A 13/14-24

Legislative Council

Agenda

Wednesday 30 April 2014 at 11:00 am

I. Tabling of Papers



Subsidiary Legislation / InstrumentsL.N. No.
1.Inland Revenue (Exchange of Information relating to Taxes) (United States of America) Order54/2014
2.News Agencies Registration (Amendment) Regulation 201455/2014
3.Newspapers Registration and Distribution (Amendment) Regulation 201456/2014
4.Overseas Lawyers (Qualification for Admission) (Amendment) Rules 201457/2014

Other Papers

1.No. 96-Quality Education Fund
Financial statements for the year ended 31 August 2013
(to be presented by Secretary for Education)

2.No. 97-Education Development Fund
Financial statements for the year ended 31 August 2013
(to be presented by Secretary for Education)

3.No. 98-Language Fund
Financial statements for the year ended 31 August 2013
(to be presented by Secretary for Education)

II. Questions for Written Replies



1. Hon TAM Yiu-chung to ask: (Translation)


It has been reported that since the commissioning of the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal ("the Cruise Terminal") in June last year, its ancillary transport facilities have all along been subject to criticisms. On the 2nd of this month, upon berthing of the RMS Queen Mary 2 at the Cruise Terminal, the world's largest ocean liner, over 1 000 visitors queued up for taxis. As taxis entering the Terminal to pick up passengers were few and far between, the visitors had to wait for nearly two hours on average before boarding a taxi and quite a number of them were very dissatisfied with the situation. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
  • (1)of the number of cruise vessels berthing at the Cruise Terminal since its commissioning; whether it knows the average time taken, after berthing of a cruise vessel, to disperse all disembarking visitors to head towards their destinations, the respective percentages of such visitors taking various means of public transport to their destinations, and the number of occasions where disembarking visitors had to wait for more than an hour on average before boarding a taxi; if it has not compiled such statistics, of the reasons for that;

    (2)whether it has found out from the operator of the Cruise Terminal why there is always a long queue of disembarking visitors waiting for taxis; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and

    (3)whether the authorities and the operator of the Cruise Terminal will introduce new measures to attract more taxis to enter the Cruise Terminal to pick up visitors on berthing days and step up publicity work to encourage visitors to go to their destinations by public transport such as feeder buses; if they will; of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development

2. Ir Dr Hon LO Wai-kwok to ask: (Translation)


It has been reported that on 22 February this year, the extended crane of a heavy-duty crane lorry at a construction site in Tuen Mun snapped, and the falling part of the crane hit and killed a construction worker. Regarding industrial accidents involving crane lorries, will the Government inform this Council:
  • (1)of the number of industrial accidents in the past five years in which heavy-duty crane lorries overturned or the cranes of which snapped during lifting, as well as the resultant casualties;

    (2)whether it has compiled statistics on and analyzed the causes of the industrial accidents mentioned in (1) and improved the existing measures for regulating the operation of this type of heavy-duty machinery, such as increasing the penalties for relevant offences; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and

    (3)whether it will make reference to the experience of other places and set a longest permissible service life for this type of heavy-duty machinery, with a view to minimizing accidents arising from ageing machinery, as well as require that such machinery can only be operated by professionally trained personnel with recognized qualifications; if it will, of the details and the implementation timetable; if not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Labour and Welfare

3. Dr Hon Helena WONG to ask: (Translation)


Based on the data from the censuses of 2001, 2006 and 2011 and using poverty line as a tool, the Hong Kong Council of Social Service conducted an analysis of the poverty situation of the ethnic minorities and released its report in December last year. The report showed a deteriorating trend of the poverty situation among the ethnic minorities, with their poverty rate rising from 17.3 % in 2001 to 23.9% in 2011, which was also higher than the overall poverty rate of Hong Kong (20.4%). In addition, a survey conducted by a concern group has found that 69.9% of responding low-income South Asians with children studying in kindergartens, primary or secondary schools had not applied for financial assistance from the Student Financial Assistance Agency ("SFAA"). In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
  • (1)of the current number and percentage of the recipients of various financial assistance schemes under SFAA who are ethnic minorities, with a breakdown by ethnicity of such recipients;

    (2)whether the leaflets and application forms prepared by SFAA for financial assistance schemes are available in ethnic-minority languages; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;

    (3)of the measures in place to ensure that schools will distribute leaflets and application forms of SFAA to ethnic-minority parents who have financial difficulties and will provide them with related assistance;

    (4)regarding the interpretation and translation services (including telephone interpretation and enquiries service, on-site (escort) interpretation service, on-sight interpretation service and written translation service) provided by "the Centre for Harmony and Enhancement of Ethnic Minority Residents" funded by the Home Affairs Department, whether it knows the usage of and relevant statistics on such services last year; and the number of times of the ethnic minorities using the services for applying for student financial assistance last year; and

    (5)whether SFAA has issued specific guidelines to frontline staff on how to handle enquiries or complaints made by applicants who know neither Chinese nor English; if it has, of the details of such guidelines; if not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education

4. Hon Albert CHAN to ask: (Translation)


I have learnt that, owing to rising wages and prices of materials, the current actual costs of the Ten Major Infrastructure Projects proposed by the Chief Executive of the last term in 2007 are much higher than the originally estimated costs. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
  • (1)of the respective and aggregate costs of the Ten Major Infrastructure Projects expressed at today's prices, and their rates of increase as compared to the originally estimated costs; and

