Miscellaneous

Code of Practice on Employment under the Family Status Discrimination Ordinance

(to be presented by Secretary for Home Affairs)

II. Questions for Written Replies

1. Mr CHOY Kan-pui to ask :

It is learnt that the Immigration Department organized an event known as "The Most Courteous Immigration Control Officer Election" several months ago. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

1. of the details of the event, including:

   1. the election period;

   2. the coverage � whether all immigration control points were involved;

   3. reasons for holding the election � whether the election is related to complaints lodged by incoming and departing travellers against immigration control officers;

   4. the total number of election forms given out;

   5. the total number of valid election forms returned; the immigration control points which received the highest and the lowest number of election forms and the numbers thereof;

   6. the respective numbers of local and overseas travellers who cast their votes; and

2. whether the Administration has conducted a review on the effectiveness of the event; if so, what the results are?

The Report of the Working Party on Primary Health Care (the Report) published by the Government in 1990 put forward recommendations on the steps to take by the Central Health Education Unit (CHEU) in promoting health education (such as the training of staff) and the membership and objectives of the Health Education Co-ordinating Committee. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:

1. the CHEU has been re-organized as a specialist service and its establishment;

2. an audio-visual production team has been established in the CHEU; if so, of the establishment of the team;

3. the CHEU has organized training programmes on health education for those undertaking work related to health education (such as school teachers, social workers and volunteers) over the past five years; if so, of the respective themes, objectives and numbers of participants of these programmes; and

4. the existing Health Education Co-ordinating Committee has already strengthened its membership in accordance with the recommendation contained in the Report; and what the current working objectives of the Committee are?

Will the Government inform this Council:

1. of the types of child care services (including day nursery and occasional care) and the respective numbers of places provided by the Social Welfare Department at present;

2. whether special arrangements have been made to provide newly-arrived families with such services; if so, of the details of such arrangements;

3. whether it will allocate additional resources to the Social Welfare Department for the expansion of child care services; and

4. of the measures in place to monitor and the plans to improve the quality of child care services?

Will the Government inform this Council:

1. of the number of Comprehensive Social Security Assistance recipient families visited by Social Welfare Department (SWD) staff in each month during the period from 1995 to 1997 and among these families, the respective proportions of those which were unemployed or low-income households;

2. whether SWD staff detected any signs of mental disturbance or suicidal tendency in the members of these families during home visits; if so, what the numbers of such family members were; whether the causes of such situation were known; and how SWD followed up such cases; and

3. of the SWD target number of home visits for these families each year; and whether there is any plan to increase the number of such home visits?

Does the Government know:

1. the number of public housing tenants who have, after signing agreements for the purchase of Home Ownership Scheme (HOS) flats, made requests to the Housing Authority (HA) for termination of the purchase agreements, refund of the deposits and retention of the status of public housing tenants, over the past three months; and

2. whether, in view of the current economic downturn in the territory, the HA will consider these requests on a discretionary basis?

It is learnt that in renting a sports ground under the Provisional Regional Council (PRC) for the purpose of organizing activities, a secondary school was told that prior approval from the Director of Administration had to be sought if it wished to hoist the national flag at the venue. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

1. why schools are required to seek prior approval for hoisting the national flag at the rented PRC sports grounds; whether it will request the PRC to consider reviewing and revising such a requirement; and

2. whether it knows the total number of applications for hoisting the national flag in the sports grounds of the PRC and the Provisional Urban Council since 1 July 1997, the number of applications approved and the details of such cases?

Public Officer to reply :Chief Secretary for Administration

7. Dr TANG Siu-tong to ask :

Will the Government inform this Council whether:

1. escape doors equipped with alarm system have been installed for emergency exits in all the housing blocks of the public housing estates in Hong Kong; if not,

   1. which housing blocks have still not been equipped with such facilities;

   2. does the Administration have any plans to install such facilities for those housing blocks; if so, what the details are; and

2. there are any escape doors leading to the roofs in any housing blocks being locked up habitually; if so, how the authorities deal with this situation?

