A 98/99-39(1)

Legislative Council

Agenda
Wednesday 2 June 1999 at 2:30 pm

I. Papers

Subsidiary LegislationL.N. No.
1.Miscellaneous Licences (Amendment) Regulation 1999 130/99
2.Declaration of Constituencies (District Councils) Order 1999131/99
3.Employees Retraining Ordinance (Amendment of Schedule 2) (No.4) Notice 1999132/99
4.Declaration of Increase in Pensions Notice 1999 133/99
5.Widows and Orphans Pension (Increase) Notice 1999134/99
6.Supplementary Medical Professions Ordinance (Application) Order 1999135/99
7.Supplementary Medical Professions, Midwives Registration and Nurses Registration (Amendment) Ordinance 1985 (67 of 1985) (Commencement) Notice 1999136/99
8.Physiotherapists (Registration and Disciplinary Procedure) Regulation (Cap. 359 sub. leg.) (Commencement) Notice 1999 137/99

Sessional Papers

1.No. 128-Report of the Electoral Affairs Commission on the Recommended Constituency Boundaries in respect of the 1999 District Councils Election

(to be presented by Secretary for Constitutional Affairs)

2.No. 129-Audited Statement of Accounts of the Quality Education Fund together with the Director of Audit's Report for the year ended 31 August 1998

(to be presented by Secretary for Education and Manpower)

Report

Report of the Finance Committee on the examination of the Draft Estimates of Expenditure 1999-2000 (June 1999)

(to be presented by Hon Ronald ARCULLI, Chairman of the Finance Committee, who will address the Council)

II. Questions

1. Dr Hon YEUNG Sum to ask: (Translation)

The Government has advised that it will seek interpretation of the articles in the Basic Law from the National People's Congress Standing Committee on the basis that the legislative intent and objectives are not expressly stated in these articles. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

  1. of the articles in the Basic Law in which the legislative intent and objectives are not expressly stated; and

  2. whether the legislative intent and objectives referred to by the Government refer only to the legislative intent and objectives of the Basic Law Drafting Committee when drafting the Basic Law, or also to the relevant views expressed by other bodies, such as the National People's Congress Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Preparatory Committee, on the articles in the Basic Law, subsequent to its promulgation?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Justice

2. Hon Fred LI to ask: (Translation)

Since the right to operate clinics in the public housing estates ("PHS") managed by the Housing Department are currently granted through the Estate Doctors Association Limited ("EDA"), private medical practitioners must be enrolled as members of the EDA before they are qualified to participate in the ballot arranged by the EDA for the right to operate these clinics. Furthermore, the current ratio of the medical practitioners operating in PHS to the population served is on the low side, as compared to the corresponding ratio in the entire territory. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:

  1. it will consider allowing all private medical practitioners in Hong Kong to tender for the right to operate clinics in PHS, as well as increasing the ratio of the medical practitioners operating in PHS to the population served to a level comparable to the corresponding ratio in the entire territory;

  2. it has, on the basis of the instructions set out by the Competition Policy Advisory Group ("COMPAG"), assessed if such an allocation policy has gone against the principle of fair competition, and whether it has submitted reports on this issue to COMPAG; if it has made such an assessment and submitted such reports, whether COMPAG has further examined the compliance or otherwise of this policy with the principle of fair competition; if no report on this issue has ever been submitted to COMPAG, the reasons for that; and

  3. the Independent Commission Against Corruption has conducted a study on the prevention of corruption and the prevention of other illegal conduct with respect to this allocation policy; if so, the time when such a study was conducted and the results of the study; if not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Housing

3. Hon WONG Yung-kan to ask: (Translation)

A vessel sank between Tap Mun Chau and Chek Chau on 1 January last year, but to date a container on the sunken vessel is still left in the sea and has not been salvaged. Recently, the plastic waste inside that container has been flowing out from the container and drifting about in the nearby waters, resulting in the death of a substantial amount of marine fish in the fish culture zones in these waters, and causing serious damage to marine ecology. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:

  1. it knows the amount of plastic waste that has not been salvaged so far and is still left in the waters nearby where the vessel sank; and of its plans to clear all the plastic waste;

  2. it will request the owner of the said vessel to compensate those marine culturists who have suffered loss; if not, the reasons for that; and

  3. it will consider devising a package of measures to salvage objects from sunken vessels, in order to ensure that nothing from sunken vessels will be left on the sea; if not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Economic Services

