A 03/04-31

Legislative Council

Agenda

Wednesday 9 June 2004 at 2:30 pm

(a)	whether there have been any such incidents since 2002; if so, of the number and the details of the incidents, and whether the drivers involved were blackmailed by unruly elements in the Mainland; if so, of the number and the details of the blackmail;
(b)	of the support and protection provided by the Hong Kong authorities to the drivers of government vehicles, who need to be on duty in the Mainland and are involved in such incidents; and
(c)	whether it has issued working guidelines for the drivers of government vehicles on duty in the Mainland to get familiar with Mainland traffic regulations and educate them on ways to deal with traffic incidents and other situations such as blackmail; if it has, of the details of the guidelines; if not, the reasons for that?

(a)	of the total value and average unit cost of the vaccines;
(b)	which official or committee made the decision on the quantity of the vaccines to be procured, the criteria on which the decision was based and the number of vaccines still in stock at present; and
(c)	whether it has taken measures to use the vaccines before the expiry date as far as possible so as to avoid wastage; if it has, of the measures taken and whether they include the offer of free vaccination to the elderly who are not living in residential care homes or suffering from the specified chronic illnesses?

(a)	the total numbers of complaints involving alleged plagiarism received by the relevant authorities of tertiary institutions in each of the past three years, with a breakdown by institutions;
(b)	among the above complaints, the number of those that have been substantiated, the positions of the academics confirmed to have committed plagiarism, the institutions they belonged to and the penalties imposed on them; and
(c)	whether the relevant authorities have put in place measures to curb plagiarism; if they have, of the details of such measures; if not, the reasons for that?

(a)	whether it has assessed if the officer's act has violated the principle of political neutrality that civil servants should uphold; if the assessment result shows that it has not, of the justifications;
(b)	how the existing Civil Service Regulations and Codes define and regulate the circumstances under which a civil servant may openly publish political commentaries carrying his official title; whether staff of the disciplined services are subject to tighter regulation; and
(c)	of the specific measures it has put in place to ensure that civil servants will not be affected by their political stance in discharging their official duties, they will not be asked by their superiors to state their position on a political subject, and similar incidents will not recur?

(a)	of the scientific and legal basis for still imposing restrictions on the quantity of live chickens imported from the Mainland;
(b)	whether it has worked out a timetable for resuming the normal importation of live chickens; if so, of the details; and
(c)	whether it knows the reasons for the absence of importation of day-old chickens from the Mainland to Hong Kong despite that the Hong Kong authorities have already permitted the resumption of unlimited importation of day-old chickens since late April this year, and of the follow-up actions taken by the Hong Kong authorities in this regard?

(a)	whether special mechanism is in place for selecting permanent secretaries, deputy secretaries and heads of departments and for assessing the candidates for appointment to these posts in terms of their capability, conduct and so on; if so, of the details of such a mechanism and the procedures for selection and assessment; if not, how the candidates are selected for appointment to such posts;
(b)	whether the principal officials under the accountability system have taken part in the selection process or given their views on the selection; if so, how it ensures that the selection process is conducted in a fair and just manner; if not, how it will enable the principal officials to select the candidates that they consider most suitable; and
(c)	since the implementation of the above accountability system, how many senior civil servants have become candidates for appointment to the relevant posts and, among them, the respective numbers of those who have been selected for appointment and those who have not?

(a)	not proposing a meeting with Legislative Council Members before submitting the report to NPCSC; and
(b)	not acceding to the above requests made by the Legislative Council Members of the pro-democracy camp?

(a)	the number of the above dependants who have applied to the Director of Immigration for permission to work since the introduction of the revised policy and, among them, the number of those whose applications were successful;
(b)	the average man-hours used for vetting the relevant applications, broken down by rank of staff; and
(c)	the estimated number of jobs that, as a result of the implementation of the revised policy, have been made available so far to Hong Kong residents who have the right to take up employment?

