Revised version

OP 95/96-5(1) (Issued at 11.00 a.m. on 6.11.95)

THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
ORDER PAPER

Wednesday, 8 November 1995 at 2.30 p.m.

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I. PAPERS

Subsidiary Legislation
Sessional Papers 1995/96

II. QUESTIONS
III. BILLS

FIRST READING
SECOND READING

• Debates to be adjourned
IV. PRIVATE MEMBER'S MOTIONS

1. INTERPRETATION AND GENERAL CLAUSES ORDINANCE
2. REDUCTION OF TAXES
3. HONG KONG'S ECONOMY

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I. PAPERS

Sessional Papers 1995/96

The Financial Secretary to present :

1. No. 17 - Land Development Corporation

Annual Report 1994-1995

The Secretary for Trade and Industry to present :

2. No. 18 - Hong Kong Productivity Council

Annual Report 1994/95

The Secretary for Trade and Industry to present :

3. No. 19 - Hong Kong Industrial Technology Centre Corporation Annual Report 1994/95

The Secretary for Trade and Industry to present :

4. No. 20 - The Hong Kong Industrial Estates Corporation Annual Report 1994-1995

The Secretary for the Treasury to present :

5. No. 21 - Annual Report of the Director of Accounting Services and the Accounts of Hong Kong for the year ended 31 March 1995

The President to present :

6. No. 22 - Report of the Director of Audit on the Accounts of the Hong Kong Government for the year ended 31 March 1995

The President to present :

7. No. 23 - Report of the Director of Audit on the Results of Value for Money Audits

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II. QUESTIONS

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

Will the Government inform this Council:

1. of the number of drug addicts, together with a breakdown of the number of those who are female and those who are under the age of 21 (to be further broken down by male and female), in each of the districts in the territory over the past three years;
2. whether there is an upward trend in the number of female and young drug addicts; if so, what the reasons are;
3. of the services available to help drug addicts to kick the habit; and
4. what measures are put in place to curb the increase in the number of people taking drugs, particularly among women and young people?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

2. Mrs Elizabeth WONG to ask :

Will the Government inform this Council of the following:

1. what is the policy on the provision of parking spaces for the hearse fleets of funeral parlours;
2. does the Government intend to designate parking spaces outside funeral parlours specifically for the parking of hearses; if not, why not; and
3. what is the position regarding the designation of car parking spaces for funeral parlours; and with specific reference to the Funeral Parlour at Hung Hom, what measures has the Government adopted to resolve the parking problem there and when were such measures taken?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport

3. Mr. Eric LI to ask : (Translation)

Some medical practitioners abuse their authority by storing large quantities of psychotropic drugs and selling them to young persons illegally to make profits. The penalty imposed on such offenders is often merely a brief suspension of their registration, after which they can continue with their practice and sell psychotropic drugs illegally as before. In view of this, will the Government inform this Council whether:

1. restriction will be imposed on the quantities of various types of psychotropic drugs which medical practitioners are allowed to store;
2. it will require suppliers of these drugs to provide, on a periodic basis, information on the quantities of psychotropic drugs purchased by medical practitioners, so as to facilitate investigation in doubtful cases; and
3. consideration will be given to raising the level of penalty as a deterrent?

Public Officers to reply : Secretary for Security and

Secretary for Health and Welfare

4. Mr. TSANG Kin-shing to ask : (Translation)

On 28 September this year, a small group of demonstrators held a demonstration at Kai Lok Temporary Housing Area to protest against the Government’s delay in clearing some Temporary Housing Areas. Another group staged a peaceful demonstration at the Convention and Exhibition Centre on 29 September protesting against the attendance of guests at the People's Republic of China National Day reception. During both demonstrations, the demonstrators were held back unreasonably by the police, resulting in conflicts between the demonstrators and the police. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

1. how many members of the police force were mobilized to maintain order on these two occasions; and what were the criteria adopted by the police to deploy its manpower;
2. what legal basis the police have in stopping demonstrators from staging peaceful demonstrations, and whether the police have taken into account the right granted to the public under the Bill of Rights Ordinance when taking such action;
3. whether appropriate internal disciplinary actions will be taken by the authority concerned against the police for using force on the scene against demonstrators staging peaceful demonstrations; and
4. whether the police force and the Security Branch will conduct internal reviews on how to avoid using force against demonstrators staging peaceful demonstrations in the light of the experience gained from these two incidents?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

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

Will the Government inform this Council:

1. of the number of squatters in the territory which have yet to be cleared and their locations;
2. of the breakdown, by number and location, of public and temporary housing units which the Government has set aside for rehousing squatters who are affected by clearance; and
3. whether, in the event of the number of public and temporary housing units set aside being insufficient to rehouse all affected squatters, the Government will consider deferring the clearance of some squatter areas which do not pose immediate danger, and postponing the target date of clearing all squatter areas before March 1996 as pledged by the Governor in his recent Policy Address?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Housing

