Revised version

OP 95/96-3 (Issued at 11.00 a.m. on 23.10.95)

THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
ORDER PAPER

Wednesday, 25 October 1995 and
Thursday, 26 October 1995 at 2.30 p.m.

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I. PAPERS

Subsidiary Legislation
Sessional Papers 1995/96

II. QUESTIONS
III. PRIVATE MEMBER'S MOTIONS

1. INTERPRETATION AND GENERAL CLAUSES ORDINANCE
2. MOTION OF THANKS

IV. ADJOURNMENT

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I. PAPERS

Sessional Papers 1995/96

The Secretary for Home Affairs to present :

1. No. 9 - Urban Council

Annual Report 1994/95

The Secretary for Home Affairs to present :

2. No. 10 - Urban Council

Accounts for the year ended 31 March 1995 with Report and Certificate of the Director of Audit

The Secretary for Economic Services to present :

3. No. 11 - Fish Marketing Organization - Statement of Accounts for the year ended 31 March 1995

The Secretary for Economic Services to present :

4. No. 12 - Vegetable Marketing Organization - Statement of Accounts for the year ended 31 March 1995

The Secretary for Economic Services to present :

5. No. 13 - Marine Fish Scholarship Fund Report for the period from 1 April 1994 to 31 March 1995

The Secretary for Economic Services to present :

6. No. 14 - Agricultural Products Scholarship Fund Report for the period from 1 April 1994 to 31 March 1995

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II. QUESTIONS

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

The Hongkong Bank recently sold some new $20 notes at a price about twice their face value. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:

1. such activity is in breach of the Bank Notes Issue Ordinance; and
2. it has information to show that the Hongkong Bank had sold new notes at a price in excess of their face value in the past five years; if so, what was the total amount of new notes sold and what were the profits so generated?

Public Officer to reply : Secretaryfor Financial Services

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

Will the Government inform this Council:

1. whether it has any statistics showing the number of local establishments engaged in manufacturing which have been relocated overseas this year; if so, how many have been relocated to Mainland China, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand respectively; and
2. what specific measures are in place to deal with the problem of relocation of manufacturing establishments and how it will assist the manufacturing sector to sustain development in the territory?

Public Officer to reply : Secretaryfor Trade and Industry

* 3. Dr. Philip WONG to ask : (Translation)

Will the Government inform this Council:

1. whether the Immigration Department has any plan to deploy sufficient manpower to meet the future increase in workload arising from the public’s demand for passports of the Special Administrative Region (SAR);
2. if so, of the estimated number of additional staff required to ensure that applicants can be issued with SAR passports within a reasonable period of time; and
3. whether the Government will seek appropriations for this purpose?

Public Officer to reply : Secretaryfor Security

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

Since the declaration of the waters off Tsuen Wan West as a Water Control Zone (WCZ) on 1 June 1993, effluent discharges in this area have been subject to the control of the Water Pollution Control Ordinance. However, over the past year or so, factories in Tsuen Wan district, particularly those engaged in bleaching and dyeing, have continued to discharge vast quantities of untreated effluent into the waters every day, thus severely affecting the water quality in this WCZ. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

1. why it still allows the discharge of untreated industrial effluent into this WCZ; and
2. when it will be able to completely stop the bleaching and dyeing factories in the district from discharging untreated effluent into this WCZ?

Public Officer to reply : Secretaryfor Planning, Environment and Lands

* 5. Mr. LEUNG Yiu-chung to ask : (Translation)

Regarding the imprisonment of Mr Paul AU in the Philippines, will the Government inform this Council what assistance has been provided and what measures will be taken to facilitate his early release and return to the territory?

Public Officer to reply : Secretaryfor Security

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

It is reported that the City University of Hong Kong is planning to drop the current practice of following the civil service system of awarding annual increments to civil servants and to replace it with a system whereby the granting of annual increments to its teaching staff will be determined on the basis of performance. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:

1. the University Grants Committee (UGC) knows of the details of this plan and when the plan will be implemented; and
2. the UGC has requested the other six publicly-funded tertiary institutions to establish a similar performance-based system for the granting of annual increments to their teaching staff; and if so, whether the UGC has considered if the new system accords with the value-for-money principle?

