Revised version
OP 96/97-12(1)
(Issued at 11:00 am on 9.12.96)

The Legislative Council
Order Paper
Wednesday 11 December 1996 at 2:30 pm

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I. Papers

Sessional Papers 1996-97
II. Questions
III. Government Bills

First Reading
Second Reading

• Debate to be adjourned
• Debate to be resumed
Committee Stage and Third Reading
IV. Members' Motions

1. Landlord and Tenant (Consolidation) Ordinance
2. Landlord and Tenant (Consolidation) Ordinance
3. Maintenance of Hong Kong-Taiwan relations by the Chief Executive of the Special Administrative Region
4. First Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
V. Members' Bills

First Reading
Second Reading

• Debate to be adjourned
• Debate to be resumed
Committee Stage and Third Reading

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I. Papers

Sessional Papers 1996-97

1. No. 39 - Sir Edward Youde Memorial Fund Report of the Board of Trustees for the period 1st April 1995 to 31st March 1996

(to be presented by the Secretary for Home Affairs)

2. No. 40 - Report of the Chinese Temples Committee on the administration of the Chinese Temples Fund for the year ended 31 March 1996

(to be presented by the Secretary for Home Affairs)

3. No. 41 - Report of the Chinese Temples Committee on the administration of the General Chinese Charities Fund for the year ended 31 March 1996

(to be presented by the Secretary for Home Affairs)

4. No. 42 - Hong Kong Housing Authority Annual Report 1995/96

(to be presented by the Secretary for Housing)

5. No. 43 - Hong Kong Housing Authority Annual Accounts for the year ended 31 March 1996 and Balance Sheet as at that date

(to be presented by the Secretary for Housing)

II. Questions

1. Mr Howard YOUNG to ask :

At present, people living in the territory hold Hong Kong Permanent Identity Cards or Hong Kong Identity Cards. Will the Government inform this Council whether there are:

1. any other categories of Identity Card that are related to the residential status of the holders; and
2. any differences in eligibility for publicly funded services such as public housing, medical and health, education and social welfare between different categories of identity card holders?

Public Officers to reply : Secretary for Security

Secretary for Health and Welfare

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

Will the Government inform this Council of:

1. the number of motorists who were prosecuted for speeding in various tunnels in each of the past three years; and
2. the measures in place to prevent speeding in tunnels?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport

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

It is learnt that the Government currently does not provide housing allowance to employees of subvented welfare agencies, but individual agencies can use the financial resources at their disposal to provide housing allowance to their employees. This has given rise to public concern about the spending of funds in subvented welfare agencies. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

1. whether the Government has considered extending the housing benefits for civil servants to employees of subvented welfare agencies; if not, why not;
2. the number of subvented welfare agencies which provide housing allowance to their employees, together with the name of the agencies concerned, the number of employees receiving the allowance and the amount of allowance received by each employee; and the sources from which individual agencies have obtained financial resources to provide housing allowances to their employees; and
3. whether the Government agrees that subvented welfare agencies can use charitable donations to provide housing allowance to their employees; if so, of the mechanism put in place to monitor the expenses on the provision of housing allowance to employees by such agencies?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health and Welfare

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

In her reply to a question raised at the Sitting on 20 November this year concerning cases involving babies lapsing into a "vegetative" state as a result of birth asphyxia, the Secretary for Health and Welfare stated that no such cases were reported by public hospitals in the past three years, and that advice would only be given to the patients by clinicians in public hospitals after the patients concerned had given consent to the delivery method to be adopted. In this connection, is the Government aware of:

1. in the light of the public statement made by the management of the Princess Margaret Hospital on 26 November this year that the hospital's childbirth records and statistics confirmed that there were cases of birth asphyxia in the past three years and that some of the affected babies had subsequently died, why there is a difference between the Hospital's statement and the Secretary for Health and Welfare's reply; the number of babies born in public hospitals who have lapsed into a "vegetative" state because of birth asphyxia and have remained in such a state since birth or have died over the past three years, and the causes leading to the occurrence of birth asphyxia to the babies concerned;
2. how the Hospital Authority (HA) ensures that clinicians in public hospitals will only give advice to patients after the patients concerned have given consent to the delivery method to be adopted;
3. whether the HA will consider requiring the clinician-in-charge to be ultimately responsible for the work of the medical staff of obstetric units in public hospitals in attending to women in labour and carrying out related medical procedures or treatment; and
4. whether any mechanism is in place to monitor the operation of, and the system adopted in, obstetric units in public hospitals; and whether a comprehensive review of the operation of these units will be undertaken?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health and Welfare

