A 99/00-23(1)

Legislative Council

Agenda

Wednesday 29 March 2000 and
Thursday 30 March 2000 at 2:30 pm respectively


I. Tabling of Papers

Subsidiary Legislation / InstrumentsNo.
1.Electoral Affairs Commission (Electoral Procedure) (Legislative Council) (Amendment) Regulation 2000

L.N. 65/2000
2.Chinese Medicine (Fees) Regulation

L.N. 69/2000
3.Public Revenue Protection (Revenue) Order 2000

L.N. 70/2000
4.Import and Export Ordinance (Amendment of Schedule 3) Notice 2000

L.N. 71/2000
5.Adaptation of Laws (No. 16) Ordinance 1999 (36 of 1999) (Commencement) Notice 2000

L.N. 72/2000
6.Road Users' Code G.N. 1754/2000

Other Paper

No.85-Report No. 34 of the Director of Audit on the results of value for money audits - February 2000
(to be presented by the President)

II. Questions for Written Replies

1. Hon SZETO Wah to ask: (Translation)

Regarding the problem of drug addiction and abuse of psychotropic substances among adolescents, will the Government inform this Council:

  1. of the annual breakdown, for the past three years, on the number of drug abusers aged below 21 by age groups each covering three years, the respective percentages of the drug abusers in the age groups of 15 and above who were students, and the distribution of the locations where adolescents were found abusing drugs;

  2. of the channels through which adolescent students get access to drugs, and how the authorities concerned track down the sources of drugs and combat drug trafficking activities; and

  3. whether it has assessed the effectiveness of publicizing the harmful effects of drug abuse and providing addiction treatment and rehabilitation services for adolescent students; if so, of the results of the assessment?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

2. Hon Ambrose LAU to ask: (Translation)

Regarding the various boards of professions established under section 5 of the Supplementary Medical Professions Ordinance (Cap. 359), will the Government inform this Council:

  1. of the respective numbers of members of such boards who are registered practitioners of the relevant professions and their percentages in the total membership, and of the boards whose chairmen are members of the relevant professions; and

  2. whether it will implement a policy to ensure that the chairmen and the majority of members of such boards are drawn from the relevant professionals; if so, of the details and the implementation timetable; if not, the reasons for that, as well as the measures in place to prevent a situation in which professionals are led by non-professionals?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health and Welfare

3. Hon Cyd HO to ask:

Regarding the detention of persons without the right of abode in Hong Kong, will the Government inform this Council:

  1. of the number of such persons who were pending deportation or removal after having served a sentence as at 1 March 2000, irrespective of whether a deportation order or removal order had been issued or against which an appeal had been lodged, together with a breakdown of such figure by:

    1. reason for detention;

    2. legal basis of detention;

    3. nationality of detainee; and

    4. the lengths of detention (two days or less, 3 to 7 days, 8 to 14 days, 15 to 30 days, 31 to 60 days, 61 to 180 days, 181 to 365 days, and over a year);

  2. whether it will consider publishing the above information regularly; if not, of the reasons for that; and

  3. whether it will adopt measures to avoid any such detention in the light of Article 9(1) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which provides that "no one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention"; if not, of the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

4. Hon Fred LI to ask: (Translation)

Regarding gambling activities within the communal facilities in Public Rental Housing ("PRH") estates, will the Government inform this Council:

  1. of the number of complaints about such gambling activities it received, and the number of cases in which the suspected gamblers were prosecuted, over the past three years;

  2. of the specific measures in place to crack down on such gambling activities, and whether it has reviewed the effectiveness of such measures; if it has done so, of the time and outcome of the review; and

  3. whether it will consider adopting other measures, such as revising the design of the communal facilities in PRH estates, to curb gambling activities; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs

5. Hon YEUNG Yiu-chung to ask: (Translation)

At present, the Department of Health and the Hong Kong Medical Association each operates a telephone hotline for the public to enquire about general out-patient services available on holidays and information regarding private medical practitioners who maintain consultation services during holidays. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council of:

  1. the respective numbers of enquiries made through the above two hotlines in each of the past three years; and

  2. the measures to encourage more people to make use of the two hotlines?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health and Welfare

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

Will the Government inform this Council whether, in order to facilitate District Council ("DC") members in managing DC business and communicating with the public by using information technology, it will provide DC members with funds and regular subsidies for purchasing personal computers and peripheral equipment, setting up personal web sites and updating the contents of their webpages regularly; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs

