Council Meeting ( Agenda ) 10 Mar 99

A 98/99-29(1)

Legislative Council

Agenda

Wednesday 10 March 1999 at 2:30 pm

I. Papers

Subsidiary Legislation	L.N. No.
1. Telecommunication (Amendment) Regulation 1999	58/99
2. Dangerous Drugs Ordinance (Amendment of Second Schedule) Order 1999	59/99
3. Dangerous Goods (Consignment by Air) (Safety) Regulations (Amendment of Schedule) Order 1999	60/99
4. Stamp Duty (Amendment) (No.2) Ordinance 1998 (33 of 1998) (Commencement) Notice 1999	61/99
5. Tax Exemption (1997 Tax Year) Order	62/99

Sessional Papers

1.No.104	-	The Lord Wilson Heritage Trust Annual Report 1997 - 1998
(to be presented by Secretary for Home Affairs)
2.No.105	-	Traffic Accident Victims Assistance Fund Annual Report by the Director of Social Welfare Incorporated for the year from 1 April 1997 to 31 March 1998
(to be presented by Secretary for Health and Welfare)
3.No.106	-	Report by the Commissioner of Correctional Services on the Administration of the Correctional Services Department Welfare Fund for the year ended 31 March 1998
(to be presented by Secretary for Security )

Reports

1.Report of the Bills Committee on Film Censorship (Amendment) Bill 1998

(to be presented by Hon Andrew CHENG, Chairman of the Bills Committee)

2. Report of the Bills Committee on District Councils Bill

(to be presented by Hon Ambrose LAU, Chairman of the Bills Committee)

II. Questions

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

In order to promote the exchange of information relating to the Year 2000 problem (commonly called the "Millennium Bug") on computer systems among commercial organizations, the United States Congress enacted the "Year 2000 Information and Readiness Disclosure Act" at the end of last year, to exempt these organizations from the legal liabilities that may arise from the disclosure and exchange of such information. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:

it has assessed the impacts of this Act on the Hong Kong merchants having business links with their counterparts in the United States; if so, the details of the assessment; and
the relevant authorities have any plan to formulate similar legislation; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply: Secretary for Information Technology and Broadcasting

2. Hon Eric LI to ask: (Translation)

In view of the downturn of the economy, the protracted high interest rates as well as the sluggish investment and consumer markets in the territory, will the Government inform this Council whether it has reassessed the business plans, including the expected fees, profitability and debt-repayment ability, in respect of the proposed infrastructure projects, and to compare the results of such assessments with the original estimates; if so, the details of the reassessment; if not, the reasons for it?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Treasury

3. Hon FUNG Chi-kin to ask: (Translation)

It is reported that Standard and Poor's, an international credit rating agency, have forecast that the percentage of bad and doubtful debts against the total amount of loans (referred to as "bad/doubtful debt ratios" below) made by banks in the territory would probably increase to more than 10% this year. In this connection, will the government inform this Council:

of the quarterly bad/doubtful debt ratios made by banks in the territory during the past two years; in particular, the respective bad/doubtful debt ratios for the categories of industrial/commercial loans and residential property mortgages; how various categories of bad/doubtful debt ratios compare to those of banks in the neighbouring regions or financial centres; and
whether it has assessed the impact of the increase in bad and doubtful debts on the sound operation and capital demands of banks, especially the small and medium sized banks; if so, the details of the assessment; whether it will consider raising the amount set in 1989 for the minimum capital requirement on locally-registered banks?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Financial Services

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

Regarding the meeting of the Council of International Advisers held in Hong Kong on 20 January this year, will the Government inform this Council whether:

it has assessed the effectiveness of this meeting and reviewed if there are areas in need of improvement; if so, the details of the assessment;
it will consider formulating detailed and definite themes and agendas prior to holding such meetings in future; if not, the reasons for that; and
it has considered extending the exchanges of information and opinions with these international advisers beyond the span of the meetings; if so, the specific plans; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Trade and Industry

