A 99/00-11(1)

Legislative Council

Agenda

Wednesday 8 December 1999 at 2:30 pm

I. Tabling of Papers

Subsidiary Legislation		L.N. No.
1.	Ancillary Dental Workers (Dental Hygienists) (Amendment) Regulation 1999	299/99
2.	Midwives (Registration and Disciplinary Procedure) Regulation	300/99
3.	Midwives Registration (Miscellaneous Provisions) Regulation	301/99
4.	Child Abduction and Custody (Parties to Convention) (Amendment) (No. 2) Order 1999	302/99
5.	Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance (Public Pleasure Grounds) (Amendment of Fourth Schedule) (No. 8) Order 1999	303/99
6.	Trainee Solicitors (Amendment) (No. 2) Rules 1999	304/99
7.	Tax Reserve Certificates (Rate of Interest) (No.8) Notice 1999	305/99

Other Papers

1.No.40	-	Report by the Commissioner of Police on the Police Children's Education Trust and the Police Education and Welfare Trust for the period 1 April 1998 to 31 March 1999
(to be presented by Secretary for Security)
2.No.41	-	Ocean Park Corporation Annual Report 1998-1999
(to be presented by Hon Ronald ARCULLI, who will address the Council)
3.No.42	-	Report of the Public Accounts Committee on Report No. 33A of the Director of Audit on the Results of Value for Money Audits and Supplemental Report on Report No. 32 of the Director of Audit on the Results of Value for Money Audits(December 1999 - P.A.C. Report No. 33A)
(to be presented by Hon Eric LI, who will address the Council)

II. Questions

1. Dr Hon LEONG Che-hung to ask: (Translation)

In recent years, fresh graduates from local medical schools have experienced difficulties in finding jobs and training posts in public medical institutions. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

1. of the respective annual numbers of registration of local and overseas graduates as general medical practitioners in the past three years and of the respective numbers of local medical students expected to graduate in this and each of the next three academic years;

2. of the respective annual costs of training a local medical student and the fees paid by the student, in each of the past three years; and

3. when it will assess Hong Kong's need for medical practitioners and adjust the future intake of medical students by the local universities?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education and Manpower

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

In view of China's imminent accession to the World Trade Organization ("WTO"), will the Government inform this Council:

1. of the current progress of work undertaken by the group set up to study the economic opportunities as well as implications brought about by the accession of China to the WTO and the opening up of its market;

2. whether it has assessed if Hong Kong's role as an intermediary for the trading activities across the strait will be weakened once Taiwan joins the WTO; and

3. of the specific plans to promote Hong Kong as an ideal business base with a view to encouraging Mainland and overseas enterprises to form partnership with local enterprises in developing the Mainland market?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Trade and Industry

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

It is learnt that in June this year, a Hong Kong permanent resident holding a British National (Overseas) passport was arrested in Thailand while visiting the country and deported to Mainland China, allegedly without going through any extradition proceedings, and he is now being detained at the Kemulang Detention Centre in Guangzhou. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

1. whether it has approached the relevant Thai authorities to find out the legal authority and procedure based on which the Hong Kong resident was arrested and deported to the Mainland; and

2. of the measures in place to ensure that the personal freedom of Hong Kong residents outside Hong Kong is suitably protected by the relevant law?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

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

It was reported that the Chairman of the preparatory board of the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing ("HKEC") was negotiating with the Chicago Board of Trade and Eurex on a proposed alliance between the two exchanges and the new HKEC, which will come into operation early next year, for the trading of certain financial products. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:

1. it knows the progress of the negotiations and the types of financial products involved;

2. it has assessed the merits and demerits of the formation of such an alliance for the development of the financial markets in Hong Kong; and

3. it has assessed if the new HKEC has to make large investments in the trading system in order to facilitate the formation of the alliance; and if the systems (such as the electronic order matching system for the trading of Hang Seng Index futures and options contracts) currently used and being developed by the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Futures Exchange have to be replaced?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Financial Services

5. Hon Emily LAU to ask: (Translation)

Will the Executive Authorities inform this Council whether it has assessed if the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights has primacy over the Basic Law; if so, when and how changes will be made to the electoral systems of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to achieve full compliance with the Covenant?