(a)	of the progress so far concerning the study on the levying of a tyre tax, mentioned by the Financial Secretary in this year's Budget; whether it has plans to introduce other taxes relating to environmental protection;
(b)	of the progress in the establishment of a waste recovery park in Tuen Mun, and whether the project has been delayed; and
(c)	whether it has plans to promote the development of environmental protection industries, including the waste recovery industry; if it has, of the details of the plans and implementation timetable; if not, the reasons for that?

(a)	of the respective numbers of individual and corporate electors who have registered for various functional constituencies so far; and
(b)	whether it has assessed if the concept of "balanced participation" referred to in the Second Report of the Constitutional Development Task Force can be put into practice with such numbers of electors; if it has, of the assessment results?

(a)	the details of the plan, including the planning restrictions to be imposed, such as the restrictions on building height and development density, as well as the maximum area of land for development and the maximum floor area permitted; and
(b)	the total cost of the development plan?

(a)	of the number of inspections conducted in commercial buildings over the past three years to ensure compliance with lease conditions, and the number of buildings where breaches were identified during those inspections;
(b)	how it investigated and followed up the breaches mentioned in item (a), and whether, as in the case of the above building, the Government is unable to punish the other owners of buildings where breaches were identified; and
(c)	whether it will consider amending the lease conditions of the above building for more effective execution of the relevant conditions?

(a)	the respective numbers of complaints received last year by the Office of the Telecommunications Authority ("OTA") and Consumer Council relating to fixed network telephone service, broadband Internet service and mobile telephone service, and how these figures compare to those of the preceding two years;
(b)	the number of investigations conducted by OTA in each of the past three years into the complaints against telecommunication service operators' employing misleading or deceptive means in marketing, as well as the investigation results; and
(c)	the measures in place to step up efforts in monitoring the business practices of telecommunication service operators, with a view to protecting the rights of consumers?

(a)	of the quantities of bamboo trees the authorities planted in each of the past three years;
(b)	whether there have been any changes in the sizes of the bamboo groves in Hong Kong over the past three years; if so, whether the groves have increased or decreased in size and of the extent of such changes;
(c)	whether it has investigated the circumstances of the above case; if it has, of the investigation results and whether negligence on the part of government department is involved; if not, the reasons for that; and
(d)	of the measures in place to prevent recurrence of similar cases?

(a)	of the total number of applications for investment immigration received since the implementation of this policy and among them, the details of applications approved and rejected, including the applicants' nationalities and places of origin, as well as the projects and amounts of investments;
(b)	whether it has assessed if the policy has achieved the expected effects; if so, of the results; if not, the reasons for that;
(c)	whether it has assessed the differences between the Hong Kong's eligibility criteria for investment immigration under the existing policy and those set by neighbouring countries or places; if so, of the assessment results; if not, the reasons for that; and
(d)	whether it will review and relax the eligibility criteria for applications for investment immigration?

(a)	if OUHK has discussed with HA the clinical practicum training period of the above course over the past 12 months; if it has, of the discussion results;
(b)	if the contract terms of RN students employed by HA are standardized at 1 800 hours; if so, of the reasons for that; and
(c)	if HA has dealt with the contract terms of individual students in a flexible manner in accordance with the decision of NCHK on the clinical practicum training period of such students; if it has, of the arrangements in this regard; if not, the reasons for that?

(a)	the number of students who dropped out from sub-degree and degree programmes over the past year and their reasons for doing so, as well as the academic departments involved and the years of study at which they dropped out from the programmes;
(b)	the total wastage of resources caused by the dropout of students; and
(c)	the measures in place to remedy the dropout situation?

(a)	of the respective numbers of verbal warnings and fixed penalty notices issued by various law enforcement departments in respect of such offences in each month since the penalty was increased, the number of cases in which assistance from the Police was sought due to clashes between law enforcement officers and the offenders, and the reasons for the clashes; and
(b)	whether it has reviewed the effectiveness of the increased penalty in deterring the public from spitting and littering in public places?