6. Mr. James TIEN to ask : (Translation)

Under the Supplementary Labour Scheme, employers must advertise their vacancies in newspapers for a specific period of time and participate in a job-matching scheme to prove that local workers are not available before they can apply for a quota to import workers. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

1. whether the application procedures will be simplified and the processing time shortened, so that factory operators may be granted quotas for importing foreign workers as soon as possible to avoid business losses in cases where the contracts of their existing foreign workers have expired and recruitment of replacement staff has been unsuccessful; and
2. whether the Government, in deciding to terminate the General Importation of Labour Scheme and formulating the Supplementary Labour Scheme, has considered or assessed what adverse effects such a change will have on the industrial and commercial developments in the territory?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education and Manpower

* 7. Mr. CHEUNG Hon-chung to ask : (Translation)

Residents of northern and north-western New Territories are constantly plagued by the problem of flooding, which always occurs at times of torrential downpour. Such flooding causes destruction to residential homes and crops, resulting in financial losses to residents and farmers. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

1. whether the Government provides any financial assistance to affected farmer households after each flooding; if so, through what channels can they obtain assistance and what is the amount of financial assistance given to each household; and
2. whether there are any special arrangements and measures to assist residents affected by flooding in resolving their housing problem?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health and Welfare

* 8. Mr. TSANG Kin-shing to ask : (Translation)

The Preliminary Working Committee’s Legal Sub-group recently proposed that the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress should repeal six amendment ordinances which have been enacted so as to bring the principal ordinances in line with the Bill of Rights or the Basic Law. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

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1. whether the Government, in formulating the relevant amending legislation, has taken into account section 8 of the Basic Law and the principle of the Sino-British Joint Declaration which states that the existing laws will remain basically unchanged;
2. how it will ensure that the laws safeguarding human rights and the freedom of the Hong Kong people can straddle 1997; and
3. what measures will be put in place to safeguard human rights and the freedom of the people of Hong Kong in the light of the Chinese and British Governments having different interpretation of the status of the Bill of Rights?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs

* 9. Miss Christine LOH to ask :

Under the scheme of control agreements, the profit levels of the territory’s electric utilities are directly linked to building more power stations and electricity generating hardware. The utilities have pointed out that building new power stations and generating hardware is justified as the trends in present demand levels point to future shortfalls in generating capacity. In this connection, will the Administration provide this Council with a graphic breakdown of the 1994 electricity consumption patterns, both in total and by economic sector (industrial, commercial and domestic) in one-hour intervals, so that the public can see how electricity demand correlates with generating capacity?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Economic Services

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

Regarding the use and removal of asbestos, will the Government inform this Council whether:

1. the Government will conduct a comprehensive inspection of the asbestos used in all existing buildings in the territory to ensure that the health of the public will not be threatened by structures containing asbestos materials; if so, whether the findings of the inspection will be made known to the public; and
2. the Government will introduce asbestos substitution technique to the industrial sector, so as to restrict the use of asbestos gradually or ban its use completely?

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

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

Will the Government inform this Council:

1. of the breakdown by sex of the number of illegal immigrants arrested over the past three years; among the arrested female illegals, how many were pregnant women;
2. whether there are signs that the number of pregnant women arrested is on the rise; if so, what the reasons are; and
3. what measures can be taken to stop illegal immigrants, particularly pregnant women, from sneaking into the territory?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

*12. Miss Christine LOH to ask :

Recently the Government has proposed a diesel-to-petrol scheme to encourage taxi and public light bus operators to switch from diesel to petrol as soon as possible. The cost figures used for designing the conversion scheme for the taxis and public light buses, which were derived from data collected by the Government and information provided by operators, were not based on real-life figures as there are no petrol public light buses and probably only a few, if any, petrol taxis operating in the territory. In view of this, will the Government inform this Council whether it has any contingency plan in the event that the Government’s estimated cost figures turn out to be inaccurate, resulting in the livelihood of taxi and public light bus operators being adversely affected during the 5-year conversion period of the scheme?

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

*13. Mr. David CHU to ask :

In regard to the Student Health Service, will the Administration inform this Council of:

1. the measures taken to ensure that the 200 newly recruited physicians can provide thorough medical check-up for the entire student population;
2. the measures taken to enable outpatient clinics in the territory to cope with the increase in caseload as a result of the cancellation of the old student health scheme; and
3. the assistance provided to those families who are unable to meet the increase in medical fees under the new Service?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health and Welfare

*14. Dr. HUANG Chen-ya to ask : (Translation)

In view of the harmful effect on health caused by passive smoking, will the Government inform this Council whether:

1. it knows of the number of restaurants which have not set aside non-smoking areas; and
2. it will introduce legislation requiring restaurants to set aside non-smoking areas in order to safeguard the health of non-smokers?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health and Welfare

