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A 10/11-35
Legislative Council
Agenda
Wednesday 6 July 2011 at 11:00 am
I. Tabling of Papers
| Subsidiary Legislation / Instruments | L.N. No.
|
|---|
| 1. | Residential Care Homes (Persons with Disabilities) Regulation | 111/2011
| | 2. | Residential Care Homes (Persons with Disabilities) Ordinance (Commencement) Notice 2011 | 112/2011
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Other Papers
| 1. | No. 98 | - | Report by the Commissioner of Correctional Services on the administration of the Prisoners' Welfare Fund together with the Report of the Director of Audit and audited financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2011
| (to be presented by the Secretary for Security)
| | 2. | No. 99 | - | Construction Industry Council Annual Report 2010
| (to be presented by the Secretary for Development)
| | 3. | No. 100 | - | Independent Commission Against Corruption Complaints Committee Annual Report 2010
| (to be presented by Hon Mrs Sophie LEUNG, who will address the Council)
| | 4. | No. 101 | - | Annual Report of The Ombudsman Hong Kong 2011
| (to be presented by the Chief Secretary for Administration)
| | 5. | No. 102 | - | Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Independent Commission Against Corruption Annual Report 2010
| (to be presented by Hon CHAN Kam-lam, who will address the Council)
| | 6. | No. 103 | - | Report of the Public Accounts Committee on Report No. 56 of the Director of Audit on the Results of Value for Money Audits
(July 2011 - P.A.C. Report No. 56)
| (to be presented by Dr Hon Philip WONG, Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, who will address the Council)
| | 7. | Report of the Finance Committee on the examination of the Estimates of Expenditure 2011-2012
| (to be presented by Hon Emily LAU, Chairman of the Finance Committee, who will address the Council)
| | 8. | Report No. 28/10-11 of the House Committee on Consideration of Subsidiary Legislation and Other Instruments
| (to be presented by Hon Miriam LAU, Chairman of the House Committee)
| | 9. | Report of the Bills Committee on Electoral Legislation (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 2011
| (to be presented by Hon TAM Yiu-chung, Chairman of the Bills Committee)
| | 10. | Report of the Panel on Manpower 2010-2011
| (to be presented by Hon LEE Cheuk-yan, Chairman of the Panel, who will address the Council)
| | 11. | Report of the Panel on Home Affairs 2010-2011
| (to be presented by Hon IP Kwok-him, Chairman of the Panel, who will address the Council)
| | 12. | Report of the Panel on Food Safety and Environmental Hygiene 2010-2011
| (to be presented by Hon Tommy CHEUNG, Chairman of the Panel, who will address the Council)
| | 13. | Report of the Panel on Welfare Services 2010-2011
| | (to be presented by Hon CHEUNG Kwok-che, Chairman of the Panel, who will address the Council)
|
II. Questions
1. Dr Hon David LI to ask:
I have received an increasing number of complaints that the Government has ignored the study needs of those students from non-Chinese speaking ("NCS") families who are being affected by the ever-escalating fees charged by most international schools and Private Independent Schools ("PIS"). Regarding the education opportunities for NCS students, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether it knows the number of children of foreign nationals who have a Hong Kong Permanent Identity Card and who are currently studying in primary or secondary schools in Hong Kong as well as the estimated demand for school places from this group of children five years from now;
| | (b) | as I have learnt that several PIS have proposed to introduce building levies on top of their tuition fees, whether the Government has assessed if high building costs is the direct cause of the high tuition fees of these schools; whether it will expand PIS scheme in the near future; if it will, whether it will set limits on expenditures on new buildings of PIS; and
| | (c) | whether it will actively support the provision of new schools under the Direct Subsidy Scheme which provide a flexible curriculum and adopt English as the medium of instruction, so as to give NCS students more school choices?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education
2. Hon LI Fung-ying to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that from early May to mid-June this year, there were no less than 27 incidents in Hong Kong of members of the public suffering from heat stroke, among which there were at least nine cases of members of the public suffering from heat stroke in the course of employment. Given the arrival of the long summer days in Hong Kong, will the Government consider legislating for the mandatory enforcement of the guidelines on "Prevention of Heat Stroke at Work in a Hot Environment" of the Labour Department and reviewing the Employees' Compensation Ordinance to streamline the procedures for employees to claim compensation for complications triggered by and personal injuries resulted from heat stroke in the course of employment, so as to enhance protection of employees?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Labour and Welfare
3. Hon Andrew LEUNG to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that the breakdown of cloud computing service of a large-scale technology corporation in April this year not only brought thousands of web sites to a halt for two days, but also resulted in the permanent loss of some customers' data. There have also been reports that hackers were suspected to have made use of the cloud computing server of this corporation to launch attacks on the payment platforms for online games and entertainment services of a well-known Japanese technology corporation and its subsidiaries in April this year, causing leakage of the personal data (including name, date of birth and email address) of nearly a hundred million users across the globe, and it was believed that the data of over 11 million credit cards had probably been leaked. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | given that the Government will progressively re-provision its central information technology services through adoption of cloud computing technology in the next five years, whether the authorities have re-assessed the information security risk of adopting cloud computing by the Government and strengthened its information security in response to the aforesaid incident; if they have, of the specific details; and
| | (b) | whether or not the legislation on computer crimes have been updated since 1997; of the provisions in such legislation by which information security is regulated; whether the authorities have planned to review and amend the legislation regarding computer crimes; if they have, of the timetable and details of the amendments; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development
4. Hon Alan LEONG to ask: (Translation)
It is projected in the "Hong Kong International Airport Master Plan 2030" ("the Master Plan") that if a third runway is constructed, the practical maximum annual runway capacity will be about 620 000 air traffic movements ("ATMs"). It has been reported that if the Mainland does not relax its prevailing constraints on airspace for civil aviation, which include the restrictions on access to the airspace within the Pearl River Delta region, coupled with the full implementation of the policy on cross-straits direct flights ("direct flight policy") hopefully in the near future, the runway capacity of the Hong Kong International Airport ("HKIA") will be affected and it may not be able to reach the level as projected in the Master Plan. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | on what basis the aforesaid runway capacity has been estimated, and if it includes the impact of whether the airspace of the Mainland is fully open; whether the authorities have reached consensus with the relevant mainland authorities with regard to the opening up of the airspace; if not, of the measures the authorities will take to ensure that the runway capacity will reach the projected level;
| | (b) | whether the authorities have studied the impact of the full implementation of the direct flight policy on HKIA's passenger and cargo throughput; if they have, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
| | (c) | given that in the planning outline for HKIA in 1992, it was originally expected that its runway capacity would reach 75 ATMs per hour, but according to the report of the experts from the United Kingdom quoted in the Master Plan, the practical maximum runway capacity of the existing runways in HKIA can at most be increased to 68 ATMs per hour, which falls short of the original projection by seven ATMs, and in reply to a question raised by a Member of this Council in 2010, the authorities also indicated that "the operating environment of HKIA is unique, with high terrains together with a complicated and restrictive airspace surrounding the airport", whether the authorities have considered such factors in estimating the runway capacity of HKIA after constructing the third runway; if they have, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport and Housing
