, the Police have indicated that this year's road safety campaigns will be targeted at the elderly age group. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

1. of the other plans the Police have to enhance elderly people's awareness of road safety, so as to reduce the number of casualties among the elderly age group in such traffic accidents;
2. whether, to achieve a deterrent effect, the Police will step up prosecution against elderly people for contravening traffic regulations when crossing the road; if not, why not; and
3. whether the Police will strengthen road safety campaigns targetted at educating drivers, so as to prevent the occurrence of such traffic accidents?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport

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

Will the Government inform this Council:

1. whether, in recruiting new staff members and selecting serving staff for promotion, it is the current practice of the disciplined services to investigate the criminal records of the relatives of those concerned and take such records into account in the selection process; if so, what the reasons are; and
2. if the answer to the first part in (a) is in the positive, whether-
   1. such a practice is subject to regulation under any legislation; and
   2. the Government has drawn up any guidelines governing such a practice and, if so, what the rationale is; and whether the Government has reviewed the guidelines to ascertain if they contravene the Bill of Rights and the international human rights convenants and, if so, whether the Government will consider amending the guidelines?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Civil Service

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

Regarding the agreement of the Vietnamese Government to accept more returnees under the Orderly Repatriation Programme, will the Administration inform this Council:

1. of the staff deployment which the departments concerned have to make to cope with the work in connection with the above; and
2. whether the staff in the departments concerned are required to work overtime to handle the additional workload; if so, what the number and grades of staff are and whether the Administration is aware of the views of the staff concerned on such overtime work?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

*15. Miss Emily LAU to ask :

It is learnt that the Government is planning to draw up a list of non-Chinese ethnic minorities in Hong Kong who may become stateless after 1997. Will the Administration inform this Council:

1. of the objectives of drawing up the list;
2. how it plans to go about drawing up the list;
3. when the details of the list will be announced; and
4. whether it will continue to request the British Government to grant full British citizenship to the ethnic minorities in Hong Kong?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

*16. Mr. CHAN Kam-lam to ask : (Translation)

Will the Government inform this Council:

1. of the present number of caretakers (commonly known as watchmen) employed in private buildings in the territory, and the number of those who are above the age of 65 and in possession of watchman permit;
2. of the number of persons who have applied for the new security personnel permit and the number of such permits that have been issued since the implementation of the Security and Guarding Services Ordinance in June last year;
3. whether any applications for the new security personnel permit have been rejected; if so, what the reasons are;
4. of the publicity measures taken by the Government appealing to those watchmen who have not yet applied for security personnel permits to do so before the expiry of the grace period at the end of this month;
5. whether there is adequate manpower in the Police Licensing Office for processing all the applications for security personnel permits; if not, whether the Police will consider increasing the manpower for processing such applications; and
6. whether it will review the licensing conditions stipulated in the Ordinance to determine if there is a need to relax such conditions?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

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

Will the Government inform this Council:

1. of the current planning standard in regard to the ratio between accident/emergency beds and convalescent beds in the hospitals under the management of the Hospital Authority (HA);
2. of the respective numbers of accident/emergency beds and convalescent beds, and the ratio between the two types of beds in these hospitals;
3. of the respective average daily costs of maintaining each accident/emergency bed and convalescent bed in these hospitals; and
4. whether the number of convalescent beds in HA's hospitals in New Territories West meets the standard referred to in (a) above; if not, what measures are in place to improve the situation?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health and Welfare

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

Will the Government inform this Council:

1. of the number of redevelopment projects completed by the Land Development Corporation (LDC) since its establishment and the amount of profits generated from each project;
2. of the number of LDC's redevelopment projects involving the resumption of land by invoking the Crown Lands Resumption Ordinance;
3. of the total number of affected residents who have been rehoused arising from redevelopment projects undertaken by the LDC; and
4. how it can ensure that the LDC's redevelopment projects are undertaken for the purpose of improving the living environment of the community, instead of seeking excessive profits?

