Council Meeting ( Agenda ) 25 February 2004

A 03/04-19

Legislative Council

Agenda

Wednesday 25 February 2004 at 2:30 pm

I. Tabling of Papers

1.No.60	-	Employees' Compensation Insurance Levies Management Board Annual Report 2002/2003
(to be presented by Secretary for Economic Development and Labour)
2.No.61	-	Occupational Deafness Compensation Board Annual Report 2002-2003
(to be presented by Secretary for Economic Development and Labour)
3.No.62	-	Pneumoconiosis Compensation Fund Board Annual Report 2002
(to be presented by Secretary for Economic Development and Labour)
4.No.63	-	Audited Statement of Accounts together with the Director of Audit's Report and Trustee's Report on the Administration of the Education Scholarships Fund for the year ending 31 August 2003
(to be presented by Secretary for Education and Manpower)
5.No.64	-	Li Po Chun Charitable Trust Fund Annual Report for the period from 1 September 2002 to 31 August 2003
(to be presented by Secretary for Home Affairs)
6.No.65	-	Report of the Public Accounts Committee on the Reports of the Director of Audit on the Accounts of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region for the year ended 31 March 2003 and the Results of Value for Money Audits (Report No. 41) (February 2004 - P.A.C. Report No. 41)
(to be presented by Dr Hon Eric LI, Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, who will address the Council)

II. Questions

1. Hon Fred LI to ask: (Translation)

On the 6th of this month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration imposed a total ban on the sale of dietary supplements containing ephedra. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	whether it has studied the reasons for the U.S. authority's banning the sale of such dietary supplements; if it has, of the conclusions of the study;
(b)	which of the health foods currently on sale in Hong Kong contain ephedra; and
(c)	whether it plans to ban the sale of health foods containing ephedra in Hong Kong; if so, of the details of the plan; if not, the reasons for that?

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

2. Dr Hon David CHU to ask: (Translation)

It has been reported that the number of suicide cases in Hong Kong has increased in recent years. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of its measures to curb the suicide trend; and
(b)	whether it plans to enhance assistance and counselling services for the families, relatives and friends concerned; if so, of the details of such plans; if not, the reasons for that?

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

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

Regarding the substantial amount of vacant units in factory building in Hong Kong and the use of some of these units for illegal occupation or other purposes, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the respective numbers and areas of factory building units owned by the Government and private sector in Hong Kong at present; their respective utilization rates in 2002 and 2003, and the number of cases in which such units were used for residential purposes;
(b)	whether the authorities have assessed if the implementation of the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement can improve the vacancy level of local factory buildings; if they have, of the results; if they have not; the reasons for that; and
(c)	whether the authorities have studied how to improve the vacancy level and the misuse of factory building units, and whether they have explored the relaxation of user restrictions on factory buildings; if they have, of the results; if they have not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply

Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands
Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology

4. Hon Ambrose LAU to ask: (Translation)

Over the past two years, almost 100 promotional activities on the Basic Law were organized or sponsored by government departments, non-governmental organizations and district bodies. However, according to the survey findings published by the Census and Statistics Department in December last year on the topic of "Understanding of the Basic Law", only 48.3% of Hong Kong people aged 15 and above said that they had some or good knowledge of the Basic Law, while as many as 40.4% of students studying at primary four and above claimed that they did not have any idea of the contents of the Basic Law. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council of:

(a)	the number of the above promotional activities which were organised by government departments;
(b)	the means by which the authorities promoted the Basic Law over the past two years and the total expenditure involved; and
(c)	the plans the authorities have for promoting understanding of the Basic Law among the public?

Public Officer to reply: Secretary for Constitutional Affairs

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

Regarding the quotas of full-time overseas students set by local universities and the tuition fees of such students, will the Government inform this Council whether:

(a)	it knows if universities in the Mainland, the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States of America and Australia have set quotas on the admission of full-time overseas students; if they have, how such quotas compare to those set by universities in Hong Kong other than the Open University of Hong Kong;
(b)	the authorities have plans to increase the above quotas; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
(c)	the authorities have plans to increase the tuition fees payable by such students and have assessed the merits and demerits of increasing the tuition fees; if they have, of the details of the plan and the assessment results?