5. Hon Tanya CHAN to ask: (Translation)
It had been the practice of the Government in the past to conduct public consultation on major public policies, e.g. the National Security (Legislative Provisions) Bill in 2003 and the constitutional development proposals in 2010, and the relevant consultation work also formed part of the procedures for policy formulation and law enactment. However, regarding the Legislative Council (Amendment) Bill 2011 ("the Bill"), the Government had decided to introduce the Bill to the Legislative Council ("LegCo"), without conducting public consultation, on the basis of the voter turnout rate for the LegCo by-election held in 2010 and the public comments about the conduct of by-elections because of the resignation of LegCo Members. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether the Government's decision of not conducting public consultation on the Bill goes to show that the Government has adjusted its principle of conducting public consultation on major policy proposals; if so, of the present principles adopted by the Government in determining whether to conduct public consultation, the way in which public consultation is to be conducted and how the results of public consultation are to be applied after analyzing the views expressed by the public; if not, how its decision of not conducting public consultation on the Bill has adhered to those principles;
| | (b) | given that apart from the replacement arrangement for filling vacancies of LegCo arising from resignation of LegCo Members, the Bill also covers the replacement arrangement for filling vacancies of LegCo arising from the death of a LegCo Member or a LegCo Member being relieved of his or her duties, why the opinions expressed in the community concerning the LegCo by-election in 2010 can be interpreted as the community's expression of support for such proposal in the Bill which will deprive voters of their right to vote in those by-elections; given that the Government has not sought the public's views on the replacement arrangement to be adopted for filling vacancies of LegCo arising from the death of a LegCo Member or a LegCo Member being relieved of his or her duties, whether it has assessed if the Bill will give rise to controversy in the community; if the assessment outcome is in the affirmative, whether the Government will consider withdrawing the Bill in the light of these results; if the assessment outcome is in the negative, of the reasons for that; and
| | (c) | whether the Government can undertake that it will definitely conduct public consultation on all policy changes relating to political system, electoral system and civic rights; if it cannot undertake to do so, of the reasons for that?
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| Public Officers to reply | : | Secretary for Home Affairs
Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs
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6. Hon Fred LI to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that the means employed by real estate developers to acquire old buildings have all along been under criticism, and such means include completing transactions at a "split price" (e.g. a transaction on a property with an actual price of over $2.7 million is completed at a registered price of $1.2 million, and a removal fee over $1.5 million), so as to create an illusion that old buildings are acquired at low prices, and persuading owners to sell their property ownerships by making deceptive claims that 80% or 90% of the ownerships in the buildings have been acquired. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | regarding a report last month that a company engaging in old buildings acquisition made use of a loophole in the Land Registration Ordinance and only registered in the Land Registry the provisional agreement for sale and purchase ("PASP") and the formal conveyance on sale, and did not register the supplementary agreement relating to the value of conveyance on the sale of that property, whether the Government will review the Ordinance and make amendments to the effect that the information registered under the Ordinance reflects the true value of conveyance on sale of properties;
| | (b) | whether at present the Lands Tribunal, Urban Renewal Authority and Rating and Valuation Department make projections and compile statistics on the basis of the property prices registered in the Land Registry; if so, whether changes will be made to use the value of conveyance on sale of properties required to be listed in the agreements for sale under the Stamp Duty Ordinance together with other considerations for such projections and statistics; and
| | (c) | whether it knows if the Estate Agents Authority ("EAA") has performed random checks since issuing a practice circular in August last year to require estate agents to state the true purchase price on PASP; whether EAA will make reference to the requirements under the Stamp Duty Ordinance and amend the relevant regulation to stipulate that estate agents must list on PASP all considerations related to the conveyance on sale of properties, and whether it will require estate agents to provide accurate information to owners in accordance with the records in the Land Registry when providing information on property ownerships of acquired buildings, and to show the relevant records?
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| Public Officers to reply | : | Secretary for Development
Secretary for Transport and Housing
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*7. Prof Hon Patrick LAU to ask: (Translation)
Recently, there was a serious accident in which a dangerous goods vehicle ("DGV") overturned on Tai Po Road, paralyzing the traffic in the New Territories for seven hours, and some members of the public are concerned about the safety of DGVs. According to the information provided by the MTR Corporation Limited ("MTRCL"), during the construction of the South Island (East) Line, explosives are collected daily by the Mines Division ("Mines D") of the Civil Engineering and Development Department from Kau Shat Wan on Lantau Island, and transported from North Point Pier through busy roads across various districts to the Southern District for delivery to the sites in Wong Chuk Hang ("WCH") first via Deep Water Bay Road, Nam Fung Road, WCH Road and Nam Long Shan Road, etc., and from the sites in WCH, the explosives are then transported via Nam Long Shan Road and in WCH Road, etc. to the temporary explosives magazine site at Chung Hom Shan ("CHS Magazine Site") by 3:00 pm for storage, and from where the explosives are collected twice daily (from 4:00 am to 5:00 am and before 4:00 pm) by MTRCL for transporting via Repulse Bay Road and WCH Road, etc. to the MTR sites at Nam Fung Road and in Ap Lei Chau for tunnel blasting. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | given that at present, the Mines D's daily route for transportation of explosives passes through the MTR sites at Nam Fung Road and in Ap Lei Chau on the way to CHS Magazine Site, whether it will consider taking the opportunity to deliver explosives to the two sites for use in the blasting operations in the afternoon; if not, of the reasons for that; and whether it has considered arranging the explosives delivery vehicles of the Mines D to transport explosives directly from the North Point Pier or the sites in WCH to the aforesaid two MTR sites, so as to avoid respectively transporting the explosives by the explosives delivery vehicles of the Mines D to CHS Magazine Site at 3:00 pm daily and then collecting from the Site by the explosives delivery vehicles of MTRCL for transportation to the MTR sites at 4:00 pm, thus avoiding duplication of routes and prolonged transportation time of explosives on the road; if not, of the reasons for that;
| | (b) | given that MTRCL has pointed out that an interval of 10 hours must be maintained between the blasting operations carried out during the daytime and in the evening, and explosives will be delivered to the construction sites only two to three hours before the blasting operations take place, whether it will advise MTRCL to carry out blasting operations at 7:00 am and 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm for compliance with the provision that blasting operations must be completed by 7:00 pm, and make it possible for the timing of the blasting operations carried out in the afternoon to dovetail with the arrangements proposed in (a) that the Mines D can deliver explosives directly to the aforesaid MTR sites by 3:00 pm daily; if not, of the reasons for that;
| | (c) | given that the traffic in the Stanley area is very busy after 3:00 pm, whether it will consider dovetailing the arrangements proposed in (a) and (b) to cancel the arrangement of explosives transporting from CHS before 4:00 pm, so that vehicles carrying explosives will not need to travel back and forth in the district during the peak hours of traffic; if not, of the reasons for that; and