5. Hon Michael HO to ask: (Translation)

Regarding the prevention of the abuse of the anti-impotence drug "Viagra", will the Government inform this Council of:

the measures in place to ensure that the drug which is routed through Hong Kong for re-export purpose will not be sold in the territory;
the number of prosecutions against the operators of pharmacies and drug stores for selling the drug illegally since its coming into existence; and
the measures taken to tackle the problem of the drug being casually prescribed by some private medical practitioners without regard to the condition of patients, and to educate the public not to abuse the drug?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health and Welfare

6. Hon James TO to ask: (Translation)

Regarding the rehousing of lodgers of bedspace apartments (commonly known as "cage homes") which have ceased operation, will the Government inform this Council:

whether it is aware of the present living conditions of lodgers whose cage homes were registered under the Bedspace Apartments Ordinance (Cap. 447) last year but have now ceased operation; among the lodgers, the respective numbers of households who are now living in private rental housing, paying higher rents than that when living in cage homes, and having two or more family members;
of the present occupancy rate of the singleton hostel at Shun Ning Road; whether all units of the hostel are now open for accommodation application by eligible applicants; if not, the expected date when all units will be open for application; and
whether it has estimated the respective numbers of cage homes that cannot have their licences renewed in March next year due to the failure to complete the building alteration works stipulated by the Administration and the households therein; and the plans in place to rehouse the households concerned?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs

*7. Hon Albert HO to ask: (Translation)

With regard to the construction of the West Rail (Phase I), will the Government inform this Council:

whether it knows:
1. the progress of land resumption at present; how it compares with the original schedule; if there is any delay, how far it is behind schedule and the reasons for that;
2. if there is any delay in the construction works; if so, the details of the delayed items and the time delayed; and
whether it has assessed if the Tsuen Wan - Yuen Long section and the Yuen Long - Tuen Mun section of the West Rail will be completed by the end of 2002 and 2003 respectively as scheduled?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport

*8. Dr Hon TANG Siu-tong to ask: (Translation)

Will the Government inform this Council:

of the application, vetting and approving procedures for the conversion or extension of the school premises of government and aided secondary and primary schools at present;
whether the relevant authorities have set a quota on the number of such applications to be approved every year;
of the total number of such applications received in the past three years, the reasons for the applications and the amounts of money applied for, the time required by the relevant authorities for vetting and approving the applications, the amounts of grants made, and the conditions imposed in giving approval; and
whether the relevant authorities have taken the initiative to check if the secondary and primary schools have converted or extended their premises without authorization; if so, the number of such cases discovered by the relevant authorities and the follow-up measures taken by them in the past three years; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education and Manpower

*9. Hon Fred LI to ask: (Translation)

In connection with the exercising of the powers conferred upon government officials by virtue of the Oil (Conservation and Control) Ordinance (Cap. 264), will the Government inform this Council:

whether the Administration has exercised these powers; if so, the dates when such powers were exercised, together with the relevant provisions and the reasons therefor;
whether government officials' exercising of such powers is limited to situations where emergencies exist or where the supply of oil is in acute shortage; if so, the justifications for that; and
if the answer to item (b) is in the negative, the scenarios (such as the emergence of a monopolized market of oil products) under which the Administration will make use of these powers to control the price at which oil may be supplied or sold?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Economic Services

*10. Hon SIN Chung-kai to ask:

The paging service industry is cornered by the thriving mobile phone service industry. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

of the amount of licence fees, broken down by the types of licences, collected by the Office of the Telecommunications Authority ("OFTA") in 1998;
of the respective expenses incurred by the OFTA in 1998 on matters related to the paging service industry and the mobile phone service industry;
given that the rates of returns on fixed assets of the OFTA Trading Fund were 56.9% and 43.8% in 1997/98 and 1996/97 respectively and well above the target rate of 14.5%, whether it has assessed if the current licence fees were set at an appropriate level; if so, the results of the assessment;
given that, as a result of severe competition, many paging service companies are paying the pager licence fee on behalf of their subscribers, whether it will consider lowering such licence fee; if so, the proposed amount or percentage of reduction and the commencement date of the new rate; and
of the measures that the OFTA has taken to lighten the burden of the paging service industry?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Information Technology and Broadcasting