Public Officers to reply

:

Secretary for Justice Secretary for Constitutional Affairs

6. Hon Michael HO to ask: (Translation)

The recent transfer of the former Director of Broadcasting, a departmental grade officer, to the post of Principal Hong Kong Economic and Trade Representative, Tokyo, has caused some members of the public to worry that the principle of Radio Television Hong Kong's ("RTHK") editorial independence and autonomy may change. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

1. of the policy on the transfer of departmental grade officers to posts of non-departmental grades (including the circumstances under which such transfers will be considered, and whether it is stipulated that such transfers are confined to departmental grade officers of certain ranks or above); and of the differences between this transfer policy and that applicable to general grade officers;

2. of the circumstances under which departmental grade officers who have been transferred to posts of non-departmental grades will switch to the general grades; and

3. in order to avoid similar transfers in the future causing public concern again, whether it will consider ways to further ensure the editorial autonomy of RTHK, including reconsidering the corporatization of RTHK?

Public Officers to reply

:

Secretary for the Civil Service Secretary for Information Technology and Broadcasting

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

Will the Government inform this Council whether it has discussed with vehicle dealers the importation of vehicles running on less-polluting fuels; if so, of the vehicle manufacturing countries and the vehicle manufacturers which are the subject of the discussion; and whether it will consider introducing an incentive scheme to encourage vehicle dealers to import such vehicles?

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

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

Will the Government inform this Council whether it conducts regular sample tests on the motor vehicle diesel imported to Hong Kong to ascertain if its sulphur content has exceeded the statutory maximum allowable sulphur content of 0.05%; if it conducts such tests, of the highest, lowest, average and medium sulphur contents in the samples tested in the past year?

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

*9. Hon Bernard CHAN to ask:

Will the Government inform this Council of the respective numbers of persons:

1. who paid salaries tax at the standard rate of 15% in each of the past four financial years; and

2. who paid salaries tax and were granted tax allowances or deductions in the 1998-1999 financial year, together with a breakdown by the types of allowances and deductions claimed?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Treasury

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

It is learnt that Phase One construction works of the Pok Oi Hospital Extension Project will begin next year. During the construction period, the Accident and Emergency Department ("A&ED") of the hospital has to be closed temporarily and patients will need to attend its newly established 24-hour clinic and the A&EDs of Tuen Mun Hospital ("TMH") and North District Hospital ("NDH"). In this connection, will the Government inform this Council, in respect of the arrangements for the following during the construction period, whether it knows:

1. apart from those deployed to the newly established 24-hour clinic and the A&EDs of TMH and NDH, the specific job arrangements for the other medical staff in the present establishment of the A&ED of the hospital;

2. whether the Rehabilitation Services Department of the hospital will receive rehabilitating patients not residing in Yuen Long district who are referred by the A&EDs of TMH and NDH;

3. other than deploying the medical staff from the A&ED of Pok Oi Hospital to TMH and NDH, whether the Hospital Authority ("HA") has plans to further increase the medical staff in the A&EDs of these two hospitals; if so, of the departments from which the additional medical staff will come; if not, whether the HA has assessed if the queuing times for consultation in respect of various triage categories of A&ED attenders will be longer than those at present; if it has made such assessment, of the results;

4. of the respective target queuing times for consultation set for A&ED attenders who belong to the triage categories 4 and 5 attending the 24-hour clinic in future; and

5. whether it has assessed if the need for emergency ambulance service in North-West New Territories will increase; if the need will increase, of the details and whether the numbers of emergency ambulances and ambulancemen will be increased for this reason?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health and Welfare

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

It was reported that a senior police inspector took an exhibit in a criminal case home as a souvenir without authority, and in a sale of flat case, another police inspector refused to pay the commission to the estate agent and produced his warrant card to warn the agent against lodging a complaint. However, the police did not report the two complaints to the Independent Police Complaints Council ("IPCC") upon receiving the complaints. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council of:

1. the findings of the investigation in regard to the two complaints;

2. the number of complaints received in the past three years by the Complaints Against Police Office ("CAPO") categorized as cases which did not require the submission of investigation reports to the IPCC; and

3. the criteria it has adopted for determining the complaint cases received by the CAPO which do not require the submission of investigation reports to the IPCC; and the measures in place to ensure strict compliance with these criteria by the CAPO?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

*12. Hon LAW Chi-kwong to ask: (Translation)

Will the Government inform this Council if it knows:

1. the respective numbers of persons injured in traffic accidents and in industrial accidents who were treated in hospitals under the Hospital Authority ("HA") in the past year; the public expenditure involved in treating such persons; and the estimated respective numbers of persons among these two types of injured persons who were entitled to claim medical expenses from insurance companies; and

2. whether the HA has estimated the additional amount of revenue that will be generated annually if the medical costs are fully recovered from the injured persons treated in its hospitals who are entitled to claim back the medical expenses from insurance companies, and the administrative costs involved if the HA claims, on behalf of all such injured persons, the medical insurance compensation equivalent to the full medical costs from the insurance companies?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health and Welfare

*13. Dr Hon LUI Ming-wah to ask: (Translation)

The Hong Kong Trade Development Council ("TDC") signed a contract with a private developer in 1984 for the construction of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre ("HKCEC") and supporting facilities, including two hotels and a 33-storey office/trade mart tower. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

1. whether it knows
   1. the reasons for the TDC's entrusting the management of the HKCEC to an operator which is a subsidiary of the developer, and stipulating in the management contract that the operator shall have the management right for a period as long as 40 years;

   2. the method for calculating the annual fee payable to the TDC by the operator, and the amount of annual fee paid in each of the past five years; and

   3. if the TDC has a right to effect early termination of the management contract, and whether it will consider doing so; if it will not consider, of the reasons for that; and
   
   
2. whether it has assessed the causes of the rental charges for the convention and exhibition areas in the HKCEC being on average higher (approaching four times in an extreme case) than those of comparable venues in Singapore, Taipei, Bangkok and Melbourne, and whether the higher rentals are attributable to handing over the management of the HKCEC to a private operator?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Trade and Industry

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

Last month, the Government offered a portion of the local shares it had bought in August last year for public subscription in the form of the Tracker Fund of Hong Kong ("TraHK"), and members of the public were keen to apply for the purchase of the TraHK units. In this connection, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council:

1. whether they know the number of first-time share buyers among the local retail investors who applied to purchase TraHK units;

2. how they will make the public aware that the unit prices of TraHK may fall as well as rise, and that the Government will not use taxpayers' money to compensate investors for any losses incurred by investing in TraHK; and

3. of the Government officials who are not permitted to buy TraHK units and the reasons for it?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Financial Services

*15. Dr Hon David LI to ask:

It was reported that of the 2.46 million calls to the 999 emergency hotline received by the Police Regional Command and Control Centres during the period from January to October this year, 72% were not calls that required emergency assistance. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council of the measures it will adopt to reduce these non-emergency calls?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

*16. Hon SIN Chung-kai to ask:

Regarding the development and application of geographical information systems ("GIS") in Hong Kong, will the Government inform this Council:

1. whether it knows the current application of GIS in Government departments and subvented organizations;

2. whether it has plans to integrate the spatial data assets held by individual departments and to interconnect the GIS of Government departments, so as to fully exploit the full potential of GIS in improving the provision of services; if so, of the details and timetable; if not, of the reasons for that;

3. of the efforts it has made to incorporate GIS in Government departments in the Electronic Services Delivery initiatives; and

4. of the policies and plans to promote the development of a shared spatial data infrastructure and the broader application of GIS within and between Government departments as well as between the Government and the private sector?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Information Technology and Broadcasting

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

It was reported that during the publicity campaign for the first District Council elections, several election forums organized by the Home Affairs Department were cancelled because the relevant candidates refused to attend. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

1. of the number of election forums organized by the Administration
   1. that were cancelled owing to the candidates' refusal to attend; and

   2. held as scheduled; and of the average attendance by members of the public;
   
   
2. of the average public expenses incurred by each election forum;

3. whether it has reviewed the effectiveness of election forums in enhancing voters' understanding of the candidates' platforms; and

4. whether it will consider using other forms of activities to replace election forums in future District Council elections?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs

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

It is learnt that many advanced countries have implemented the Eco-Label Programme and there are several thousand kinds of products conforming to the environmental standards ("green products") which have been allowed to use the eco-label. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:

1. it has plans to implement the eco-label programme in Hong Kong; if there is no such plan, of the reasons for that;

2. it knows, with regard to Government departments and subvented organizations at present:
   1. the respective proportions of the values of green products and recycled products in the total value of their procurement; and

   2. the respective proportions of the values of non-green products (which can be substituted with green products) in the total value of their procurement;
   
   
3. it has laid down guidelines requiring Government departments and subvented organizations to give priority to procure green products as far as practicable; if it has, of the details of the guidelines; if not, of the reasons for that; and

4. it has compiled statistics on the ratio of imported green products to the total value of imports; if it has, of the ratio; if not, whether it plans to compile the statistics; if it does, of the details of the plan?