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

It is learnt that on 11 November this year the Environmental Impact Assessment Subcommittee under the Advisory Council on the Environment discussed the option put forward by the Route 3 Consortium for the disposal of additional excavated materials. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

1. of the Subcommittee's views and suggestions on the option put forward by the Consortium;
2. of the number of other feasible options being studied by the Government and the up-to-date progress of such studies; and
3. whether the scheduled completion date of Route 3 will be affected as a result of the above situation?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Works

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

It is reported that in the recent catastrophic blaze that broke out in Garley Building, the neon signs and signboards erected on the external walls of the building and the vehicles parked nearby have caused obstruction to both rescue and fire-fighting operations. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:

1. it will introduce regulations to regulate the dimension of signboards, the distance between signboards and other related issues; and whether such regulations will restrict the number of signboards and their dimensions in each building according to the floor area of the building and the width of the adjoining streets;
2. it will introduce a licensing system to tackle the problem of an increasing number of large signboards;
3. there is any plan to carry out inspections of the streets in the territory in the near future, with a view to identifying those streets having similar potential hazards; and
4. it will set up an inter-departmental task force responsible for the inspection, on a long-term basis, of signboards erected on buildings and facilities in the ground floor and in the adjoining streets (including legal parking spaces), so as to ensure that no obstruction is caused to the operation of fire engines; if so, what the details are?

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

* 7. Mr CHEUNG Man-kwong to ask : (Translation)

Regarding the applications from non-profit-making kindergartens for reimbursement of rates and rent, will the Government inform this Council:

1. of the criteria adopted for determining whether such applications should be approved;
2. the number of kindergartens whose applications for reimbursement of rates and rent were rejected in the past two years, together with the amount of reimbursement requested by each of the kindergartens concerned; and whether the authority concerned has explained clearly the reasons for rejection to these kindergartens; and
3. whether the Government will consider improving the existing system for processing such applications, such as introducing a point reckoner or waiting list system to enable the kindergartens to know when their applications will be accepted?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education and Manpower

* 8. Mr Eric LI to ask :

Under Clause 8.17 of the Listing Rules of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited, all listed companies are required to have a named secretary who is either a professional accountant, lawyer or Chartered Secretary who has the requisite knowledge and experience in discharging the complex statutory and regulatory functions of the post. Will the Government inform this Council whether it will request the Stock Exchange and the Securities and Futures Commission to consider introducing regulations requiring all listed companies to engage professional accountants at the senior management level with designated responsibilities for overseeing the accounting and financial reporting functions of listed companies, including:

1. ensuring that the increasingly complex financial reporting requirements under both the Listing Rules and the generally accepted accounting principles are complied with;
2. ensuring that information of a high quality is provided; and
3. accessing the audit committee of listed companies;

if so, what the details are; if not, why not?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Financial Services

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

Will the Government inform this Council whether it has considered introducing legislation requiring motorists to switch off the engines of vehicles while waiting so as to reduce vehicle emissions, thus causing less air pollution; if not, why not?

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

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

Will the Government inform this Council whether any non-British Dependent Territories citizen with less than seven years' residency in the territory was issued with a Hong Kong Permanent Identity Card in the past; if so, what the reasons for this were, and the number of cases in which Hong Kong Permanent Identity Cards were issued to such persons in each of the past five years?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

