A 03/04-2

Legislative Council

Agenda

Wednesday 15 October 2003 at 2:30 pm

(a)	it accepts the above opposing view; if so, of the reasons for that;
(b)	it has given up the "5+1+4 structure" and will adopt a schooling structure comprising a three-year junior secondary course, a three-year senior secondary course and a four-year undergraduate programme instead; if so, of the details and the implementation timetable; and whether the authorities will allocate additional resources for the implementation of such a schooling structure; if so, of the details and the implementation timetable; and
(c)	it will implement corresponding curriculum reforms in the light of the changes in the structure of secondary and university education; if so, of the details?

(a)	the numbers of inspections carried out and warnings issued under the Bedspace Apartments Ordinance and Hotel and Guesthouse Accommodation Ordinance respectively in each of the past three years, as well as the follow-up actions taken by the Administration after issuing the warnings;
(b)	the number of bedspace apartments and hotels/guesthouses which had their business licences revoked for violating the above ordinances in each of the past three years, broken down by the offences committed; and
(c)	the current number of rental en suite units with kitchens and toilets in Hong Kong as well as the districts in which they are mainly located, and whether the above ordinances are applicable to these units; if not, of the means by which the construction structure, fire safety facilities and environmental hygiene conditions of these units are monitored by the authorities at present?

(a)	of the criteria adopted by the franchised bus companies for determining whether sectional fares should be implemented on individual routes, the number of sections and the respective fares;
(b)	whether measures are in place to encourage the franchised bus companies to implement sectional fares on more routes or increase the number of sections for routes with sectional fares, and to reduce the fares of various sections to alleviate the burden on passengers; if so; of the particulars of the measures; if not, the reasons for that; and
(c)	whether the franchised bus companies applied to the Government for reducing the sectional fares of certain routes or increasing the number of sections over the past three years; if so, of the details of each application, including the name of the bus company making the application, the route numbers involved, the outcome of the application; if some of the applications were rejected by the Government, the reasons for that?

(a)	whether it has studied the meaning of the "bad thing" and "good thing" in Mr XU's comment;
(b)	of the lessons which the Government has learned from this "crisis in governance"; whether it has assessed how it can gauge public opinions in a better and more accurate way in performing its work, to avoid setting off massive processions again; and
(c)	as the Government has indicated that the Chief Executive and the principal officials will strengthen their communication with Members of this Council, civic organizations, religious groups, etc. through regular meetings, of the specific approach to be adopted?

(a)	it will commence the making of the legislation concerned only after the Chief Executive and all Members of the Legislative Council are returned by universal suffrage; and
(b)	it will publish a white bill for public consultation on the contents of the provisions of the bill to implement BL23?

(a)	of the reasons for the HKMA's deploying a working group to conduct the above investigations and the results thereof;
(b)	whether the HKMA has taken other measures to ensure the quality of the loans granted by Chinese banks; and
(c)	whether the HKMA deploys staff to conduct regular investigations on banks to ascertain if unusual arrangements have been made for their loan accounts; if regular investigations have been conducted, of the number of such investigations, the banks investigated and the results thereof respectively in the past three years; if regular investigations have not been conducted, whether the HKMA will consider doing so with a view to preserving the confidence of local and international investors in local banks?

(a)	of the total amount of funds raised by local organizers of charitable fund-raising activities in the past year;
(b)	whether it has received complaints about the mechanism for monitoring local organizers of charitable fund-raising activities over the past three years; if so, of the details; and
(c)	whether, in the past three years, it had prosecuted any staff of charitable fund-raising organizations or people involved in fund-raising activities for embezzling the funds raised; if so, of the details?

(a)	whether it knows the details of the incident, including whether Mainland customs officers took law enforcement actions within Hong Kong waters;
(b)	whether the Police had received any request from the Mainland customs authorities for assistance in pursuing the cargo ship before it was intercepted;
(c)	of the number of cases in which the Police received requests from the Mainland customs authorities for assistance in pursuing cargo ships sailing within Hong Kong waters in the past three years; and
(d)	of the number of cases in which Mainland customs officers took law enforcement actions within Hong Kong waters over the past three years, and whether they had contacted the Hong Kong Police in advance on each occasion?

(a)	whether it provides information on vacancies of jobs which are designated for application by discharged prisoners only; if so, of the details, such as the numbers and titles of the jobs concerned, in the past two years;
(b)	of the employment rate of discharged prisoners in the past year; and
(c)	whether it has put in place mechanisms to follow up the employment situation of discharged prisoners?