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

*19. Hon Christine LOH to ask:

The Ombudsman's Investigation Report on Registration and Inspection of Kindergartens made 12 recommendations for strengthening the supervision of kindergartens with a view to preventing malpractices such as the operation of unregistered kindergartens, over-enrolment of pupils, over-charging of school fees and admission of underaged pupils by kindergartens. In this connection, will the Administration inform this Council:

1. of the specific timetable and detailed steps for implementing the Ombudsman's recommendations; and

2. among the 10 cases of over-charging of fees by kindergartens in the last three school years, of the number of kindergartens which have refunded parents all the over-charged fees; and the assistance it has offered to those parents who have not been refunded the over-charged fees?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education and Manpower

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

Will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:

1. according to the views of the professional bodies concerned, the average time required for a medical practitioner in a paediatrics clinic to diagnose the conditions of a paediatrics patient and give appropriate treatment;

2. the current average consultation time for each paediatrics patient attending a paediatrics specialist out-patient clinic of the Hospital Authority ("HA"); and

3. if the HA has assessed the adequacy of the current establishment of medical practitioners in these paediatrics clinics in meeting the demand; and if the HA regularly reviews the establishment of medical practitioners in these clinics?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health and Welfare

*For written reply.

III. Bills

First Reading

1. Consular Relations Bill

2. Road Traffic Legislation (Amendment) Bill 1999

Second Reading (Debates to be adjourned)

1. Consular Relations Bill	: Chief Secretary for Administration
2. Road Traffic Legislation (Amendment) Bill 1999	: Secretary for Transport

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

Adaptation of Laws (No.20) Bill 1999 : Secretary for Financial Services

IV. Motions

Proposed resolution under the Industrial Training (Construction Industry) Ordinance Secretary for Education and Manpower to move the following motion:

RESOLVED that the Resolution made and passed by the Legislative Council on 17 December 1975 and published as Legal Notice No. 271 of 1975 be amended by repealing "0.25 per cent" in paragraph (a) and substituting "0.4%".

V. Members' Bills

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

Order of Friars Minor in Hong Kong Incorporation Bill : Hon Ambrose LAU

VI. Members' Motions

1. Proposed resolution under the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance

Hon Margaret NG:

RESOLVED that in relation to the Immigration (Amendment) Regulation 1999, published as Legal Notice No. 273 of 1999 and laid on the table of the Legislative Council on 17 November 1999, the period referred to in section 34(2) of the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance (Cap.1) for amending subsidiary legislation be extended under section 34(4) of that Ordinance to the meeting of 5 January 2000.

2. Urban Renewal Authority White Bill

Dr Hon LEONG Che-hung: (Translation)

That this Council notes the Urban Renewal Authority White Bill.

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

3. Establishing an organization for recovering alimony

Hon CHOY So-yuk: (Translation) That, as the existing mechanism in Hong Kong for the recovery of alimony is ineffective, this Council urges the Government to draw on overseas experience and immediately set up an intermediary organization, which matches the actual local circumstances and is cost-effective, to take charge of the collection, recovery and payment of alimony as well as other relevant work.

Amendment to Hon CHOY So-yuk's motion

Hon Mrs Miriam LAU: (Translation)

To delete "draw on overseas experience and immediately set up an intermediary organization, which matches the actual local circumstances and is cost-effective, to take charge of the collection, recovery and payment of alimony as well as other relevant work" and substitute with "improve the procedure for recovering alimony so as to enhance its efficiency, and to draw up measures to enable those people who have financial difficulties due to defaulted alimony and are eligible for Comprehensive Social Security Assistance to receive assistance payment immediately, so as to meet their urgent needs".

Amendment to Hon Mrs Miriam LAU's amendment

Hon LAW Chi-kwong: (Translation)

To delete "draw up measures to enable those people who have" and substitute with "set up an alimony council to assist in the collection and payment of alimony to single-parent families, in order to prevent them from suffering"; and to add "enable those people who" after "due to defaulted alimony and".

Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Home Affairs

Clerk to the Legislative Council