    (2)whether the authorities will consider assessing afresh the urgency of these infrastructure projects, and postpone the completion of those projects which are less urgent, so as to alleviate the pressure on construction manpower during peak construction period; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Development

5. Dr Hon LAM Tai-fai to ask: (Translation)


A number of Members of this Council submitted a total of 1 917 Committee stage amendments ("CSAs") to the Appropriation Bill 2014 ("the Bill") and some of them also stated unequivocally that they would "filibuster" during the scrutiny process with the intention of forcing the Government to accede to their demands, including distribution of $10,000 to each member of the public and implementation of a universal retirement protection scheme. This Council starts dealing with the CSAs to the Bill at the meeting today. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
  • (1)given that last year, the Financial Secretary had met with Members who initiated a filibuster, whether the Government has lobbied the aforesaid Members this year, urging them to withdraw some or all of their CSAs and explaining to them (i) the consequences and impacts of failure to pass the Bill before the deadline, and (ii) the justifications for the Government not distributing $10,000 to each member of the public and not implementing a universal retirement protection scheme this year; if it has, of the details of the post titles of the officials who had undertaken the lobbying task, the dates and time, venues and formats of the meetings with those Members, as well as the contents of their discussions; if not, the reasons for that;

    (2)whether it has assessed the amount of additional public expenditure that will be caused by the filibuster; if it has, of the details, if not, the reasons for that;

    (3)whether it has assessed the specific impacts of the filibuster on the operation of various government departments; if it has, of the departments that will be affected and the relevant impacts (including those relating to service provision and additional expenditure caused, etc.); if not, the reasons for that;

    (4)of the relief measures put forward in the 2014-2015 Budget the implementation of which by the Government will be hindered by the filibuster, as well as the amounts involved in those measures;

    (5)whether it has assessed the impacts of the filibuster on the relationship between the Executive Authorities and the Legislature; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;

    (6)whether it has assessed the perception of people from various sectors of the community on the filibuster, including their impressions of the Government and this Council, as well as the responses of various political parties to the filibuster; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;

    (7)whether it has requested the President of the Legislative Council to "put an end to the filibuster"; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;

    (8)as the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury has pointed out that the funds on account provided can only meet around two months' operating expenses of the Government, whether it has assessed when the Government will face a "fiscal cliff" and what specific situation that Hong Kong will face when the Bill is not yet passed by the end of May this year; whether there are measures in place to avert a fiscal cliff; if there are, of the details; if not, the consequences of that; and

    (9)whether it has formulated corresponding plans to deal with the situation that the Bill could not be passed by this Council by the end of May this year; if it has, of the details, and whether it will consider seeking vote on account again; if it will, when it will submit the application; if not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury

6. Hon CHAN Hak-kan to ask: (Translation)


In his 2014-2015 Budget, the Financial Secretary indicated that the number of Wi-Fi hotspots with complete or time-limited free public access would be doubled to 20 000 by the end of this year. Yet, the Director of Audit's Report No. 60 pointed out that, in the web-based user satisfaction surveys on the Government Wi-Fi ("GovWi-Fi") service conducted by the contractor concerned, of the 8 671 users who took part in the surveys, 19% had encountered problems in using or connecting to the relevant service. In addition, some members of the public have relayed to me that from time to time, there have been cases of difficulty in connecting to GovWiFi service, slow data transmission and disconnection of the service, rendering the quality of the GovWiFi service inferior to that of private Wi-Fi services. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
  • (1)whether it knows (i) the average monthly usage, (ii) the year-on-year growth rate of the monthly usage, (iii) the average upload and download speeds, and (iv) the average disconnection rate, of the public and private Wi-Fi services in various District Council districts in the past three years; of the district with the highest usage of Wi-Fi services in the past three years;

    (2)whether it has assessed if the data transmission speed of GovWi-Fi service meets the needs of general users; if the assessment outcome is in the affirmative, of the details; if the assessment outcome is in the negative, the reasons for that;

    (3)of the locations at which the additional Wi-Fi hotspots mentioned above will be installed; with the doubling of the number of Wi-Fi hotspots to 20 000, of the extent to which the coverage of GovWiFi service will be expanded;

    (4)whether it has plans to launch a pilot scheme, in the district with the highest usage or highest usage growth rate of GovWi-Fi service, to provide full service coverage for the district concerned; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;

    (5)whether it has carried out technical upgrading of GovWi-Fi service across the territory in the past three years; whether it has plans at present to carry out technical upgrading of GovWi-Fi service; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;

    (6)whether it has considered providing GovWi-Fi service at all tourist attractions in Hong Kong;

    (7)of the expenditure, as estimated by the Government, required for upgrading the quality of GovWi-Fi service to a level on par with that of private Wi-Fi services; and

    (8)as the Government indicated in the Digital 21 Strategy that it would build Hong Kong as a Wi-Fi city, of the amount of public money spent so far on implementing the relevant measures?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development

