Council Meeting (Agenda) 9 Dec 1998

A 98/99 -19(1)

Legislative Council

Agenda
Wednesday 9 December 1998 at 2:30 pm

I. Papers

	Subsidiary Legislation	L.N. No.
1.	Arbitration (Parties to New York Convention) (Amendment) Order 1998	368/98
2.	Immigration (Amendment) Regulation 1998 (L.N. 318 of 1998) (Commencement) Notice 1998	369/98

Sessional Papers

1.No.66	-	Ocean Park Corporation Annual Report 1997-1998
(to be presented by Hon Ronald ARCULLI, who will address the Council)
2.No.67	-	The Prince Philip Dental Hospital Hong Kong Report by the Board of Governors for the period 1 April 1997 to 31 March 1998
(to be presented by Secretary for Health and Welfare)
3.No.68	-	Equal Opportunities Commission Annual Report 1997/98
(to be presented by Secretary for Home Affairs)

Report

Report of the Bills Committee on Hotel Accommodation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 1998

(to be presented by Hon CHAN Kam-lam, Chairman of the Bills Committee)

II. Questions

1. Hon Mrs Miriam LAU to ask: (Translation)

Regarding the transport services to and from the new airport at Chek Lap Kok, will the Government inform this Council:

of the daily number of passengers travelling to and from the new airport at present, the modes of transport used by the passengers and the respective percentages of passengers using different modes of transport; and how these figures compare with the forecasts in the Transport Study for the New Airport completed at the end of 1996; and
whether it has re-assessed the demand and supply for transport to and from the new airport; if so, whether adjustments have been made to the bus services concerned based on the findings of the re-assessment; if not, of the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply: Secretary for Transport

2. Hon Kenneth TING to ask: (Translation)

Regarding the allegations that Government departments are squandering public funds and some civil servants are discharging their duties perfunctorily, will the Government inform this Council:

what mechanisms, apart from the value for money audits carried out by the Audit Commission, are in place to assess the performance and efficiency of government departments and whether resources are put to effective use;
of the measures adopted to ensure that civil servants are dedicated to their work; whether it will take disciplinary actions against those who discharge their duties perfunctorily and those who submit false records of their outdoor duties; and
of the measures to be taken to restore the confidence of the business and industrial sector and the public in the Government's administrative capability, and the basis on which the effectiveness of such measures is assessed?

Public Officer to reply: Secretary for the Civil Service

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

Regarding the provision of financial assistance to tertiary institution students, will the Government inform this Council:

whether there are reductions in the number of students who are granted financial assistance under the Local Student Finance Scheme ("LSFS") and in the average amount of financial assistance granted to students in the current academic year as compared to last year; if so, whether the reductions are attributable to the new assessment formula from this academic year onwards, which disallows the deduction of housing expenses etc from the family income;
up to now, among the students who have suspended their studies due to financial difficulties, of the respective numbers of students who are unsuccessful in their applications for financial assistance under the above Scheme as well as students who are granted lower amounts of financial assistance than those in the last academic year; and whether there are measures in place to help students who have suspended studies due to such reasons; and
whether it plans to lower the current 7.5% interest rate of loans granted under the Non-Means-Tested Loan Scheme with a view to relieving the future financial burden of tertiary students who have participated in the Scheme?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education and Manpower

4. Hon Ambrose CHEUNG to ask: (Translation)

In connection with the Director of Audit's reports on value for money audits submitted to the President of the Legislative Council, will the Government inform this Council whether:

standing mechanisms are in place in all departments to deal with the problems pointed out in the Director of Audit's reports, and to consider and implement the relevant recommendations; and
the departments not covered in the reports will conduct internal reviews of the issues raised therein?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Treasury

5. Hon LAU Kong-wah to ask: (Translation)

Upon the completion of the Shenzhen River Regulation Project, a parcel of land in the bend of the River of about one square kilometre will be formed by the original section of the River and the newly formed section between the Huanggang and Lok Ma Chau Crossings. It is reported that the Shenzhen Municipal Government has assigned the title of this piece of land to Shum Yip Holdings Company Limited in early 1997. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

whether any agreement has been reached between the two Governments to the effect that the Shenzhen Municipal Government will discuss with the Hong Kong Government before the assignment of the said title; whether the said title is registrable in Hong Kong; and whether it has assessed the impact of such a change in the title on the development of this piece of land;
of the itemized details of the administrative right that can be exercised by the HKSAR Government in respect of this piece of land and the cooperation mechanism between the two Governments in respect of the future development of this piece of land; and
whether the crimes committed on this piece of land will be dealt with according to the laws of Hong Kong?

