A 99/00-10(1)

Legislative Council

Agenda
Wednesday 1 December 1999 at 2:30 pm

I. Tabling of Papers
Subsidiary Legislation L.N. No.
1.Road Traffic (Traffic Control) (Amendment) Regulation 1999291/99
2.Designation of Museums (Amendment) (No. 3) Order 1999292/99
3.Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance (Public Markets) (Designation and Amendment of Tenth Schedule) (No. 6) Order 1999293/99
4.Declaration of Markets in the Urban Council Area (Amendment) (No. 4) Declaration 1999294/99
5.Fisheries Protection (Specification of Apparatus) Notice295/99
6.Provident Fund Schemes Legislation (Amendment) Ordinance 1998 (4 of 1998) (Commencement) (No. 2) Notice 1999296/99

Other Papers

1. No.39-Hong Kong Sports Development BoardAnnual Report 1998-99
(to be presented by Secretary for Home Affairs)

2.Report of the Bills Committee on Protection of Wages on Insolvency (Amendment) Bill 1999
(to be presented by Hon Eric LI Ka-cheung, Chairman of the Bills Committee)

3. Report of the Bills Committee on Provision of Municipal Services (Reorganization) Bill
(to be presented by Hon Andrew WONG, Chairman of the Bills Committee)


II. Questions

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

In view of the recent incidents in which river trade vessels from the Mainland sank in Hong Kong waters and caused sea pollution, will the Government inform this Council of:

  1. the existing legislation governing the activities of this type of vessels in Hong Kong waters;

  2. the number of incidents in which this type of vessels sank in Hong Kong waters in the past three years; and the measures to reduce such incidents; and

  3. the respective numbers of prosecutions and convictions in the past three years against the owners of sunken vessels which caused sea pollution?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Economic Services

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

With regard to the obtaining of personal particulars and personal particulars being used illegally, will the Government inform this Council:

  1. whether, in the past year, the Administration received any complaints about culprits who used the personal particulars of job-seekers, obtained under the guise of staff recruitment, to apply for credit cards; if there were such complaints, of the number of such cases; whether existing legislation prohibits potential employers from obtaining certain types of personal particulars from job-seekers; if there is no such legislation, whether the Administration will consider enacting legislation and formulating measures to prevent such acts; and

  2. of the number of cases handled by the Administration in the past three years which involved the unlawful use of other people's credit card information for purchases on the Internet or over the phone; of the means through which the offenders obtained such information, and whether the Administration has discussed with the credit card issuing organisations measures to be adopted to ensure that the personal particulars on credit card payment receipts will not be stolen?
Public Officers to reply:Secretary for Home Affairs
Secretary for Financial Services
Secretary for Security


3. Hon Kenneth TING to ask: (Translation)

Will the Government inform this Council:

  1. of the number of cases since the Reunification in which the Government has made enquiries with the relevant Mainland authorities regarding the reasons for the detention of Hong Kong residents in the Mainland without trial and the present conditions of the detainees; among those who are still being detained in the Mainland, of the number of detainees who have been detained for over six months;

  2. apart from conveying to the relevant Mainland authorities the requests of the families of the detainees to visit the detainees, of other assistance that it has rendered them; and

  3. given that the relevant Mainland authorities tend to demand payment by the families of the detainees of huge amounts of bail amounting to millions of dollars, whether it has sought on their behalf clarification from the relevant Mainland authorities of the basis for determining the amounts of bail; if it has, of such basis; if it has not, whether it will offer these families assistance in this regard?
Public Officer to reply :Secretary for Security

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

In view of the harmful effects of dioxin on human health, will the Government inform this Council:

  1. of the details and progress of the regular surveillance programme for dioxins in food; and

  2. whether it knows if local medical institutions currently carry out sample tests on the cumulative amount of dioxins in human bodies, especially pregnant women; if such tests are carried out, of the details; if not, whether the institutions concerned will consider conducting such tests?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health and Welfare