7. Hon Michael TIEN to ask: (Translation)


The Secretary for Development said earlier that railway property development projects ("projects") in the past several years concentrated on sites along the West Rail and it was disappointing that the MTR Corporation Limited ("MTRCL") had not granted by tender the development rights of any project ("unsuccessful tendering") in the past three years. There are views that the granting of development rights of railway projects by MTRCL in accordance with its plan is vital to achieving the target of producing 470 000 flats in the next 10 years, as proposed by the Long Term Housing Strategy Steering Committee. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
  • (1)whether it knows the details of each of the projects the development rights of which were granted by MTRCL by way of tendering from 2003 to 2013, including (i) the year of tender, (ii) the project name, (iii) the developer, (iv) the land premium per square foot of floor space, (v) the residential gross floor area ("GFAs"), (vi) the number of residential flats, (vii) the average number of residential floors, (viii) the GFA of the shopping mall, (ix) the area of community and recreational facilities, (x) the number of parking spaces, and (xi) the completion date or the expected completion date (set out in table form);

    (2)whether it knows the details of the projects for which MTRCL conducted tender exercises between 2003 and 2013 with the result of unsuccessful tendering, including (i) the years of tender, (ii) the site locations, (iii) MTRCL's expected land premiums per square foot of floor space during the tender, (iv) the areas of construction sites, (v) the residential GFAs, and (vi) the numbers of residential flats (set out in table form);

    (3)given that MTRCL did not grant the development rights of any project in the past three years, and according to the Secretary, "the Government should make more effort and MTRCL should try hard", whether the Government has conducted a review with MTRCL in this respect; if it has not, of the reasons for that; if it has, the main reasons for unsuccessful tendering, and whether MTRCL will relax the tender conditions to increase the prospects of granting the development rights;

    (4)given the recent unsuccessful re-tendering of the project above Tin Wing Light Rail Transit Station, whether the Government will resume the site for production of Home Ownership Scheme flats; if it will, whether the plot ratio of the project concerned will be higher than those of existing residential buildings in the vicinity; whether it will consult the local residents on the development of the site; and

    (5)of the details of the projects the development rights of which are currently held by MTRCL, and whether the Government has set any timetable for reviewing the development rights concerned?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Development

8. Dr Hon Fernando CHEUNG to ask: (Translation)


The Buildings Department ("BD") has implemented the Code of Practice for Fire Safety in Buildings 2011 ("the Code") since 1 April 2012. Yet, organizations of persons with disabilities ("PWDs") and experts on universal designs criticize the Code for being incomprehensive as it does not require the installation of escape facilities in buildings for PWDs. They urged the Government to conduct consultations with PWDs and review the Code. Besides, the Equal Opportunities Commission ("EOC") made a submission to BD in February 2012 expressing concern about the absence of relevant provisions in the Code on the provision of means of escape for PWDs in case of fire. In response to the advice of EOC and relevant stakeholders, BD has undertaken to incorporate requirements for the provision of means of escape for PWDs in case of fire in the Code, but it has not yet proceeded with the amendments so far. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
  • (1)given that under Articles 10 and 11 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, states parties shall take all necessary measures to ensure effective enjoyment of the inherent right to life by PWDs on an equal basis with others and ensure the protection and safety of PWDs in situations of risk, whether the authorities have assessed if the Code complies with the requirements of such articles;

    (2)whether there were PWDs being injured or killed in fire in the past five years due to the lack of proper escape facilities in buildings; if so, of the number of cases each year and the causes of their injuries;

    (3)of the number of existing social welfare service facilities and education facilities for PWDs, including special schools, residential care homes, day care service centres and district support centres, not meeting the requirements of the Code, as well as the names of the service units concerned; and

    (4)of the timetable for amending the Code and the amendments to be made; if no timetable is available, of the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Development

9. Hon Starry LEE to ask: (Translation)


Quite a number of tourists go by coach and local residents go by car to Lei Yue Mun, an internationally acclaimed tourist attraction famous for seafood, to patronize the restaurants there. Last year, the Planning Department proposed that two sites at Lei Yue Mun Path currently used as temporary open-air car-parks be rezoned for private residential uses, and subsequently even decided to increase the plot ratio of the sites from the original 5.5 to 9. Some restaurant operators in Lei Yue Mun have relayed to me that the closure of the temporary car-parks will strike a blow to the business of their restaurants. Although the aforesaid residential development will provide 200 public parking spaces in future, the population growth arising from the residential development will worsen the traffic congestion and shortage of public parking spaces in the district, thus impeding the development of Lei Yue Mun as a tourist attraction. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
  • (1)of the existing number of public parking spaces in Lei Yue Mun and their geographical distribution; the demand for public parking spaces in the district; whether it knows the respective utilization rates of the two aforesaid open-air car-parks during peak hours at night during holidays;

    (2)whether, in order to alleviate the tight supply of parking spaces in Lei Yue Mun, it will consider specifying in the land sale conditions of the aforesaid and the neighbouring private residential developments the provision of more public parking spaces by the developers; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;

    (3)whether it will, during the construction of the aforesaid private residential development, take measures (e.g. providing new temporary car-parks) to prevent the shortage of public parking spaces in Lei Yue Mun from worsening; if it will, of the specific measures to be taken, the implementation timetable and the number of public parking spaces to be provided; if not, the reasons for that; and

    (4)whether it will, from the perspective of promoting the long-term development of district tourism, enhance the ancillary transport facilities in Lei Yue Mun, including providing additional public parking spaces and more convenient places for coach parking, as well as addressing the traffic congestion problem in the district; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport and Housing

