A 03/04-35

Legislative Council

Agenda


Wednesday 7 July 2004 at 2:30 pm

(a)	of the distribution of grades in the performance appraisal in the civil service and how the percentage of the cases in which the performance was graded C or below among all graded cases compares to the percentage in the preceding year, in each of the past three years; if the percentages show a rising trend, whether it has assessed if this is the result of appraising officers intentionally differentiating the high performers from the average or low performers;
(b)	whether there were cases in the past three years in which directorate grade officers supplemented negative comments in appraisal reports not prepared or countersigned by them when they reviewed the reports, thus hampering the promotion of the relevant civil servants; if so, the reasons for condoning such situations; and
(c)	of the way the Civil Service Bureau deals with the relevant complaints made by individual civil servants who are disgruntled with the performance grading given to them by their appraising officers or who perceive that their appraising officers are holding prejudice against them, and the measures in place to ensure that the complaints are dealt with fairly and the relevant civil servants will not be discriminated against in future?

(a)

whether the CPU commissioned any opinion surveys in the past three months concerning processions, local political parties and their members, and the incumbent Members, composition and elections of the Legislative Council; if it did, please set out, in tabular form, the details of each of the surveys, including the respective objectives and dates of conducting these surveys, as well as the specific wording of all questions concerning the above topics in the questionnaires used in the surveys; and

(b)

how it ensures that the opinion surveys commissioned by the CPU are conducted in a fair and impartial manner?

(a)	how the currently proposed allocation of the exhibition time slots of the Expo venues will be conducive to the launch of more exhibitions with new themes in Hong Kong, such as exhibitions of heavy industry products, so as to address the expectations of the exhibition industry;
(b)	of the criteria adopted by the management company of the Expo for approving the applications, and whether it has allocated any peak season exhibition time slots to any exhibition organizers that have no international accreditation; if it has, the justifications for that; and
(c)	whether the Expo and the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre will hold exhibitions of a similar nature in more or less the same period of time; if they will, whether the authorities will make appropriate efforts to co-ordinate the exhibitions concerned?

(a)	has assessed if the research methodology of the survey is scientific and objective, as well as fair and reasonable to the universities concerned, and the impacts of the survey findings on the universities; if it has, of the assessment results;
(b)	has taken measures to eliminate the possible misconceptions in the community caused by the survey, so as to foster an environment conducive to the healthy development of local universities in terms of teaching and research, as well as fair competition among them; if it has, of the relevant details; if not, the reasons for that; and
(c)	has formulated criteria or guidelines to ensure that the opinion survey agencies or programmes of such institutions can still maintain and enhance their academic research standards when conducting research studies commissioned by commercial establishments?

(a)	in respect of the past three years, the number of children performing groups in Hong Kong; among their extra-curricular cultural performances, the number of such performances which were regarded by LD as performances by artist employees subject to the Regulations; and the number of children involved in each of the performances concerned;
(b)	of the reasons for regarding children's participation in extra-curricular cultural performances of a non-commercial and non-profit-making nature as being employed in the activities concerned; and
(c)	of the impacts of such approach on children in receiving art performance training and gaining experience through performances, as well as on their interests in participating in extra-curricular activities?

(a)	of the mechanism, legislation and procedures for regulating the emission of pollutants from power plants;
(b)	whether targets have been set for restricting or reducing the amount of pollutants emitted from power plants; if so, of the target amount of emission; if not, the reasons for that; and
(c)	of the measures that can be taken to reduce the emission of pollutants from power plants and prevent the pollution problems from getting worse?

(a)	the number of attempts by the Government to recover the arrears as well as the channels and means by which such attempts were made over the past five years, with the details of the recovery actions taken in each instance and the amounts recovered;
(b)	the current amounts still owed by UNHCR; and
(c)	the concrete actions the Government will continue to take in its efforts to recover the arrears?

(a)	of the total number of such "grey areas" in Hong Kong, as well as the locations and circumstances in which they are normally identified to exist;
(b)	whether it will specifically designate a government department to be responsible for carrying out the work relating to hygiene management in the above "grey areas";
(c)	of the breeding situation of Culicine mosquitoes, which are the culprits for transmitting JE, in the past six months, and the measures that the authorities will take to control their high breeding rates; and
(d)	whether it knows if the Hospital Authority has started formulating contingency measures to prevent a massive outbreak of JE; if so, of the details?

(a)	of the effects of continuous overtime work on the occupational safety, health and efficiency of employees;
(b)	of Hong Kong's neighbouring territories where standard working hours are prescribed by law, and the conditions that enable these territories to prescribe standard working hours but are absent in Hong Kong; and
(c)	whether it will consider signing the Hours of Work Convention of the International Labour Organization and prescribing standard working hours for Hong Kong, as well as making rules on overtime work compensation; if it will, whether it has set a detailed implementation timetable; if it will not, the reasons for that?

(a)	in respect of each of the seven buggery offences and the four gross indecency offences under the Crimes Ordinance (Cap. 200), of the number of cases reported to the authorities and the respective numbers of persons arrested, prosecuted and convicted in the last five years;
(b)	of the number of the reported cases in item (a) above in which two or more men participated in the offences; and
(c)	of the respective numbers of the cases in item (b) above in which at least one of the participants was between 16 and 21 years old and below 16 years old?