*11. Hon Christine LOH to ask:

Will the Administration inform this Council of:

the respective numbers of persons, broken down by gender and nationality, who were asked to be stripped checked and to undergo a urine test (collectively called "such checks" below) upon their arrival at the airport in the past 12 months;
the percentage of such checks whereby the persons checked were found to possess illicit articles in the past 12 months;
the circumstances under which arriving passengers will be asked to undergo such checks;
the guidelines given to front-line officers in selecting persons for such checks; and
the explanations given to the selected persons before such checks; the languages in which such explanations are given; and the instructions given to front-line officers when the persons do not understand the languages used?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

*12. Dr Hon David LI to ask:

It is reported that despite the one-year residence requirement for approval of Comprehensive Social Security Assistance ("CSSA") applications, non-complying applications are nonetheless approved on discretionary basis. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

of the percentage of CSSA recipient families which have one or more family members not meeting the residence requirement;
of the total amount of CSSA granted to such families in the past three years; and
whether the relevant authorities will consider enforcing the residence requirement in vetting and approving CSSA applications?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health and Welfare

*13. Hon Emily LAU to ask:

Regarding the New Territories small houses, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council of:

the exact point in time that the review of the New Territories Small House Policy will be completed;
the number of small house applications approved in 1998 and the number of outstanding applications at present; and
the average waiting time for each application before it is processed by the relevant authorities?

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

*14. Hon Eric LI to ask: (Translation)

Regarding programmes on Legislative Council elections produced by the Radio Television Hong Kong ("RTHK") last year, will the Government inform this Council:

of the respective numbers of such programmes produced by the Radio Division and the Public Affairs Television Division of RTHK;
of the production cost of each programme; and
whether additional funding was allocated to RTHK for producing such programmes; if so, of the amount allocated?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Constitutional Affairs

*15. Hon Albert HO to ask: (Translation)

Regarding the mechanism adopted by the Council of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited ("SEHK") for vetting and approving membership applications, will the Government inform this Council whether:

it knows the respective numbers of individual and corporate membership applications received by SEHK in each of the past three years, together with a breakdown of approved and rejected applications under each category as well as the reasons for rejecting the applications concerned;
it knows the reasons why the Council of SEHK has adopted the existing "blackball voting system" instead of a simple majority voting system; whether SEHK will review its voting system; if so, the timetable for such a review; if not, the reasons for that; and
it will put up a request to SEHK or if it knows whether SEHK plans to revise its procedure for vetting and approving membership applications and to increase the transparency of the process; if SEHK has such a plan, the specific revision timetable; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Financial Services

*16. Hon Emily LAU to ask:

In 1996/97, only 5% of the university professors in Hong Kong were women. In this connection, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council whether they know:

the breakdown by gender of the numbers of professors, readers and lecturers in each tertiary institution funded by the University Grants Committee at present; and
of the plans adopted by the tertiary institutions to boost the number of women appointed to such academic posts?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education and Manpower

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

Will the Government inform this Council whether the Administration will consider introducing legislation to the effect that sellers are required to label clearly whether the meat on sale is chilled or fresh, so as to safeguard the interests of consumers; if so, of the details of the implementation plan; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health and Welfare

*18. Hon CHAN Yuen-han to ask: (Translation)

As most private medical practitioners do not provide consultation services on Sundays and public holidays, attendances at the accident and emergency departments of public hospitals on such days are higher than those on normal weekdays. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

of the mechanism in place to meet the public's demand for accident and emergency services on those days;
whether it will consider allocating resources to the Hong Kong Medical Association ("the Association") for enhancing and promoting its MediLink teleline service, so that the public can have information on the private medical practitioners who provide consultation services on Sundays and public holidays; if so, the details of such consideration; if not, the reasons for that; and
whether it will consider working in collaboration with the Association to set up an emergency medical service centre and engaging private medical practitioners to provide consultation services for the public on a rotation basis at the centre on Sundays and public holidays; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health and Welfare