4. Hon Ambrose LAU to ask: (Translation)

On 26 April this year, a computer virus known as "Chernobyl" attacked and severely damaged computer systems all over the world. It is reported that the computer systems of five government departments in Hong Kong were also affected. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

  1. of the department which is responsible for examining and formulating measures to prevent viruses from infecting important computerized information systems and databases of government departments; and the specific measures formulated by the department for guarding against computer viruses;

  2. whether it will formulate long-term measures to prevent viruses from infecting computer systems in the wake of this incident; if so, the details of such measures; and

  3. whether it will consider providing free anti-virus software and guidelines for small and medium enterprises on a regular basis so as to ensure the normal operation of their computer systems?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Information Technology and Broadcasting

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

Bus stops on Hennessy Road in Wan Chai have recently been rationalized in order to ease the traffic congestion caused by buses queuing to pull in at the stops. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:

  1. the traffic condition in the area has improved as a result of the exercise;

  2. it has received any complaints about the new locations of bus stops; if so, of the major subjects of complaint; and

  3. it has plans to implement other measures to further improve the traffic condition of the area; if so, the details of such plans; if not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport

6. Hon Mrs Selina CHOW to ask: (Translation)

Will the Government inform this Council:

  1. of the current situation regarding the sale of duty-not-paid diesel oil;

  2. of the measures it has taken against such activities; and the number of persons prosecuted for operating illegal filling stations in the past year, as well as the average penalty imposed on the convicted persons; and

  3. among such prosecution cases, of the number of those involving illegal filling stations operating in residential premises; and the measures adopted by the Government to ensure the safety of the residents concerned?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Treasury

*7. Hon Ambrose CHEUNG to ask: (Translation)

Regarding the quorum at a meeting of an Owners' Corporation as provided in paragraph 5 of the third schedule to the Building Management Ordinance (Cap. 344), will the Government inform this Council whether, in calculating the quorum:

  1. the total number of owners or the number of shares owned by the owners is taken as the basis for calculation; and

  2. representatives authorized by owners to attend the meeting of the corporation count towards the quorum; if so, whether the calculation is based on the total number of authorized representatives, the number of owners who appoint these representatives or the number of shares owned by the owners who appoint these representatives; in other words, when 100 owners appoint the same one person as their representative to attend the meeting of the corporation, in the calculation of the quorum, whether the representative is regarded as one person or 100 persons; on the other hand, when 100 owners appoint 35 persons as their representatives to attend the meeting, whether those representatives are regarded as 35 persons or 100 persons?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs

*8. Prof Hon NG Ching-fai to ask: (Translation)

It is learnt that the HKSAR Government and the Mainland authorities concerned have set up liaison establishments to discuss environmental issues involving the two places. These establishments include the Hong Kong and Guangdong Environmental Protection Liaison Group and its technical sub-group and expert sub-group, Hong Kong/Guangdong Co-operation Joint Conference and the Expert Group on Sewage Disposal in Hong Kong. In this regard, will the Government inform this Council whether:

  1. the agenda of the meetings of these establishments can be made public before each meeting, so that the public can express views on the subjects in advance; if not, the reasons for that; and

  2. the outcomes and decisions of the meetings can be announced after each meeting of these establishments, so as to increase the transparency and accountability of these establishments; if not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Planning, Environment and Lands

*9. Hon SZETO Wah to ask: (Translation)

It is learnt that gloves, mouth-pieces, white plastic gowns and boots are worn by ambulancemen of public hospitals in the course of transferring Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome ("AIDS") patients. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:

  1. ambulancemen are required to put on special clothing when transferring AIDS patients; if so, the reasons for that;

  2. it has assessed the need for ambulancemen to put on special clothing when transferring AIDS patients; if so, the details of the assessment; and

  3. ambulancemen have been provided with any training and guidelines on how to take care of AIDS patients during the patient transfers; if so, the details of such training and guidelines; if not, whether it will consider providing such training and guidelines?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health and Welfare

*10. Hon TSANG Yok-sing to ask: (Translation)

It is reported that the authorities concerned ceased issuing licences for cross-border buses between Hong Kong and the Mainland in mid-1997. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

  1. of the authority in Hong Kong or the Mainland which is responsible for determining the number of licences to be issued for cross-border buses; of the criteria and procedure adopted by the authority in determining the number of such licences;

  2. whether the authority concerned conducts regular reviews on the number of these licences; if it conducts such regular reviews, the time of its last review and the results; if it does not, the reasons for that; and