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

A group of Lam Tin Estate Grade B shop tenants affected by the Housing Authority (HA)'s Comprehensive Redevelopment Programme have recently lodged a complaint with the Office of the Commissioner for Administrative Complaints to express their discontent with the method of calculating the ex-gratia payment adopted by the Housing Department (HD). The shop tenants pointed out that the tenancy cards signed between the former Resettlement Department (RD) and the tenants did not specify the areas of the shops premises concerned, and that the area of the shop premises specified in the Light Refreshment Restaurant Licences issued to these shop tenants by the Urban Council was determined by reference to the floor area of the shop premises in accordance with the Food Business (Urban Council) By-laws (Cap. 132). However, when calculating the ex-gratia payment for these shop tenants, the HD has not included the area of the frontal section of the shop premises. According to the HD, this was because rent had not been charged in respect of the area of the frontal section of the shop premises in the past. In this connection, is the Government aware of:

1. the reasons for the HA not issuing another type of tenancy cards to the shop tenants to clarify the floor area and the grading of the shops when the HA took over the public housing estates from the former RD;
2. whether the HD keeps copies of the business licences or related documents obtained by the shop tenants, so that the floor area of the shop premises can be obtained from such documents;
3. the reasons for the HD and the Urban Council having different criteria for determining the size of the same shop premises, and which of the sizes determined should be regarded as accurate if a discrepancy occurs;
4. the justification for not charging rents in respect of the frontal section of the shop premises in the past, and whether rates have been charged in respect of the frontal section of these shop premises; and
5. the number of appeal cases lodged by Grade B shop tenants who were dissatisfied with the method of calculation of the ex-gratia payment since the implementation of the Comprehensive Redevelopment Programme in 1988, and the outcome of such appeals?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Housing

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

Is the Government aware:

1. the current numbers of psychiatric outpatients and community psychiatric nurses respectively in each of the hospital clusters of the Hospital Authority(HA);
2. the average daily number of cases handled by each community psychiatric nurse in public hospitals, together with a breakdown of the categories of such cases; and
3. whether the HA will provide more resources so as to improve the psychiatric service in public hospitals; if so, what the details are?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health and Welfare

*13. Dr David LI to ask :

It is learnt that the Legal Aid Department will issue formal warnings to lawyers practising in the private sector who do not handle legal aid cases in a professional manner. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

1. how the Legal Aid Department determines whether or not a lawyer in the private sector handles legal aid cases in a professional manner;
2. of the proportion of legal aid cases assigned to lawyers in the private sector to the total number of legal aid cases in each of the past three years;
3. of the total expenditure on fees paid to lawyers in the private sector handling legal aid cases in each of the past three years; and
4. of the number of complaints received by the Legal Aid Department regarding the professional misconduct of private sector lawyers in each of the past three years; and of the findings of the investigation into these complaints?

Public Officer to reply : Chief Secretary

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

It is learnt that any person (including a Legislative Council Member) or organisation wishing to deliver printed materials into the letter boxes of residents in Home Ownership Scheme estates, or to mount publicity boards in these estates, has to obtain the prior consent of the mutual aid committees (MACs) of the estates concerned. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether these MACs, which are non-statutory bodies, have the right to prevent Legislative Council Members from distributing printed materials such as their work reports to the residents in these estates?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs

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

Does the Government know:

1. which organisation is responsible for compiling the Hang Seng London Reference Index (the Index) which reflects the price movements of Hong Kong stocks traded in London;
2. whether the authority concerned will consider asking the organisation concerned to publish daily the movement of the Index and transaction details of Hong Kong stocks traded in London for public reference; if not, why not; and
3. whether the authority concerned has considered the possibility of the Index being exploited as a tool for market manipulation?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Financial Services

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

Will the Government inform this Council:

1. of the number of police officers deployed to work as cooks in police stations, and the average monthly salary of these officers;
2. of the qualifications for the post of cook in police stations and whether, in the recruitment advertisement for police officers mention is made that police officers may be deployed to work as cook in police stations; and
3. whether the posts of cook in police stations can be filled by non-police officers; if not, why not?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

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

Does the Government know:

1. of the total number of rental flats provided by the Hong Kong Housing Society (the Society) to the Hong Kong Housing Authority for allocation to the applicants on the Public Housing Waiting List in the past five years;
2. whether the Society will continue to make rental flats available for rehousing people affected by the Urban Renewal Scheme; if so, how the Society will determine the number of such flats; and
3. whether the Society will reduce the number of rental flats to be produced in its development plan for the next five years; if so, what the reasons are and whether this will aggravate the problem of an inadequate supply of public rental flats?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Housing