(a)	of the current number of authorized institutions under the Banking Ordinance which adopt e-Certs (e.g. server certificates or other technologies) for consumers to verify the authenticity of their websites;
(b)	whether it has formulated any measures or guidelines requiring the attachment of e-Certs to the websites of all the authorized institutions (including licensed banks or virtual banks providing services to their clients through Internet or other electronic forms) and to the electronic messages (such as e-mails and mobile short messages) sent out by the institutions, to facilitate the verification of the authenticity of the websites and the identity of the senders of electronic messages; and
(c)	whether it has drawn up plans to educate consumers to guard against Internet fraud or deception; if so, of the details?

(a)	whether it has adopted criteria other than the two listed above, such as the size of the firm, for selection of firms for inclusion in the list;
(b)	of the number of firms which applied for inclusion in the list in the past three years, the number of rejected cases among them and the reasons for rejection; the number of specific tasks for which bureaux/departments invited firms on the list to submit expressions of interest, with details such as the names of the tasks, the amount of financial consultancy fees involved, the names of firms invited to submit expressions of interest and the names of those selected; and
(c)	of the mechanism for continuously monitoring whether the firms should be retained on the list?

(a)	the number and locations of bus stops the positions of which do not conform to road safety standards;
(b)	the number of traffic accidents due to improperly positioned bus stops and the number of casualties thus caused last year; and
(c)	the measures the Administration will adopt to improve the situation of bus stop locations not conforming to road safety standards?

(a)

of the respective numbers of staff in the medical, nursing and allied health grades in the above two organizations who have been approved to leave their service in respect of each of the above two voluntary retirement schemes, and the following figures in connection with those numbers: (i) breakdowns of the numbers by the ranks of the staff concerned and the types of medical institutions to which they belonged;(ii) the respective percentages of the numbers in the total numbers of applicants, and the relevant percentages in respect of each grade and rank; and(iii) the respective percentages of the numbers in the total numbers of staff, and the relevant percentages in respect of each grade and rank; and

(b)

in view of the huge pressure brought by the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome on the medical system of Hong Kong, will the authorities concerned consider retaining those staff who have been approved to leave their service; if not, of the plan it will put in place to ensure sufficient health care staff to meet the service needs when there is an epidemic?

(a)	of the respective numbers of persons detained in penal institutions in each of the past three years and, among them, the number of those who were found to have drugs concealed inside their bodies, and the types and amounts of drugs seized;
(b)	of the methods used by CSD staff for conducting the above body checks and whether these methods have been reviewed by the authorities; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
(c)	whether it has studied if the checks can be conducted with the aid of scientific and technological devices; if so, of the results; if not, the reasons for that; and
(d)	whether it knows the methods used by other countries and regions for conducting such checks and whether they have tried new methods for the purpose; if they have, of the details?

(a)	if the EAC has gathered information on the polling hours for elections held in foreign countries; if so, of the details;
(b)	if the polling hours in Hong Kong are the longest, compared to those for the countries mentioned in the reply to (a) above; and
(c)	the supporting facilities put in place in the countries with shorter polling hours than those in Hong Kong to facilitate the voting of electors?

(a)	the reasons for not honouring its undertaking; and
(b)	the legal basis for the continued detention of those offenders convicted of murder, despite the relevant ruling of the Court?

(a)	of the number of police stations where electronic gates were installed at the entrance and exit points in the past 12 months to dispense with deploying police officers on gate guard duty;
(b)	whether the Police has issued guidelines to police officers on how to prevent suspects from escaping whilst they are detained at police stations for the laying of charges; and
(c)	whether the Police has reviewed the security facilities at police stations in the past three years; if so, of the results of the review; if not, the reasons for that?

1. Proposed resolution under the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance
   
   Hon Miriam LAU to move the following motion:
   
   RESOLVED that in relation to the -
   
   

   (a)	Registration of Persons (Amendment) Regulation 2003, published in the Gazette as Legal Notice No. 165 of 2003;
   (b)	International Organizations (Privileges and Immunities) (Office of the Commission of the European Communities) Order, published in the Gazette as Legal Notice No. 166 of 2003;
   (c)	Administration of Estates by Consular Officers Ordinance (Amendment of Schedule) Order 2003, published in the Gazette as Legal Notice No. 167 of 2003;
   (d)	Consular Conventions (Application of Section 3) Order, published in the Gazette as Legal Notice No. 168 of 2003; and
   (e)	Statutes of the University of Hong Kong (Amendment) (No. 2) Statutes 2003, published in the Gazette as Legal Notice No. 186 of 2003,
   and laid on the table of the Legislative Council on 9 July 2003, the period for amending subsidiary legislation referred to in section 34(2) of the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance (Cap. 1) and deemed to be extended under section 34(3) of that Ordinance, be extended under section 34(4) of that Ordinance to the meeting of 5 November 2003.