(a)	of the legal basis for making the arrest and how the verification work was carried out subsequently;
(b)	of the total number of sex workers arrested by the Police over the past three years; the respective numbers of local residents and two-way permit holders so arrested, and the respective numbers of them who were accompanied by lawyers when making statements in police stations; as well as the respective numbers of sex workers holding two-way permits who were repatriated immediately upon arrest and of those who were tried in courts; and
(c)	whether it knows, in respect of two-way permit holders repatriated to the Mainland for breach of conditions of stay, if the mainland authorities have stipulated the duration for which they have to wait before they are allowed to apply for permits to visit Hong Kong again; if they have, of the details of the provisions; and whether the Hong Kong authorities have made provisions in this respect; if so, of the details of the provisions?

(a)	of the number of Mainland women who were non-entitled persons and gave birth in public hospitals;
(b)	among the women mentioned in (a), of the number of those whose spouse is a Hong Kong resident; the highest and average amounts of payment charged on them when they were discharged from hospitals; and how their length of stay in hospital compares to that of the entitled persons; and
(c)	of the average length of stay in hospital of the babies delivered by the women mentioned in (a), how this figure compares to that of the babies delivered by entitled persons; the number of babies delivered by the former whose length of stay is shorter and, among them, the number of those who subsequently were hospitalized for treatment; how the health condition of these babies with shorter length of stay compares to that of other babies, since April 2003?

(a)	of the respective numbers of accidents at public swimming pools, public bathing beaches and private swimming pools in each of the past three years, the respective numbers of such accidents resulting in serious injuries and deaths, as well as cases in which drowning swimmers were not saved due to the absence of lifeguards; and
(b)	whether it has assessed the adequacy of the existing arrangements to monitor the professional standard of lifeguards and the safety measures implemented at the swimming pools and bathing beaches of various categories, and whether it has adopted corresponding improvement measures in the light of the assessment results; if so, of the assessment results and the details of the improvement measures?

(a)	it has formulated measures to combat illegal downloading or infringement of copyright activities, by using computer softwares similar to "Bit Torrent"; if it has, of the details of such measures and the progress of implementation; and
(b)	it has plans to resolve the digital copyright problems with the relevant sectors and copyright holders, and establish a mechanism for the administration of digital copyright, so as to promote the development of local digital content industry; if it has, of the details?

(a)

whether it will review the power, as well as the checks and balances, of SFC, including its organizational structure; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and

(b)

as the authorities have indicated, in the course of discussion by the Bills Committee on Securities and Futures Bill, that they will consider changing the present situation where the SFC Chairman concurrently performs the functions of both the Chairman and the Chief Executive, with a view to severing his function as the Chief Executive, whether they will make the change; if so, of the implementation timetable; if not, the reasons for that?

(a)	of the number of such complaints relating to noise nuisances received in each of the past three years; and
(b)	whether it has taken measures to solve the noise problem; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

(a)	of the areas of discrimination involved in the above cases;
(b)	whether, in addition to the above measures, other measures will be formulated to ensure that disabled students will not be discriminated against by schools; and
(c)	whether it has plans to require all teachers to take the above course on a compulsory basis; if not, how it ensures that teachers will have certain understanding of the relevant legislation?

(a)	of the respective longest, shortest and average waiting times for follow-up consultations for patients of each speciality (such as cardiology, psychiatry and ophthalmology) at each public hospital in each of the past five years;
(b)	of the number of complaints received by the relevant authorities in the past three years about patients' delay in receiving treatment because of the unduly long waiting time for follow-up consultations, and the number of patients in those cases who died due to deterioration of their conditions; and
(c)	whether the relevant authorities have put in place measures to shorten patients' waiting time for follow-up consultations; if so, the details of such measures; if not, the reasons for that?

(a)

in respect of each of the past three years, (i) of the respective numbers of young people arrested for allegedly engaging in prostitution and related illegal activities, together with a breakdown by gender, and the age group (aged 10 and below, aged 11 to 15, aged 16 to 20 and aged 21 to 25) of those young people and the type of establishments involved in such activities; (ii) of the respective numbers of young people prosecuted for and convicted on such offences and the penalties imposed on them; and (iii) of the number of persons arrested for alleged manipulating or abetting young people in prostitution activities and, among them, the number of those convicted; and

(b)

whether there has been an upward trend in the number of young people engaging in prostitution or related illegal activities, and whether it will consider increasing the penalties for manipulating young people in prostitution activities?

(a)	of the effectiveness of its Energy Efficiency Programme, the amount of energy consumption reduced through the implementation of the Programme and the percentage of the reduced amount in the total energy consumption in the past three years;
(b)	whether, since the expiry of the Demand Side Management ("DSM") Agreements between the authorities and the two power companies on 30 June last year, the authorities have taken the initiative to promote DSM practices in the past year, in addition to relying on the relevant power companies to continue with their promotional and planning efforts in relation to DSM; if they have, of the contents and effectiveness of their promotional efforts; if not, the reasons for that; and
(c)	whether it will consider taking the lead in making vigorous efforts to reduce energy consumption, such as requiring government departments to maintain the temperatures in their offices at 24oC or above to prevent wastage of electricity due to excessively low room temperatures?