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

In connection with the use of portable laser guns by the Hong Kong Police Force ("the Police") for the detection of speeding vehicles, will the Government inform this Council:

when the Police began to use this type of portable laser guns to detect speeding vehicles;
of the criteria adopted by the Police in deciding to use this type of laser guns, and whether it had made reference to the practices in other countries in detecting speeding vehicles before making such a decision; if so, the details of that;
given that in the process of detecting speeding vehicles, one police officer is responsible for holding the laser gun to measure the speed of vehicles while another officer is responsible for observing the speeding vehicles with binoculars and jotting down the plate numbers of such vehicles, how the Police can ensure that the vehicle the plate number of which has been jotted down is exactly the speeding vehicle detected earlier by the laser gun;
of the number of complaints received by the Independent Police Complaints Council ("IPCC") over the past year in connection with allegations against the Police for mistaking speeding vehicles and for instituting mistaken prosecutions against the involved persons for speeding; the criteria adopted by IPCC to determine whether these complaints were substantiated; and
of the measures adopted by the Police to minimize such mistaken prosecutions?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

*20. Hon CHAN Wing-chan to ask: (Translation)

It is reported that a service contractor for the Housing Department was suspected of having employed a Two-way Exit Permit ("TEP") holder to work in a public housing estate. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

of the number of cases in which TEP holders were found taking up employment in Hong Kong illegally, as well as the number of such cases in which the employers concerned were contractors providing services in public housing estates, in each of the past three years; whether prosecutions have been instituted against such service contractors; and
whether it will consider formulating measures to strengthen supervision over service contractors of public housing estates to prevent them from employing TEP holders; if so, whether such measures will include a provision in the service contracts to the effect that the Housing Department shall have the right to terminate the relevant contract if the contractor is proved to have employed illegal workers?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

* For written reply.

III. Bills

First Reading

1. Interpretation and General Clauses (Amendment) Bill 1999
2. Adaptation of Laws (No.5) Bill 1999
3. Adaptation of Laws (No.6) Bill 1999
4. Adaptation of Laws (No.7) Bill 1999
5. Companies (Amendment) Bill 1999

Second Reading (Debates to be adjourned)

1. Interpretation and General Clauses (Amendment) Bill 1999	:	Secretary for Justice
2.Adaptation of Laws (No.5) Bill 1999	:	Secretary for Planning, Environment and Lands
3.Adaptation of Laws (No.6) Bill 1999	:	Secretary for Health and Welfare
4. Adaptation of Laws (No.7) Bill 1999	:	Secretary for Financial Services
5. Companies (Amendment) Bill 1999	:	Secretary for Financial Services

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

1. Film Censorship (Amendment) Bill 1998	:	Secretary for Information Technology and Broadcasting
2. District Councils Bill	:	Secretary for Constitutional Affairs

Council Meeting ( Agenda ) 10 Mar 99

A 98/99-29(1)

Legislative Council

Agenda

Wednesday 10 March 1999 at 2:30 pm

I. Papers

Subsidiary Legislation	L.N. No.
1. Telecommunication (Amendment) Regulation 1999	58/99
2. Dangerous Drugs Ordinance (Amendment of Second Schedule) Order 1999	59/99
3. Dangerous Goods (Consignment by Air) (Safety) Regulations (Amendment of Schedule) Order 1999	60/99
4. Stamp Duty (Amendment) (No.2) Ordinance 1998 (33 of 1998) (Commencement) Notice 1999	61/99
5. Tax Exemption (1997 Tax Year) Order	62/99

