Council Meeting ( Agenda ) 4、5 & 6 February 2004

A 03/04-16

Legislative Council

Agenda

Wednesday 4 February 2004, Thursday 5 February 2004
and Friday 6 February 2004 at 2:30 pm respectively

I. Tabling of Papers

Subsidiary Legislation / Instruments		L.N. No.
1.	Land (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Amendment) Ordinance 2003 (17 of 2003) (Commencement) Notice 2004	1/2004
2.	Air Transport (Licensing of Air Services) (Amendment) Regulation 2004	4/2004
3.	Animals and Plants (Protection of Endangered Species) (Exemption) (Amendment) Order 2004	5/2004
4.	Animals and Plants (Protection of Endangered Species) Ordinance (Amendment of Schedules) Notice 2004	6/2004
5.	Nurses (Registration and Disciplinary Procedure) (Amendment) Regulation 2004	7/2004
6.	Enrolled Nurses (Enrolment and Disciplinary Procedure) (Amendment) Regulation 2004	8/2004
7.	Protection of Children and Juveniles (Places of Refuge) (Amendment) Order 2004	9/2004
8.	Banking Ordinance (Amendment of Section 81(6)) Notice 2004	10/2004
9.	Import and Export (General) Regulations (Amendment of Seventh Schedule) Notice 2004	11/2004
10.	Tax Reserve Certificates (Rate of Interest) Notice 2004	12/2004
11.	Employees Compensation Assistance (Amendment) Ordinance 2002 (16 of 2002) (Commencement) Notice 2004	13/2004
12.	Quarantine and Prevention of Disease Ordinance (Amendment of First Schedule) Order 2004	14/2004
13.	Prevention of the Spread of Infectious Diseases Regulations (Amendment of Form) Order 2004	15/2004

Other Paper

No.54 -	Employees Retraining Board Annual Report 2002-2003
(to be presented by Secretary for Education and Manpower)

II. Questions for Written Replies

1. Hon Audrey EU to ask: (Translation)

Of the seven subvented schools for physically handicapped children in Hong Kong, two have hostels for students who need residential places. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the number of children currently waiting for admission to the two schools and their hostels, as well as the average time such children have so far been waiting; and
(b)	whether it has plans to provide hostels in the other five schools or redeploy the existing hostel resources; if so, of the details of the plans?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education and Manpower

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

Will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	in respect of the past three financial years, of:
	(i)	the number of cases of non-compliance with the Hong Kong origin rules detected by the government departments concerned through inspections or reports from the public, the amount of money and the quantities of goods involved;
	(ii)	the number of cases in which prosecution was successfully instituted for non-compliance with the Hong Kong origin rules, the amount of fines and the terms of imprisonment involved; and
	(iii)	the number of officers of the authorities responsible for carrying out inspections of factories and checking of cargoes consigned; whether they carry out surprise raids; if so, the number of such raids;
(b)	of the items checked by the authorities during factory inspections to enforce the Hong Kong origin rules, and whether they include records of wages (records of bank transfers), provident fund contributions and information about subcontractors rendering help to the factories concerned in the manufacture of goods, such as their full addresses, contact arrangements with the persons in charge and the number of employees and their wages; if not, whether the authorities will consider checking these records; and
(c)	of the number of applications for the Certificate of Origin under the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement received by the authorities so far and, among them, the number of applications already approved?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology

3. Hon Henry WU to ask: (Translation)

As the number of visitors to Hong Kong has increased considerably recently, will the Government inform this Council whether it has put in place special traffic control arrangements at popular tourist spots located in busy urban areas, such as the Golden Bauhinia Square, the Peak Tower and its vicinity and the Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tai Sin Temple, so as to avoid traffic obstructions caused by coaches waiting for and picking up visitors at the roadside? Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works

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

To relaunch the economy, the former Financial Secretary set up, in May 2003, two ad hoc groups, namely the Economic Relaunch Strategy Group ("ERSG"), to give advice on the overall plan of the projects, and the Economic Relaunch Working Group, to vet the programmes funded by the projects. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the dates of meetings of the two Groups, together with the chairperson and participants of each meeting;
(b)	of the dates of the Groups' meetings at which the Hong Kong Harbour Fest was discussed and the specific details of the discussions; and
(c)	whether the ERSG is still operating; if so, of the projects it is undertaking; if not, the reasons for terminating its operation by the Administration?