1. Proposed resolution under the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance
   
   Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works to move the following motion:
   
   RESOLVED that 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, be amended -
   
   

   (a)	by adding - "2A. Offences and penalties Regulation 5 is amended by adding - "(3A) Without affecting paragraph (3), in any proceedings for an offence against paragraph (1) in relation to any prepackaged food which is not marked or labelled in accordance with paragraph 2(4E) of Schedule 3, it shall be a defence for the defendant to show that he - (a) reasonably and in good faith relied on information provided by the importer or manufacturer as to whether the food consisted of or contained any substance referred to in that sub-paragraph; or (b) (i) has used his best endeavours to obtain such information from the importer or manufacturer but such information is not available; and (ii) has in good faith marked on the food that he does not know whether the food consists of or contains any such substance.".";
   (b)	in section 5 - (i) in paragraph (a), by repealing "Paragraph 2" and substituting "The whole Schedule except paragraphs 3 and 4"; (ii) in paragraph (b), by repealing "Paragraphs 2 and 4" and substituting "The whole Schedule except paragraph 3";
   (c)	in section 6, by repealing "January 2006" and substituting "July 2007".

2. Proposed resolution under the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance
   
   Secretary for Constitutional Affairs to move the motion to amend 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.
   
   (Contents of the motion are contained in the paper issued on
   30 June 2004 under LC Paper No. CB(3) 810/03-04)
   
   Amendment to Secretary for Constitutional Affairs' motion
   Hon Andrew WONG:
   
   RESOLVED that the motion to be moved by the Secretary for Constitutional Affairs under section 34(2) of the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance (Cap. 1) at the Legislative Council meeting of 7 July 2004 be amended in paragraph (c) by deleting "500" and substituting "7,000".
   
   

1. Report of the Select Committee
   
   Dr Hon LAW Chi-kwong: (Translation)
   
   That this Council endorses the Report of the Select Committee to inquire into the handling of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome outbreak by the Government and the Hospital Authority.
   
   Amendment to Dr Hon LAW Chi-kwong's motion
   Dr Hon YEUNG Sum: (Translation)
   
   To add ", and condemns the former Director of Health, Dr Margaret CHAN FUNG Fu-chun" after "the Hospital Authority".
   
   Public Officer to attend : Chief Secretary for Administration
   
   
2. Facilitating communication between the Central Government and the pro-democracy camp in Hong Kong
   
   Hon James TIEN: (Translation)
   
   That, in order to maintain the long-term prosperity and stability of Hong Kong, this Council urges the HKSAR Government to actively facilitate better communication between the Central Government and the pro-democracy camp in Hong Kong with a view to eliminating the division and polarization in the community, and to assist the democrats, where necessary, in obtaining Home Visit Permit for Hong Kong and Macao Residents so that they can go to the Mainland to find out for themselves the economic, social and political developments etc. of our country over the years.
   
   Amendment to Hon James TIEN's motion
   Hon SZETO Wah: (Translation)
   
   To delete "facilitate" after "the HKSAR Government to actively" and substitute with "strive for"; to delete ", where necessary," after "to assist the democrats"; and to add "in order to safeguard the right of Chinese nationals in Hong Kong to return to their home places," after "Hong Kong and Macao Residents".
   
   Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Constitutional Affairs
   
   
3. Big market and small government
   
   Hon NG Leung-sing: (Translation)
   
   That this Council urges the Government to conscientiously implement the "big market and small government" principle of governance, with a view to achieving the following objectives:
   
   

   (a)	streamlining operating structures and procedures, enhancing administrative efficiency and creating a better business environment for the various trades and industries;
   (b)	preventing overlapping of functions in the provision of services by the public sector and by the relevant industries, thereby increasing investment opportunities in the market; and
   (c)	reducing public expenditure and eliminating the fiscal deficit.

   Amendments to Hon NG Leung-sing's motion

   (i)

   Hon SIN Chung-kai: (Translation) To delete "reducing public expenditure and eliminating" after "(c)" and substitute with "ensuring that government departments make optimal use of resources, minimize wastage of public funds, and eliminate".

   (ii)

   Hon CHAN Yuen-han: (Translation) To delete "reducing public expenditure" after "(c)" and substitute with "expending public funds in a reasonable manner"; and to add "; at the same time, the Government should ensure that the establishment and job security of civil servants are not affected, and formulate policies on employment and labour protection so that grass-roots workers can earn their own living and live with dignity; the Government should also continue to provide the disadvantaged groups with reasonable protection of their livelihood" after "the fiscal deficit".

   Public Officer to attend : Financial Secretary
   
   
4. Valedictory Motion
   
   Hon Miriam LAU: (Translation)
   
   That this Council concludes its work and wishes for the smooth formation of the third Legislative Council to continue to serve the people of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
   
   Public Officer to attend : Chief Secretary for Administration