5. Hon CHENG Kai-nam to ask: (Translation)

The Government has decided in principle to gradually reduce Home Ownership Scheme ("HOS") production and increase the Home Purchase Loan Scheme ("HPLS") quota. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

  1. whether it has evaluated the reasons for the drastic decrease in the number of applications received in the last HPLS exercise; if it has, of the reasons for the decrease, and whether the authorities will modify the above decision;

  2. whether it will assess the public's demand for HPLS loans and HOS flats before finalizing the increase in the HPLS quota; if so, of the details of the assessment; and

  3. of the implications of a reduction in HOS flat production on the annual production target of 85　000 residential flats?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Housing

6. Ir Dr Hon HO Chung-tai to ask: (Translation)

Starting from 1 August this year, Government departments are permitted by stages to choose whether or not to continue to use the services of the Electrical and Mechanical Services Trading Fund ("EMSTF"). In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

  1. whether it has assessed the business prospects of the EMSTF in the next three years, and whether its service standards and charges are capable of competing equitably with those of the private sector providing the same services;

  2. of the Government departments that have by now procured or will shortly procure services originally provided by the EMSTF from other service providers by means of open tender, and the service items involved; and

  3. whether it will request Government departments to enter into long-term service contracts with the EMSTF for five years or longer, so as to safeguard stability in the business of the EMSTF?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Works

*7. Hon Bernard CHAN to ask:

It is noted that every morning large quantities of waste papers are left behind after newspaper vendors finish sorting the newspapers in the streets. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

  1. of the parties responsible for clearing up such waste papers; if public funds are used for clearing up such waste papers, of the reasons for that; and

  2. whether such waste papers are separated for recycling purpose?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs

*8. Hon HUI Cheung-ching to ask: (Translation)

Will the Government inform this Council whether:

  1. the Special Administrative Region ("SAR") Government will seek detailed information from the relevant Mainland authorities about the changes that the Central Government is planning to make in the laws, policies and regulations concerning business operations and taxation in the Mainland before such changes are implemented; if it will, whether and how such information is disseminated to Hong Kong businessmen doing business in the Mainland;

  2. the SAR Government has collaborated with the Mainland authorities concerned to disseminate the relevant information and explain the changes to Hong Kong businessmen doing business in the Mainland; if it has, of the details; if it has not, the reasons for that; and

  3. the SAR Government will discuss with the relevant Mainland authorities the establishment of a mechanism for helping Hong Kong businessmen in the Mainland to understand and adjust to such changes expeditiously?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Trade and Industry

*9. Hon James TO to ask: (Translation)

Will the Government inform this Council:

  1. of the number of compensation claims lodged by members of the public against the Government in each of the past three years in relation to violation of rules by police officers on duty, together with a breakdown of these claims by the cause of action; and

  2. among these claims,

    1. of the number of cases adjudicated by the court, and the number of such cases in which the plaintiff won the lawsuit, as well as the amount of compensation awarded to each successful plaintiff; and

    2. of the number of cases settled out of court and the amount of compensation awarded to each of these plaintiffs?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

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

Recently, there were several cases in which computer equipment in schools was stolen. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

  1. of the number of theft cases in primary and secondary school premises in each of the past three years; the categories and the estimated total value of items stolen; the distribution of those schools; whether the number of such crime is on the rise; if so, if it has assessed the causes;

  2. of the total funding allocated to primary and secondary schools for the installation of security devices in each of the past three years; the major kinds of security devices on which the fundings were spent;

  3. of the measures in place to combat such crimes; and

  4. how it will ensure that information technology education in the relevant schools will not be affected by the theft of computer equipment?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education and Manpower

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

It is learnt that the Housing Authority plans to let clinic premises in public housing estates by open tender with effect from 1 January next year, in place of the existing practice of allocating such premises to doctors and dentists recommended by the Estate Doctors Association Limited and the Estate Dental Group of the Hong Kong Dental Association. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether the Housing Authority:

  1. will use the bid prices offered by the tenderers as the only basis for determining the successful bidders; if so, how such a practice will affect the future fees charged by the clinics concerned;