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

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

On Sundays and Public Holidays, some less-civic-minded people scatter rubbish all over the streets designated as a pedestrian area in the Central District, and this directly affects the environmental hygiene of the streets. In view of this, will the Government inform this Council:

of the number of complaints received during the last year concerning the poor environmental hygiene condition in that area on holidays;
whether the Administration would consider stepping up the prosecution of people who scatter rubbish in the pedestrian area; and
whether the Administration will step up publicity and education in this respect, so that people will pay more attention to environmental hygiene in pedestrian areas; if so, the details of it?

Public Officer to reply: Secretary for Home Affairs

*7. Hon LEE Cheuk-yan to ask: (Translation)

Regarding the Tsuen Wan "Seven Streets" Redevelopment Project undertaken by the Land Development Corporation ("LDC"), will the Government inform this Council if it knows:

as at 15 November 1998,
1. the respective numbers of eligible families that have been rehoused by ballot, that have accepted cash compensation, and that have not been rehoused (together with a breakdown of families by the number of members);
2. the number of available units provided by the Hong Kong Housing Society ("HS") as choices to families that have not been rehoused, as well as the details of these units in terms of location, area, size of household to be accommodated and rent;
the breakdown of families that have been rehoused by ballot according to their sizes, as well as the geographical distribution of the rehousing units;
the average monthly rent the families with rehousing eligibility paid for their original units at the Tsuen Wan "Seven Streets";
the present average monthly rent paid by the families that have been rehoused;
how the HS would implement the rehousing of families the majority of members of which do not meet the 7-year residence rule;
whether the HS plans to rehouse families affected by the above redevelopment project in its housing units which have not been sold;
the circumstances in which the rehousing eligibility of families affected by the redevelopment project will be forfeited;
whether the LDC has reviewed if it is a fair policy to offer lower amounts of cash compensation to families that have not been allocated suitable units in the final ballot, as compared to the amounts of cash compensation offered to families that have participated in the earlier ballots; and
whether the families affected by the above redevelopment project will be included in the Administration's plan, as stated in the Chief Executive's 1998 Policy Address, to seek the assistance of the Hong Kong Housing Authority in re-housing those affected by redevelopment projects?

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

*8. Hon Michael HO to ask: (Translation)

In connection with the recruitment of Dental Hygienists, will the Government inform this Council:

of the entry qualifications for the post of Dental Hygienists;
of the number of Dental Hygienist recruitment exercises conducted over the past three years, and the respective numbers of vacancies and eligible applicants in each of these recruitment exercises;
of the difficulties in recruiting such staff; and
whether it has taken any measures to attract more qualified persons to join the grade; if so, of the details?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health and Welfare

*9. Hon SIN Chung-kai to ask:

In view of the fact that information security is vital for the future development of electronic business, will the Government inform this Council of:

the present policy and regulations for the import and re-export of encryption technology, which is a technology for converting an electronic message into a secret form; and the rationale for them;
the actions it has taken to request the government of the United States to relax its export controls on encryption technology; and
the average time taken for vetting and approving the import of encryption technology; and of the means to streamline such process?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Trade and Industry

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

Will the Government inform this Council, as at the end of October 1998, of:

the total number of staff in each public hospital; and
the respective numbers of Ward Attendants, Workmen II and Health Care Assistants in each public hospital; and their respective percentages of the total number of staff in the hospital?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health and Welfare

*11. Hon Christine LOH to ask:

The majority of edible salt comes from mainland China. In this connection, will the Administration inform this Council:

whether regular tests are conducted on imported edible salt;
how Hong Kong's acceptable standards on the quality of edible salt compare with those on the Mainland; and
how the current regulations on the marking and labelling for pre-packaged edible salt in Hong Kong compare with
1. those in place in Hong Kong before 1996, and
2. those currently in force on the Mainland?

