A 09/10-13
| (a) | whether it has studied why the wage increase rate in Hong Kong has moderated; under the situation that the growth of earnings of members of the public cannot catch up with the rise in prices, what new specific measures the Government will put in place to alleviate the burden on the livelihood of low-income earners;
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| (b) | given that quite a number of public utilities and public transport operators (including power companies, franchisees of cross harbour tunnels, ferry operators and green minibus operators etc.) have recently applied for increase in fares, tariff and tolls one after another, whether the Government will reconsider at this stage further expanding the territorial coverage of the Transport Support Scheme; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
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| (c) | under the present situation of persistently high unemployment rate and travelling expenses, what new measures the authorities will take to assist the unemployed in finding jobs and alleviate their financial burden, particularly in respect of travelling expenses, when they start working after finding jobs? |
| (a) | whether it has specific publicity plans (such as broadcasting Announcements in the Public Interest on the electronic media) to educate the public about the perils of throwing objects from a height; if it has, of the specific plans; if not, the reasons for that; and
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| (b) | whether it will consider launching in residential areas certain award schemes (such as issuing commendations to public and private housing estates as well as buildings, in which there is no incident of objects being thrown from a height within a certain period of time, to demonstrate that the lives and safety of the residents have been safeguarded), and whether the authorities will raise the penalties for the relevant offences? |
| (a) | whether they have looked into information relating to the formation methods of the Boards of the various NGOs receiving LSG, the background and terms of office of their Board members etc.; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
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| (b) | of the NGOs at present having Board members who are representatives appointed by the Government, the number of NGOs involved, the number of government representatives on each NGO Board, as well as what their roles are; and
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| (c) | whether they will formulate a code of practice to require the aforesaid NGOs to enhance their transparency, promote pluralism in participation and increase their level of public accountability; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that? |
| (a) | apart from the plan to develop the Siu Ho Wan Organic Waste Treatment and Recovery Facility in North Lantau Island, whether the Government has formulated other new policies and measures to tackle the current problem of a large amount of food waste being generated each day;
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| (b) | given that the technologies of handling food waste being developed by the environmental industry and the Hong Kong Productivity Council respectively are maturing each day, whether the Government will consider adopting the technologies concerned, and conduct promotional activities in various public housing estates and shopping centres; and
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| (c) | whether it will strengthen the education policy or organize more activities to educate the public to treasure food, so as to alleviate the problem of food waste? |
| (a) | whether the authorities have compiled statistics on the number of dementia patients in Hong Kong and their age distribution in the past 10 years; and whether they have projected changes in the number of such patients in the next decade; if they have, of the outcome; if not, the reasons for that; whether the authorities will establish a database of dementia patients to facilitate more in-depth studies on the conditions of such patients and to enable them to receive assistance more expeditiously when they encounter accidents;
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| (b) | of the respective average waiting time at present for elderly people suffering from dementia to be admitted to subsidized residential care homes for the elderly and day care centres as well as to receive government or subsidized outreach services; whether the authorities will draw up a waiting list specifically for them in order to minimize their waiting time as far as possible; and
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| (c) | what support is provided at present to carers of dementia patients by the authorities to reduce their mental and financial burden, and whether they will consider granting a "carer allowance" to those taking care of their family members who suffer from dementia, so as to alleviate their financial pressure? |
| (a) | whether SWD has prosecuted the RCHE involved in the aforesaid elder abuse case under the Residential Care Homes (Elderly Persons) Ordinance; if it has, when the prosecution was made and of its outcome; if not, whether the RCHE has not instituted prosecution because SWD considers that the RCHE's act involved in the aforesaid incident is reasonable and has not breached the Ordinance; and
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| (b) | given that children and juveniles are at present protected under the Protection of Children and Juveniles Ordinance, but there is no dedicated legislation for protecting elderly people, and since the Government had advised in its reply to the question raised by a Member of this Council on 11 November 2009 that "at present, Hong Kong has sound legislation to protect all citizens (including elders) from abuse", whether it will repeal the Protection of Children and Juveniles Ordinance immediately, so that the public will not have the impression that the Government has only enacted dedicated legislation for protecting children and juveniles but not elderly people; if it will, when the Ordinance will be repealed; if not, whether it will re-assess if there is a need to enact dedicated legislation for protecting elderly people from being abused? |
