Revised version
A 97/98-15(1) (Issued at 11:00 am on 3.11.97)

Provisional Legislative Council
Agenda
Wednesday 5 November 1997 at 2:30 pm

I. Papers

II. Questions

1. Ms CHOY So-yuk to ask : (Translation)

It is learned that the Government has commissioned a study on the feasibility of adopting electronic polling and ballot counting relating to electoral matters. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

1. of the reasons for not adopting, to date, electronic polling and ballot counting;
2. of the findings of the consultancy study commissioned by the authority on this issue; and
3. whether it has considered and made plans for using electronic polling and ballot counting in the 1998 Legislative Council elections; if so, what the details (including the various aspects of work to be taken up by various departments) are; if not, whether it will consider adopting this in the 1999 district organizations elections?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Constitutional Affairs

2. Mr Allen LEE to ask : (Translation)

Some indigenous New Territories residents claim that, although their applications for building small houses have been filed for almost two decades, they are still awaiting the result of the vetting and approval procedures. In this regard, will the Government inform this Council:

1. in respect of the existing outstanding cases, the number of applications which have been filed for more than 5 years and the pending time in regard to the oldest case; and
2. why it has taken so long for their applications to be vetted and approved?

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

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

It is reported that the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation ("KCRC") has awarded the HK$10 billion-plus contract of the Kowloon Station superstructure development project by "single tender" to a local consortium. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:

1. it is a violation of the normal tendering procedure for the KCRC to grant the contract for a large-scale investment project by "single tender";
2. the KCRC is required to seek prior approval of the Government for the development of non-railway programmes (such as property development projects); if not, of the measures in place to monitor the non-railway programmes undertaken by the KCRC;
3. an assessment will be made of the impact of the incident on Hong Kong's reputation as a commercial society which promotes free and fair competition; and
4. it will review the operating right of the KCRC in respect of non-railway programmes?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport

4. Mr TSANG Yok-sing to ask : (Translation)

Regarding the recent series of incidents involving overhanging signboards falling from buildings and causing injuries to passers-by, will the Government inform this Council:

1. of the number of signboards overhanging from buildings which have been inspected by the Buildings Department in the past three years, the number of such signboards identified as potentially hazardous, and the districts with such potentially hazardous signboards;
2. of the number of signboards with potential hazards which have been removed by owners or the Buildings Department; in the cases in which removal was undertaken by the Buildings Department, the success rate of the Department in recovering the cost involved;
3. of the number of cases in which the Buildings Department has prosecuted the owners of signboards who failed to comply with the clearance orders;
4. whether it has considered setting up an inter-departmental task force to ensure that overhanging signboards will not obstruct the operation of fire engines; if so, what the outcome is; if not, why not; and
5. whether it has considered adopting any measures to supervise the hanging of signboards, including the introduction of a licensing policy for the hanging of signboards?

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

5. Mr NG Leung-sing to ask : (Translation)

With regard to the 1997 World Bank/International Monetary Fund Annual Meetings hosted by Hong Kong, which were highly praised by different sectors, will the Government inform this Council whether:

1. it has reviewed its experience in hosting the Meetings; if so, what the details are; and
2. it has commended or complimented the organizations, Government departments and personnel involved in organizing the meetings; if so, what the details are?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Financial Services

6. Mr Howard YOUNG to ask :

Will the Government inform this Council of the number of applications for Hong Kong permanent residency from non-Chinese residents, the number approved and the average time taken to complete processing such applications, since 1 July 1997?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

* 7. Mr MA Fung-kwok to ask : (Translation)

As the reserves of the Hong Kong Sports Institutes (HKSI) will be used up next year, will the Government inform this Council whether it is aware of:

1. the findings of the consultancy study on the present and future strategies and funding requirements of the HKSI; and
2. the overall financial allocation to the HKSI from the authorities in the next three years and, of the allocation, the percentage allocated for the elite training programme?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Broadcasting, Culture and Sport

* 8. Dr David LI to ask :

Will the Government inform this Council:

1. of the kind of medical facilities which will be available in the new airport at Chek Lap Kok and the surrounding areas;
2. whether it has studied if such medical facilities can cope with any large-scale disastrous incidents which may occur in the areas; if so, what the findings are; and
3. whether there are plans to establish more hospitals and clinics in the areas surrounding the new airport, in the light of the growth rate of the community?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health and Welfare

* 9. Mr CHOY Kan-pui to ask : (Translation)

Will the Government inform this Council :

1. of the present number of closed areas in Hong Kong adjoining the Mainland; and the respective coverage and size of each closed area;
2. whether it has undertaken any study to see if the disestablishment of the closed areas is a solution to inadequate land supply in Hong Kong; if so, what the findings are;
3. whether there are plans to disestablish these closed areas; if so, what the details are; if not, why not; and
4. whether it has discussed with the Central Government regarding the retention or otherwise of these closed areas?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