10. Hon WONG Kwok-kin to ask: (Translation)


Under the Security and Guarding Services Ordinance (Cap. 460), no person is allowed to do security work for reward unless he has been issued with a Security Personnel Permit ("Permit"). According to the criteria set by the Security and Guarding Services Industry Authority ("SGSIA"), there is an upper age limit of 65 years for engaging in Category B security work (i.e. guarding work in respect of any persons, premises or properties, the performance of which does not require the carrying of arms and ammunition), whereas there is no upper age limit for engaging in Category A security work (i.e. guarding work restricted to a "single private residential building", the performance of which does not require the carrying of arms and ammunition). Therefore, once security guards holding Category B Permits have reached the age of 65, their Permits will not be renewed even if their employers want them to stay on and make representations to SGSIA. As a result, there is a shortfall of security guards holding Category B Permits in the market, rendering some employers being unable to recruit such kind of security guards. On the other hand, some security guards and employers have relayed to me that, although security guards holding Category B Permits may switch to apply for Category A Permits, the number of single private residential buildings is dwindling along with the redevelopment of old districts, resulting in fewer posts for Category A Permit holders who are therefore forced to retire at the age of 65, losing their means of livelihood. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
  • (1)whether it knows the current number of security guard posts available for Category B Permit holders across the territory and, among them, the number of those available for Category A Permit holders, with a breakdown by the 18 District Council districts;

    (2)of the current number of Category A Permit holders who are above the age of 65;

    (3)of the number of Category B Permit applications/renewal applications rejected in each of the past five years for the reason that the applicants were 65 years old or above; and

    (4)whether the authorities will request SGSIA to (i) consider expanding the types of buildings for which Category A Permit holders, are allowed to perform guarding work, and (ii) consider, by drawing reference to the criteria for issuing Category A Permits, relaxing the upper age limit for Category B Permit holders; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

11. Hon Jeffrey LAM to ask: (Translation)


The Chief Executive has stated in the 2014 Policy Address that the Government will explore ways to further develop the eastern waters off Lantau Island and neighbouring areas, with a view to developing an East Lantau Metropolis, which will become a new core business district. Also, to dovetail with the completion of the Hong Kong Boundary Crossing Facilities ("HKBCF") Island of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge ("HZMB"), the Government will explore the feasibility of developing commercial facilities at HKBCF so as to develop its potential for a "bridgehead economy". Regarding the development of Lantau Island, will the Government inform this Council:
  • (1)of the estimated number of jobs in the construction industry to be created by the major infrastructure projects relating to the development of the East Lantau Metropolis; whether it has assessed if there will be adequate local workers in the construction industry to meet the manpower demand of such projects; if it has assessed and the result is in the negative, whether the authorities will import foreign labour; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;

    (2)as the Government has stated that it has carried out a preliminary review of the relevant supporting infrastructure at HKBCF to explore the feasibility of developing major shopping, dining, entertainment and hotel facilities there, of the details of the preliminary review and the timetable for the completion of such commercial facilities; and

    (3)given that HZMB and the Tuen Mun-Chek Lap Kok Link are to be completed in 2016 and 2018 respectively, whether it has assessed the economic loss arising from failure to concurrently complete the commercial facilities to be developed at HKBCF; if it has assessed, of the result; if not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Development

12. Hon Tony TSE to ask: (Translation)


The Secretary for Transport and Housing ("the Secretary") said on the 15th of this month that, based on the progress update provided by the MTR Corporation Limited ("MTRCL") in relation to the project to construct the Hong Kong Section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link ("XRL project"), the targets as at the end of last year remained to be that the construction works would be completed in 2015 as originally scheduled and then, after a period of six to nine months for testing and trial runs, the rail service would be officially commissioned. However, MTRCL notified the Secretary on the 12th of this month that the XRL project would be subject to some delay and it would not be possible for the works to be completed in 2015. The Secretary said that he was "totally caught by surprise" by such information. According to the information released by MTRCL on the 15th of this month, completion of the XRL project will be delayed to 2016, and the rail service will not be commissioned until 2017 after testing and trial runs. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
  • (1)whether it knows, based on the latest assessment, the official commissioning date of the XRL Hong Kong Section; whether it has assessed the impacts of the delay of the XRL project on the overall cost of the project as well as on the economy and overall development of Hong Kong; if it has assessed, of the outcome and the corresponding measures to be taken by the authorities;

    (2)whether it has reviewed if the existing monitoring system is unable to make the Government aware earlier of the delay in the XRL project; if it has reviewed, of the outcome; whether the Government will comprehensively review and adjust the monitoring system; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;

    (3)whether the Government had in the past verified all the information on the XRL project (including results of works progress assessments) submitted to it by MTRCL; if it had, of the method and findings of the verification, and whether it had imposed any penalties when it found that the information was incorrect and the corresponding measures taken; if it had not verified, the reasons for that, and whether it will step up the verification efforts in the future; how it ensures that MTRCL will not delay notifying the Government of the latest information on works progress or conceal such information from the Government; and

    (4)given that the Secretary said that he had instructed the Director of Highways to conduct an independent review and assessment on the delay of the XRL project, of the specific areas covered by such review and assessment, the relevant details, the expected time of completion and submission of report, and whether the Government will make public the relevant report?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport and Housing