*18. Mr Howard YOUNG to ask :

Will the Government inform this Council whether it has drawn up plans regarding the provision of public transport facilities during the period between the opening of the new airport at Chek Lap Kok in April 1998 and the commissioning of the Airport Railway in June 1998?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport

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

The Hospital Authority (HA)'s plan to reduce the number of staff in various ranks in the HA Head Office has been implemented for several years. Is the Government aware of:

1. the respective numbers of directorate staff (equivalent to level 1 or above of the Directorate pay scale in the Civil Service) and non-directorate staff in the HA Head Office in each of the four financial years from 1992/93 to 1995/96; and
2. the target of the reduction in the establishment of the HA Head Office, and the date when this target will be achieved?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health and Welfare

* For written reply.

III. Government Bills

First Reading

Securities and Futures Commission (Amendment) (No.3) Bill 1996

Second Reading

Debate to be adjourned

Debate to be resumed

Committee Stage and Third Reading

IV. Members' Motions

1. Landlord and Tenant (Consolidation) Ordinance

Mr James TO :

That section 48(1) of the Landlord and Tenant (Consolidation) Ordinance be amended by repealing "31 December 1996" and substituting "31 December 1998".

Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Housing

2. Landlord and Tenant (Consolidation) Ordinance

Mr James TO :

That the Landlord and Tenant (Consolidation) Ordinance be amended -

(a) in section 58(2) -

(i) in paragraph (b) by repealing "30%" and substituting "20%";

(ii) in the proviso -

(A) by repealing "After 30 June 1996" and substituting "After 30 June 1996 and before 13 December 1996";

(B) by adding "After 12 December 1996" and "80" at the end of the columns headed "Period" and "Percentage of prevailing market rent" respectively;

(b) in section 74B(1) by repealing "31 December 1996" and substituting "31 December 1998".

Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Housing

3. Maintenance of Hong Kong-Taiwan relations by the Chief Executive of the Special Administrative Region

Mr YUM Sin-ling : (Translation)

That the Chief Executive of the Special Administrative Region should not change the existing Hong Kong Government policy and way of handling Hong Kong-Taiwan relations, so as not to affect the current social and cultural exchanges between people of the two territories, and not to jeopardize the bilateral trade which amounts to HK$200 billion annually as well as the HK$15 billion annual income which the Hong Kong's tourist industry earns from visitors from Taiwan.

4. First Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

Miss Emily LAU : (Translation)

That this Council does not believe that the first Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), who is selected today not through universal franchise, will have the determination to safeguard a high degree of autonomy and resist the Chinese Government's interference with the HKSAR.

Amendment to Miss Emily LAU's motion

Mr Paul CHENG : (Translation)

To delete "does not believe that" and substitute with "congratulates"; to delete "first"; to add "designate" after "Chief Executive"; to delete ", who is selected" and substitute with "on his election"; to delete "not through universal franchise, will have the" and substitute with "by the representative 400-member Selection Committee and hopes that he will work with"; and to delete "and resist the Chinese Government's interference with the HKSAR" and substitute with "for the HKSAR as stipulated in the Basic Law, so as to enhance Hong Kong's prosperity and stability".

Amendment to Mr Paul CHENG's Amendment

Dr YEUNG Sum : (Translation)

To delete "congratulates" and substitute with "considers the election of"; to delete "on his election"; to delete "representative"; to add "only" after "400-member"; to add "lacks representativeness," after "Selection Committee"; to delete "hopes that he will" and substitute with "strongly urges the Chief Executive designate to"; to delete "as stipulated in the Basic Law" and substitute with "and to have the courage to pursue with the Chinese Government the HKSAR's democracy, human rights, freedoms and the rule of law"; to delete the "and" in "Hong Kong's prosperity and" and substitute with ","; and to add "and progress" after "stability".

V. Members' Bills

First Reading

Housing (Amendment) (No.3) Bill 1996

Second Reading

Debate to be adjourned

Debate to be resumed

Committee Stage and Third Reading