*10. Mr YEUNG Yiu-chung to ask : (Translation)

Will the Government inform this Council:

1. of a breakdown of expatriate English teachers by nationality in the current school year;
2. of the respective proportions of those with a university degree and professional training to the total number of expatriate English teachers in Hong Kong;
3. of the reasons for some secondary schools not employing expatriate English teachers; and
4. whether it has assessed the effectiveness of employing expatriate teachers to teach English, and identified areas in which improvements need to be made?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education and Manpower

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

Will the Government inform this Council:

1. of the respective numbers of Hong Kong residents and overseas visitors who reported to the police for inadvertently leaving property behind in taxis, and the respective numbers of those who recovered their lost property, in each of the past three years;
2. what channels are available to persons who left property behind in taxis for recovering their lost property; and
3. whether it has considered setting up a body to co-ordinate the work of helping such persons to recover their lost property?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

*12. Mr HUI Yin-fat to ask : (Translation)

Regarding the new social welfare services to be introduced (new services) under the approved budget for the year 1997/98, will the Government inform this Council of:

1. the estimated new services between October this year and March next year;
2. the respective numbers of new services to be introduced by the Social Welfare Department and subvented organizations, together with the respective numbers of social work officers and social work assistants to be recruited for implementing these services;
3. the notice period normally given to subvented organizations leading to the carrying out of preparatory work prior to the introduction of the new services, and the period of time allowed for the preparatory work;
4. the planned timing for allocating funds to enable subvented organizations to create the relevant posts for preparing the new services; and
5. the respective numbers of staff to be recruited by the Social Welfare Department and subvented organizations for carrying out the preparatory work, together with a breakdown by ranks and dates of appointment?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health and Welfare

*13. Dr HO Chung-tai to ask : (Translation)

It is reported that many accidents on the highway are attributable to vehicles being hit by flying gravel. In this regard, will the Government inform this Council:

1. of the total number of such accidents in the past three years;
2. of the respective numbers of drivers, passengers and other persons injured or killed in such accidents; and
3. whether the Administration will consider issuing guidelines and then amending the Road Traffic (Construction and Maintenance of Vehicles) Regulations to specify the safety standards of mudguards installed on goods vehicles and on tall and heavy vehicles, so as to reduce the chances of gravel being spun off by such vehicles in motion and hitting other vehicles?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport

*14. Mr CHAN Choi-hi to ask : (Translation)

Under Article 39 of the Basic Law, the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights as applied to Hong Kong shall remain in force. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:

1. consideration will be given to submitting annually reports to the relevant covenant monitoring organizations under the United Nations on the implementation of the two international covenants on human rights in Hong Kong; if so, whether the reports will be submitted to the legislature and made accessible to the public; and
2. delegations will be sent annually to attend the hearings of the relevant covenant monitoring organizations under the United Nations to give an account of the human rights situation in Hong Kong, so that other countries can understand Hong Kong better in this respect?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs

*15. Dr HO Chung-tai to ask : (Translation)

In order to encourage the increasing use of public transport instead of private cars, the Transport Department will launch a "trial park-and-ride scheme". In this regard, will the Government inform this Council:

1. when and where (including places near railway stations and along the MTR lines) will the scheme be implemented;
2. whether it will consider building underground car parks, so as to enable more drivers to participate in the scheme; if not, why not; and
3. whether it will consider offering fare concessions to the participants of the scheme and, in line with the "Octopus" scheme, enabling the public to use Octopus cards for parking; if not, why not?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport

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

In view of the frequent occurrence of indecent assault and rape cases in Hong Kong recently, will the Government inform this Council:

1. of the respective numbers of such complaints received by the police, successful convictions, and the victims involved over the past ten months;
2. of the number of such complaints received by the police in each of the past three years, and whether the figures reflect an upward trend; and
3. whether it has undertaken any studies on the causes of, and the preventive measures that should be taken against, such cases?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

*17. Dr C H LEONG to ask :

Will the Government inform this Council:

1. whether it has any plans to step up control against the discharge of sewage or waste water from construction sites; and
2. 1. of the number of inspections of construction sites conducted by the Environmental Protection Department for checking the discharge of sewage or waste water;
   2. of the frequency of such inspections on average; and
   3. of the number of prosecutions made, the average, the maximum and the minimum level of penalties imposed by the court under the Water Pollution Control Ordinance,
   in each of the past three years?