| | (d) | if the Mines D is unable to deliver explosives directly to the sites at Nam Fung Road and in Ap Lei Chau, whether it will consider coordinating with MTRCL so that when explosives are delivered to the sites in WCH by the explosives delivery vehicles arranged by the Mines D, MTRCL may be allowed to collect the explosives directly there and deliver the explosives to the MTR sites, thus shortening the route for delivery of explosives; if not, of the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport and Housing
*8. Hon Mrs Sophie LEUNG to ask: (Translation)
At present, in respect of quite a number of the courses offered by post-secondary institutions in Hong Kong (including undergraduate programmes, full-time accredited self-financing sub-degree, degree and top-up degree programmes or other higher diploma programmes of the University Grants Committee-funded institutions), students need to pay an application fee of several hundred dollars to apply, and upon admission, they have to pay enrolment deposit or first instalment of several thousand dollars of tuition fee within a short time. Although the Student Financial Assistance Agency provides students with various assistance schemes, students may not apply for the assistance until they are enrolled. They are also required to undergo complicated means test process, and it may take a long time before such assistance is granted to the students. Until then, students need to pay their own application fee, enrolment deposit and tuition fee. For some students, however, it is not easy for them to pay a one-off enrolment deposit of several thousand dollars, and some young persons are unable to further their studies because they cannot afford such payments. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | what guidelines have been put in place by the authorities at present on the charging of application fees and enrolment deposits in respect of post-secondary or tertiary programmes by various institutions, and whether any ceiling for such fees has been set; whether it knows the levels of application fees and enrolment deposits for various programmes and whether such fees can be refunded;
| | (b) | whether it knows the annual number of students who had not been admitted in the past three years because they were not able to pay the aforesaid enrolment deposit;
| | (c) | whether there are measures to help students who cannot afford the fees concerned due to financial difficulties to pay the application fees and enrolment deposits (e.g. by providing them with small loans which can be granted quickly and repaid after students receive the assistance); and
| | (d) | given that many students usually apply for several local and overseas institutions concurrently to increase their chances of enrolment to their favourite programmes and because the institutions announce admission results on different dates, such students will pay enrolment deposits in advance once they receive the admission notices, so that they will not lose their eligibility, and they will wait for all application results before deciding which institutions to choose, whereas the institutions will normally not refund the enrolment deposits, meaning that students need to suffer the loss of several thousand dollars or even tens of thousand dollars and the institutions will in a way increase their revenues, what measures (including taking the lead to discuss with various institutions to agree on the dates for announcing new admissions each year, so that students may have simultaneous access to the admission results of the institutions, thus facilitating them to select their most favourite programmes) the Government has to address the aforesaid situation, so as to avoid students having to pay additional enrolment deposits, and save the institutions' need to make replacement arrangements because some students give up their places after they choose to study in other institutions?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education
*9. Dr Hon Samson TAM to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that various government departments need to print and file official electronic mails or documents at present. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether it has compiled statistics on the quantity of official electronic mails and documents printed and filed by various government departments last year, and of the quantity of paper used for that purpose; and
| | (b) | given that the Government has started studies on electronic record management systems since 2001 and carried out a pilot run of an electronic recordkeeping system ("ERKS"), why to date ERKS is still unable to be put to formal use; whether it will conduct a study on this subject again shortly; if it will, of the details, including the timetable?
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Public Officer to reply : The Chief Secretary for Administration
*10. Hon Albert HO to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the development of services in the public and private hospitals, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:
| (a) | the situation of the public and private hospitals in the past five years, including:
| | (i) | the changes and trend of development in the number of beds in the public and private hospitals; the respective percentages of such numbers in the total number of hospital beds, and the respective utilization rates of such beds;
| | (ii) | the respective numbers, percentages of increase in the numbers and corresponding specialties of new beds in the private hospitals, as well as the percentages of increase in the numbers of doctors and nurses, broken down by hospital;
| | (iii) | the numbers and bed days of local residents and non-local residents using private hospital services, as well as the percentages of increase in such figures; if it does not know the data, how the authorities carry out the service and manpower planning, and whether they will request the private hospitals to provide the relevant data; and
| | (iv) | whether the number of new beds in the private hospitals can alleviate local residents' demand for healthcare services in the public sector; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
| | (b) | the development of public and private hospitals in the next three years, including:
| | (i) | the respective numbers of new beds to be added to public and private hospitals, together with a breakdown by hospital and specialty;
| | (ii) | the respective numbers of additional specialists, general practitioners and nurses required for public and private hospitals to tie in with the beds to be added; and
| | (iii) | the impact of the beds to be added in the private hospitals on the demand for public hospital services and turnover rate of healthcare staff; if it does not know the impact, of the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health
*11. Dr Hon LEUNG Ka-lau to ask: (Translation)
Will the Government inform this Council of:
| (a) | the quantities of various kinds of asbestos materials and asbestos-containing materials re-exported from Hong Kong in 2008 and 2009;
| | (b) | the usage of various kinds of asbestos materials and asbestos-containing materials imported into Hong Kong in the past five years from 2006 to 2010; and
| | (c) | the quantities of asbestos products or asbestos-containing waste disposed of in Hong Kong in each of the past five years from 2006 to 2010?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment
*12. Hon Starry LEE to ask: (Translation)
According to the Lands Department's Guidelines for Deeds of Mutual Covenant ("the Guidelines"), property management companies may receive a manager's remuneration which cannot exceed 10% to 20% of the total expenses incurred in the management of the buildings, based on the number of units in different buildings. The owners from quite a number of housing estates have criticized that these maximum percentage levels have rendered the management fees out of tune with the market, and the threshold to replace management companies is too high and even if the performance of the first management company is not satisfactory, the replacement shall be passed by the votes of the owners holding not less than 50% of the shares in aggregate. In addition, they have pointed out that in the absence of owners' corporations ("OCs") in some new housing estates, the owners do not have the means to control the expenses incurred by management companies for the maintenance, tendering and commencement of new building works, etc., but the formation of an OC must be passed by a majority of the votes of the owners and supported by the votes of the owners holding not less than 30% of the shares in aggregate at a general meeting of the owners convened under section 3 of the Building Management Ordinance (Cap. 344) ("the Ordinance"). The owners of quite a number of large housing estates find it difficult to comply with such requirements. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether it knows, the current percentage of the management fees of large housing estates in general in the total expenses incurred in the management of the estates; when and based on what criteria the maximum percentages as stipulated in the Guidelines were determined; whether it has planned to review such maximum levels; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
