A 13/14-33
Legislative Council
Agenda
Wednesday 25 June 2014 at 11:00 am
I. Presentation of Petition
Hon WU Chi-wai and Hon Charles Peter MOK to present a petition (Appendix).
II. Tabling of Papers
| Subsidiary Legislation / Instrument | L.N. No. |
|---|---|
| Rules of the High Court (Amendment) Rules 2014 | 94/2014 |
Other Papers
| 1. | No. 107 | - | Securities and Futures Commission Annual Report 2013-14 |
| (to be presented by the Financial Secretary)
| |||
| 2. | No. 108 | - | Investor Education Centre Annual Report 2013-14 |
| (to be presented by the Financial Secretary)
| |||
| 3. | No. 109 | - | Airport Authority Hong Kong Annual Report 2013/14 |
| (to be presented by the Financial Secretary)
| |||
| 4. | Report of the Bills Committee on Inland Revenue (Amendment) Bill 2014 | ||
| (to be presented by Hon Kenneth LEUNG, Chairman of the Bills Committee) | |||
III. Questions
1. Hon TAM Yiu-chung to ask: (Translation)
According to the projections made by the Census and Statistics Department, the labour force is expected to increase from last year's 3.59 million to the peak of 3.71 million in 2018 and then decline gradually. Although the Civil Service Bureau is conducting a consultation on the extension of the service of civil servants, there are views that the authorities should formulate a comprehensive strategy to tackle the challenges arising from an ageing population and a shrinking labour force. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the occupations which are currently subject to a statutory retirement age and the requirements concerned; whether it has compiled statistics on such occupations in relation to the average retirement age in the past three years, the number of serving employees, as well as the number and percentage of those employees expected to be retiring within the coming three years; (2) given that senior people of the present age generally have better health conditions than those in the past, and that technological advancements have rendered many occupations less physically demanding than in the past, whether the authorities have plans to conduct a review and industry consultations on whether the statutory retirement ages of various occupations still suit the present circumstances, so as to explore whether there is room for upward adjustment of the retirement ages; if they have such plans, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (3) whether it has studied and formulated measures to tackle the prevailing challenges arising from an ageing population and a shrinking labour force, so as to maintain Hong Kong's competitiveness; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
2. Hon KWOK Wai-keung to ask: (Translation)
Under section 40 of the Road Traffic (Public Service Vehicles) Regulations, any taxi driver who solicits business by offering a discount on taxi fare commits the offence of "soliciting". Recently, some associations of the taxi trade have complained to me that taxi-call service mobile applications ("Apps") with the option "85" have become available lately, and all the taxi drivers registered under that option are willing to offer a fare discount of 15% to passengers. Such associations said that many taxi drivers took risks and used such kind of Apps to offer fare discounts to passengers in order to solicit business. As a result, the livelihood of drivers charging legal fares has been seriously affected. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it has examined if the developers who provide the aforesaid Apps for downloading have contravened the law; if the outcome of its examination is in the affirmative, whether it instituted any prosecution against the developers concerned and demanded the developers to remove those Apps from the platforms of web stores, in the past 12 months; if no prosecution has been instituted, how the Government curbs taxi drivers' soliciting business by offering fare discounts to passengers through such Apps; (2) given that in reply to a question raised by a Member of this Council in November last year, the Government indicated that the Police were following up on whether any taxi drivers were using the Apps to offer fare discounts to passengers, of the details of the follow-up actions; whether police officers were deployed to disguise as taxi passengers in the past four months to call taxis by means of the Apps for the purpose of carrying out law enforcement operations to combat the offer of fare discounts by taxi drivers; if so, of the respective numbers of such law enforcement operations and taxi drivers who were prosecuted; and (3) given that the existing legislation only prohibits taxi drivers from offering, on their own initiative, fare discounts to passengers to solicit business, whether the Government will conduct a study on enacting legislation to prohibit fare bargaining by passengers, in order to curb taxi drivers' offering fare discounts at the request of passengers?