Public Officer to reply : Financial Secretary

5. Hon WONG Sing-chi to ask: (Translation)

It was reported that in late December last year, a case of campus violence occurred in a secondary school in the North District, in which a schoolboy was beaten up by several schoolmates on a number of occasions. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the follow-up actions on the case taken by the Education and Manpower Bureau;
(b)	whether it has conducted researches on the problem of bullying in secondary schools; if so, of the research findings and how the departments concerned have followed up the problem; if not, whether it will consider conducting such researches; and
(c)	of the measures to alleviate the problem of bullying in schools, and whether life education will be strengthened to make students learn to respect life, manage their emotions and get along with peers?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education and Manpower

6. Hon Michael MAK to ask: (Translation)

It has been reported that in December last year, the Guangdong authorities uncovered the use of industrial hydrogen peroxide, which contained impurities hazardous to human health, by some merchants to bleach shark's fins. Some of these bleached shark's fins had already been transported to Hong Kong for sale. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the major sources of dried seafood sold in Hong Kong and the average amount and value of dried seafood consumed per person every year;
(b)	of the number of dried seafood samples taken for laboratory tests by the relevant departments in the past five years; the number and details of the cases in which the samples were found to contain substances unfit for human consumption or breached other requirements; and
(c)	given that it has set up a reciprocal notification mechanism on food safety matters with the relevant Mainland authorities, whether the latter have notified their Hong Kong counterpart of the above incident; if they have, of the details of the notification; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food

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

It was reported that there were recently a number of incidents in which dogs died after eating poisonous rat baits placed recklessly by members of the public in public places. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	whether there is any legislation regulating the use of poisonous rat baits by the public; if so, of the details of the relevant statutory provisions and whether they apply to the above incidents; if such provisions are not applicable, of the legislation in place to deal with such incidents; and
(b)	of the government department responsible for investigating such incidents, as well as the relevant enforcement and prosecution procedures?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food

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

Regarding the provision of medical services to patients in North Lantau, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the progress and the estimated completion date of the review on the construction plan for North Lantau Hospital;
(b)	of the respective average response times of ambulances for conveying patients from North Lantau to the Accident and Emergency ("A&E") departments of various hospitals in the Kowloon West cluster; how they compare with the average response time for the whole territory;
(c)	of the total number of patient-trips taken by ambulances from North Lantau to the A&E departments of public hospitals over the past three years, together with a breakdown by triage categories; and
(d)	whether it has plans to set up a clinic in North Lantau to provide round-the-clock non-urgent medical services; if not, of the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food

9. Hon TAM Yiu-chung to ask: (Translation)

I often receive complaints from members of the public about rugged surfaces of slab-paved pavements which may endanger the safety of the public, especially the elderly. Regarding the quality of and repair works on these pavements, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the respective numbers of complaints received and repair works carried out by the Highways Department in respect of uneven pavement surfaces in each of the past two years;
(b)	whether it will formulate measures, including the use of paving slabs that are harder and of better quality, to minimize the occurrence of uneven pavement surfaces; and
(c)	of the measures in place to handle complaints from the public in a timely manner and expedite the repair works on uneven pavement surfaces?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works

10. Hon Frederick FUNG to ask: (Translation)

Will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:

(a)	the number of cases in which passengers entered the track areas of MTR Corporation Limited ("MTRCL") without authorization and the casualty toll concerned in each of the past five years, broken down by the nature of such cases;
(b)	the progress on the installation of screen doors by MTRCL at each of its station, and the estimated completion date for the installation of screen doors at all stations; and
(c)	the measures MTRCL has in place to safeguard the safety of passengers who wait for trains on platforms not installed with screen doors?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works

11. Hon Fred LI to ask: (Translation)

It has been reported that according to the records of the Environmental Protection Department's general station in Kwun Tong, the air pollution level in the district was "very high" for a total of 18 hours in 2001, and the respective figures for 2002 and 2003 were 64 and 136 hours, which shows that air pollution in the district has been worsening; and based on the total number of hours per annum for which the air pollution level was "very high", the air pollution level in Kwun Tong was the most serious among all districts in the territory in 2003. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the hours of the day, weather and environmental conditions in which the air pollution in Kwun Tong was often more serious;
(b)	as quite a number of industrial buildings in the district have been converted to non-industrial uses in recent years, whether it has studied why air pollution in the district has worsened instead; if it has, of the study results; and
(c)	whether it has established a long-term strategy to reduce air pollution in the district; if it has, of the details of the strategy; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works