| | (b) | whether it will review the existing threshold for the replacement of management companies of obtaining the agreement of the owners holding not less than 50% of the shares in aggregate; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
| | (c) | whether it knows the names of the housing estates which have not yet formed an OC at present and the reasons for that, with a breakdown by District Council district; given that according to section 3A or section 4 of the Ordinance, the owners holding not less than 20% or 10% of the shares in aggregate may, pursuant to the relevant provisions, resolve to apply to the Secretary for Home Affairs or the Lands Tribunal for convening a meeting of the owners for the purpose of selecting an OC, of the respective numbers of such applications in the past three years, and among them, the number of those for which OCs were finally appointed, as well as the reasons why OCs could not be formed in the other cases?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs
*13. Hon TAM Yiu-chung to ask: (Translation)
Recently, a number of Social Work Officers ("SWOs") working in the Social Welfare Department ("SWD") have reflected to me that SWD requires them to use their personal identity card ("ID card") numbers to act as the appointees of some Comprehensive Social Security Assistance ("CSSA") applicants who are under 18 years old without legal guardians and some adults who have been medically certified to be unfit to apply for CSSA on their own, for the purpose of applying for CSSA on their behalf. These SWOs relayed to the relevant policy bureau early last year that such an arrangement seriously infringed the privacy of the staff concerned. At that time, the policy bureau undertook to modify the computer system so that the staff concerned could use the numbers of their government staff cards or departmental staff cards instead of their personal ID card numbers to apply for CSSA on behalf of the persons concerned as appointees. However, when these SWOs followed up this matter with the bureau early this year, the bureau pointed out that as the numbers of government staff cards or departmental staff cards were not unique and would easily cause confusion, it therefore refused to revise the relevant arrangement. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the existing number of CSSA cases in which appointees have been appointed by SWD; the number of SWOs in SWD involved in these cases; whether SWD and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data ("OPCPD") had received complaints from SWOs in the past three years about the aforesaid arrangement; if they had, of the relevant figures;
| | (b) | whether SWD has sought the opinion of OPCPD on whether the aforesaid arrangement contravenes the provisions of the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (Cap. 486); if it has, of the results; if it has not, the reasons for that; and
| | (c) | whether SWD has any plan to revise the existing arrangement of requiring its SWOs to use their personal ID card numbers to apply for CSSA on behalf of the aforesaid persons as appointees; if it has, of the details of the plan and the implementation timetable; if it has not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Labour and Welfare
*14. Hon CHAN Kin-por to ask: (Translation)
In 2006 to 2007, the Government commissioned the Hong Kong Jockey Club Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention of the University of Hong Kong ("the Research Centre") to conduct a pilot scheme of changing the method of selling charcoal packs ("the pilot scheme") in Tuen Mun, under which the shelves for keeping charcoal in supermarkets were locked and anyone who wanted to buy charcoal was required to contact the staff first. According to the report on the pilot scheme, the rate of charcoal burning suicide in Tuen Mun reduced substantially by more than 50% from 4.3 per 100 000 before the pilot scheme to two per 100 000 after the pilot scheme; for the same period, the rate of charcoal burning suicide in Yuen Long, a district selected as a control in the experiment, increased by over 40% from three per 100 000 to 4.3 per 100 000. Regarding the total number of all fatal suicide cases for the same period, the number of such cases in Tuen Mun reduced by more than 30% while that for Yuen Long remained broadly the same. It is noted that the International Association for Suicide Prevention and experts in suicide prevention from the United Kingdom have affirmed their support in the findings of the pilot scheme. The Secretary for Food and Health also indicated in March this year that according to the study of the University of Hong Kong, an effective approach to prevent suicide in community settings was to reduce people's access to suicide means. However, in reply to a relevant question on 2 March this year, the Secretary for Labour and Welfare indicated that as the pilot scheme did not have substantial impact on reducing suicide attempts, the authorities have no plan to implement the pilot scheme in all 18 districts in Hong Kong. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | why the aforesaid two Directors of Bureaux had reached different conclusions regarding the pilot scheme;
| | (b) | whether the authorities will use both the number of attempted suicide cases and that of fatal suicide cases as indicators for assessing the effectiveness of the aforesaid scheme and other suicide prevention schemes, instead of only considering the changes in the number of attempted suicide cases; although at present the authorities have no plan to implement the pilot scheme in all 18 districts in Hong Kong, whether they will consider implementing the scheme in at least some districts;
| | (c) | whether the authorities will enhance publicity and public education on the pain, permanent injury to the body and severe residual defects that can be caused by charcoal burning suicide, as well as the long-term serious impacts on the family members of the victims of suicide; whether the Government will consider conducting a cost-benefit analysis on the suicide preventive measures in Hong Kong; and
| | (d) | as the figures of the Research Centre have revealed that the number of cases of charcoal burning suicide increased from 143 in 2007 to 167 in 2008, and to 177 in 2009, and among them, the number of cases for the age group of 35 to 44 was the highest, whether the authorities will consider formulating measures in response to the higher rate of charcoal burning suicide by people belonging to that age group, with a view to taking proper intervention and follow-up actions before they choose to end their lives by charcoal burning, and whether they will consider conducting or subsidizing relevant organizations to conduct a territory-wide longitudinal study on reducing people's access to means of suicide by charcoal burning?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Labour and Welfare
*15. Hon CHEUNG Man-kwong to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the public-private partnership programmes in healthcare ("PPP programmes"), will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the PPP programmes which are being implemented at present as well as those which are planned to be implemented in the next two years covering the scope of hospital services; of the public expenditure incurred, the partners from the private sector and their number, the service targets and number of beneficiaries;
| | (b) | whether the authorities have, prior to the implementation of the PPP programmes, assessed the pros and cons of injecting resources into these programmes vis-?-vis the improvement of public healthcare services, in terms of the cost, government expenditure, fairness as well as the manpower requirement and mobility of healthcare staff involved in each programme; if they have, of the criteria for and results of the assessment for implementing the programmes; if not, the reasons for that; and
| | (c) | given that the authorities have launched the PPP programme of "Cataract Surgeries Programme" in February 2008 to, on the one hand, provide a fixed amount of subsidy to patients who chose to receive surgeries in the private sector and, on the other hand, to increase the number of such surgeries conducted in public hospitals so as to shorten patients' waiting time, whether they know the difference between the number of healthcare staff required for a cataract surgery carried out in private medical service institutions and that for conducting such surgery in public hospitals; of the wastage rate of healthcare staff in the ophthalmic service of the Hospital Authority ("HA") as well as the ranks of those staff departed since 2008; of the measures HA has in place to retain its staff, and the expenditure so incurred; in view of the expanding ageing population in the future and the increasing number of patients who need to receive cataract surgery, whether the authorities have assessed the additional places for cataract surgeries need to be provided and the additional number of relevant healthcare staff need to be recruited by HA in the next five years in order to meet the new service demand; if they have, of the results; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health