13. Hon Frankie YICK to ask: (Translation)


Since 2008, the Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China has received government funding to implement the "Hong Kong Athletes Career and Education Programme" ("HKACEP") to support athletes in areas such as career development and pursuit of academic studies, etc., including helping retired athletes and those who are about to retire to plan for a second career. In addition, the Hong Kong Sports Institute launched in 2008 the "Athletes Integrated Educational and Vocational Development Programme" ("AIEVDP") to provide athletes with support in education and career development. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
  • (1)of the number of retired athletes who applied for joining HKACEP and the number of those who received assistance under HKACEP, together with a breakdown by the support programme (including the language enrichment course, life skills and mentorship programme, scholarship programme for tertiary education, career programme, etc.), in the past five years; the amount of grants receivable by an athlete under HKACEP, and whether they are granted any subsistence allowance;

    (2)of the number of retiring athletes assisted by AIEVDP, the areas in which these athletes were provided with support and the amount of grants received by them, and the number of athletes who benefitted from AIEVDP and its percentage in the total number of serving full-time athletes, in the past five years; and

    (3)given that the aforesaid two programmes have operated for more than five years, whether the authorities will conduct a review to perfect them; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs

14. Hon Cyd HO to ask: (Translation)


Regarding the revenues from the Special Stamp Duty ("SSD") and the Buyer's Stamp Duty ("BSD"), will the Government inform this Council:
  • (1)of the number of residential property transactions subject to the payment of SSD as well as the total value of the properties concerned and the total amount of duty involved, in each month since the implementation of SSD in November 2010, together with a breakdown by District Council ("DC") district where the relevant properties are located; and

    (2)of the number of residential property transactions subject to the payment of BSD as well as the total value of the properties concerned and the total amount of duty involved, in each month since the implementation of BSD in October 2012, together with a breakdown by DC district where the relevant properties are located?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport and Housing

15. Hon NG Leung-sing to ask: (Translation)


According to the financial statistics published by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the year-on-year increases in the total loans and advances for use in Hong Kong provided by authorized institutions in January and February this year were 15.6% and 20.9% respectively, while such growth rates for the corresponding periods last year were only 9.2% and 8% respectively In this connection, will the Government inform this Council if it has studied:
  • (1)the causes of the relatively higher growth rates in the total loans and advances in the first two months of this year; whether an increase in local economic activities was one of the causes; if so, of the contribution of such economic activities to the growth in the gross domestic product;

    (2)the relatively higher growth rates in the total loans and advances in the first two months of this year can mainly be attributed to which industries' increased demand for funds; and

    (3)whether the relatively higher growth rates in the total loans and advances will increase the systemic risks of Hong Kong's financial system; if it has studied and the outcome is in the affirmative, of the authorities' corresponding measures?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury

16. Hon CHAN Kin-por to ask: (Translation)


Recently, some workers who were injured at work have pointed out that in the public areas of various public hospitals' departments which are responsible for making medical assessments for injured workers, branch offices of the Employees' Compensation Division of the Labour Department ("LD") as well as offices of the Occupational Medicine Unit of LD ("such places"), there are often some recovery agents or law firm representatives persuading, by champertous claims such as "no win, no charge", workers injured at work to hire them for making compensation claims. According to the results of a questionnaire survey conducted by the Hong Kong Workers' Health Centre in December last year, more than 60% of the respondents who were workers injured at work indicated that they had been approached by recovery agents or law firm representatives, and more than 70% considered it necessary to ban such persons from staying in such places. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
  • (1)of the number of complaints received in the past five years by the authorities from workers injured at work about being harassed by recovery agents or law firm representatives in such places;

    (2)how LD and various public hospitals currently deal with the situation of unauthorized persons staying in such places; whether the authorities will explore the setting up of restricted zones in such places; if so, of the details; if not, what other measures are in place to prevent workers injured at work from being harassed in such places;

    (3)of the details of the publicity efforts currently made by the authorities to convey to workers injured at work the risks involved in hiring recovery agents and lawyers who engage in champerty; whether they will step up the publicity efforts; and

    (4)of the respective numbers of suspected champerty cases relating to work injury claims investigations into which were conducted and prosecutions on which were instituted, by the authorities in the past five years and, among such cases, the number of persons concerned who were convicted and the details of these cases; whether they will step up the related investigation and prosecution efforts; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Labour and Welfare

17. Hon James TO to ask: (Translation)


I have learnt that earlier on, a member of the public was injured when he slipped and fell in the space provided for use by the public in a private development in Tai Kok Tsui, and he was taken to the hospital. Regarding the management of spaces required under lease to be provided for use by the public in private developments ("public spaces"), will the Government inform this Council:
  • (1)of the current number of public spaces in Hong Kong, and among them, the number of those that are managed by the property management companies appointed by the property owners ("private management") and the number of those that are open around the clock, with a breakdown by the 18 District Council districts;

    (2)whether it knows the number of cases in the past three years in which members of the public were injured in public spaces under private management, with a breakdown by type of the facilities concerned;

    (3)whether it received any complaint from members of the public in the past three years about mismanagement of public spaces under private management;

    (4)whether a mechanism is currently in place for monitoring the management of public spaces under private management; if such a mechanism is not in place, of the reasons for that, and whether it will consider formulating such a mechanism; and

    (5)whether the Government took the initiative in the past three years to carry out regular and surprise inspections of various public spaces under private management, in order to check if such spaces are suitable for use by the public; if it did, of the number of such inspections and the findings; if not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Development

18. Hon KWOK Wai-keung to ask: (Translation)


In 2003, the outbreak of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome in Hong Kong adversely affected the economy, with the unemployment rate between May and July 2003 soaring to 8.7%. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council of the "nominal wage index" and "real wage index" for various industries and trades, as well as the "nominal index of payroll per person engaged" for the industries set out in the table below, in 2003, 2004, 2012 and 2013 (with the indices for the first quarter of 2002 as 100)?