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

In the Medium Range Forecast (MRF) of the 1995-1996 Budget, the assumption on the annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth for 1994-95 to 1998-99 has been set at 5% in real terms. However, the Governor stated recently in his Policy Address that Hong Kong’s economic mood was less buoyant than the fundamentals justified. In this regard, will the Government inform this Council whether it will revise downwards the estimated GDP figures in the MRF of the Budget; if so, why revisions are needed and what the extent of such revisions will be; if not, what the Government will do to ensure that our GDP can continue to grow annually by 5% in 1995-96 and 1996-97?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Financial Services

*16. Dr. C.H. LEONG to ask :

In regard to the provision of medical and dental services for civil servants and their dependants, will the Administration provide this Council with the annual breakdown in respect of the following areas in the past five years:

1. the overall expenditure on medical services, and the average cost per case;
2. the overall expenditure on dental services, and the average cost per case; and
3. the percentage of civil servants, and the actual number, using publicly funded medical and dental services respectively?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Civil Service

*17. Mr. LEE Kai-ming to ask : (Translation)

Regarding the establishment of trading funds to finance the operation of some government departments, will the Government inform this Council:

1. which departments have already been operating on a trading fund basis;
2. whether there are any changes in the staffing structure and number of posts in such departments; if so, what are the changes; and
3. which departments will likely change to a trading fund mode of operation?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Treasury

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

As recent reports about the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region passport have aroused public concern over the future freedom to enter or leave the territory, will the Government inform this Council:

1. of the number of people who have submitted applications for naturalisation as British Dependent Territories citizens in the past three years;
2. whether there has been a noticeable increase in the number of such applications recently; if so, what the reasons are; and
3. whether any channel for appeal will be provided for applicants who miss the deadline for application in March next year?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

*19. Dr. HUANG Chen-ya to ask : (Translation)

Will the Government inform this Council:

1. of the nature of business of the companies which have moved out of the industrial estates in the past three years, together with their reasons for moving out; and
2. how many companies have made enquiries about moving into the industrial estates in the past three years; what are the differences in the nature of business between those which eventually moved in and those which did not, and what are the reasons for the latter group not moving in?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Trade and Industry

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

At the hearing of the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Committee held in Geneva this October, members of the Committee queried why the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women had not been extended to Hong Kong. In response, the leader of the British delegation indicated that the British Government was contemplating the withdrawal of certain reservations in the Convention, but that the Hong Kong Government preferred the inclusion of those reservations in the Convention upon its extension to the territory. In this regard, will the Government inform this Council:

1. how long has it started discussions with the British Government on the matter;
2. whether any problems have occurred in the course of the discussions, if so, what those problems are;
3. when the two sides will reach a conclusion on the matter; and
4. whether it will accept the UN Human Rights Committee’s recommendation that the Convention should be extended to the territory without any reservations?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs

* For written reply.

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III. BILLS

FIRST READING

1. Medical Registration (Amendment) (No.2) Bill 1995
2. Non-Local Higher and Professional Education (Regulation) Bill

SECOND READING

Debates to be adjourned

1. Secretary for Health and Welfare	:	Medical Registration (Amendment) (No.2) Bill 1995
2. Secretary for Education and Manpower	:	Non-Local Higher and
		Professional Education (Regulation) Bill

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IV. PRIVATE MEMBER'S MOTIONS

1. INTERPRETATION AND GENERAL CLAUSES ORDINANCE

Dr. HUANG Chen-ya

That in relation to the Leveraged Foreign Exchange Trading (Calls) Rules, published as Legal Notice No. 370 of 1995 and laid on the table of the Legislative Council on 11 October 1995, the period referred to in section 34(2) of the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance for amending subsidiary legislation be extended under section 34(4) of that Ordinance until 15 November 1995.

2. REDUCTION OF TAXES

Mr. James TIEN :

That, in view of the current unfavourable economic and business conditions which Hong Kong is facing and the large reserve the Hong Kong Government has, this Council urges the Government to seriously consider lowering the corporate profits tax and salaries tax immediately in order to stimulate the economy and create more employment.

AMENDMENTS to Mr. James TIEN'S MOTION

1. Mr. CHAN Kam-lam :

To delete "unfavourable economic and business conditions which Hong Kong is facing" and substitute with "slowing down of the economic growth, the high unemployment rate"; and to delete "seriously consider lowering the corporate profits tax and salaries tax immediately" and substitute with "make good use of its fiscal reserve and raise the personal allowances for salaries tax"

2. Dr. LAW Cheung-kwok :

To delete "lowering the corporate profits tax and salaries tax immediately in order to" and substitute with "distributing immediately part of the accumulated fiscal surplus to the residents of Hong Kong on an equitable basis, so as to encourage consumption,"

Public Officer to attend : Secretary for the Treasury

3. HONG KONG'S ECONOMY

Mr. Allen LEE : (Translation)

That, as Hong Kong's economy and market conditions show a trend of slowing down and local unemployment figures are on the increase, this Council urges the Government to tackle the root of these problems and expeditiously formulate and implement effective measures, including short-term, medium-term and long-term programmes, to stimulate economic development and encourage local and foreign investments in Hong Kong in order to increase employment opportunities for local workers.

Public Officer to attend : Financial Secretary

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