*16. Hon CHAN Hak-kan to ask: (Translation)
According to the original plan of the MTR Corporation Limited ("MTRCL"), the Tai Wai to Hung Hom section and the Hung Hom to Admiralty section of the Shatin to Central Link ("SCL") are scheduled for commissioning in 2018 and 2020 respectively. However, as affected by the litigation relating to the environmental impact assessment ("EIA") reports for the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge local projects, MTRCL has earlier on withdrawn three EIA reports on SCL. Previously, in reply to a question raised by a Member of this Council, the Secretary for Transport and Housing said that there were still considerable uncertainties as to whether the programme for the SCL project might be affected. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | as it has been reported that the East Rail Line ("ERL"), the Ma On Shan Line and the two major interchange stations, namely Tai Wai Station and Kowloon Tong Station, are at present already very crowded, whether the authorities know if MTRCL has assessed the respective increases in the numbers of passengers using the two extensions and the two interchange stations from now on until the commissioning of SCL as originally planned; whether it has assessed the impact of each year of delay in the commissioning of SCL on the crowdedness of the two extensions and the two major interchange stations;
| | (b) | whether a task force will be formed by the relevant government departments, MTRCL and other public transport operators to study how to coordinate and deploy different transport modes to meet the transport demand of members of the public before the commissioning of SCL in case it is delayed; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
| | (c) | as MTRCL once indicated that the installation of platform screen doors for SCL and ERL would be implemented in parallel, whether the authorities know if MTRCL will pursue the two projects separately by according priority to the planning and installation of platform screen doors for ERL in view of the possible delay of the commissioning of SCL; if MTRCL will do so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
|
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport and Housing
*17. Hon James TO to ask: (Translation)
The original intention of implementing the Telephone Appointment Booking Service ("Telephone Appointment Service") of general outpatient clinics ("GOPCs") is to prevent patients from having to visit clinics in person and spend much time on waiting for consultation quotas, as well as to alleviate the crowded queuing conditions in clinics. In recent years, it has been reported that the consultation quotas allocated through telephone booking were often full, resulting in longer waiting time. It has also been reported that although the quotas reserved for civil servants in some GOPCs have not been fully allocated, the GOPCs do not release such unallocated quotas for the general public to book. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:
| (a) | the number of consultation quotas allocated by the various GOPCs in Kowloon West Cluster in each of the past three years; among them, the quotas reserved for civil servants and the average utilization rate; the number of appointments cancelled by civil servants on their own initiative; and how unallocated quotas for civil servants are handled by GOPCs;
| | (b) | given that various clinics have different number of unallocated consultation quotas each day and the public have no way of knowing whether they can be allocated such quotas, how the authorities dispose of the unallocated quotas; if a notification mechanism will be put in place to announce the number of unallocated quotas through web site or hotlines;
| | (c) | the number of complaint cases received in each of the past three years in which the complainants were not able to get through to the Telephone Appointment Service hotlines; if there are channels for compiling statistics on the number of unsuccessful booking; given that it has been reported that such hotlines were always busy, if the authorities have assessed if the present 500 odd telephone lines are adequate in meeting the demand;
| | (d) | given that some chronic patients complained that they were not able to receive timely treatment because the consultation quotas booked through telephone were full, if the authorities have any plan to assist them in securing the unallocated quota; and
| | (e) | focusing on the complicated instructions of the Telephone Appointment Service System, what improvement measures the authorities have; what changes are actually made as the authorities have indicated that they would streamline the procedures?
|
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health
*18. Hon IP Wai-ming to ask: (Translation)
Accidents involving lifts have occurred from time to time in recent years and some members of the industry have reflected that these accidents are connected with the manpower engaged in lift works and escalator works. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the latest numbers of lifts and escalators in Hong Kong and the respective increase in the numbers of lifts and escalators in each of the past three years;
| | (b) | of the respective numbers of competent lift and escalator engineers and lift and escalator workers in Hong Kong at present; whether it knows their respective duties; and whether the authorities have complied statistics on the number of those among such persons who are actually engaged in maintenance and repair works of lifts and escalators at present; if the authorities do not keep records of the relevant statistics, whether they will consider keeping records of such statistics in future;
| | (c) | given that some lift and escalator practitioners have reflected to me that when they carried out the maintenance and repair works of lifts and escalators, the manpower did not meet that required by the Codes of Practice, whether the Government had received such complaints in the past three years; if it had, of the respective numbers of complaints it had received each year and the follow-up actions taken; and
| | (d) | given that the bodies representing lift and escalator practitioners have indicated that the industry is faced with the problem of the lack of new practitioners joining the industry in recent years, whether it knows the respective numbers of lift and escalator engineers and lift and escalator workers aged 20 or below, aged between 21 and 30 and between 31 and 40 who had joined the industry in the past three years; whether the authorities have considered taking any measure to attract people to join the industry as lift and escalator practitioners; if they have, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
|
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Development
*19. Hon Audrey EU to ask:
Regarding the Native-speaking English Teacher ("NET") Schemes in primary and secondary schools, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the respective total numbers of NET posts, NETs employed and NET vacancies in primary and secondary schools in each of the past three school years, together with the anticipated number of NET posts in the school year 2011-2012 (to be listed in the following table);
|
| Primary schools | Secondary schools |
Number of
Native-
speaking
English
Teacher
("NET") posts | 2011-2012
(anticipated) |
|
|
2010-2011 |
|
|
2009-2010 |
|
|
2008-2009 |
|
|
Number of
NETs
employed | 2010-2011 |
|
|
2009-2010 |
|
|
2008-2009 |
|
|
Number of
NET vacancies | 2010-2011 |
|
|
2009-2010 |
|
|
2008-2009 |
|
|
| | (b) | of the retention and wastage of NETs in primary and secondary schools in each of the past three school years (to be listed in the following table);
|
| Primary schools | Secondary schools |
Number of Native-
speaking English
Teachers ("NETs") who
left the NET Schemes | 2010-2011 |
|
|
| 2009-2010 |
|
|
| 2008-2009 |
|
|
Average years of
service of NETs who
left the NET Schemes | 2010-2011 |
|
|
| 2009-2010 |
|
|
| 2008-2009 |
|
|
| Retention rate of NETs | 2010-2011 |
|
|
| 2009-2010 |
|
|
| 2008-2009 |
|
|
| Wastage rate of NETs | 2010-2011 |
|
|
| 2009-2010 |
|
|
| 2008-2009 |
|
|
| | (c) | of the respective total numbers of NETs recruited for primary and secondary schools in each of the past three school years who held the professional qualifications of Post-graduate Diploma in Education ("PGDE") or Teaching of English as a Second Language ("TESL") or equivalent (to be listed in the following table); and
| 2010-2011 | 2009-2010 | 2008-2009 |
| Primary schools | Number of Native-speaking
English Teachers ("NETs")
holding PGDE or equivalent |
|
|
|
Number of NETs holding
TESL or equivalent |
|
|
|
| Secondary schools | xNumber of NETs holding
PGDE or equivalent |
|
|
|
Number of NETs holding
TESL or equivalent |
|
|
|
| | (d) | of the respective total numbers of NETs employed in primary and secondary schools in each of the past three school years, broken down by the category of qualifications for appointment of NETs (to be listed in the following table)?