Public Officer to reply: Secretary for Health and Welfare

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

It is learnt that the Urban Services Department ("USD") has launched a trial scheme which aims at creating more employment opportunities for disabled persons and assisting them in integrating into the community, by arranging for the refreshment outlets operations at its venues to be awarded to organizations for the disabled, and requiring them to employ a certain number of disabled persons to work in the outlets. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

of the venues under the management of USD at which the trial scheme is being conducted; whether places such as refreshing kiosks and gift shops are covered under the trial scheme;
of the support (such as financial support) which is provided by USD for the trial scheme;
whether USD has assessed the effectiveness of the trial scheme; if so, of the details;
whether USD plans to further extend the trial scheme; if so, of the details; and
whether the Regional Services Department has launched or will launch a similar scheme; if so, the details of the scheme?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs

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

It is reported that potable water from Dongjiang contains high level of ammonia. In this connection, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council:

of the average ammonia level in the water from Dongjiang in the past year, and how this figure compares with those in the four years before last year;
whether chlorine is used by the Water Supplies Department to neutralize ammonia in potable water; if so, of the amount of chlorine used for that purpose in the past year, and how this amount compares with those in the four years before last year;
whether harmful substances such as trichloromethane will be generated by the use of chlorine to neutralize ammonia in potable water; if so, of the average levels of such harmful substances in potable water in the past year; and
whether it has assessed how the health of people will be affected by such harmful substances, and of the measures in place to reduce the levels of such substances?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Works

*14. Hon Mrs Miriam LAU to ask: (Translation)

Regarding the use of substandard tyres by heavy goods vehicles, will the Government inform this Council:

of the number of heavy goods vehicles which were found to have substandard tyres during the mandatory vehicle examination in each of the past three years, and the percentage of such vehicles in the total number of heavy goods vehicles which failed to pass the examination;
of the number of prosecutions instituted by the police against the owners of heavy goods vehicles which were found to have substandard tyres during the police's roadside inspections in each of the past three years, and the percentage of such prosecution cases in the total number of police inspection cases involving heavy goods vehicles;
whether statistics have been compiled on the spans of time between the dates at which the vehicles mentioned in item (b) above were found to have substandard tyres and the dates of their last examination; if so, of the findings of the statistics; if not, why not; and
whether it has discovered any cases where owners of vehicles changed the tyres of their vehicles into standard ones before sending them for examination and then replaced the tyres with the original substandard ones after the vehicles have passed the examination; if so, of the measures in place to prevent such acts; if not, whether investigations will be conducted into the matter?

Public Officer to reply: Secretary for Transport

*15. Hon LAU Kong-wah to ask: (Translation)

It is reported that the Airport Railway train failures on 12 and 18 November 1998 caused disruptions to train services. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

whether it knows:
1. the total number of Airport Railway train failures which have occurred since its opening;
2. if the Mass Transit Railway Corporation ("MTRC") has identified the causes of each train failure; if so, please provide a breakdown of such causes in terms of human errors, machine part damage or system failures, and advise how MTRC solved these problems;
3. if ground settlement has occurred along the section of the track between Olympic Station and Lai King Station of the Airport Railway; if so, of the reasons for that, the impact on train services, and the remedial works carried out by MTRC; and
whether the Administration has set up a mechanism to monitor the quality of the inspection and maintenance work carried out for the Airport Railway by the Operations Engineering Department of MTRC; if so, of the details of such a mechanism?

Public Officer to reply: Secretary for Transport

*16. Hon Emily LAU to ask: (Translation)

Will the Executive Authorities inform this Council whether they will consider providing government and aided primary and secondary schools with additional resources for the employment of more teachers, so as to reduce the workload of serving teachers and give them more time to care for their students?

Public Officer to reply: Secretary for Education and Manpower

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

Regarding flight activities by the garrison dispatched to Hong Kong by the Central People's Government and stationed at the Sek Kong Camp, will the Government inform this Council:

whether the garrison stationed there has informed the Hong Kong Government of its flight schedule;
whether it knows the average number of flight activities conducted each month by the garrison there; and the number of which conducted at night;
of the current legislation governing the noise generated by such flight activities;
whether it has assessed if such flight activities have increased the noise level in the neighborhood; if so, the details of it; and
whether it has plans to discuss with the garrison the reduction of the nuisance caused by its flight activities to residents nearby?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

*18. Dr Hon David LI to ask:

Will the Government inform this Council what actions are in place or being planned to motivate civil servants to conserve electricity in Government offices?

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

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

Will the Government inform this Council:

of the average number of minor children in each family in Hong Kong at present;
of the percentage of families with two or more minor children against the total number of families in Hong Kong in each of the past five years;
of the estimated increase in Hong Kong's population in the next 10 years, the number of them who are local-born and the number of them who come from other places to settle in Hong Kong;
whether there is a discrepancy between the current population growth rate and that estimated in the last census; if so, the reasons for it;
whether it has assessed the effectiveness of the Hong Kong Family Planning Association's family planning education; if so, the details of the assessment; if not, why not; and
whether consideration will be given to drawing up measures to further promote the concept of family planning, so as to slow down population growth?