Industry2003200420122013
Retail     
Catering     
Estate management and security service     
Cleaning service     
Elderly service     
Land transport     
Transportation, storage, postal and courier services     
Manufacturing     
Import and export trade     
Wholesale     
Information and communications     
Finance and insurance     
Electricity and gas supply     
Sewerage, waste management and remediation     
Accommodation and food service     
Overall    

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury

III. Bills



First Reading

1.Statute Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014

2.Insurance Companies (Amendment) Bill 2014

3.Electronic Health Record Sharing System Bill

4.Construction Workers Registration (Amendment) Bill 2014

Second Reading (Debate to be adjourned)

1.Statute Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014:The Secretary for Justice

2.Insurance Companies (Amendment) Bill 2014:Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury

3.Electronic Health Record Sharing System Bill:Secretary for Food and Health

4.Construction Workers Registration (Amendment) Bill 2014

:Secretary for Development

Committee Stage and Third Reading

Appropriation Bill 2014:The Financial Secretary

Amendments to heads of estimates in
Committee of the whole Council on the Appropriation Bill 2014

Hon Albert CHAN, Hon LEUNG Kwok-hung, Hon CHAN Chi-chuen, Hon Claudia MO, Hon WONG Yuk-man, Hon SIN Chung-kai, Hon James TO, Dr Hon Helena WONG, Hon Gary FAN, Hon WU Chi-wai, Hon LEE Cheuk-yan, Dr Hon Fernando CHEUNG, Hon CHEUNG Kwok-che and Hon Cyd HO to move the Committee stage amendments in the Appendix.

(These amendments were also issued on 17 and 24 April 2014
under LC Paper Nos. CB(3)566/13-14 and CB(3)573/13-14 respectively)

(Debate and voting arrangements for Committee stage amendments to the Appropriation Bill 2014 (issued on 28 April 2014 under LC Paper No. CB(3) 594/13-14))

Other Public Officers to attend the Committee stage:The Chief Secretary for Administration
The Secretary for Justice
Secretary for Transport and Housing
Secretary for Home Affairs
Secretary for Labour and Welfare
Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development
Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs
Secretary for Security
Secretary for Education
Secretary for the Civil Service
Secretary for Food and Health
Secretary for the Environment
Secretary for Development
Under Secretary for Home Affairs
Under Secretary for the Environment
Under Secretary for Transport and Housing
Under Secretary for Security
Under Secretary for Food and Health
Under Secretary for Education
Under Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs
Under Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development
Under Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
Under Secretary for Development

V. Members' Motions



(Originally scheduled to be dealt with at the last Council meeting)

1.Motion under Rule 49E(2) of the Rules of Procedure

Hon Andrew LEUNG to move the following motion:

That this Council takes note of Report No. 16/13-14 of the House Committee laid on the Table of the Council on 16 April 2014 in relation to the subsidiary legislation and instrument(s) as listed below:

Item NumberTitle of Subsidiary Legislation or Instrument
(3)Rating (Exemption) Order 2014 (L.N. 26/2014).

Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury

(Scheduled to be dealt with at this Council meeting)

2.Formulating a comprehensive elderly care policy to deal with population ageing Hon TANG Ka-piu to move the following motion: (Translation)

That, with the rapid ageing of Hong Kong's population, the demand for elderly care services in society continues to increase, but the policy strategies to deal with demographic challenges proposed earlier by the Steering Committee on Population Policy make no mention of elderly care services in the future; in this connection, this Council urges the Government to immediately formulate a comprehensive elderly care policy, make detailed planning for elderly care services in the future and promote collaboration between the medical and welfare sectors; the contents should include:

Service planning-

(1)based on projections on the proportion and growth of elderly population in the future, to formulate medium- and long-term planning for elderly care services in the next 10 and 20 years, and on this basis, to reserve lands for developing elderly care services and train manpower, so as to ensure that social demand for community care services and residential care services for the elderly can be met every year;

(2)to make stronger efforts to implement projects on redeveloping residential care homes for the elderly and constructing new ones, and reserve lands in more public and private development projects for building residential care homes for the elderly, so as to shorten elderly persons' waiting time for residential care homes and reduce the number of elderly persons who have yet to be allocated a place in residential care homes when they passed away;

(3)based on the proportions of the elderly population in various districts, to enhance community care services, including allocating additional resources to expand the existing integrated home care services and day respite service for elders, and providing a certain number of places for emergency support services in various districts to deal with cases of serious nature and requiring immediate assistance;