| Categories of qualifications
for appointment of Native-
speaking English Teachers | 2010-
2011 | 2009-
2010 | 2008-
2009 |
| Primary schools | Category 1 |
|
|
|
| Category 2 |
|
|
|
| Category 3 |
|
|
|
| Category 4 |
|
|
|
| Category 5 |
|
|
|
| Secondary schools | Category 1 |
|
|
|
| Category 2 |
|
|
|
| Category 3 |
|
|
|
| Category 4 |
|
|
|
| Category 5 |
|
|
|
| Category 6 |
|
|
|
| Category 7 |
|
|
|
|
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education
*20. Dr Hon PAN Pey-chyou to ask: (Translation)
According to the existing standardized assessment mechanism for residential services for persons with disabilities ("PWDs"), PWDs who wish to apply for subsidised residential care services for PWDs provided by the Government have to undergo assessment by the Social Welfare Department ("SWD") in order to register on the waiting list for allocation of residential care places via SWD's Central Referral System for Rehabilitation Services ("CRSRehab"). However, it is noted that the supply of subsidized places has long been inadequate, rendering most PWDs having to wait for places for over eight to 12 years, while some relatively younger PWDs have to temporarily reside in elderly homes as a result, and they and their carers are thus physically and mentally exhausted. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether it knows the existing numbers of places provided by subsidized residential care homes for PWDs ("RCHDs"), self-financing RCHDs run by non-government organizations ("NGOs") and private RCHDs, as well as their respective occupancy rates;
| | (b) | of the respective numbers of people on the waiting list at present, the average waiting time as well as the longest waiting time for various types of residential care places for PWDs;
| | (c) | of the additional subsidized places provided by the Government for each type of home care services for PWDs in each of the past 10 years;
| | (d) | given that the Government has launched a four-year pilot Bought Place Scheme ("BPS") for private RCHDs in 2010-2011 to purchase a total of around 300 places by two phases, whether the authorities have assessed if the number of places increased as a result of the scheme is adequate for easing the prolonged waiting time; if so, how far the waiting time can actually be shortened; if not, of the reasons for not purchasing more places;
| | (e) | of the reasons for not including the self-financing RCHDs run by NGOs in the BPS; whether the authorities will consider extending the BPS to cover this type of RCHDs; if not, of the reasons for that; and
| | (f) | for those who are already on the CRSRehab waiting list for subsidized places but not qualified for the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance, what suitable services the authorities are offering at present to support these PWDs and their carers; whether the authorities will consider offering financial assistance to PWDs and their carers, so that they can be admitted to private RCHDs or self-financing RCHDs run by NGOs first, and their carers can afford to use the appropriate equipment or services which can relieve their burden; if not, of the reasons for that?
|
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Labour and Welfare
* For written reply
III. Bills
Second Reading (Debates to resume), Committee Stage and Third Reading
| | 1. | Electoral Legislation (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 2011 | : | Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs
| Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs
to move Committee stage amendments
(The amendments were issued on 30 June 2011
under LC Paper No. CB(3) 994/10-11)
| | 2. | Supplementary Appropriation (2010-2011) Bill | : | Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
|
IV. Motions
| 1. | Proposed resolution under the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance
Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs to move the motion in Appendix I.
| (The motion was also issued on 4 July 2011
under LC Paper No. CB(3) 996/10-11)
| | 2. | Proposed resolution under the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance
Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs to move the motion in Appendix II.
| (The motion was also issued on 4 July 2011
under LC Paper No. CB(3) 996/10-11)
| | 3. | Proposed resolution under the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance
Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs to move the motion in Appendix III.
| (The motion was also issued on 4 July 2011
under LC Paper No. CB(3) 996/10-11)
| | 4. | Proposed resolution under the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance
Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs to move the motion in Appendix IV.
| (The motion was also issued on 4 July 2011
under LC Paper No. CB(3) 996/10-11)
| | 5. | Proposed resolution under the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance
Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs to move the motion in Appendix V.
| (The motion was also issued on 4 July 2011
under LC Paper No. CB(3) 996/10-11)
| | 6. | Proposed resolution under the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance
Secretary for Food and Health to move the following motion:
Resolved that the following Regulations, made by the Pharmacy and Poisons Board on 13 June 2011, be approved -
(a) the Pharmacy and Poisons (Amendment) Regulation 2011; and
(b) the Poisons List (Amendment) Regulation 2011.
| (The two Regulations are in Appendix VI and were also issued
on 16 June 2011 under LC Paper No. CB(3) 906/10-11)
| | 7. | Proposed resolution under the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance
Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury to move the following motion:
Resolved that the Professional Accountants (Amendment) Bylaw 2011, published in the Gazette as Legal Notice No. 70 of 2011 and laid on the table of the Legislative Council on 18 May 2011, be amended as set out in the Schedule.
|
Schedule
Amendment to Professional Accountants (Amendment) Bylaw 2011
|
| 1. | Section 3 amended (By-law 8 amended (Voting at meetings of Council))
Section 3, new by-law 8(5) - |
| | Repeal
"means"
Substitute
"includes". |
V. Members' Motions
- Motion under Rule 49E(2) of the Rules of Procedure
Hon Miriam LAU to move the following motion:
That this Council takes note of Report No. 28/10-11 of the House Committee laid on the Table of the Council of 6 July 2011 in relation to the subsidiary legislation and instrument(s) as listed below:
| Item Number | Title of Subsidiary Legislation or Instrument
|
| (1) | Inland Revenue (Double Taxation Relief and Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with respect to Taxes on Income) (Japan) Order (L.N. 64/2011)
|
| (2) | Inland Revenue (Double Taxation Relief and Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with respect to Taxes on Income and Capital) (French Republic) Order (L.N. 65/2011)
|
| (3) | Inland Revenue (Double Taxation Relief and Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with respect to Taxes on Income and Capital) (Principality of Liechtenstein) Order (L.N. 66/2011)
|
| (4) | Inland Revenue (Double Taxation Relief and Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with respect to Taxes on Income) (New Zealand) Order (L.N. 67/2011)
|
| (5) | Specification of Arrangements (Government of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg) (Avoidance of Double Taxation on Income and Capital and Prevention of Fiscal Evasion) (Amendment) Order 2011 (L.N. 68/2011). |
Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
- Immediately announcing the resumption of the construction of Home Ownership Scheme flats
Hon Alan LEONG to move the following motion: (Translation)
That, given that private residential property prices still continue to rise and the measures introduced by the Government cannot curb the rising trend of property prices, resuming the Home Ownership Scheme ('HOS') is of an urgent need; yet, when interviewed by a foreign media organization earlier on, the Chief Executive even claimed that there was no housing problem in Hong Kong; the relevant remark reflects that the Chief Executive is out of touch with the actual circumstances of the society and unable to grasp the seriousness of the current housing problem; in this connection, this Council opines that the Government should not wait until October to announce the resumption of HOS in the Policy Address, and urges the authorities to share the public's urgent concern by immediately announcing the specific details of resuming HOS, so as to relieve the current housing problem; the relevant details should include:
| (a) | to use the sites originally earmarked for the My Home Purchase Plan for constructing HOS flats, so as to strive for the completion and supply of flats beginning from 2014;
| | (b) | to delink the pricing of HOS flats from market prices, and use the affordability of eligible persons and construction costs as the basis of pricing;
| | (c) | to use certain former public rental housing sites which have been designated for private development (for example, the eastern and western parts of the ex-North Point Estate, as well as the former Homantin Estate Redevelopment Phases 2 and 7 sites) for constructing new HOS flats, so as to offer the sandwich class opportunities of continuing to live in the urban areas;
| | (d) | to review the eligibility requirements for HOS applicants in the light of actual circumstances, and consider appropriately raising the income and asset limits for applicants; and
| | (e) | to increase the ratio of white-form applicants (i.e. non-public rental housing tenants).