Public Officer to reply: Secretary for Health and Welfare

*20. Hon LEE Wing-tat to ask: (Translation)

Regarding the relocation of shipyards at northern Tsing Yi, will the Government inform this Council:

of the current progress of the relocation plan;
whether there is any delay in the plan; if so, the reasons for it; and
whether it has set a deadline for the relocation of shipyards?

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

* For written reply.

III. Bills

First Reading

Film Censorship (Amendment) Bill 1998

Second Reading (Debate to be adjourned)

Film Censorship (Amendment) Bill 1998

: Secretary for Information Technology and Broadcasting

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

Hotel Accommodation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 1998 : Secretary for Home Affairs

IV. Motions

1. Proposed resolution under the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Ordinance

Secretary for Security to move the following motion:

RESOLVED that the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters (Australia) Order, made by the Chief Executive in Council on 13 October 1998, be approved.

2. Proposed resolution under the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Ordinance

Secretary for Security to move the following motion:

RESOLVED that the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters (France) Order, made by the Chief Executive in Council on 13 October 1998, be approved.

3. Proposed resolution under the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Ordinance

Secretary for Security to move the following motion:

RESOLVED that the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters (New Zealand) Order, made by the Chief Executive in Council on 13 October 1998, be approved.

4.Proposed resolution under the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Ordinance

Secretary for Security to move the following motion:

RESOLVED that the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters (United Kingdom) Order, made by the Chief Executive in Council on 13 October 1998, be approved.

V. Members' Motions

1. The repealed labour ordinances

Hon Andrew CHENG: (Translation)

That, as the Provisional Legislative Council (PLC) repealed the Employment (Amendment) (No. 4) Ordinance 1997 and the Employee's Rights to Representation, Consultation and Collective Bargaining Ordinance and amended the Trade Unions (Amendment) (No. 2) Ordinance 1997, thereby breaching the International Labour Convention and the Basic Law, this Council deeply regrets the actions of the PLC and the Government, and urges the Government to immediately submit to this Council for reconsideration those pieces of labour legislation that have been repealed or amended, so as to safeguard the basic rights of the labour force.

Public Officer to attend: Secretary for Education and Manpower

2. The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region's judicial jurisdiction

Hon Martin LEE: (Translation)

That this Council deeply regrets that, while the cases involving the kidnapping of two business tycoons in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region ("SAR") and the murder of five persons in Telford Gardens, which are being handled in the Mainland in accordance with the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China, have caused widespread concern among Hong Kong people, the SAR Government has not tried its utmost to seek the return of those who are suspected of violating the law in the SAR for trial in the SAR courts so as to safeguard the judicial jurisdiction conferred on the SAR by the Basic Law; this Council also urges the SAR Government to expeditiously discuss and conclude an agreement with the Central People's Government, on the basis of internationally accepted principles, on rendition arrangements between the Mainland and the SAR, so as to restore the public's confidence in the SAR's judicial jurisdiction.

Amendment to Hon Martin LEE's motion

Hon Mrs Miriam LAU: (Translation)

To delete "this Council deeply regrets that, while" and substitute with "as"; to delete "cases involving the kidnapping of two business tycoons in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region ("SAR")" and substitute with "CHEUNG Tze-keung case"; to delete ", which are being handled in the Mainland in accordance with the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China,"; to delete "the SAR Government has not tried its utmost to seek the return of those who are suspected of violating the law in the SAR for trial in the SAR courts so as to safeguard the judicial jurisdiction conferred on the SAR by the Basic Law;"; to delete "also" from "this Council also urges the SAR"; to delete "SAR" from "this Council also urges the SAR" and substitute with "Special Administrative Region (SAR)"; to add "and to ensure that the agreement thus reached can fully address the concerns of the public," after "on rendition arrangements between the Mainland and the SAR,"; and delete "restore" from "so as to restore the public's confidence in the SAR's judicial jurisdiction" and substitute with "enhance".

Public Officers to attend:

Secretary for Justice
Secretary for Security

Clerk to the Legislative Council

Legislative Council

Agenda Wednesday 9 December 1998 at 2:30 pm

Agenda
Wednesday 9 December 1998 at 2:30 pm