| (a) | of the maximum allowable level of alcohol concentration, as prescribed in the relevant legislation of Hong Kong, of civilian passenger aircraft pilots while discharging duties on aircraft; whether such a requirement is the same as those on the Mainland and in other developed countries; what measures the authorities have in place at present to ensure that the level of alcohol concentration of civilian passenger aircraft pilots while they are discharging duties on flights departing from Hong Kong complies with the statutory requirement; and
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| (b) | of the number of civilian passenger aircraft pilots who were prosecuted in each of the past five years for breaching the relevant legislation in Hong Kong because they discharged duties while being drunk, as well as the names of the airline companies to which they belonged? |
| (a) | whether it knows the respective numbers in each of the past five years, broken down by age, of primary and secondary school students who:
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| (i) | had been suspended from school as a result of expulsion by their schools, and the reasons for their expulsion;
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| (ii) | could return to mainstream schools after suspension from school, and the duration of their suspension; and
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| (iii) | could not return to mainstream schools after suspension from school, and the reasons for that;
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| (b) | of the current procedures for the authorities to follow up cases of expelled students; and
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| (c) | whether it knows which organizations and how they help those students rebuild their self-esteem and family relationships before they resume schooling, and the number of students these organization can help each year, with a breakdown by the nature of services they provide? | |
| (a) | given that sub-degree graduates of various post-secondary institutions can apply for admission to the undergraduate degree programmes of University Grants Committee ("UGC")-funded institutions through non-Joint University Programmes Admissions System ("non-JUPAS"), on what existing criteria or assessment standards such institutions have based in assessing and admitting such students;
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| (b) | whether UGC-funded institutions have adopted different assessment standards and methods in assessing admission applications from non-JUPAS graduates of funded and self-financing associate degrees and higher diploma programmes, as well as those from the community colleges of UGC-funded institutions and the colleges of non-UGC-funded institutions; if so, of the details; if not, what monitoring mechanism UGC has currently in place to ensure that admission to the funded institutions is conducted in a fair and open manner;
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| (c) | the respective numbers of admission applications received by the various departments of each UGC-funded institution between the 2006-2007 and 2008-2009 academic years from graduates of funded and self-financing associate degrees and higher diploma programmes offered by post-secondary institutions, as well as the respective numbers of those admitted to the first year and second year of undergraduate degree programmes (set out in the table below);
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| (d) | whether UGC allows advanced admission by funded institutions of those Year 1 students who have not yet completed their two-year sub-degree programme to the first year or second year of their funded undergraduate degree programmes; if so, the numbers of such students who had been offered advanced admission by each institution between the 2006-2007 and 2008-2009 academic years, and the reasons for their admission; if not, what follow-up actions the authorities will take when the complaints concerned are received;
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| (e) | whether the review on higher education conducted recently by the UGC covers post-secondary and non-UGC-funded institutions, including Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education, Chu Hoi College, Hong Kong Shue Yan University and Open University of Hong Kong; if so, the scope and specific contents of the review; if not, the reasons for that; and
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| (f) | whether UGC will consider formulating a credit accumulation and transfer system for all graduates of sub-degree and higher diploma programmes, with a view to allowing graduates from post-secondary institutions who have completed progammes of different subvention modes and acquired different academic qualifications, when applying for non-JUPAS admission to university, to compete fairly for funded university places through a credit recognition system and assessment criteria that are clear and open; if it will, when such system will be introduced and the details; if not, the reasons for that? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (a) | it has any mechanism in place at present to standardize the disposal of mileage earned through buying air tickets with public money; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
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| (b) | it has assessed if such mileage should be treated as public property; if the assessment result is in the negative, of the reasons and justifications; and
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| (c) | it has compiled statistics on the total mileage earned through buying air tickets with public money in each of the past five years, as well as the value of such mileage? |
| (a) | it has assessed the loss of rental due to the site not being leased out;
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| (b) | it will discuss afresh with various government departments the designation of the site for temporary use; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
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| (c) | it will consider allocating the site to Radio Television Hong Kong for holding concerts regularly on weekends, so as to provide a regular performance venue for local jazz players or independent musicians and increase their opportunities of staging live performances? |
| (a) | whether it knows the locations of Mr TSANG's pieces of calligraphy at various places in the streets on Hong Kong Island and in Kowloon at present, their latest conditions and the conservation arrangements;