|
| Amendments to the motion
| | (i) | Hon Frederick FUNG to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To delete "given that" after "That," and substitute with "according to the statistics of the Government, property prices in the first quarter of this year have exceeded the peak level in 1997 by 3%, and people's home purchase affordability rate has risen to 48%, reflecting that the trend of continuing rises in"; to delete "still continue to rise" after "residential property prices" and substitute with "is steep and seriously out of tune with people's affordability,"; to add "so" after "trend of property prices,"; to delete "is" after "Home Ownership Scheme ('HOS')" and substitute with "and formulating a stable and sustainable long-term housing policy are"; to add "proclaiming the re-formulation of a long-term housing policy while" after "concern by"; to add "(c) to construct at least 5 000 HOS flats each year as the target;" after "of pricing;"; to delete the original "(c)" and substitute with "(d)"; to add "and to allocate some existing land lots on the Application List for constructing HOS flats," after "new HOS flats,"; to delete the original "(d)" and substitute with "(e)"; and to delete the original "(e)" and substitute with "(f)".
| | (ii) | Hon LEE Wing-tat to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To add "when interviewed by a foreign media organization earlier on, the Chief Executive indicated that the Government had the responsibility of assisting middle-class people who are ineligible for public rental housing in acquiring homes; yet," after "That,"; to delete "yet," after "need;"; to delete "by a foreign media organization earlier on" before ", the Chief Executive"; to add "(a) to provide at least 5 000 flats in the first phase of resuming the construction of HOS flats;" after "include:"; to delete the original "(a)" and substitute with "(b)"; to add "the forward provision of uncompleted flats for application by the public well before" after "strive for"; to add ", for example, in 2012" after "2014"; to delete the original "(b)" and substitute with "(c)"; to delete the original "(c)" and substitute with "(d)"; to add "the sites of the Government's Land Sale Programme, sites of abandoned former school premises and community facilities, or" before "certain"; to delete the original "(d)" and substitute with "(e)"; to delete the original "(e)" and substitute with "(f)"; and to delete "(i.e. non-public rental housing tenants)" after "white-form applicants".
| | (iii) | Hon WONG Kwok-kin to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To delete "given that" after "That," and substitute with "since the policy of 'quantitative easing' adopted by the United States has caused a proliferation of external capitals, the threats of asset-price bubbles and inflation have therefore emerged in Hong Kong, and"; to delete "still" after "residential property prices"; to delete "and" after "rise" and substitute with ";"; to add ", thereby causing housing difficulties to the sandwich class and home acquisition difficulties to the middle class in Hong Kong; and, as the public have keen housing demands" after "of property prices"; to delete "; yet, when interviewed by a foreign media organization earlier on, the Chief Executive even claimed that there was no housing problem in Hong Kong; the relevant remark reflects that the Chief Executive is out of touch with the actual circumstances of the society and unable to grasp the seriousness of the current housing problem" after "need"; to delete "details" after "specific" and substitute with "arrangements"; to delete "problem" after "current housing" and substitute with "concern of the public"; to add "to expeditiously undertake preliminary work for resuming the construction of HOS flats, including establishing a framework for resuming the construction of HOS flats and identifying sites, and when necessary," after "(a)"; to delete "affordability" after "and use the" and substitute with "income levels, home purchase affordability rates and repayment ability"; to add ", etc.," after "costs"; to add "; and at the same time, to set resale conditions, so as to restrict resale of newly completed HOS flats for profit easily" after "of pricing"; to delete "(for example, the eastern and western parts of the ex-North Point Estate, as well as the former Homantin Estate Redevelopment Phases 2 and 7 sites)" after "development"; to delete "appropriately" after "consider"; to delete "and" after "for applicants;"; and to add "; (f) while announcing the resumption of the construction of HOS flats, to increase public rental housing supply and shorten public rental housing applicants' waiting time, with a view to fully alleviating the current housing demands of middle-income and low-income people as well as the sandwich class, and enable public rental housing tenants with the means to acquire homes through HOS, thereby achieving the 'revolving-door' effect; and (g) to expeditiously formulate a long-term housing and land supply policy, including rebuilding the three-rung housing mobility ladder of 'public rental housing?HOS flats?private residential flats', and to conduct studies, so that the Government can provide adequate residential sites for supply to the three different housing modes as public rental housing, HOS flats and private residential flats" immediately before the full stop.
| | (iv) | Hon CHAN Kam-lam to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To delete "given that private residential property prices still continue to rise and" after "That," and substitute with "although property price rises have recently moderated slightly, there is still a great discrepancy between property prices and people's affordability, and the 'difficulty in boarding the train' is still a vexing problem to some Hong Kong people; as"; to add "in recent years" after "by the Government"; to delete "yet," after "need;"; to delete "even claimed that there was no housing problem in Hong Kong; the relevant remark reflects that the Chief Executive is out of touch with the actual circumstances of the society and unable to grasp the seriousness of the current housing problem" after "the Chief Executive" and substitute with "also indicated that the SAR Government needed to assist middle-class families in acquiring homes"; to delete "opines that the Government should not wait until October to announce the resumption of HOS in the Policy Address, and urges the authorities" after "this Council" and substitute with "urges the Government"; to delete "immediately" after "concern by" and substitute with "promptly deciding to resume the construction of HOS flats and expeditiously"; to delete "resuming HOS" after "details of" and substitute with "its plan"; to delete "current" after "relieve the"; to add "of the public" after "housing problem"; to delete "use the sites originally earmarked for the My Home Purchase Plan for constructing HOS flats, so as to strive for the completion and supply of flats beginning from 2014" after "(a) to" and substitute with "formulate a long-term land and housing supply strategy, so as to ensure the supply of an appropriate number of HOS flats in the short run"; to delete "delink" after "(b) to" and substitute with "review"; to add ", discounts and alienation restriction period" after "the pricing"; to delete "from market prices, and use the affordability of eligible persons and construction costs as the basis of pricing" before "; (c)"; to add "after fully consulting residents and obtaining their consensus," before "to use certain"; to delete "and" after "for applicants;"; to delete "increase" after "(e) to" and substitute with "flexibly apply"; and to add "; and (f) while resuming the construction of HOS flats, to expeditiously implement and enhance the My Home Purchase Plan, including the enhancement measure of 'rent-and-buy' to become 'rent-or-buy', as well as reviewing and expediting the various procedures of My Home Purchase Plan, with a view to shortening the time between the planning and completion of projects, etc." immediately before the full stop.