Public Officer to reply : Secretaryfor Education and Manpower

* 7. Dr. Samuel WONG to ask :

In regard to landslip preventive works on slopes, will the Government inform this Council:

1. of the time required to complete the investigation reports on the landslips in Tuen Mun Highway, Shum Wan and Chai Wan;
2. what resources have been allocated in the past three years (1992/93 - 1994/95) to landslip preventive works on slopes that might affect roads and highways and what resources are estimated to be allocated to such works in the next three years (1995/96 - 1997/98);
3. whether the resources already allocated are considered adequate; if so, what are the reasons for the occurrence of landslips in Kwun Lung Lau and those areas mentioned in (a) above; and
4. what resources have been allocated to landslip preventive works in squatter areas in the period from 1992/93 to 1994/95 and what resources are estimated to be allocated to such works in the period from 1995/96 - 1997/98?

Public Officer to reply : Secretaryfor Works

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

On Tsui House and Ning Tsui House in Wan Tsui Estate, Chai Wan will be demolished and redeveloped shortly. As this redevelopment may affect part of the retaining wall of the nearby Yan Tsui Court, will the Government inform this Council:

1. whether a geotechnical survey will be carried out on the slope in question before the commencement of the construction works;
2. what measures have been put in place to ensure that the structure of the retaining wall and residential buildings nearby will not be affected and that there is no danger of the big trees beside the retaining wall falling down; and
3. how it will ensure the reinstatement of the retaining wall after the redevelopment?

Public Officer to reply : Secretaryfor Housing

* 9. Mr Albert CHAN to ask :

According to the guidelines on the employment of persons with criminal records issued on 8 December 1986 by the Appointments Unit in the then Municipal Services Branch, candidates with records of the following offences should normally be debarred from employment: (i) security (e.g. riot, incitement, triad activities); (ii) corruption, extortion and fraud; (iii) possession of offensive weapons; (iv) robbery; (v) possession of drugs for trafficking; (vi) sexual offences (e.g. rape); (vii) wounding and assault occasioning actual bodily harm; and (viii) operating a common gaming house. In this connection, will the Administration inform this Council:

1. whether the above guidelines are still in force; if so, what are the reasons for such a policy to continue, and whether it will review this policy so as to give people with the above-mentioned criminal records a chance to be employed in less sensitive posts such as workman, clerk, and office assistant; and
2. if the answer to (a) is in the negative, what is the current policy on the employment of people with criminal records in the civil service?

Public Officer to reply : Secretaryfor the Civil Service

*10. Mr. SIN Chung-kai to ask : (Translation)

It has been announced that $4 billion will be spent on renovating about 15 500 relatively old public housing flats. On this basis, the average cost of renovating such a flat will be in excess of $250,000. Will the Government inform this Council of the names of the housing estates in which the 15 500 flats are located, and whether the renovation work is cost effective?

Public Officer to reply : Secretaryfor Housing

*11. Mr. CHEUNG Bing-leung to ask : (Translation)

Will the Government inform this Council of the unit cost of school places in each of the following categories of educational institutions for the current year:

1. primary schools;
2. secondary schools;
3. institute of education; and
4. universities?

Public Officer to reply : Secretaryfor Education and Manpower

*12. Mr. LAU Hon-chuen to ask : (Translation)

Will the Government inform this Council:

1. whether the number of prosecutions involving corruption charges against members of the disciplined services over the past 12 months is on the rise when compared with those for the preceding 2 years; and
2. what specific measures and plans are in place to combat corruption in the disciplined services?

Public Officer to reply : Secretaryfor Security

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

It has been announced that the Government will have cleared 42 of the 55 Temporary Housing Areas (THA’s) in the territory by 1997, but there are no plans to clear the remaining 13 THA’s. In this connection, will the Government provide this Council with:

1. a breakdown of the 42 THA’s to be cleared by name, date of clearance, and number of affected residents who will be rehoused in public housing;
2. a breakdown of the remaining 13 THA’s not included in the clearance programme by name, population, date of completion, and anticipated date of clearance;
3. the specific date for the start of renovation works in each of the 13 THA’s and the estimated cost in each case; and
4. the estimated number of residents still living in THA’s and older rental blocks in the urban fringe areas by 1997?

Public Officer to reply : Secretaryfor Housing

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

With regard to the incident in which the wages of imported Thai workers working on the Kwai Chung Route 3 and Tsing Ma Bridge projects have been deducted, will the Government inform this Council whether it will:

1. increase the establishment of inspectors in the Labour Department to monitor the employment of imported workers, and deploy interpreters of various nationalities to cope with communication problems with the imported workers;
2. conduct an overall review of the system for monitoring the Labour Importation Scheme in order to plug the loopholes, having regard to the various forms of exploitation which have been brought to light, such as deduction of wages through secret deals, withholding of passports, deduction of part of the wages through autopay, changing of job nature, suppression of complaints and so on; and
3. consider abolishing the relevant labour importation policy since the wage-deduction incident has indicated that some employers or employment agencies have brought in low-wage workers, thereby taking away employment opportunities from local workers and holding down wages?