  2. plans to set a standard rate for the fees charged by these clinics in order to prevent overcharging in the future; if not, of the reasons for that; and

  3. will consider allocating clinic premises by ballot rather than by tender; if not, of the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Housing

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

Will the Government inform this Council:

  1. in respect of each reformatory school,

    1. of the number of times in which solitary confinement was imposed on the children under its custody, and the average duration of each solitary confinement of these children; and

    2. of the number of children who were confined again within two days following a 7-day confinement over the past year;

  2. whether each reformatory school has laid down criteria for deciding on the duration of confinement, and informed its staff and children under custody of such criteria; if not, of the reasons for that; and

  3. of the measures in place to ensure that the imposition of solitary confinement is not in breach of the provision of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which stipulates that every child deprived of liberty shall be treated with humanity?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health and Welfare

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

Will the Government inform this Council whether:

  1. it has stipulated the air quality standards inside a moving air-conditioned bus; if it has, of the details;

  2. it has conducted regular sample checks on the air quality inside these buses; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;

  3. it knows if back-up air-conditioning systems are installed in the air-conditioned buses of franchised bus companies; and

  4. it knows the guidelines issued by respective franchised bus companies to their bus-drivers concerning the contingency measures to be taken when the air-conditioning system in the bus fails?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport

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

In reply to a question asked in this Council on 14 July this year, the Secretary for Financial Services advised that during last year and the first six months this year, the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong ("SEHK") had issued 81 letters of enquiry to listed companies, seeking confirmations and/or additional information from their directors in respect of the qualifications made in the auditors' reports on their financial statements. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

  1. of the names of the companies which received the letters and the details, set out in table form, of the qualifications made in the auditors' reports; and

  2. of the disciplinary action taken by the SEHK, upon the completion of investigations, against the companies and their directors found to have violated the Rules Governing the Listing of Securities; and in cases where the relevant laws were suspected to have been breached, whether the SEHK has referred them to law enforcement agencies for follow-up; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Financial Services

*15. Dr Hon David LI to ask:

It was reported that 97 cases of abuse of elderly people were reported to the Social Welfare Department in the first nine months of this year. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

  1. of the number of such abuse cases reported to the authorities in the past three years and whether these cases are on the rise;

  2. whether it will commission a study to examine the general causes of such abuse; and

  3. of its plans to contain the problem?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health and Welfare

*16. Hon SIN Chung-kai to ask: (Translation)

Will the Government inform this Council:

  1. of the number of complaints received by the Office of the Telecommunications Authority ("OFTA") in the past three years about the refusal of paging companies to relay messages to their subscribers; the information contained in the messages concerned; and how the OFTA handled the complaints and followed up the substantiated cases;

  2. of the penalties imposed on those paging companies which have violated the licensing conditions for refusing to relay messages to their subscribers;

  3. of the measures in place to ensure that freedom of communication and of speech enjoyed by the public will not be infringed upon by paging companies; and

  4. as more and more paging companies have relocated their operation centres for paging services to the Mainland, how it ensures that freedom of communication and of speech enjoyed by the public will not be undermined by the fact that the relocated centres must observe the relevant laws in the Mainland?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Information Technology and Broadcasting

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

It is learnt that the management committee of Heng On Estate in Ma On Shan applied to the Land Registrar for registration of the owners as an owners' corporation on 18 September last year but the application has not yet been approved. In this connection, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council:

  1. of the reasons for not yet granting approval to this application, and the expected date the approval will be granted;

  2. of the number of applications for registration as owners' corporations made in the past three years which were still awaiting approval after a lapse of one year since submission; and

  3. whether it will consider amending the relevant legislation and streamlining relevant administrative procedure with a view to shortening the time required for vetting and approving such applications?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs

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

Will the Government inform this Council:

  1. of the number of complaints that the authorities received concerning overcharging by taxi drivers in the past three years and the number of such cases in which taxi drivers were prosecuted and convicted of overcharging offences; and

  2. whether it will consider stipulating that when taxi drivers receive fares, they should take the initiative to ask the passengers if they need fare receipts; if not, of the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport

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

Will the Government inform this Council of the number of studies it commissioned private consultancy firms to undertake in the past three years, on issues pertaining to land use planning, and of the subject and scope, the current progress and the consultancy fees of each of the studies?

