A 03/04-24

Legislative Council

Agenda

Wednesday 21 April 2004 and
Thursday 22 April 2004 at 2:30 pm respectively

(a)	the respective establishments and numbers of officers of the Land Executive and Land Inspector grades undertaking the above duties in the Lands Department;
(b)	the respective numbers of inspections conducted and prosecutions recommended in the past three years by such officers in their discharge of the above duties, as well as the number of suspected cases of unlawful acts which were still outstanding after six months; and
(c)	the review measures to ensure that suspected cases of unlawful acts in this respect have been duly dealt with?

(a)	of the number of immigration counters at the control point which are open on weekends and public holidays; the circumstances under which all immigration counters will be open; whether it adjusts the relative proportions of the number of arrival and departure immigration counters in the light of the passenger traffic, or diverts passenger by their category to improve and speed up the flow of passenger; if not, of the reasons for that;
(b)	of the maximum capacity of the passenger hall of the control point; of the arrangements when the capacity is exceeded; whether it has considered providing additional passenger queuing areas; and
(c)	whether it plans to provide preferential arrangements (e.g. special passageways) for the elderly and the mobility-handicapped to undergo immigration clearance procedures at this control point, particularly during peak periods, so that they do not have to wait outside the passenger hall; if so, of the details of such plan; if not, the reasons for that?

(a)	the details of such measures, particularly in relation to the prevention and investigation of the loss of scripts, the penalty imposed on the persons held responsible as well as the remedies (including the arrangements of a re-sit and the resources involved); and
(b)	if such measures will apply to the Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination and the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination to be held this year, and if the arrangements of a re-sit will apply to school candidates; if not, the reasons for that?

(a)	of the number of traffic accidents involving head-on collisions of vehicles which occurred on such flyovers, the resultant casualties, as well as the percentage of such accidents in the territory-wide figure, in each of the past three years;
(b)	whether it plans to retrofit central dividers on such flyovers; if so, of the details of the plan; if not, the reasons for that; and
(c)	whether it plans to convert the traffic on such flyovers to one-way operation so as to minimize traffic accidents involving head-on collisions of vehicles; if so, of the details of the plan; if not, the reasons for that?

(a)	the respective total numbers of senior staff responsible for the work on human resources and public affairs in the headquarters of HA, hospital clusters and public hospitals at present, as well as their responsibilities and the total expenditures on the remuneration and benefits respectively;
(b)	if HA has assessed the need to have one Director and one Deputy Director concurrently for undertaking the work on human resources, given that the incumbent Deputy Director (Human Resources) who assumed duty on 25 November 2002 was appointed for a period of three years; if the assessment result confirms the need, the justifications for that; if the assessment result shows otherwise, whether HA has terminated the employment contract with the above Deputy Director prematurely; if it has, the time of such termination and the amount of compensation involved; and
(c)	the criteria and rules adopted by HA in determining the addition, deletion and merging of senior management posts, and in specifying the responsibilities of these senior staff?

(a)	of the content, purpose and approach of as well as the financial contribution arrangements for the co-operation programme in relation to the Guangzhou University Town teaching programme;
(b)	whether surveys have been conducted on the amounts of expenditures borne by Hong Kong tertiary institutions in running teaching programmes jointly with Mainland institutions in the Mainland over the past five years and whether they included funding from the University Grants Committee ("UGC"); if such surveys have been conducted, of the findings; if not, the reasons for that; and
(c)	if the expenditures mentioned in part (b) above included funding from UGC, whether the Hong Kong authorities have regulated such public-funded teaching programmes in the Mainland, and of the criteria adopted by the relevant Hong Kong institutions for determining that such teaching programmes are compatible with the interests or needs of Hong Kong, as well as the measures taken by the Hong Kong authorities to regulate the use of the public funds in the Mainland?

(a)	of the number of formal meetings it has held with members of the Election Committee in respect of public policy issues since the completion of election for the Second Chief Executive, as well as the details of the public policy issues discussed at such meetings;
(b)	in order to have a better grasp of the public opinion during the administration process, whether the authorities have assessed the necessity of keeping close contact with members of the Election Committee and the adequacy of the existing work in this regard; if so, of the assessment results; and
(c)	whether it has plans to enhance the contact and communication with members of the Election Committee; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

(a)	how the actual volume-to-capacity (v/c) ratio of vehicular traffic at critical sections of Gloucester Road during peak hours in 2001 compares with the forecast ratio in respect of 2001 as stated in the Second Comprehensive Transport Study, which was completed in 1989; if these two ratios differ, of the reasons for that;
(b)	on the basis of the assumptions used in the Third Comprehensive Transport Study, which was completed in 1999, of the respective estimated v/c ratios of Connaught Road Central, Harcourt Road, Gloucester Road and Central-Wanchai Bypass in 2011 and 2016; and
(c)	of the forecast vehicular traffic arising from the completion of the developments on the reclaimed land earmarked for commercial uses under the Central Reclamation Phase III Project, as well as the impact of such vehicular traffic on the v/c ratios of the roads mentioned in (b) above in 2011 and 2016?