   
   
   
2. Better contingency mechanism and preventive measures on the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
   
   Hon Michael MAK: (Translation)
   
   That, in view of the possible resurgence of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), this Council urges the Government to devise a better contingency mechanism and adopt preventive measures to safeguard public health and ensure that the spread of the disease can be effectively contained in case of an outbreak, with a view to minimizing the damage; these measures should include:
   
   

   (a)	enhancing the coordination and collaboration of the work of public and private medical institutions as well as residential care homes for the elderly in the treatment and prevention of SARS, and issuing standardized guidelines in this respect;
   (b)	providing sufficient and proper protective gears as well as infection control training to front-line health care workers to ensure that they work in a safe environment;
   (c)	expediting the construction of isolation facilities in public hospitals;
   (d)	establishing a clear mechanism for reporting confirmed and suspected SARS cases for public and private medical institutions;
   (e)	implementing primary health education more extensively in the community and at schools so as to enhance public understanding and awareness of infectious diseases;
   (f)	promoting continuously with all efforts the territory-wide participation in sustainable measures on public health and cleanliness; and
   (g)	vigorously enforcing quarantine and health measures at exit and entry points.
   Amendments to Hon Michael MAK's motion
   (i)	Hon CHAN Kwok-keung: (Translation) To add "in winter" after "That, in view of the possible resurgence of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)"; to delete "and" after "(f) promoting continuously with all efforts the territory-wide participation in sustainable measures on public health and cleanliness;" and to add "; and (h) implementing as soon as possible the recommendations of the SARS Expert Committee" after "(g) vigorously enforcing quarantine and health measures at exit and entry points".
   (ii)	Hon Mrs Sophie LEUNG: (Translation) To add "take into full consideration the views of the Legislative Council Panel on Health Services on the Report of the SARS Expert Committee, promptly follow up the recommendations of the Report, and expeditiously" after "this Council urges the Government to"; and to delete "; these measures should include: (a) enhancing the coordination and collaboration of the work of public and private medical institutions as well as residential care homes for the elderly in the treatment and prevention of SARS, and issuing standardized guidelines in this respect; (b) providing sufficient and proper protective gears as well as infection control training to front-line health care workers to ensure that they work in a safe environment; (c) expediting the construction of isolation facilities in public hospitals; (d) establishing a clear mechanism for reporting confirmed and suspected SARS cases for public and private medical institutions; (e) implementing primary health education more extensively in the community and at schools so as to enhance public understanding and awareness of infectious diseases; (f) promoting continuously with all efforts the territory-wide participation in sustainable measures on public health and cleanliness; and (g) vigorously enforcing quarantine and health measures at exit and entry points" after "with a view to minimizing the damage".

   Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food
   
   
3. Boundary crossing arrangements for Mainlanders visiting Hong Kong individually
   
   Hon Miriam LAU: (Translation)
   
   That, as the relaxation of restrictions on Mainlanders visiting Hong Kong individually has led to a substantial increase in the tourist arrivals from the Mainland, imposing heavy pressure on immigration and customs clearance at border control points, this Council urges the Government to expedite and implement the various boundary crossing infrastructural projects, upgrade the supporting facilities for immigration and customs clearance at border control points, and make flexible arrangements as well as deploy sufficient manpower for clearance processing at border control points, so as to facilitate the cross-boundary passenger flow to the fullest extent.
   
   Amendment to Hon Miriam LAU's motion
   Hon James TO: (Translation)
   
   To delete "sufficient" after "and make flexible arrangements as well as deploy" and substitute with "additional"; and to add "on the one hand, and keep close watch on security at border crossings on the other, sparing no effort in detecting and investigating criminal activities including theft, smuggling of contraband, etc. at border control points, in order to uphold the rule of law and safeguard the safety of inbound travellers and Hong Kong people" after "so as to facilitate the cross-boundary passenger flow to the fullest extent".
   
   Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Security