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

Will the Government inform this Council:

  1. of the respective numbers of annual reports, special issues and public consultation papers published by various government departments over the past three years; the number of copies printed and the cost incurred in respect of each publication;

  2. of the respective numbers of CD-ROMs made for each of the above-mentioned publications which were also available on CD-ROMs, and provide a comparison of unit manufacturing cost between the paper and CD-ROM versions of these publications; and

  3. whether it has plans to formulate a policy to replace the paper version of publications of a similar nature with CD-ROMs; if so, of the details and the department responsible for the coordination work; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs

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

It was reported that the Television Broadcasting Limited had recently applied to the government for a subscription television broadcasting licence through its wholly-owned subsidiary, with an ultimate target of providing 40 channels, including six for programmes produced on its own. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether at present, in vetting and approving applications for a subscription television broadcasting licence, it will consider the combined market share of the applicant and its associated companies in the entire television broadcasting industry, and their dominance in producing and providing programmes, as well as network services upon the acquisition of the licence; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Information Technology and Broadcasting

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

It was reported that the frequency of incidents involving air traffic safety at the Chek Lap Kok airport doubled that at the former airport, and half of the incidents were related to directions given by air traffic controllers. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council of:

  1. the total number of incidents involving air traffic safety since the opening of the airport, and the details of these incidents;

  2. the number of such incidents which were related to inappropriate directions given by air traffic controllers; and

  3. the training courses currently provided for air traffic controllers; whether it will consider strengthening their training in radar operation techniques and emergency response capabilities; if it will, of the details?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Economic Services

10. Dr Hon David LI to ask:

At the Ceremonial Opening of the Legal Year 2000 held on 17 January this year, the Chief Justice called on the Government to review the present arrangement whereby prosecutions at magistracies are predominantly conducted by lay prosecutors trained by the Department of Justice. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

  1. of the entry qualifications of lay prosecutors;

  2. of the training provided for lay prosecutors before they take on prosecution duties; and

  3. whether the Department has plans to recruit new lay prosecutors this year?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Justice

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

Will the Government inform this Council:

  1. whether any legislation or town planning guidelines are in place to prohibit the setting up of potentially dangerous facilities in their vicinity; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;

  2. of the total number of schools in the territory with petrol filling stations or other potentially dangerous facilities in their vicinity;

  3. of the number of complaints it received from schools last year about the presence of potentially dangerous facilities in their vicinity, and how it handled the complaints; and

  4. whether it has carried out risk assessments and offered remedial measures for schools with potentially dangerous facilities in their vicinity; among those schools, of the respective numbers of cases in which the schools or facilities involved have to be relocated; how it can ensure that before those remedial measures have been implemented, the contingency plans worked out by the schools concerned are adequate for protecting the safety of their teachers and students?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Planning and Lands

12. Hon Emily LAU to ask: (Translation)

The Administration informed this Council on 10 November last year that the Education Department would require the kindergartens found overcharging to return the overcharged fees to parents. However, it was reported that Gloria Kindergarten and Gloria Kindergarten (Norfolk Extension) had not yet refunded the fees they overcharged during the 1997-98 school year. In this connection, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council:

  1. of the names of the kindergartens found overcharging in the 1997-98 school year, the total overcharged amount, the number of pupils involved and the progress in returning the overcharged fees;

  2. whether they have any plan to invoke the Education Regulations (Cap. 279 sub. leg.) to prosecute the operators of kindergartens found overcharging; if not, of the reasons for that; and

  3. whether they have investigated if the aforesaid two kindergartens had overcharged fees in other school years?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education and Manpower

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

Will the Government inform this Council:

  1. whether it knows how Hong Kong's current driving test fees for various driving licences and the average instruction fees paid by learner drivers compare to the corresponding figures in other advanced countries in Europe and America;

  2. of the number of complaints about driving tests it received over the past three years, with a breakdown by the subject of complaint; and

  3. of the follow-up actions it has taken on these complaints?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport

14. Hon Fred LI to ask: (Translation)

It is learnt that the pressure of the potable water supply at the top floor flats in a number of Public Rental Housing ("PRH") buildings is too low to enable the town-gas water heaters in these flats to operate, causing inconvenience to the households there. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