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| (b) | given that in its reply dated 30 December last year to my enquiry on the aforesaid matter, the Home Affairs Bureau had described Mr TSANG's pieces of calligraphy as "works" only, how the authorities' choice of this word reflects their attitude to deal with Mr TSANG's pieces of calligraphy;
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| (c) | whether the Government will reconsider conserving all existing pieces of calligraphy of Mr TSANG in the streets, as well as reviewing and improving the methods for conserving such pieces of calligraphy; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
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| (d) | whether it will consider conducting a study on the artistic, social and cultural values of Mr TSANG's calligraphy or commission an academic institution to conduct the study, so as to establish more objectively the conservation value of his pieces of calligraphy; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
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| (e) | whether the authorities will consider arranging temporary or permanent display of Mr TSANG's pieces of calligraphy in the cultural and arts venues within their purview; if they will, of the specific arrangements; if not, the reasons for that? |
| (a) | whether it has assessed the negative impact on Hong Kong enterprises engaged in "import processing" of the aforesaid method of assessing Hong Kong profits tax not being applicable to such enterprises; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
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| (b) | whether government officials have visited Hong Kong enterprises engaged in "contract processing" and "import processing" on the Mainland and looked into their modes of operation and manufacturing procedures; if they had, of the number of visits made in the past three years, the numbers and types of enterprises visited, as well as the conclusions after the visits; if not, the reasons for that;
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| (c) | whether it has assessed if the aforesaid method of assessing Hong Kong profits tax not being applicable to Hong Kong enterprises engaged in "import processing" is contradictory to the policies of the HKSAR Government and mainland authorities at various levels of encouraging the upgrading and restructuring of Hong Kong enterprises; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
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| (d) | whether it will amend the Departmental Interpretation and Practice Notes to allow the aforesaid method of assessing Hong Kong profits tax to apply to Hong Kong enterprises engaged in "import processing", so as to better cater for the needs of enterprises under the current business environment; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
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| (e) | of the number of Hong Kong enterprises originally engaged in "contract processing" but had restructured to engage in "import processing" in each of the past three years, and the total amount of tax recovered from such enterprises by the authorities; and
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| (f) | whether it has compiled statistics on the number of enterprises engaged in "contract processing" still operating in Hong Kong at present? |
| (a) | the respective amounts of investment made by the two power companies in building natural gas and wind power generation facilities, as well as the costs for operating such facilities; and
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| (b) | the impact on the electricity tariff of using wind power to generate electricity by the two power companies? |
| (a) | of the detailed reasons and justifications for the aforesaid prediction by the Government on this year's economic situation; whether it had made any specific economic analysis and reference to the views of other economists; and
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| (b) | whether the Government has formulated any measure to tackle the aforesaid economic recession; of the financial resources required to be set aside; and whether it will affect the Government's Budget in the next financial year, including whether it is necessary to suspend the relief measures provided to the middle and lower classes? |
| (a) | apart from the public art programmes organized by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, of the government properties where spaces are currently allocated for displaying works of art by local artists, the names and locations of the properties as well as the categories and quantities of the works of art so displayed in the past three years, and the items and amounts of the resultant expenditure incurred for each property;
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| (b) | whether the Government will consider further extending the aforesaid arrangement to provide additional spaces in more government properties for displaying works of art; if it will, of the names and locations of such government properties, the categories and quantities of works of art planned to be displayed, and the items and amounts of annual resultant expenditure estimated to be incurred for each property, with a breakdown by the phase of implementation of such arrangement; if not, the reasons for that; whether it will draw up new policies or internal guidelines to promote public art among government departments; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
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| (c) | given that, at the special meeting of the House Committee of this Council on 22 May 2009, the Chief Secretary for Administration undertook to allocate sites by the end of 2009 in nine District Council districts as trial spots for street performances, but the Government has not announced related arrangements so far, whether the Government can honour such an undertaking; if it cannot, of the reasons for that, and the specific difficulties for not being able to announce the sites of the trial spots; when the Government expects to announce the sites; if it can, of the names of the nine District Council districts where trial spots for street performances will be provided, the sites, their areas, application procedures for staging performances at the trial spots, as well as the estimated capacity of performing units or persons for each trial spot? |