Public Officer to reply : Secretaryfor Education and Manpower

*15. Mrs Elizabeth WONG to ask :

Will the Government inform this Council:

1. of its policy towards visual arts in general and the encouragement of local artists in particular;
2. whether it intends to set up a school/college for the visual arts; if not, why not;
3. whether, as a measure to promote the development of visual arts, the Government will consider giving tax concessions to those who collect art pieces by local artists in the same way that donations to charities are given tax concessions; and
4. whether the Government intends to introduce regulations requiring all new buildings to have places for the display of art works by local artists; if not, why not?

Public Officer to reply : Secretaryfor Recreation and Culture

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

Will the Government inform this Council of:

1. the number of companies in the territory having occupational retirement schemes in operation prior to the commencement of the Occupational Retirement Schemes Ordinance; and
2. the number of such schemes which have already been registered under the Ordinance, together with a breakdown of these schemes by the ratios of contributions between employers and employees, investment strategies adopted and annual rates of investment returns in the past year?

Public Officer to reply : Secretaryfor Financial Services

*17. Mr. CHIM Pui-chung to ask : (Translation)

With regard to the codes of practice and guidelines laid down by the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), will the Government inform this Council:

1. whether such codes of practice and guidelines will become an alternative set of laws;
2. whether the SFC will be requested to be more open and transparent by letting the public know about its power and the criteria for discharging its functions; and
3. whether there is any mechanism to prevent the abuse of authority under those codes and guidelines?

Public Officer to reply : Secretaryfor Financial Services

*18. Mrs Elizabeth WONG to ask :

Will the Government inform this Council:

1. of the current position regarding guaranteeing all pension payments before and after 1997; and
2. whether it intends to provide such a guarantee by requesting the British and Chinese governments to sign an international agreement to be lodged with the United Nations; if not, why not?

Public Officer to reply : Secretaryfor the Civil Service

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

In regard to the allocation of places for students promoted from Secondary 3 to Secondary 4 for the year 1995-96, will the Government inform this Council:

1. of the number and the percentage of students allocated to school nets (i.e. those delineated for the allocation of Secondary 1 places) outside their own districts;
2. whether there is evidence to show that the problem of students living in new towns being allocated to schools outside their districts is particularly serious; what is the number of students living in Yuen Long, Tuen Mun and the Northern District who have been allocated to schools on Hong Kong Island and outlying islands respectively;
3. if the answer to (b) is in the affirmative, what are the reasons for such a phenomenon; and
4. what measures the Government will adopt to address this problem?

Public Officer to reply : Secretaryfor Education and Manpower

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

Since the implementation of Residential Care Homes (Elderly Persons) Ordinance in Hong Kong in April this year, will the Government inform this Council:

1. how many homes for the elderly have applied for the allocation of funds to improve their facilities; how many applications have been approved, and what criteria are adopted for determining whether an application should be approved;
2. how many private homes for the elderly have not been successful in their applications on account of their failure to meet the required standards and have closed down in consequence, and how many elderly persons have been affected by the closure of these homes; and
3. what measures and policy does the Government have to rehouse the affected elderly persons and when will such measures and policy be put into practice?

Public Officer to reply : Secretaryfor Health and Welfare

*For written reply.

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III. PRIVATE MEMBER'S MOTIONS

1. INTERPRETATION AND GENERAL CLAUSES ORDINANCE

Mr. Ronald ARCULLI

That the Port Control (Cargo Working Areas) (Amendment) Regulation 1995, published as Legal Notice No. 321 of 1995 and laid on the table of the Legislative Council on 19 July 1995, be repealed.

Public Officer to attend :Secretaryfor Economic Services

2. MOTION OF THANKS

Dr. C.H. LEONG :

That this Council thanks the Governor for his address.

(Debate to be adjourned)

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IV. ADJOURNMENT

Mrs. Elizabeth WONG :

The importance of encouraging broad education and modern-day
literacy (e.g. computer literacy) in Hong Kong.

Public Officer to attend :Secretary for Education and Manpower

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