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

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

As the works on the construction of the new airport have seriously affected the living environment of the Chinese white dolphins inhabiting the waters nearby, the Government has undertaken to designate an area of 1 200km² between Sha Chau and Lung Kwu Tan as a sanctuary for the dolphins and to ban dragnet fishing activities within the sanctuary. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

1. whether the department concerned has conducted periodic surveys on the number of white dolphins in the waters concerned; if so, what the survey methods adopted are and the annual number of dolphins gathered since the commencement of the above construction works; if not, whether consideration will be given to conducting such surveys on a periodic basis;
2. of the progress of the proposed plan to establish a dolphins sanctuary and the date the sanctuary is expected to be formally established;
3. whether the Government will consider enlarging the area of the sanctuary;
4. whether consideration has been given to banning all fishing activities within the sanctuary;
5. of the distance between the sanctuary and the temporary Aviation Fuel Receiving Facility (AFRF) under construction in Sha Chau, and the effects of the temporary AFRF on the dolphins; and
6. whether there are other measures to protect the Chinese white dolphins?

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

* For written reply.

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III. MOTION

INTERPRETATION AND GENERAL CLAUSES ORDINANCE

Secretary for Recreation and Culture :

(See Resolution at Annex)

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IV. BILLS

FIRST READING

1. Companies (Amendment) Bill 1996
2. Employees' Compensation (Amendment) Bill 1996
3. Noise Control (Amendment) Bill 1996

SECOND READING

Debates to be adjourned

1. Companies (Amendment) Bill 1996	:	Secretary for Financial Services
2. Employees' Compensation (Amendment) Bill 1996	:	Secretary for Education and Manpower
3. Noise Control (Amendment) Bill 1996	:	Secretary for Planning, Environment and Lands

Debates to be resumed

4. Merchant Shipping (Safety) (Amendment) Bill 1996	:	Secretary for Economic Services
5. Plant Varieties Protection Bill	:	Secretary for Economic Services

COMMITTEE STAGE AND THIRD READING

1. Merchant Shipping (Safety) (Amendment) Bill 1996	:	Secretary for Economic Services
2. Plant Varieties Protection Bill	:	Secretary for Economic Services

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V. MEMBER'S MOTIONS

1. BROADCASTING POLICY

Mr. Albert CHAN : (Translation)

That this Council expresses deep regret that the Government has not honoured its policy commitment, made in the 1994 Policy Address, to open up the subscription television market and that it has abandoned the proposed omnibus broadcasting bill, and urges the Government to open up the subscription television market; review and amend the existing broadcasting legislation; and formulate a sound and forward-looking broadcasting policy, so as to create a free, diversified, open, fair and competitive broadcasting environment in Hong Kong and maintain the territory's leading position in the Asian broadcasting industry.

Amendment to Mr. Albert CHAN 's motion

Dr. LAW Cheung-kwok : (Translation)

To delete "open up the" after "and urges the Government to", and substitute with "draw up a comprehensive timetable for opening up the"; to delete "market" after "subscription television" and substitute with ", wireless television, satellite television and video-on-demand programme services markets and the introduction of public access channels; furthermore, the Government should"; and to delete ";" after "review and amend the existing broadcasting legislation".

Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Recreation and Culture

2. REVIEW OF MAJOR ADVISORY AND STATUTORY BODIES

Mr. Bruce LIU : (Translation)

That this Council urges the Government to conduct a comprehensive review on the roles and functions of major existing advisory bodies (such as the Labour Advisory Board, the Transport Advisory Committee and the Social Welfare Advisory Committee) and statutory bodies (such as the Housing Authority and the Hospital Authority), and to adopt appropriate measures to enhance their representativeness, accountability and transparency.

Amendment to Mr. Bruce LIU 's motion

Mr. IP Kwok-him : (Translation)

To delete "major" and "(such as the Labour Advisory Board, the Transport Advisory Committee and the Social Welfare Advisory Committee)"; and to delete "(such as the Housing Authority and the Hospital Authority), and to adopt appropriate measures" and substitute with ",conduct extensive consultation exercise targeted at specific bodies and formulate an overall policy on the establishment of advisory bodies by the executive authorities, so as".

Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Home Affairs

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