| (a) | given that the Chief Executive has announced in his 2009-2010 Policy Address that the Ministry of Land and Resources has given approval for Hong Kong Geopark to be listed as a national geopark, which involves eight sites, including the Northeast New Territories Sedimentary Rock Region and the Sai Kung Volcanic Rock Region; and it has been reported that the Hong Kong Government will inject resources to manage the geopark and, with reference to UNESCO's guidelines and through the State, will apply to the relevant authority for listing the geopark as a world geopark; yet the said wind farm is only three kilometers away from the geopark, whether the Government has studied in-depth the feasibility of having the wind farm constructed at other locations so as to reduce the negative impact on natural scenery and the assessment on the world geopark application to be submitted;
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| (b) | given that it has been reported that the wind farm will be located at the Sai Kung Caldera, which was formed 140 million years ago, and the construction site is also close to the hexagonal rock columns under the sea at Ninepin Group, whether the Government had fully considered the negative impact of the construction of the wind farm on such landscapes when approving the relevant environmental impact assessment report, and whether it had prudently examined comprehensive plans to reduce the impact on local residents and the natural ecological environment during the construction of the wind farm; if it had, of the details; and
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| (c) | whether the Government has fully considered the negative impact of the noise and light pollution created during the operation of the wind farm on migratory birds and marine ecology, as well as the solutions; if it has, of the details? |
| (a) | the numbers of nurses who had departed/retired from public hospitals under HA in each of the past three years, with a breakdown by the hospital and specialty to which such nurses belonged, as well as by their rank and length of service, and among such vacancies, the number of those which have been filled at present; if such vacancies have not yet been filled, of the reasons for that, and the expected time for them to be filled;
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| (b) | if HA has adopted new measures to retain nurses, so as to prevent departure of nurses from its public hospitals; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
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| (c) | if there were nurses who had reached the retirement age and had applied for deferment of their retirement in the past three years; if so, of the number of such applications and the reasons for deferring retirement, with a breakdown by the rank of the applicant; whether it has assessed if such applications will impede the promotion opportunities of serving nurses? |
| (a) | of the numbers and gross floor areas (in table form) of vacant primary school premises and secondary school premises as at December of this school year, with a breakdown by District Council district; how the authorities plan to deal with such vacant school premises;
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| (b) | of the names of the non-profit making organizations now applying for using such vacant school premises, the purposes involved and the names of the schools to which such school premises belonged before becoming vacant;
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| (c) | of the number of vacant school premises which had been approved for use by non-profit making organizations in each of the past three school years, the locations of such school premises and names of the schools to which such school premises belonged before becoming vacant, as well as the names of the organizations which were given approval for using those premises, the purposes and years of use of such school premises; and
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| (d) | whether the authorities will consider expediting the feasibility study on converting suitable vacant school premises into care-and-attention homes, so as to alleviate the problem of short supply of residential care places; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that? |
| (a) | its annual enrolment since the Academy's establishment in 2008, as well as the numbers of and the areas covered by the programmes, workshops, master classes, weekend courses, exchange programmes and mentorship programmes provided to the students;
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| (b) | the number of and the areas covered by the training courses, seminars and talks provided by the Academy to teachers to date;
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| (c) | the number of and the areas covered by the activities such as seminars and workshops provided by the Academy to parents to date, and the number of support groups set up with the assistance of the Academy;
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| (d) | the expenditure, income and budget of the Academy for the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 financial years;
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| (e) | the highlights of the work and plans of the Academy for the coming three years; and
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| (f) | the amount used and balance of the start-up funding at present, when the balance of the funding is expected to be exhausted, and whether the Government will arrange for further funding allocation? |
| (a) | promote the philosophy of Confucianism to revive the concept of public morality, and strengthen the maintenance of ethical relationship in families to enhance the community spirit of mutual help;
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| (b) | promote the application of the philosophy of Confucianism to social enterprises and business operations, so as to enhance the humanistic qualities of the public;
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| (c) | introduce in schools and tertiary institutions moral education courses which feature traditional Chinese cultural thinking and emphasize the cultivation of one's moral character; and
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| (d) | designate the birthday of Confucius as the Confucius Day to establish the esteemed position of Confucian thinking in the Hong Kong community. |