Public Officer to reply: Secretary for Education and Manpower

*6. Hon CHAN Kam-lam to ask: (Translation)

According to the reciprocal notification mechanism which commenced operation in January 2001, the relevant authorities in the Mainland and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region will notify each other of the criminal prosecutions of, or the imposition of criminal compulsory measures on, residents from the other side for alleged offences, and the unnatural deaths of such residents. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the number of notifications received by the Hong Kong Police through the above notification mechanism regarding the detention of Hong Kong residents in the Mainland, and the number of those cases which involved commercial disputes; and
(b)	whether it has reviewed the operation of the notification mechanism; if it has, of the outcome of the review?

Public Officer to reply

Secretary for Constitutional Affairs
(in the absence of Secretary for Security)

*7. Dr Hon LO Wing-lok to ask: (Translation)

Regarding the Hospital Authority's ("HA") granting of performance incentive award ("PIA") to its Chief Executive, Cluster Chief Executives and Hospital Chief Executives, will the Government inform this Council whether:

(a)	it knows, in regard to each of the past five years, the total amount of PIA granted by HA and, in respect of each of the above post-holders, the annual PIA received, expressed as a percentage in relation to the sum of the annual basic salary and cash allowance of each post-holder, and how the percentage compares to the percentage ceiling stipulated in the relevant employment contract; and
(b)	the Government will request HA to delete the grant of PIA from the terms of the new contracts for the above posts; if not, the reasons for that?

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

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

A "drainage ambassador" scheme was launched by the Housing Department in May last year whereby staff were sent to carry out door-to-door inspection of the indoor drainage facilities of public housing units. Immediate repairs would be carried out if damage was found during the proactive inspection. It has been reported that the scheme has been launched in two phases. Phase I of the scheme was completed in September last year, and Phase II commenced in October last year. The entire scheme is expected to complete in May this year. Furthermore, some tenants of public housing units sharing communal drainage pipes with adjacent units have found that after they flush the toilets, the sewage would flow into the adjacent units, thereby causing serious hygiene problems. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the public housing estates which are currently using the above communal drainage pipes to discharge sewage, and the number of units involved;
(b)	of the details of each of the phases in the scheme, including the public housing estates involved, the number of units, the maintenance items and expenditure, as well as whether the drainage problem mentioned in item (a) above has been followed up; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
(c)	whether it will consider extending the areas of inspection covered by the "drainage ambassador" scheme to ensure proper operation of the drainage systems in more public housing units; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

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

*9. Hon Andrew CHENG to ask: (Translation)

Regarding indecent assault cases on public transport, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	whether it knows the number of such cases which occurred on various modes of public transport in each of the past three years;
(b)	whether it knows if various public transport operators have issued guidelines to their staff on how to handle complaints about indecent assault; if not, whether the authorities will encourage these operators to expeditiously draw up such guidelines; and
(c)	to prevent the occurrence of indecent assault incidents, whether the authorities will encourage various public transport operators to display, in the compartments of their vehicles and advertising lightboxes, posters aimed at deterring indecent assault as well as notices informing the public that their staff on duty will provide assistance to indecent assault victims?

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

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

In 2000, the Education Commission put forward reform proposals for the education system in Hong Kong, including enhancing professional training for teachers of kindergartens ("KG") and child care centres ("CCC"). In addition to the existing requirement that serving KG/CCC teachers should receive recognized KG teacher training, the Commission proposed that serving KG teachers be encouraged to enhance their professional level through continuing learning. Moreover, the Commission also proposed that a long-term target be laid down, whereby the entry qualification requirement of KG/CCC teachers will gradually be raised to sub-degree level or above. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the avenues of professional training, the number of and the supply and demand of places for the relevant training programmes provided for the workforce in pre-primary education from the 2001-02 to 2004-05 school years;
(b)	of the expected number of and places for training programmes mentioned in (a) for the 2005-06 to 2007-08 school years; and
(c)	if the number of and places for the training programmes mentioned in (b) are higher or lower than those in (a), of the rationale for that?

Public Officer to reply: Secretary for Education and Manpower

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

Regarding the food safety of eggs for human consumption, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	whether existing legislation has set out the hygiene standards to be met by such eggs when they are imported and put up for sale; if so, of the details of the provisions; if not, the reasons for that;
(b)	whether it conducts laboratory sample tests on the bacterial contents of imported eggs (including the surface of the egg shells); if so, of the number of eggs tested each year, and the number of samples which have been found to contain the H5N1 avian influenza virus so far this year; if not, the reasons for that; and
(c)	given that it has imposed import control on meat and poultry, which requires an importer to obtain official certificates issued by the competent authority of the country of origin before importing meat or poultry, why it has not imposed the same control on eggs for human consumption; whether it will consider imposing import control on such eggs; if it will, of the implementation timetable; if not, the reasons for that?