| | (v) | Hon Mrs Sophie LEUNG to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To delete "resuming the Home Ownership Scheme ('HOS') is of an urgent need; yet, when interviewed by a foreign media organization earlier on, the Chief Executive even claimed that there was no housing problem in Hong Kong; the relevant remark reflects that the Chief Executive is out of touch with the actual circumstances of the society and unable to grasp the seriousness of the current housing problem; in this connection," after "of property prices,"; to delete "not wait until October to announce the resumption of HOS in the Policy Address" after "the Government should" and substitute with "increase housing land supply, auction more land lots for constructing 'flats with limited floor area', build additional public rental housing flats, enhance the My Home Purchase Plan, and resume the construction of Home Ownership Scheme ('HOS') flats"; to delete "immediately" after "concern by" and substitute with "expeditiously"; to add "of resuming HOS" after "relevant details"; to delete "(a) to use the sites originally earmarked for the My Home Purchase Plan for constructing HOS flats, so as to strive for the completion and supply of flats beginning from 2014; (b) to delink the pricing of HOS flats from market prices, and use the affordability of eligible persons and construction costs as the basis of pricing;" and substitute with "(a) to review the pricing, discounts and alienation restriction period of HOS flats;"; to delete the original "(c)" and substitute with "(b)"; to delete "use certain former public rental housing sites which have been designated for private development (for example, the eastern and western parts of the ex-North Point Estate, as well as the former Homantin Estate Redevelopment Phases 2 and 7 sites) for" before "constructing" and substitute with "ensure that"; to delete ", so as to offer the sandwich class opportunities of continuing to live in the urban areas" after "new HOS flats" and substitute with "will not affect the supply of public rental housing sites, so as to enable balanced development of public rental housing and HOS"; to delete the original "(d)" and substitute with "(c)"; to add "conduct studies on whose needs HOS flats should cater for, consider the relevant factors, and" before "review the eligibility"; to delete ", and consider appropriately raising the income and asset limits for applicants" after "circumstances"; to delete the original "(e)" and substitute with "(d)"; to delete "increase" before "the ratio of" and substitute with "examine"; and to add "green-form applicants (i.e. public rental housing tenants) to" before "white-from applicants".
|
Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Transport and Housing
- Studying the establishment of an innovation and technology bureau
Dr Hon Samson TAM to move the following motion: (Translation)
That in the face of the new challenges of the global economy, the development of an Internet-based economy is already an inevitable trend, and innovation and technology have also become a new development strategy of many countries, therefore, Hong Kong, while continuing to develop traditional industries, must formulate afresh a sustainable economic development strategy, so that through the development of new industries including innovation and technology, Hong Kong's competitiveness can be further upgraded; according to the findings of a survey on 'How the Internet is transforming Hong Kong's economy', in 2009, the total value of Hong Kong's Internet economy was already close to HK$100 billion, representing 5.9% of the Gross Domestic Product ('GDP'), and it is expected that the Internet economy will continue to grow in the future at a rate even higher than the overall GDP growth rate, showing that the Internet economy will help upgrade Hong Kong's competitiveness vis-a-vis its neighbouring countries and cities, and will even become an important segment that can drive Hong Kong's economic progress and development; in order to facilitate the rapid and sustainable development of the Internet economy, the Government's participation and policy support are indispensable key elements; in this connection, this Council urges the Government to:
| (a) | proactively study the establishment of an innovation and technology bureau specially tasked to co-ordinate and formulate Hong Kong's overall strategy of developing innovation and technology, so as to manifest the Government's determination and commitment in promoting the development of innovation and technology, and upgrade Hong Kong's international status in this respect;
| | (b) | provide preferential policies including land and taxation concessions, etc., to attract more enterprises on the Mainland and overseas, especially large technological enterprises, to come to Hong Kong for development or even set up headquarters in Hong Kong, so as to bring fresh impetus to Hong Kong's Internet economy and create more employment opportunities;
| | (c) | provide local universities and technological research institutes with sufficient resources, and to tie in the relevant policies, so as to train more talents for developing innovation and technology, and promote the productization of university technological research projects; with the large enterprises from the Mainland and overseas coming to develop in Hong Kong, increase the opportunities for their exchanges with local talents, so as to upgrade the skills, quality and visions of local talents; and
| | (d) | strive for social and public recognition of developing innovation and technology in Hong Kong, so as to create an atmosphere and cultural environment of universal support for promoting innovation and technology and fostering the development of the Internet economy.
|
| Amendments to the motion
| | (i) | Dr Hon PAN Pey-chyou to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To delete "in the face of the new challenges of" after "That" and substitute with "with the constant changes and rapid development of new technologies in recent years and the resultant new challenges faced by"; to add "local" after "create more"; to delete ";" after "employment opportunities" and substitute with ", with a view to achieving economic development with employment as the priority; (c) earmark land in planning for developing innovation and technology, including using existing industrial estates, the Hong Kong Science Park and the land in the border river-loop areas as bases for innovation and technological research as well as the development of the relevant industries; and at the same time, capitalize on the edge of Hong Kong-Mainland connection to establish a platform for innovation and technology industries in the two places, so as to achieve co-ordination and complementarity of edge;"; to delete the original "(c)" and substitute with "(d)"; to add "including specifying that the resources the Government puts into research and development must occupy a certain proportion in the Gross Domestic Product," after "sufficient resources,"; to delete "and" after "of local talents;" and substitute with "(e) expeditiously reform Hong Kong's existing patent application system, including considering the progressive introduction of an 'original grant patent system' and enhancing the existing short-term patent system, so as to perfect Hong Kong's systems of patented invention and innovative design; and at the same time, protect the rights and interests of patent applicants, so as to enable local creativity to receive appropriate protection; and"; and to delete the original "(d)" and substitute with "(f)".
| | (ii) | Hon Emily LAU to move the following amendment: (Translation)
To add "(c) learn from the bitter experience of developing Cyberport, adopt a transparent, open, fair and impartial approach to attract investors to develop in Hong Kong, and refrain from packaging property development projects as innovation and technology schemes;" after "employment opportunities;"; to delete the original "(c)" and substitute with "(d)"; and to delete the original "(d)" and substitute with "(e)".
|
Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development
Clerk to the Legislative Council
|
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