The Director of Immigration indicated that the Administration would, in conjunction with the mainland authorities, review at an appropriate time the existing daily quota of 150 One-Way Permits (OWPs) set in 1995. It is learnt that, within the overall daily quota of 150, there has already been an increase since 1 January 1998 in the sub-quota for children of Hong Kong permanent residents who have the right of abode in Hong Kong under Article 24(2)(3) of the Basic Law. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

1. of the present daily sub-quota and the waiting time for coming to Hong Kong in respect of the following categories of OWP applicants respectively:

   1. the aforesaid children of Hong Kong permanent residents, at or below the age of 20;

   2. the aforesaid children of Hong Kong permanent residents, above the age of 20;

   3. reunion of spouses;

   4. dependant children coming to join relatives in Hong Kong;

   5. persons coming to Hong Kong to take care of their dependant parents;

   6. dependant elderly people coming to join relatives in Hong Kong; and

   7. inheritance of property;

2. of the implications on other categories of OWP applicants brought about by the increase in the daily sub-quota for the aforesaid children of Hong Kong permanent residents;

3. of the date of implementing its plan to review the present daily OWP quota in conjunction with the mainland authorities;

4. whether it has plans to discuss with the mainland authorities the question of assigning a separate OWP quota for the aforesaid children of Hong Kong permanent residents; if not, why not; and

5. whether it will consider negotiating with the mainland authorities for shifting the authority for approving OWPs from the mainland authorities to the Immigration Department of Hong Kong; if not, why not?

It is reported that, owing to the sluggish property market and the reduction in Government expenditure, the Education Department has withheld the implementation of two policies, namely co-operating with estate developers to build school premises and revising the mode of funding for school maintenance projects. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council of the school building projects and schools affected as a result; and when the Education Department will implement these two policies?

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

It is reported that over 40% of the rural families in Hong Kong are on average earning less than $10,000 per month. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:

1. it knows the number of such families; and among these, the number of families which are receiving Comprehensive Social Security Assistance; and

2. whether it has formulated plans and considered allocating additional resources to help these rural families; if so, what the details are; if not, why not?

In view of the busy traffic commuting between Hong Kong and the Mainland, will the Government inform this Council:

1. whether it knows the number of Hong Kong drivers holding driving licences issued by the Mainland authorities and the number of Mainland drivers holding driving licences issued by the Hong Kong authorities;

2. of the types and the respective numbers of Hong Kong vehicles which are allowed to enter the Mainland; and

3. of the types and the respective numbers of Mainland vehicles which are allowed to enter Hong Kong?

It is reported that while the aging of population in the rural areas of Hong Kong has become serious, recreational facilities and other services in the areas have not been geared to the changing needs of the population. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

1. of the size of the population aged 65 or above in rural areas, and its percentage of the total rural population in Hong Kong; and

2. whether it has any specific plans to strengthen the services and improve the recreational facilities and other services for the elderly in these areas; if so, what the details are; if not, why not?

Will the Government inform this Council:

1. of the progress regarding the plan to set up a central abattoir for slaughtering poultry; and

2. whether it will consider designating a location in every market for slaughtering poultry, in place of the current practice of slaughtering poultry at individual market stalls?

In connection with the continuing problem of shortage of coins in circulation in Hong Kong, will the Government inform this Council:

1. why the problem still exists, as demonstrated by queues of people in front of banks every morning for coin-changing, despite the pledge in September 1997 by the authority to address it;

2. whether it recognises that because of the shortage of coins, passengers on public transport have, for several months now, had no choice but to pay more than the exact fares in many cases; and how it proposes to assist passengers on public transport to avoid paying more than the exact fares due to the shortage of coins;

3. what other measures are in place to address the problem, especially in consideration of the current economic downturn; and

4. bearing in mind the reply by the Secretary for Transport in response to a question raised in this Council on 10 December 1997 that about 100 million pieces of new coins would be issued per month during the first half of 1998, whether this has been put into practice and if so, the number of new coins that have been issued so far?

In 1991, the Government published the "White Paper on Social Welfare into the 1990s and Beyond". In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

1. whether there is any plan to draw up a new White Paper on social welfare;

2. if the answer to (a) is in the affirmative, of the details of the White Paper, including:

   1. when it will be published;

   2. the items to be included for review;

   3. whether the formulation of the policy on family services will be covered; if not, why not; and

3. if the answer to (a) is in the negative, of the reasons for not planning to draw up such a White Paper?

Appropriation Bill 1998

Second Reading

Debate to be adjourned

Appropriation Bill 1998 : Financial Secretary

Clerk to the Provisional Legislative Council