Policy reform-

(4)to set up an inter-departmental office of long-term care services to co-ordinate the work of various departments which are responsible for elderly welfare, elderly care and elderly services;

(5)to immediately rename the Chinese rendition of dementia from '老人癡呆症' to '認知障礙症', adopt the recommendations of the World Health Organization to formulate a comprehensive priority strategy to deal with dementia, and allocate resources to set up a dedicated service unit;

(6)to review the standardized care need assessment mechanism for elderly services, and triage elderly persons based on their actual care needs to enable them to receive suitable services as early as possible, and in turn effectively alleviate the problem of unduly long waiting time for services;

(7)to review the requirement on the area of floor space for each resident in newly constructed residential care homes and day service centres for the elderly, so as to progressively enhance the care standard of elderly services;

(8)focusing on the segregation of the medical and welfare sectors in elderly care services at present, to strengthen healthcare and home care services in the community to support the care needs of elderly persons who are unable to get a place in residential care homes for the elderly, and in the three major directions of training, support and accreditation, formulate a dedicated policy on carers of the elderly, thereby perfecting the existing long-term care policy based on 'ageing in place';

Manpower resources-

(9)based on the medium- and long-term planning for elderly care services, to project the manpower demand for the services, comprehensively assess afresh the existing policy of manpower resources development for elderly and care services, including reviewing the training, remuneration packages and career prospects for frontline carers in elderly services, and, apart from considering how to enhance the standard of the relevant services on the whole, also raise the social status of the industry, so as to attract more new entrants; and

(10)to review the bidding system for elderly service contracts to reduce cyclical wastage of manpower.

Amendments to the motion
(i)Hon Albert HO to move the following amendment: (Translation)

To delete "with" after "That," and substitute with "given"; to add "(4) to extensively consult various sectors of society on elderly services and formulate service indicators and criteria, so as to upgrade service effectiveness;" after "immediate assistance;"; to delete the original "(4)" and substitute with "(5)"; to delete the original "(5)" and substitute with "(6)"; to delete the original "(6)" and substitute with "(7)"; to delete the original "(7)" and substitute with "(8)"; to delete the original "(8)" and substitute with "(9)"; to add ", and further develop primary healthcare services, including increasing the number of elderly health centres to shorten the waiting time for elderly persons to enroll as members, providing more medical examination services in elderly health centres, and based on the proportions of the elderly population in the 18 districts, setting service quotas and maximum waiting periods for services in various districts, so as" after "in the community"; to delete the original "(9)" and substitute with "(10)"; and to delete the original "(10)" and substitute with "(11)".

(ii)Hon Frankie YICK to move the following amendment: (Translation)

To delete "with" after "That," and substitute with "given"; to add "(9) to expeditiously implement a voucher scheme on residential care services for the elderly, and issue no less than $5,000 of service vouchers every month to elderly persons waiting for subsidized residential care places for the elderly, so that they can choose suitable private residential care homes for the elderly in Hong Kong or on the Mainland according to their individual needs;" after "'ageing in place';"; to delete the original "(9)" and substitute with "(10)"; to add "as it takes time to implement the measures for attracting new entrants and provide manpower training, the Government should expedite the importation of more workers, so as to alleviate the problem of serious manpower shortage in the sector at present and improve the quality of services;" after "new entrants;"; and to delete the original "(10)" and substitute with "(11)".

(iii)Dr Hon Fernando CHEUNG to move the following amendment: (Translation)

To delete "with the rapid ageing of Hong Kong's population" after "That," and substitute with "given the continuing increase in the numbers of elderly persons with disabilities and elderly persons with dementia and chronic diseases, coupled with the ageing of persons with intellectual disabilities"; and to delete "the Government to" after "this Council urges" and substitute with "that rather than adopting age as the sole criterion, the Government should also take the needs and long-term care of elderly persons as the basis to".

(iv)Hon CHEUNG Kwok-che to move the following amendment: (Translation)