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

*For written reply.

III. Bills

First Reading

1. Merchant Shipping (Safety) (Amendment) Bill 1999
2. Dangerous Goods (Amendment) Bill 1999

Second Reading (Debates to be adjourned)

1. Merchant Shipping (Safety) (Amendment) Bill 1999:Secretary for Economic Services

2. Dangerous Goods (Amendment) Bill 1999:Secretary for Security

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

1. Protection of Wages on Insolvency (Amendment) Bill 1999:Secretary for Education and Manpower

2. Provision of Municipal Services (Reorganization) Bill:Secretary for Constitutional AffairsHead, Task Force on Reorganisation of Municipal Services


IV. Members' Motions

1. Small and medium enterprises

Hon Mrs Selina CHOW: (Translation)

That, as small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are the mainstay of Hong Kong's economy, this Council urges the Government to provide a positive steer in areas such as financing, information provision, technical support, market development, quality support, infrastructure, environmental support and human resources development, and homogenize the strengths of the Government, the public and private organizations in order to promote the development of SMEs.

Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Trade and Industry

2. Quality of public housing

Hon CHENG Kai-nam: (Translation)

That, as the public are losing confidence in public housing after the successive surfacing of problems of poor quality construction and substandard piling works, this Council urges the authorities to face up to the issue and adopt the following measures:

  1. review and improve the existing mechanism for supervising construction works, including defining clearly the responsibilities of the parties concerned, penalizing substandard project consultancy firms and defaulting officials and enhancing co-operation with the relevant professional institutes, so as to ensure the effectiveness of the supervisory mechanism;

  2. review and raise the construction, repair and maintenance standards of public housing;

  3. improve the existing subcontracting practice; and

  4. revise and improve the contents and arrangements of the existing training programmes for construction workers in order that the trainees can meet the industry's needs,
so as to ensure the quality of public housing and restore public confidence.

Amendment to Hon CHENG Kai-nam's motion

Ir Dr Hon HO Chung-tai: (Translation)

To delete ", as the public are losing confidence in public housing after the successive surfacing of problems of poor quality construction and substandard piling works,"; to delete "issue and" and substitute with "problems of the poor quality of public housing and substandard piling works etc. and to expeditiously"; to add "improvement" after "adopt the following"; to add "in particular the means of supervising contracting-out projects," after "supervising construction works,"; to delete "including defining" and substitute with "and define"; to delete "," after "of the parties concerned" and substitute with "; the Housing Department should also commit to fulfilling its duty to police housing safety,"; to delete "penalizing" and substitute with "punishing"; to add "contractors and" after "substandard"; to delete "and" after "project consultancy firms" and substitute with "as well as"; to add "," after "defaulting officials"; to add "and partnership" after "and enhancing co-operation"; to add "and trade associations" after "with the relevant professional institutes"; to add "quality of construction and" after "so as to ensure the"; to add "review and" before "improve the existing subcontracting practice"; to add "and the policy of awarding contracts to the lowest bidders; (4) examine immediately the causes of the incidents of substandard piling works; conduct a thorough technical review of the designs of public housing blocks under construction and those to be built using similar types of piles, and amend the design of the superstructure including the building height, so as to ensure safety" after "improve the existing subcontracting practice"; to delete "(4)" after "; and" and substitute with "(5)"; to delete "improve" from "revise and improve" and substitute with "enhance"; to add "in consultation with the relevant trade associations and trade unions" after "existing training programmes for construction workers"; to add "the skills acquired by" after "in order that"; to add "actual" after "the trainees can meet the industry's"; and to delete ", so as to ensure the quality of public housing and restore public confidence".

Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Housing

Clerk to the Legislative Council