Sessional Papers

1.No.104	-	The Lord Wilson Heritage Trust Annual Report 1997 - 1998
(to be presented by Secretary for Home Affairs)
2.No.105	-	Traffic Accident Victims Assistance Fund Annual Report by the Director of Social Welfare Incorporated for the year from 1 April 1997 to 31 March 1998
(to be presented by Secretary for Health and Welfare)
3.No.106	-	Report by the Commissioner of Correctional Services on the Administration of the Correctional Services Department Welfare Fund for the year ended 31 March 1998
(to be presented by Secretary for Security )

it has assessed the impacts of this Act on the Hong Kong merchants having business links with their counterparts in the United States; if so, the details of the assessment; and
the relevant authorities have any plan to formulate similar legislation; if not, the reasons for that?

of the quarterly bad/doubtful debt ratios made by banks in the territory during the past two years; in particular, the respective bad/doubtful debt ratios for the categories of industrial/commercial loans and residential property mortgages; how various categories of bad/doubtful debt ratios compare to those of banks in the neighbouring regions or financial centres; and
whether it has assessed the impact of the increase in bad and doubtful debts on the sound operation and capital demands of banks, especially the small and medium sized banks; if so, the details of the assessment; whether it will consider raising the amount set in 1989 for the minimum capital requirement on locally-registered banks?

it has assessed the effectiveness of this meeting and reviewed if there are areas in need of improvement; if so, the details of the assessment;
it will consider formulating detailed and definite themes and agendas prior to holding such meetings in future; if not, the reasons for that; and
it has considered extending the exchanges of information and opinions with these international advisers beyond the span of the meetings; if so, the specific plans; if not, the reasons for that?

the measures in place to ensure that the drug which is routed through Hong Kong for re-export purpose will not be sold in the territory;
the number of prosecutions against the operators of pharmacies and drug stores for selling the drug illegally since its coming into existence; and
the measures taken to tackle the problem of the drug being casually prescribed by some private medical practitioners without regard to the condition of patients, and to educate the public not to abuse the drug?

whether it is aware of the present living conditions of lodgers whose cage homes were registered under the Bedspace Apartments Ordinance (Cap. 447) last year but have now ceased operation; among the lodgers, the respective numbers of households who are now living in private rental housing, paying higher rents than that when living in cage homes, and having two or more family members;
of the present occupancy rate of the singleton hostel at Shun Ning Road; whether all units of the hostel are now open for accommodation application by eligible applicants; if not, the expected date when all units will be open for application; and
whether it has estimated the respective numbers of cage homes that cannot have their licences renewed in March next year due to the failure to complete the building alteration works stipulated by the Administration and the households therein; and the plans in place to rehouse the households concerned?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs

*7. Hon Albert HO to ask: (Translation)

With regard to the construction of the West Rail (Phase I), will the Government inform this Council:

whether it knows:
1. the progress of land resumption at present; how it compares with the original schedule; if there is any delay, how far it is behind schedule and the reasons for that;
2. if there is any delay in the construction works; if so, the details of the delayed items and the time delayed; and
whether it has assessed if the Tsuen Wan - Yuen Long section and the Yuen Long - Tuen Mun section of the West Rail will be completed by the end of 2002 and 2003 respectively as scheduled?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport

*8. Dr Hon TANG Siu-tong to ask: (Translation)

Will the Government inform this Council:

of the application, vetting and approving procedures for the conversion or extension of the school premises of government and aided secondary and primary schools at present;
whether the relevant authorities have set a quota on the number of such applications to be approved every year;
of the total number of such applications received in the past three years, the reasons for the applications and the amounts of money applied for, the time required by the relevant authorities for vetting and approving the applications, the amounts of grants made, and the conditions imposed in giving approval; and
whether the relevant authorities have taken the initiative to check if the secondary and primary schools have converted or extended their premises without authorization; if so, the number of such cases discovered by the relevant authorities and the follow-up measures taken by them in the past three years; if not, the reasons for that?