  1. of the types of PRH buildings whose top floor flats are plagued by the problem of low water pressure; the reasons for the substandard water pressure in these buildings, and whether this is related to the design of these buildings;

  2. of the number of complaints it received from PRH tenants about excessively low water pressure, over the past three years, and how it handled these complaints; and

  3. whether it has considered adopting measures to find a thorough solution to the problem of excessively low water pressure in these buildings; if it has, of the details; if not, of the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Housing

15. Hon Emily LAU to ask: (Translation)

In respect of the accountability of the Commissioner of the Independent Commission Against Corruption in discharging his duties, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council:

  1. whether a mechanism is in place regarding how the Commissioner should be accountable to the Chief Executive ("CE") operationally; if so, of the implementation date and details of such a mechanism; if not, the reasons for that;

  2. of the number and contents of meetings held between the CE and the Commissioner since the establishment of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region;

  3. how the independence of the work of the Commissioner is ensured; and

  4. whether the contents of meetings between the CE and the Commissioner will be made public regularly; if so, of the commencement date of such an arrangement; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Chief Secretary for Administration

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

It was reported that the number of cases of overdue repayment of government loans by graduates of local tertiary institutions is on the rise. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

  1. in respect of each of the loan schemes available for application by students of local tertiary institutions,

    1. the number of loan applications approved and the total amount of loans;

    2. the number of cases of overdue repayment and the total overdue amount; and

    3. the number of cases in which deferred loan repayments were allowed and the total deferred amount involved in each of the past five fiscal years;

  2. of the criteria adopted for deciding on the overdue repayment cases to be referred to the Department of Justice; the number of cases referred to the Department of Justice over the past five years, the follow-up actions taken by the Department of Justice, and the number of cases in which the outstanding loans were successfully recovered;

  3. of the criteria adopted for approving applications for deferred loan repayments; and

  4. whether it will consider imposing penalties on those borrowers who can afford repaying the loans but deliberately delay or refuse doing so; if it will not, of the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education and Manpower

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

On 8th this month, an incident in which chemical liquids spilt from inbound containers occurred at the Kwai Chung Container Terminals, and 11 dockers felt sick after inhaling the poisonous gas. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:

  1. companies importing toxic chemicals are required to notify the government departments concerned prior to the arrival of the containers carrying such chemicals; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;

  2. international laws are in place to stipulate the safety measures that must be adopted when conveying toxic chemicals by sea; and

  3. it will formulate measures to prevent the recurrence of such incidents?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

18. Hon YEUNG Yiu-chung to ask: (Translation)

Regarding the extortion of "protection money" by lawless elements from production crews of television programmes and motion pictures shooting on location, will the Government inform this Council:

  1. of the total number of such cases reported to the Police during the past three years, and the number of those cases involving filming crews of non-Hong Kong television programmes and motion pictures production organisations being subject to extortion;

  2. of the total number of convicted cases and the average penalties imposed by the court in such cases;

  3. whether it has assessed the gravity of the above extortion problem; and

  4. of the specific measures in place to combat such illegal activities?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

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

Will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:

  1. the respective average time required currently for transit passengers to complete their transit procedure and to have their luggage conveyed interline at the airport; how these figures compare to those of Chengi International Airport in Singapore, Narita Airport in Japan and the Frankfurt Rhein-Main Airport in Germany; and

  2. if the authorities concerned have assessed the capability of the passenger flow design and the facilities at the airport at Chek Lap Kok in making Hong Kong a hub for passenger interchange?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Economic Services

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

The Administration is implementing the recommendations of the Commission on Innovation and Technology in order to promote the development of technology-based industries in Hong Kong, and the Growth Enterprise Market ("GEM") has been established primarily to provide a channel for emerging small-scale enterprises of innovations and technology to raise capital. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it has assessed the effectiveness of the GEM in performing the above-mentioned function; if it has, of the criteria adopted for and the outcome of the assessment; and of the measures it will adopt to strengthen the capability of the GEM to perform this function?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Financial Services

III. Bills

Second Reading (Debate to resume)

Appropriation Bill 2000 : Financial Secretary

IV. Members' Motions

Proposed resolution under the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance

Dr Hon LEONG Che-hung to move the following motion:

RESOLVED that the Road Traffic (Traffic Control) (Amendment) Regulation 2000, published as Legal Notice No. 39 of 2000 and laid on the table of the Legislative Council on 16 February 2000, be repealed.


Clerk to the Legislative Council