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

It has been reported that during the recent initial public offering ("IPO") in Hong Kong of the China Life Insurance Company Limited, a series of blunders occurred. First, some securities firms complained that receiving banks had refused to accept yellow application forms dedicated for use by brokers. When the listing was about to take place, mistakes were found in the allocation lists, and some investors had made short selling wrongly and suffered losses as a result. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:

(a)	it has assessed if the Securities and Futures Commission ("SFC") has sufficient measures to monitor IPOs of enterprises in Hong Kong under the existing financial and securities regulatory regime; if it has and the assessment results show that the measures are sufficient, of the reasons for the occurrence of the series of blunders during IPO of the above company;
(b)	SFC has taken the initiative to investigate the above blunders, with a view to tracking down the responsible party and exploring ways to avoid the recurrence of such blunders; and
(c)	SFC has received complaints from the above investors; if so, how SFC assists them in seeking compensation from the relevant company and its listing sponsor?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury

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

It has been reported that the Government is currently studying the feasibility of setting up a special industrial zone in the river loop area of Shenzhen River. However, as a number of endangered avian species and national protected animals are in the vicinity of the area, implementing the development plan will cause serious damage to the ecological environment there. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:

(a)	in carrying out the above feasibility study, the authorities will conduct ecological survey in the relevant area to ascertain the animal species dwelling there; and
(b)	the authorities will regard the preservation of animal species dwelling in the area as a prerequisite when considering whether or not the above development plan should be implemented?

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

14. Hon Albert CHAN to ask: (Translation)

In reply to my question on 19 June 2002, the Administration said that some measures had been taken to monitor the tactics used by debt-collection agencies for recovering debts. However, I am still receiving many complaints from members of the public alleging that they have been seriously distressed by the tactics used by debt-collection agencies, to the extent that they have even contemplated committing suicide out of frustration. While it is legal for banks to hire debt-collection agencies or take legal actions to recover debts, such actions have put debtors under immense psychological pressure. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the number of cases reported to the Police over the past 15 months about debt-collection agencies' harassment;
(b)	of the progress of the study conducted by the Law Reform Commission on the making of laws to regulate the activities and debt recovery practices of debt-collection agencies; and
(c)	whether it will consider stepping up enforcement to curb the harassing practices of debt-collection agencies; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

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

It has been reported that Hong Kong has the potential to become a capital of medical services. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the number of persons who came to Hong Kong for medical treatment in the past year and the countries they mainly came from;
(b)	whether market research companies have compared the standards of the medical services in various places in the world; if so, of the ranking of Hong Kong's medical services; and
(c)	whether it has plans to promote Hong Kong as a capital of medical services; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food

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

It has been reported that travellers from the Mainland are required to complete and submit health declaration forms to the Hong Kong authorities when they enter Hong Kong. They are also required to declare their state of health to the Mainland authorities when they return to the Mainland. Some Mainland travellers fill in the forms while travelling on the trains from other Mainland provinces and cities to Shenzhen, so as to expedite immigration clearance. However, not all passengers on every train are given health declaration forms. Many of them have to obtain and complete the forms at the Joint Inspection Terminal beside the Lo Wu Railway Station, thereby causing delay in immigration clearance. Moreover, Mainland travellers who enter Hong Kong and return to the Mainland via other land boundary control points, the airport and seaports suffer similar delays. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:

(a)	it knows the government department in the Mainland currently responsible for distributing health declaration forms to Mainland travellers visiting Hong Kong; if no government department has been designated to be responsible for this, whether the Hong Kong authorities will put forward proposals and offer assistance to the Mainland authorities in this respect;
(b)	it has received complaints about the above delays from Mainland travellers who enter Hong Kong and return to the Mainland via land boundary control points, the airport and seaports; if so, how the Hong Kong authorities follow up such complaints with their Mainland counterparts; and
(c)	since the implementation of the "Individual Visit Scheme" for Mainland travellers visiting Hong Kong, it has measures to resolve the problem of clearance delays encountered by Mainland travellers in entering Hong Kong and returning to the Mainland; if so, of the effectiveness of these measures?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food

17. Hon Emily LAU to ask: (Translation)

Regarding the 102 persons appointed as members of the second term District Councils in December last year, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council of:

(a)	the advisory bodies and other public offices to which such persons have been appointed since 1 July 1997; and
(b)	their current occupations and the political groups to which they belong?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs

18. Hon Audrey EU to ask: (Translation)

Under section 3 of the Tattooing of Young Persons Ordinance (Cap. 323), it shall be an offence to tattoo any person under the age of 18 years except when the tattoo is performed for medical reasons by a registered medical practitioner. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the number of prosecutions instituted by the authorities for violation of the relevant provision since the commencement of the Ordinance; and
(b)	whether the authorities have widely publicized the provisions of the Ordinance among the affected tattoo shops before or after its commencement; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

19. Hon Henry WU to ask: (Translation)

The recent successive outbreaks of avian flu in many Asian countries have caused many deaths, arousing concerns about the spread of avian flu. Furthermore, there have recently been complaints by members of the public about the serious situation of illegal feeding of pigeons in public places such as the Victoria Park at dawn. Since the avian flu virus may be transmitted through birds, there are worries that there may be an outbreak of avian flu in Hong Kong as a result. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the measures for preventing cross-infection between migratory and local birds and transmission of viruses by such birds; and
(b)	whether it will consider stepping up enforcement actions against people illegally feeding pigeons in public places during non-office hours; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food

20. Hon WONG Sing-chi to ask: (Translation)

A resident in Discovery Bay disclosed in June 2002 that part of the land in North Lantau Country Park had been occupied without authorization by a developer for 20 years. It turned out that the developer concerned had in fact applied to the Government in 1981 for the use of the land under a short term tenancy ("STT"), but records on how the application had been handled at that time could not be retrieved due to the failure of the Lands Department ("LD") to keep the relevant files properly. It was only in mid-2003 that the LD wrote to request the developer concerned to lease the land under a STT. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	whether it has assessed if there was dereliction of duty on the part of LD in handling the STT application made in 1981; if it has, of the assessment results; if not, the reasons for that;
(b)	as according to the reply given by the Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands to my question raised at the Legislative Council meeting on 14 January this year, cases of unauthorized occupation of government land for commercial uses in the past five years had mostly been handled, yet the Government has taken over 20 years to deal with the above case which involves a major developer and a large piece of land, whether the authorities have assessed if the case has been handled in an unfair manner when compared with those handled in the past five years; if the assessment results indicate that the case has been handled fairly, the justifications for that; and during its 20 years of occupation of the land, the specific period in which the developer occupied the land illegally;
(c)	of the criteria used by LD for determining the amount of rent payable specified in the STT issued to the developer concerned, and whether it will recover from the developer the rents and rates payable for the past 20 years of occupation; if so, of the legal basis for doing so, as well as the respective amounts of rents and rates involved; if not, the reasons for that; and
(d)	how the authorities follow up on the developer's non-acceptance of leasing the land under a STT or relinquishing the use of the land; whether they will consider resuming the land for other uses; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

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

III. Motions

Proposed resolution under the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance

Secretary for Constitutional Affairs to move the motion

(Contents of the motion are contained in the paper issued on 30 January 2004 under LC Paper No. CB(3) 339/03-04)

IV. Members' Motions

Proposed resolution under the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance

Hon HUI Cheung-ching to move the following motion:

RESOLVED that in relation to the Electoral Affairs Commission (Financial Assistance for Legislative Council Elections) (Application and Payment Procedure) Regulation, published in the Gazette as Legal Notice No. 269 of 2003 and laid on the table of the Legislative Council on 7 January 2004, the period for amending subsidiary legislation referred to in section 34(2) of the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance (Cap. 1) be extended under section 34(4) of that Ordinance to the meeting of 25 February 2004.

Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Constitutional Affairs
Motion of Thanks

Hon Miriam LAU: (Translation)

That this Council thanks the Chief Executive for his address.

Amendment to Hon Miriam LAU's motion

Dr Hon YEUNG Sum: (Translation)

To add ", but regrets his failure to respond to the public's democratic aspirations for electing the Chief Executive and all Members of the Legislative Council by universal suffrage in 2007 and 2008 respectively, and urges the Government to immediately commence its consultation on constitutional review; this Council also demands that the Task Force on Constitutional Development proactively relay to the Central Government Hong Kong people's strong aspirations for democracy, and operate in a transparent and open manner, keeping the public informed of the progress of the discussions" after "That this Council thanks the Chief Executive for his address".

Public Officers to attend are listed in the Appendix

Clerk to the Legislative Council

Legislative Council

Agenda Wednesday 4 February 2004, Thursday 5 February 2004 and Friday 6 February 2004 at 2:30 pm respectively

Agenda

Wednesday 4 February 2004, Thursday 5 February 2004
and Friday 6 February 2004 at 2:30 pm respectively