To delete "," after "That" and substitute with "in 2002, the Hong Kong Government sent representatives to attend the United Nation's Second World Assembly on Ageing held at Madrid in Spain, supported the Assembly's passage of the Political Declaration and Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing, 2002, and undertook to implement an elderly policy in Hong Kong;"; to add "short-," after "future, to formulate"; to delete "10" after "in the next" and substitute with "five, 10, 15"; to add "to relaunch hostels for the elderly and build a diversified range of residential care homes to enable elderly persons to live in the community without any worry; and" after "(2)"; to delete "and" after "constructing new ones,"; to add "and reserve the several bottom floors of newly constructed public housing blocks for operating small-scale residential care hostels or residential care homes for the elderly," after "building residential care homes for the elderly,"; to add "to implement community care for the elderly based on the concept of 'care in the community'; and" after "(3)"; to add "and compile detailed statistics on the service demands of service users in various districts for formulating five- and 10-year planning on community care services," after "enhance community care services,"; to delete "and" after "integrated home care services" and substitute with ", especially meal delivery, escort for medical consultation and household cleaning services, increasing the number of day service centres for the elderly and the"; to add "and establishing a central enquiry service system" after "services in various districts"; to add "(4) in order to resolve the problem of serious shortage of venues for community support services for the elderly at present, to conduct a study on the provision of diversified community support services and activities for the elderly, such as adventure activities for elderly persons;" after "immediate assistance;"; to delete the original "(4)" and substitute with "(5)"; to add "and based on the concept of 'care in the community', to map out a development strategy for the retired population and formulate a comprehensive inter-departmental elderly policy on areas such as healthcare, housing, community support, financial protection, long-term care, social participation, urban construction and cultural development for elderly persons, etc., so as to provide elderly persons with suitable education and living environment;" after "and elderly services;"; to delete the original "(5)" and substitute with "(6)"; to add "(7) to streamline the existing application procedures for the Dementia Supplement, including assessing afresh recipients' eligibility for the supplement at an interval of two years; and extend the scope of the Dementia Supplement to other community care services, so that service operators have more resources to provide services to homebound Dementia patients;" after "service unit;"; to delete the original "(6)" and substitute with "(8)"; to add "and to collate and analyze the case information obtained under the standardized care need assessment mechanism for elderly services, and assess and adjust the quality of existing services, so as to provide reference for planning and introducing new services in the future, enabling the Government to allocate resources more effectively;" after "waiting time for services;"; to delete the original "(7)" and substitute with "(9)"; to delete the original "(8)" and substitute with "(10)"; to delete the original "(9)" and substitute with "(11)"; to delete "and" after "new entrants;"; to delete the original "(10)" and substitute with "(12)"; to delete "review" before "the bidding system" and substitute with "abolish"; and to add "; and (13) to conduct planning for the manpower establishment and resources for various kinds of elderly services" immediately before the full stop.

(v)Dr Hon KWOK Ka-ki to move the following amendment: (Translation)

To delete "demand for elderly care services in society continues" after "Hong Kong's population, the" and substitute with "dependency ratio will rise from 355 dependent persons per 1 000 working age persons in 2012 to 712 per 1 000 by 2041, and the demand of elderly persons, especially retired elderly persons, for elderly care services will also continue"; to add ", including introducing elderly dental services in public hospitals, arranging manpower to answer phone calls for booking out-patient services, improving the non-emergency ambulance transfer service, introducing elderly healthcare vouchers in paper form and strengthening publicity on the list of service providers participating in the Elderly Health Care Voucher Scheme, so as" after "in the community"; to delete "and" after "new entrants;"; and to add "; and Other aspects- (11) to immediately implement a universal retirement protection system, so as to ensure that people are able to meet the expenses on elderly care and healthcare services after retirement" immediately before the full stop.

Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Labour and Welfare

3.Improving the implementation of the education policy and allocating additional funding for education

Hon IP Kin-yuen to move the following motion: (Translation)

That, as education is an important policy area, many countries and regions attach great importance to education and strive to allocate resources in education improvement, so as to upgrade their people's overall quality and enhance their societies' competitiveness in the future; yet, the SAR Government's funding allocation in education has been shrinking continuously in recent years, and the Education Bureau has also neither listened seriously to the views of the sector nor taken forward many measures on which the society has reached consensus, showing its ineptitude and belated awareness when faced with new problems and challenges, and failing to respond to people's needs and allay their concerns, such as its erroneous planning for kindergarten and primary school places, delay in implementing 15-year free education, disregard for the views of the sector and reluctance to adopt effective measures to stabilize the teaching and learning environment of secondary schools, turning a blind eye to young teachers' difficulty in joining the profession, and turning a deaf ear to the demands for improving the teaching establishment in public-sector schools and increasing the number of publicly-funded university places; the education sector considers that since the Secretary for Education Mr Eddie NG took office, parents have worried about a shortage of places for their children's education, teachers' job satisfaction has declined, and students have been tormented by the education policy, rendering people to rock their confidence in the local education system and be greatly disappointed at the education policy led by Eddie NG, considering that he lacks work competence and enterprise, and that while he cannot effectively lead the officials of the Education Bureau to properly implement the education policy, he still frequently pays overseas duty visits, causing widespread grievances about the education policy in society in general; in this connection, this Council expresses dissatisfaction with the work performance of Eddie NG, requests him to reflect deeply on himself, and hopes that the SAR Government can improve the implementation of the education policy, allocate additional funding for education, and extensively solicit public opinions, so as to rebuild the public confidence in the education system.

Amendments to the motion Dr Hon Kenneth CHAN to move the following amendment: (Translation)

To add "according to the opinion poll results of the Public Opinion Programme of The University of Hong Kong, the popularity of the Secretary for Education Mr Eddie NG has persistently remained low, indicating the public's intense discontent with his performance;" after "That,"; to delete "the Secretary for Education Mr" after "considers that since"; and to delete "reflect deeply on himself" after "requests him to" and substitute with "immediately resign".

(ii)Dr Hon Helena WONG to move the following amendment: (Translation)

To delete "and" after "joining the profession,"; and to delete "places" after "publicly-funded university" and substitute with "undergraduate places, and failing to face up to the serious ratio imbalance between local and non-local students enrolled in research postgraduate programmes of graduate schools, resulting in precious education resources not being spent on local students on a priority basis".

(iii)Dr Hon Fernando CHEUNG to move the following amendment: (Translation)

To delete "and" after "joining the profession,"; and to add ", and failing to ever conduct any comprehensive review of the mode of integrated education which has been in place for a decade or so and is full of flaws and loopholes" after "publicly-funded university places".

Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Education

Clerk to the Legislative Council