  3. of the time at which the authority has planned to issue such new licences; how the authority can ensure that the new licences will be allocated fairly and openly when they are issued?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport

*11. Hon CHOY So-yuk to ask: (Translation)

Regarding the security of information kept in computer systems, will the Government inform this Council:

  1. of the number of reported cases in which unauthorized people (commonly called "hackers") accessed others' computer systems to browse, store or retrieve information therein, and the number of such cases that were cracked in each of the past three years; and

  2. whether it has any plan to facilitate small and medium-sized enterprises to become aware of the security measures that should be taken when carrying out transactions through the Internet?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Information Technology and Broadcasting

*12. Hon Andrew CHENG to ask: (Translation)

According to the written reply by the Administration to a question raised in this Council on 12 of May this year, occupational injury cases involving civil servants have been increasing in each of the past three years. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

  1. of the mechanism in place to ensure the compliance by civil servants with the requirements on occupational safety set out in Regulation 700 of the General Regulations;

  2. of the disciplinary actions applicable for breaching the Regulation, the number of civil servants against whom disciplinary actions have been taken for violation of the Regulation in each of the past three years, and details of those disciplinary actions; and

  3. whether the government has planned to revise the Factories and Industrial Undertakings Ordinance (Cap. 59) to the effect that the Ordinance also applies to the government and its employees?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education and Manpower

*13. Hon TAM Yiu-chung to ask: (Translation)

On 1 November last year, the Housing Department regrouped the geographical districts for the allocation of public housing ("districts of allocation"), with the number of such districts being revised from the original eight to four. Each of the new districts of allocation covers an area so extensive that many localities which are far apart from one another are grouped into one district. For example, the Extended Urban District covers Tseung Kwan O, Shatin and Tsuen Wan. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

  1. of the number of public housing applicants who have given up their chance for the reason that all the three housing offers made to them are situated far away from the locality they have chosen, since the introduction of the revised districts of allocation;

  2. given the new districts of allocation cover such extensive areas, whether consideration will be given to allocating public rental flats to such applicants again in accordance with the locality they have chosen; and

  3. whether the delineation of the districts of allocation will be reviewed to avoid an undue extensive geographical coverage of a district; if not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Housing

*14. Hon Howard YOUNG to ask:

The Airport Express operates from 6:00 am to 1:00 am daily. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:

  1. the number of incoming flights which arrived outside the operating hours of the Airport Express since the new Airport came into operation; and

  2. the contingency measures that the Airport Authority has put in place to assist passengers who arrive outside the operating hours of the Airport Express in leaving the airport without undue inconvenience after the necessary immigration and custom clearance?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Economic Services

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

It is reported that most of the domestic sewage presently discharged from village houses near the Sham Tseng section of the Castle Peak Road directly flow into the sea through stormwater drains; while sewage from other village houses connected to the centralized septic tanks often discharge into the sea through stormwater drains due to overflowing of the septic tanks. It is noted that a proposed sewerage treatment works at Sham Tseng will not be completed until 2004. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

  1. whether it knows the number of village houses in the area that have not yet been connected to appropriate sewerage treatment facilities;

  2. of the measures it has in place to address the problem of sewage overflowing from the centralized septic tanks in the area; and

  3. of the measures that will be adopted to reduce the amount of untreated sewage discharged from the area to the sea before the commissioning of the sewerage treatment works?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Planning, Environment and Lands

*16. Hon Mrs Sophie LEUNG to ask: (Translation)

Will the Government inform this Council:

  1. whether it has assessed Hong Kong's demand for professionals in science and technology, engineering and information technology ("technology professionals") over the next five years;

    1. if so, the details of such assessments; the respective estimated numbers of technology professionals in each of the categories to be provided by local tertiary institutions and to be imported;

    2. if not, the reasons for that and whether it will assess the local demand for technology professionals in the short, medium and long terms; if so, when it will conduct the assessments; and

  2. how it will ensure that the size of admissions determined by various tertiary institutions for training these technology professionals will be in line with the local demand?
Public Officer to reply: Secretary for Education and Manpower

*17. Hon CHEUNG Man-kwong to ask: (Translation)

According to the Securities and Futures Commission's ("SFC") 97/98 Annual Report, a total of 197 Investment Advisers and 51 Commodity Trading Advisers were found to have breached the Code of Conduct in the course of routine inspections carried out by SFC during the year. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:

  1. the breakdown of the cases by the provisions in the Code of Conduct;

  2. how the SFC has followed up these cases; and whether the offenders have been penalized; if so, the details of the penalties imposed; and