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

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

The Office of the Telecommunications Authority issued a list of invalid pre-paid telephone cards last November, listing the invalid pre-paid telephone cards reported to or identified by the Authority. However, the list did not include all invalid pre-paid telephone cards. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	whether it will review the mechanism for issuing pre-paid telephone cards so as to prevent some card issuing companies from issuing pre-paid telephone cards after the expiry of their licences, printing on pre-paid telephone cards access numbers that are no longer valid, or offering numbers other than those specified under the numbering plan in their provision of service to consumers, which are detrimental to the interests of consumers; if it will, of the details;
(b)	how the authorities enhance the accuracy and transparency of the charges concerning pre-paid telephone cards, so as to safeguard the interests of consumers; and
(c)	whether the authorities will set up an enquiry system for consumers to have access to information about the names of all valid telephone cards available in the market, their issuing companies, valid periods of their licences, access numbers, methods of calculating call charges and the network operators offering such service, etc?

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

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

It has been reported that starting from mid-January this year, Mainland visitors can use the renminbi credit card "UnionPay Card" in Hong Kong for purchase and payment as well as withdrawal of cash in Hong Kong dollars from local automatic teller machines. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows the total amount of spending by Mainland visitors using such cards in Hong Kong so far, the average amount of card spending of such card holders and the total amount of cash withdrawn from local automatic teller machines? Public Officer to reply: Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury

*14. Hon Albert CHAN to ask: (Translation)

Many fishermen have told me that owing to financial difficulties, they had to sell their fishing vessels to maintain their livelihood, thus causing the local fishing industry to dwindle. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the current number of fishing vessels and how it compares with that 10 years ago;
(b)	of the total number of fishing vessels at the end of each of the past three years, together with a breakdown by their types;
(c)	whether it has studied the causes of the large number of fishermen selling their fishing vessels in recent years; if it has, of the findings; and
(d)	of the measures in place to help revive the fishing industry and improve the livelihood of the fishermen?

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

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

According to the findings of Population Censuses, the Gini Coefficients (Income) for Hong Kong in 1991, 1996 and 2001 were 0.476, 0.518 and 0.525 respectively, reflecting a growing disparity in household income during the period. In this connection, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council whether:

(a)	they have assessed if the above trend has continued after 2001; if so, of the assessment results; if not, the reasons for that;
(b)	they plan to compute and publish the Gini Coefficient (Income) more frequently or adopt other indicators, so as to enable an accurate grasp of the trend of disparity in household income; if not, of the reasons for that;
(c)	they have assessed the effectiveness of the current tax policy in alleviating the disparity in after-tax household income; if so, of the assessment results; if not, the reasons for that; and
(d)	to narrow the disparity in after-tax household income, they have any plan to abolish the standard rate for salaries tax and increase the progressivity for direct taxes; if so, of the details of the plan; if not, the reasons for that and other alternative measures in place?

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

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

At present, the three note-issuing banks separately design and issue their respective banknotes of various denominations, resulting in banknotes of the same denomination bearing different designs, which may cause confusion to tourists. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the number of complaints about the lack of uniformity in banknote designs received by the authorities concerned in each of the past five years;
(b)	whether it is aware of other economies in which the competent authorities concurrently issue banknotes of the same denomination with different designs; and
(c)	whether it will consider standardizing the designs of banknotes; if not, of the reasons for that?

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

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

It is reported that the processing of applications by the Committee on Trust Fund for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome is slow. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the number of applications which have been approved by the above Committee so far, and the percentage of these applications in the total number of applications for the Trust Fund;
(b)	of the highest and lowest amounts of assistance among the above approved applications; and
(c)	whether it has assessed the speed in processing applications by the Committee; if the assessment result shows that the process is slow, of the reasons for that and whether the authorities will streamline the application and processing procedure so as to expedite the process?