(a)	of the number of accidents in which casualties of other parties were caused by drunk drivers since 2001, and that of drivers prosecuted for drink driving as well as the prosecution results; and
(b)	whether it will consider increasing penalties for drunk drivers to enhance the deterrent effect; if not, the reasons for that?

1. Proposed resolution under the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance
   
   Secretary for Education and Manpower to move the following motion:
   
   Resolved that the Education (Exemption)(Private Schools Offering Non-Formal Curriculum) Order, published in the Gazette as Legal Notice No. 76 of 2004 and laid on the table of the Legislative Council on 12 May 2004, be amended -

   (a)	in Schedule 2, in section 7(b) of Part 2, by adding before the semicolon "or under the Prevention of Child Pornography Ordinance (Cap. 579)";
   (b)	in Schedule 3, in section 6(b) of Part 2, by adding before the semicolon "or under the Prevention of Child Pornography Ordinance (Cap. 579)".

2. Proposed resolution under the Fixed Penalty (Criminal Proceedings) Ordinance
   
   Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works to move the following motion:
   
   RESOLVED -

   (a)	that the Schedule to the Fixed Penalty (Criminal Proceedings) Ordinance be amended, in item 53, by adding "private" before "light"; and
   (b)	that this Resolution shall come into operation on a day to be appointed by the Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works by notice published in the Gazette.

1. Proposed resolution under the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance
   
   Hon Andrew WONG to move the following motion:
   
   RESOLVED that in relation to the Electoral Affairs Commission (Electoral Procedure) (Legislative Council) (Amendment) Regulation 2004, published in the Gazette as Legal Notice No. 84 of 2004 and laid on the table of the Legislative Council on 19 May 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 7 July 2004.
   
   Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Constitutional Affairs

2. Proposed resolution under the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance
   
   Dr Hon LO Wing-lok to move the following motion:
   
   RESOLVED that in relation to the Food and Drugs (Composition and Labelling) (Amendment) Regulation 2004, published in the Gazette as Legal Notice No. 85 of 2004 and laid on the table of the Legislative Council on 19 May 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 7 July 2004.

3. Demonstrating the people's power on 1 July
   
   Hon LEE Cheuk-yan: (Translation)
   
   That this Council appeals to all the people of Hong Kong to demonstrate once again on 1 July this year the people's power and express Hong Kong people's determination to fight for universal suffrage, defend the core values of Hong Kong and improve the governance of the Government and people's livelihood. Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Constitutional Affairs

4. Enhancing the attractiveness of Hong Kong to tourists
   
   Hon Howard YOUNG: (Translation)
   
   That, in view of the immense efforts of Hong Kong's neighbouring territories in enhancing the attractiveness of their tourist facilities and the opening of Hong Kong Disneyland next year, this Council urges the Government to step up its external publicity in promoting Hong Kong as an international tourist centre, and to comprehensively review, enhance and strengthen the attractiveness and competitiveness of various ancillary tourist facilities so as to cater for the increasing demands of tourists, and to devote all its effort to attract more tourists with high spending power to visit Hong Kong.
   
   Amendment to Hon Howard YOUNG's motion
   Hon CHAN Kam-lam: (Translation)
   
   To add "; at the same time, this Council urges the Hong Kong Government to accelerate its communication with other governments in the Pan-Pearl River Delta ('PPRD') Region to materialize, as early as possible, the co-operation and development in tourism within the PPRD Region and synergize the complementary advantages of the various regions" after "demands of tourists".
   
   Amendment to Hon CHAN Kam-lam's amendment
   Hon Miriam LAU: (Translation)
   
   To add ", including perfecting the transport infrastructure, improving boundary-crossing facilities and alleviating the congestion problem at the boundary," after "within the PPRD Region"; and to add "reinforce Hong Kong's position as a 'cosmopolitan tourist centre' and" after "various regions, and to".
   
   

   Public Officer to attend

   :

   Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works (in the absence of Secretary for Economic Development and Labour)