  3. the Ordinances under which the SFC can take disciplinary actions against the offenders?
Public Officer to reply: Secretary for Financial Services

*18. Hon SIN Chung-kai to ask:

Regarding the protection of privacy, will the Government inform this Council whether:

  1. Internet electronic mail ("e-mail") addresses are classified as personal data under the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (Cap. 486); if not, the reasons for that;

  2. there are prohibitions on the disclosure of e-mail addresses to third parties without the authorization of the owners of e-mail addresses; if not, the reasons for that; and

  3. it is illegal, without the authorization of the owners of e-mail addresses, to sell directories of e-mail addresses or products containing e-mail addresses; if not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs

*19. Hon LEUNG Yiu-chung to ask: (Translation)

Regarding legal aid applications to the Legal Aid Department for pursuing legal actions against medical blunders, will the Government inform this Council, in respect of the past three years:

  1. of the number of applications received by the Department; the number of such cases in which legal aid was granted;

  2. of the average time taken by the Department to vet and approve each application; whether it has considered adopting measures to shorten the time required for processing such applications; and

  3. among the cases that were concluded, of
    1. the average time taken from making an application to the Department to the conclusion of the case;

    2. the number of cases that were settled out of court;

    3. the number of cases that were determined by the court; the number of such cases where judgement was passed in favour of the plaintiffs; and

    4. the number of cases where the plaintiffs were awarded compensation by the court, and the average amount of compensation awarded to each plaintiff?
Public Officer to reply : Chief Secretary for Administration

*20. Dr Hon David LI to ask:

It is reported that China is expected to join the World Trade Organization this year, which may open up new business opportunities in the Mainland. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it will consider setting up business coordination offices in Beijing and other major cities to provide assistance to Hong Kong entrepreneurs in doing business in the Mainland?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Trade and Industry

* For written reply.

III. Bills

First Reading

Volunteer and Naval Volunteer Pensions (Amendment) Bill 1999

Second Reading (Debate to be adjourned)

Volunteer and Naval Volunteer Pensions (Amendment) Bill 1999:Secretary for Health and Welfare

Second Reading (Debates to resume), Committee Stage and Third Reading

1. Prevention of Bribery (Amendment) Bill 1999:Chief Secretary for Administration

2. Administration of Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 1999:Chief Secretary for Administration
3. Adaptation of Laws (No.11) Bill 1999: Secretary for Trade and Industry
4. Adaptation of Laws (No.10) Bill 1998:Secretary for Financial Services
5. Tax Reserve Certificates (Amendment) Bill 1999:Secretary for the Treasury

IV. Members' Motions

1. Problem of youngster gangs

Hon HO Sai-chu: (Translation)

That, in view of the increasing seriousness of the problem of youngster gangs, this Council urges the Government to thoroughly examine the causes of the problem and adopt a comprehensive package of measures to protect the development of young people, including:

  1. strengthening the communication and co-operation among the police, schools and social service agencies to ensure that youngsters at risk and their families can receive proper care and counselling, including conducting educational programmes for parents to instil into them knowledge in family education and to urge them to attach importance to the care and education of their children and, at the same time, extending to other districts in Hong Kong the various schemes being implemented in some districts for youngsters at risk;

  2. facing up to the unemployment problem among young people and providing temporary jobs for the unemployed youths as far as possible;

  3. building the newly-developed and re-developed communities into multi-stratum communities through town planning, and adopting measures to prevent the emergence of crime blackspots in these communities;

  4. determining the quantity and scale of youth service facilities in various districts flexibly after taking into full account the uniqueness of individual communities, such as their demographic structures and geographical locations;

  5. enhancing the education on ethics, morality and the rule of law in schools, and strengthening teacher training in these regards, as well as introducing diversified curricula to provide more choices and development opportunities for students with different aptitudes;

  6. implementing expeditiously the target of one social worker serving one school;

  7. reviewing the current classification system and standards for printed publications with a view to preventing young people from being affected by publications containing violence and pornography, as well as adopting a classification system for electronic games containing violence and pornography; and

  8. examining whether the penalties currently imposed on young criminals are appropriate, and strengthening rehabilitation services to assist them in developing a healthy way of living and reforming themselves.
Public Officers to attend:Secretary for Health and Welfare
Secretary for Education and Manpower

2. Naming the former Government House

Hon Howard YOUNG: (Translation)

That this Council urges the Government to officially name the former Government House 'Former Government House'.

Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Home Affairs

Clerk to the Legislative Council