whether the Administration has exercised these powers; if so, the dates when such powers were exercised, together with the relevant provisions and the reasons therefor;
whether government officials' exercising of such powers is limited to situations where emergencies exist or where the supply of oil is in acute shortage; if so, the justifications for that; and
if the answer to item (b) is in the negative, the scenarios (such as the emergence of a monopolized market of oil products) under which the Administration will make use of these powers to control the price at which oil may be supplied or sold?

of the amount of licence fees, broken down by the types of licences, collected by the Office of the Telecommunications Authority ("OFTA") in 1998;
of the respective expenses incurred by the OFTA in 1998 on matters related to the paging service industry and the mobile phone service industry;
given that the rates of returns on fixed assets of the OFTA Trading Fund were 56.9% and 43.8% in 1997/98 and 1996/97 respectively and well above the target rate of 14.5%, whether it has assessed if the current licence fees were set at an appropriate level; if so, the results of the assessment;
given that, as a result of severe competition, many paging service companies are paying the pager licence fee on behalf of their subscribers, whether it will consider lowering such licence fee; if so, the proposed amount or percentage of reduction and the commencement date of the new rate; and
of the measures that the OFTA has taken to lighten the burden of the paging service industry?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Information Technology and Broadcasting

*11. Hon Christine LOH to ask:

Will the Administration inform this Council of:

the respective numbers of persons, broken down by gender and nationality, who were asked to be stripped checked and to undergo a urine test (collectively called "such checks" below) upon their arrival at the airport in the past 12 months;
the percentage of such checks whereby the persons checked were found to possess illicit articles in the past 12 months;
the circumstances under which arriving passengers will be asked to undergo such checks;
the guidelines given to front-line officers in selecting persons for such checks; and
the explanations given to the selected persons before such checks; the languages in which such explanations are given; and the instructions given to front-line officers when the persons do not understand the languages used?

of the percentage of CSSA recipient families which have one or more family members not meeting the residence requirement;
of the total amount of CSSA granted to such families in the past three years; and
whether the relevant authorities will consider enforcing the residence requirement in vetting and approving CSSA applications?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health and Welfare

*13. Hon Emily LAU to ask:

Regarding the New Territories small houses, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council of:

the exact point in time that the review of the New Territories Small House Policy will be completed;
the number of small house applications approved in 1998 and the number of outstanding applications at present; and
the average waiting time for each application before it is processed by the relevant authorities?

of the respective numbers of such programmes produced by the Radio Division and the Public Affairs Television Division of RTHK;
of the production cost of each programme; and
whether additional funding was allocated to RTHK for producing such programmes; if so, of the amount allocated?

it knows the respective numbers of individual and corporate membership applications received by SEHK in each of the past three years, together with a breakdown of approved and rejected applications under each category as well as the reasons for rejecting the applications concerned;
it knows the reasons why the Council of SEHK has adopted the existing "blackball voting system" instead of a simple majority voting system; whether SEHK will review its voting system; if so, the timetable for such a review; if not, the reasons for that; and
it will put up a request to SEHK or if it knows whether SEHK plans to revise its procedure for vetting and approving membership applications and to increase the transparency of the process; if SEHK has such a plan, the specific revision timetable; if not, the reasons for that?

the breakdown by gender of the numbers of professors, readers and lecturers in each tertiary institution funded by the University Grants Committee at present; and
of the plans adopted by the tertiary institutions to boost the number of women appointed to such academic posts?

of the mechanism in place to meet the public's demand for accident and emergency services on those days;
whether it will consider allocating resources to the Hong Kong Medical Association ("the Association") for enhancing and promoting its MediLink teleline service, so that the public can have information on the private medical practitioners who provide consultation services on Sundays and public holidays; if so, the details of such consideration; if not, the reasons for that; and
whether it will consider working in collaboration with the Association to set up an emergency medical service centre and engaging private medical practitioners to provide consultation services for the public on a rotation basis at the centre on Sundays and public holidays; if not, the reasons for that?