(a)	of the number and names of the streets the cleaning services of which have been outsourced;
(b)	of which of the above streets the cleanliness was complained about in the past year, and the number of such complaints in respect of each of these streets, grouped by districts in which they are situated; and
(c)	whether contractors of cleaning services have been penalized during the above period for violation of the terms and conditions of outsourcing contracts; if so, of the details of the violations and penalties?

(a)	of the categories and amounts of pollutants emitted by marine transportation vehicles, as well as the amounts of litter found in Hong Kong waters, in each of the past three years; and
(b)	what measures have been taken by the authorities to reduce the above emissions and dumping at sea; and what would be done by them to further reduce the pollution?

(a)	was at the scene to personally look into and deal with the demonstration activities taking place inside and outside the precincts of CGO at that time; if not, the rationale for being able to handle such activities without being there;
(b)	made the decision to remove the protesters and journalists within the precincts of CGO, including using force to clear the scene; if so, of the rationale for making the decision; if not, who made the decision; and
(c)	has the duty to safeguard the public's right of peaceful expression and the press media's right to know within the precincts of CGO; if so, whether an assessment has been made to ascertain if she properly performed her duty when handling the above demonstration activities; if assessment has been made, of the results; if she has no such duty, whether the person(s) making the removal decision had consulted the Chief Executive and principal officials beforehand to ensure that the rights of the public and journalists were duly respected?

(a)	whether it knows the causes of the incident;
(b)	of the number of incidents of interruption or instability in the electricity supply over the past three years, together with their causes;
(c)	whether it has reviewed the effectiveness of the measures adopted by the two power companies to prevent failure in the electricity supply systems; if it has, of the details of the review; and
(d)	of the mechanism to monitor that the technical people employed by the two power companies and their contractors of outsourced services possess the relevant trade skills, so as to ensure the reliability of the electricity supply systems?

(a)	among the English/Putonghua teachers in these schools in the current school year, of the respective numbers of teachers who
	(i)	are exempted from LPR;
	(ii)	have scored a pass or above in the Language Proficiency Assessment for Teachers ("LPAT");
	(iii)	took LPAT held in March this year;
	(iv)	have completed LPAT training courses;
	(v)	are attending LPAT training courses;
	(vi)	are attending relevant degree courses in order to be granted exemption;
	(vii)	have enrolled in the LPAT training courses which have not yet commenced; and
	(viii)	have enrolled in the relevant degree courses which have not yet commenced;
(b)	of the number of English/Putonghua teachers that these schools will need in the next three school years;
(c)	whether it has evaluated the number of English/Putonghua teachers who will not have attained the LPR after the above-mentioned deadline, if it has, of the method and outcome of the evaluation; and
(d)	if the evaluation outcome indicates that there will be teachers who will not have attained LPR, how the authorities will handle those teachers and of the measures to resolve the problem of inadequate English/Putonghua teachers who have attained LPR?

(a)	of the following since the establishment of the CWL,
	(i)	the respective numbers of newly registered cases the relevant authorities have received regarding application for residential and community care services;
	(ii)	the number of cases on which assessment has been completed;
	(iii)	the number of the elderly who have been assessed to be eligible for residential care services and, among them, of the number of those who are willing to continue to reside in the community and accept a switch to community care services;
	(iv)	the number of cases in which the applicants have rejected the services offered by the authority concerned and the reasons for rejection, with a breakdown by type of services;
	(v)	the respective average waiting times for the elderly who have been offered residential and community care services;
	(vi)	the number of cases in which applicants are assessed to be ineligible for the services applied and the reasons for ineligibility;
(b)	whether there have been any LTC service places not being utilized; if so, of the details;
(c)	given that prior to the implementation of the CWL, applicants for community care services could approach individual service units directly to enquire about the queuing situation, of the channels available to them to make such enquiries at present; and
(d)	whether the applicants can choose the organizations to provide community care services to them?

(a)	which departments of public hospitals are now suffering from the most severe shortage of nursing grade staff;
(b)	of the numbers of each rank of doctors and nurses to be recruited by HA, as well as their remuneration and conditions of service; and
(c)	whether HA plans to recruit staff of the allied health grades in this financial year; if so, of a breakdown by grades and ranks of the number, remuneration and conditions of service of these staff; if not, the reasons for that?

(a)	of the details of the above D of J's guidelines; and
(b)	whether it will formulate measures, such as that being deliberated by the South Korean government, to prevent clandestine photo-taking with such mobile phones; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

(a)	the respective total expenditures of the various projects under WRCP as at the end of last month and how they compare with the originally approved estimated expenditures; where there is over-spending, the organization(s) to shoulder the extra expenditures; and
(b)	the number and amounts of claims received by the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation from project contractors, and the number of such cases which have been settled; where there is over-spending, the reasons for that?

(a)	when the above system will be implemented, of the minimum amount (in cubic metres) of Dongjiang water that the Hong Kong authorities will be required to purchase under the system, and how the system compares to the current one;
(b)	of the estimated amount of savings in expenditure that can be achieved annually from the implementation of the flexible water supply system, and how such savings will be put to use; and
(c)	whether it will continue to negotiate for greater flexibility in the water supply system; if so, of the details?

(a)	of the respective numbers of complaints in this regard received last year by the Office of the Telecommunications Authority and fixed telecommunication network services operators, as well as the follow-up actions they have taken; and
(b)	whether it plans to legislate against junk faxed advertisements?