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

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

Regarding the level of ozone concentration in the air exceeding the prescribed standard and the impact of chemical substances containing ozone on human health, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the numbers of days in the past year on which the ozone concentration in the air in various districts of Hong Kong exceeded the standard in the air quality objectives;
(b)	whether it has measures to control the level of ozone concentration in the outdoor and indoor air; if so, of the details; if not, whether the authorities will formulate measures in this regard; and
(c)	whether it has made publicity efforts to alert the public to the impact of ozone on human health, so that they will cautiously use chemical substances containing ozone; if not, whether it will strengthen the relevant publicity efforts?

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

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

There are criticisms that the Secretary for Education and Manpower, being the top policy-making official for education matters, had a conflict of interest in accepting a degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, conferred by a public-funded university in December last year. In this connection, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council whether:

(a)	to avoid conflict of interest, policy secretaries and directorate officers are required to obtain approval before accepting honorary degrees conferred by public-funded tertiary institutions; if so, of the respective numbers of applications received and rejected in the past five years, as well as the reasons for rejecting the applications concerned; if not, the reasons for that; and
(b)	they have issued guidelines to policy secretaries and directorate officers on how to avoid conflict of interest arising from the acceptance of honorary degrees conferred by public-funded tertiary institutions; if so, of the details of such guidelines; if not, the reasons for that and whether they will consider drawing up such guidelines?

Public Officer to reply: Secretary for the Civil Service

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

Will the Government inform this Council whether it knows if the Hong Kong Housing Authority and the Hong Kong Housing Society have plans to install satellite master antenna television systems in their public housing estates so that their tenants can receive satellite television programmes; if so, of the details of the plans; if not, the reasons for that? Public Officer to reply: Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands

*For written reply.

III. Motions

Proposed resolution under the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance

Secretary for Constitutional Affairs to move the following motion: RESOLVED that 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, be amended -

(a)	in section 4 -
	(i)	in subsection (1) -
		(A)	in paragraph (a), by adding "or his agent" after "form";
		(B)	in paragraph (b), by adding "or the agent of one of the candidates" after "form";
	(ii)	by adding - "(3) The claim form must be presented within the period or extended period provided for in section 37 of the Elections (Corrupt and Illegal Conduct) Ordinance (Cap. 554) for lodging an election return.";
(b)	in section 7(4) -
	(i)	in paragraph (a), by adding "or his agent" after "notice";
	(iii)	in paragraph (b), by adding "or the agent of one of the candidates" after "notice";
(c)	in section 10(3), by adding "or the agent of one of the candidates" after "form".

IV. Members' Motions

Drawing up the blueprint for Hong Kong's social welfare policies for the next decade

Hon CHAN Yuen-han: (Translation)

That this Council urges the Government to draw up the blueprint for the development of Hong Kong's social welfare policies for the next decade, so as to tie in with the economic and social changes in the territory and formulate social welfare policies that meet the needs of the public.

Amendment to Hon CHAN Yuen-han's motion
Dr Hon LAW Chi-kwong: (Translation)

To add ", with full participation of social service agencies, their employees, service users, the industrial and commercial sectors and the public" after "for the next decade".

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

Immediately consulting the public on election by universal suffrage

Hon Andrew CHENG: (Translation)

That this Council regrets that the Task Force on Constitutional Development's trip to Beijing lacks transparency and urges the Government to immediately consult the public on whether the Chief Executive and all Members of the Legislative Council should be elected by universal suffrage in 2007 and 2008 respectively, collate the public's views received in an impartial manner, and accurately relay them to the Central Government.

Amendments to Hon Andrew CHENG's motion

(i)

Hon Howard YOUNG: (Translation)

To delete "regrets that" after "That this Council" and substitute with "urges"; to delete "Development's trip to Beijing lacks transparency and urges the Government to immediately" after "the Task Force on Constitutional" and substitute with "Development to expeditiously"; to delete "whether the Chief Executive and all Members of the Legislative Council should be elected by universal suffrage in" after "consult the public on" and substitute with "the constitutional developments for"; and to delete "public's" after "collate the".

(ii)

Dr Hon YEUNG Sum: (Translation)

To delete "regrets that" after "That this Council" and substitute with "urges"; and to delete "Development's trip to Beijing lacks transparency and" after "the Task Force on Constitutional" and substitute with "Development to increase the transparency of its discussions with the Central Government, and also".

Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Constitutional Affairs

Clerk to the Legislative Council

Legislative Council

Agenda Wednesday 25 February 2004 at 2:30 pm

Agenda

Wednesday 25 February 2004 at 2:30 pm