when the Police began to use this type of portable laser guns to detect speeding vehicles;
of the criteria adopted by the Police in deciding to use this type of laser guns, and whether it had made reference to the practices in other countries in detecting speeding vehicles before making such a decision; if so, the details of that;
given that in the process of detecting speeding vehicles, one police officer is responsible for holding the laser gun to measure the speed of vehicles while another officer is responsible for observing the speeding vehicles with binoculars and jotting down the plate numbers of such vehicles, how the Police can ensure that the vehicle the plate number of which has been jotted down is exactly the speeding vehicle detected earlier by the laser gun;
of the number of complaints received by the Independent Police Complaints Council ("IPCC") over the past year in connection with allegations against the Police for mistaking speeding vehicles and for instituting mistaken prosecutions against the involved persons for speeding; the criteria adopted by IPCC to determine whether these complaints were substantiated; and
of the measures adopted by the Police to minimize such mistaken prosecutions?

of the number of cases in which TEP holders were found taking up employment in Hong Kong illegally, as well as the number of such cases in which the employers concerned were contractors providing services in public housing estates, in each of the past three years; whether prosecutions have been instituted against such service contractors; and
whether it will consider formulating measures to strengthen supervision over service contractors of public housing estates to prevent them from employing TEP holders; if so, whether such measures will include a provision in the service contracts to the effect that the Housing Department shall have the right to terminate the relevant contract if the contractor is proved to have employed illegal workers?

1. Interpretation and General Clauses (Amendment) Bill 1999	:	Secretary for Justice
2.Adaptation of Laws (No.5) Bill 1999	:	Secretary for Planning, Environment and Lands
3.Adaptation of Laws (No.6) Bill 1999	:	Secretary for Health and Welfare
4. Adaptation of Laws (No.7) Bill 1999	:	Secretary for Financial Services
5. Companies (Amendment) Bill 1999	:	Secretary for Financial Services

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

1. Film Censorship (Amendment) Bill 1998	:	Secretary for Information Technology and Broadcasting
2. District Councils Bill	:	Secretary for Constitutional Affairs

IV. Motions

1. Proposed resolution under the Factories and Industrial Undertakings Ordinance and the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance

Secretary for Education and Manpower to move the following motion:

RESOLVED that the Construction Sites (Safety) (Amendment) Regulation 1998, made by the Commissioner for Labour on 22 September 1998, be approved, subject to the following amendments -

by deleting section 2(c);
in section 3, in the proposed regulation 38H(1)(c), by deleting "reasonable" and substituting "reasonably practicable";
by adding -
1. by repealing "scaffold,";
2. in subparagraph (b), by repealing "or scaffold".";
in section 4(b) -
1. in subparagraph (i), by deleting "or (4)";
2. by adding -
3. in subparagraph (ii), by deleting ", (2) or (3), 38B(1), 38C, 38D, 38G";
4. in subparagraph (iii)(A), by adding "and substituting "38A(2) or (3), 38B(1), 38C, 38D or 38G"" before the semicolon.

2. Proposed resolution under the Public Finance Ordinance

Secretary for the Treasury to move the following motion:

(See Proposed resolution at Appendix)

V. Members' Motions

1. Civil service's culture and efficiency

Hon Eric LI:

That in the light of the conclusions and recommendations contained in the Reports of Public Accounts Committee upon the Director of Audit's Report Nos. 30 and 31, this Council urges the Government to take note of the views expressed by Members of this Council on the culture, efficiency and frugality of the civil service.

Public Officer to attend : Chief Secretary for Administration

2. Vote of no confidence in the Secretary for Justice

Hon Margaret NG:

That this Council has no confidence in the Secretary for Justice.

Public Officers to attend

Chief Secretary for Administration
Secretary for Justice
Director of Public Prosecutions (Designated by the Chief Executive)

Clerk to the Legislative Council

Legislative Council

Agenda Wednesday 10 March 1999 at 2:30 pm

Legislative Council

Agenda Wednesday 10 March 1999 at 2:30 pm

Agenda

Wednesday 10 March 1999 at 2:30 pm

Agenda

Wednesday 10 March 1999 at 2:30 pm