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

*18. Mr HUI Yin-fat to ask : (Translation)

It is learnt that a woman suspected of suffering from postpartum depression was recently sent to the accident and emergency department of a hospital for treatment after an unsuccessful attempt to kill herself. She was diagnosed as fit for discharge after being given an injection of tranquillizer by the medical staff on duty. On the following day, the woman was suspected of having thrown her four-month-old baby daughter from a high-rise building to the street. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

1. whether the medical staff at the accident and emergency departments of public hospitals have the professional knowledge in diagnosing a patient suffering from postpartum depression; if so, why the medical staff had not made a decision to require the woman concerned to stay in the hospital for observation; if not, what specific measures will be adopted to enhance front-line medical staff understanding and awareness of postpartum depression;
2. whether it has studied if the hospital concerned has any legal responsibility with regard to the incident;
3. how women suffering or suspected of suffering from postpartum depressions are assisted in obtaining such services;
4. whether briefing and counselling on postpartum depression have been provided by public medical institutions to women and their families during antenatal or postnatal periods; if not, why not;
5. whether a referral system will be established to enable women giving birth at non-public medical institutions to have access to the same services relating to postpartum depression provided by public medical institutions; and
6. whether it will review the adequacy of services provided by public hospitals for women suffering or suspected of suffering from postpartum depression; if not, why not?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health and Welfare

*19. Mr David CHU to ask : (Translation)

As the new airport at Chek Lap Kok will be opened in April next year, will the Government inform this Council whether:

1. the target commissioning date of the Airport Railway can tie in with the opening date of the new airport; if not, before the commissioning of the Airport Railway, what transport arrangements are made by the authorities for commuting to and from the new airport; and
2. it has assessed the impact of the commissioning of the new airport on the traffic flow in the areas adjacent to Chek Lap Kok; if so, what the findings are and; what measures it will adopt to improve the traffic conditions in these areas?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport

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

Will the Government inform this Council whether it has assessed the impact of the recent sharp fluctuations of the local stock market on Hong Kong's overall economic situation in 1998, particularly in the following aspects; if so, of the results of the assessment:

1. consumer goods retail trade;
2. residential property market;
3. employment situation of local workers;
4. real wages of local workers;
5. tourism; and
6. inflation?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Financial Services

* For written reply.

III Members' Motions

1. Formulating and implementing Hong Kong information policy

Ms CHOY So-yuk : (Translation)

That this Council urges the Government to expeditiously study and formulate a set of more forward-looking, comprehensive and feasible policy and implementation blueprint for developing a "Hong Kong Information Society" and, to this end, to establish a high-level independent body with corresponding advisory committees and action groups to actively work out and implement the details of such policy and blueprint; provide community-wide coordination; encourage the participation of the information technology organizations in the public and private sectors by utilizing their resources and professional staff; and propel the whole community into information projects which straddle the next century, so as to bring Hong Kong to the forefront of the "Global Information Society".

Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Economic Services

2. Opposing the expansion of the labour importation schemes

Mr CHAN Kam-lam : (Translation)

That, to ensure that local workers are given priority in employment, this Council opposes the expansion of the labour importation schemes, and urges the Government to enhance the training and re-training programmes for local workers and, at the same time, by merging the employment-related offices of the Labour Department and the Employees Retraining Board, set up an 'Employment and Training Board' to provide overall co-ordination of the work relating to job-matching and training.

Amendments to Mr CHAN Kam-lam's motion

1. Mr WONG Siu-yee : (Translation)

To delete "," after "That" and add "this Council urges the Government,"; to delete "to ensure" and substitute with "under the principle of ensuring"; to delete "this Council opposes the expansion of the labour importation schemes," and substitute with "to complete its review for amending the Supplementary Labour Scheme as soon as possible and"; to delete "and urges the Government"; to insert ";" after "local workers"; to delete ", at the same time, by merging" and substitute with "requests that"; to delete "and" from "the Labour Department and" and substitute with "strengthen their liaison with"; to delete "set up an 'Employment and Training Board' to provide overall co-ordination of" and substitute with "and make a joint effort to co-ordinate"; and to delete "training" from "job-matching and training" and substitute with "re-training".

2. Mrs Sophie LEUNG : (Translation)

To add "in order to meet the needs of the territory's economic development, this Council urges the Government to adopt effective measures" before "to ensure"; to add "an adequate supply of labour in the territory; on the premise" before "that local workers"; to delete "this Council opposes the expansion of the labour importation schemes, and urges"; to delete "to" from "the Government to" and substitute with "should"; to add "," after "for local workers"; to delete "and, at the same time, by merging the employment-related offices of the Labour Department and the Employees Retraining Board, set up an 'Employment and Training Board' to"; and to add "and, whenever the need arises, appropriately import labour for trades or job categories which experience labour shortage" after "job-matching and training".

Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Education and Manpower

Clerk to the Provisional Legislative Council