3. Dr Hon Helena WONG to ask: (Translation)
The State Council points out in the White Paper on "The Practice of the 'One Country, Two Systems' Policy in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region" ("the White Paper") released on the 10th of this month that "the central government exercises overall jurisdiction over the HKSAR [Hong Kong Special Administrative Region]", and states the following clearly for the first time: "[s]upporting and guiding the administration of the chief executive and government of the HKSAR in accordance with the law. The chief executive reports his/her work to the central government on an annual basis, on the implementation of the Basic Law and other items for which he/she is accountable to the central government; and the state leaders give guidance to the chief executive on major matters related to the implementation of the Basic Law". The White Paper also points out that "[u]nder the policy of 'one country, two systems', all those who administrate Hong Kong, including the chief executive, principal officials, members of the Executive Council and Legislative Council, judges of the courts at different levels and other judicial personnel, have on their shoulders the responsibility of correctly understanding and implementing the Basic Law, of safeguarding the country's sovereignty, security and development interests, and of ensuring the long-term prosperity and stability of Hong Kong. In a word, loving the country is the basic political requirement for Hong Kong's administrators". In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) if it has approached the Central Government to gain an understanding on whether the statement that the Central Government exercises overall jurisdiction over the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region ("HKSAR") implies that it can interfere with matters within the ambit of HKSAR's high degree of autonomy; if so, whether the Central Government has so interfered in the past and how it plans to interfere in the future; (2) whether it has studied if the Basic Law contains any provision which provides a basis for the Central Government to give guidance on the administration of the HKSAR Government; if the study outcome is in the affirmative, of the details and the major matters in respect of which the Central Government guided the administration of the HKSAR Government in the past; and (3) as some members of the legal profession have pointed out that, in variance with the Mainland, HKSAR implements a tripartite political system under which there is separation of executive, legislative and judicial powers with checks and balances among one another, and judicial independence is also one of the core values vital to HKSAR's success, whether the HKSAR Government has relayed to the Central Government that the implementation of the existing political system in HKSAR must be respected and the characteristics of such a system must be safeguarded; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
4. Hon CHAN Chi-chuen to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that the International Christian School ("ICS") requests its teaching staff and job applicants to sign a declaration entitled "Standards of Biblical Ethics and Integrity" to undertake that they will make themselves role models by not engaging in any form of homosexual behaviour, etc., and contravention of which may lead to dismissal. I have received complaints that such a practice of ICS has allegedly discriminated against people of different sexual orientations and alternate gender identity. The Education Bureau ("EDB") indicated in February this year that it had reminded ICS that in formulating and reviewing its policies, reference should be made to the EDB Circular No. 33/2003 "The Principle of Equal Opportunities" and the "Code of Practice against Discrimination in Employment on the Ground of Sexual Orientation" compiled by the Government. According to some media reports in early March this year, the Administration and Recruitment Co-ordinator of ICS indicated, in response to media enquiries, that the school had the right to uphold its beliefs, which included not allowing homosexuals or people of alternate gender identity to be their teaching staff. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether EDB has found out if ICS, after being reminded by EDB, has contravened the aforesaid circular and Code of Practice; if it has found that ICS has contravened them, of the follow-up actions to ensure that the employees of the school who are sexual minorities (if any) are being treated fairly; and (2) given that at present, quite a number of schools in Hong Kong are run by school sponsoring bodies with a religious background (e.g. Christian and Catholic bodies), whether such schools can dismiss or refuse to employ teaching staff of different sexual orientations and alternate gender identity on the ground that they run the schools in accordance with their religious beliefs?
5. Hon Tommy CHEUNG to ask: (Translation)
In September last year, the Metro Planning Committee of the Town Planning Board ("TPB") approved a planning application for the conversion of an almost century-old residence at 27 Lugard Road on The Peak into a hotel with 17 rooms. Although some sections of Lugard Road are only 1.8 metre wide, the Transport Department has approved the running of 1.475-metre wide electric mini-cars on the road to carry guests, staff, service contractors and goods to and from the hotel. Some members of the public have relayed to me that Lugard Road is a highly popular hiking trail thronged with picnickers. They are concerned about the prospect of pedestrians and vehicles competing for road space upon the commissioning of the hotel, which will make traffic accidents more likely to occur. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) why the government departments concerned still supported the planning application at TPB meetings, despite objections to the application raised by the Central and Western District Council and some of its members as well as nearby residents on grounds of traffic and environmental problems, and the fact that 96% of the public submissions received by the TPB opposed to the application; (2) whether it has compiled statistics on the respective average numbers of pedestrians per hour on Lugard Road on Sundays, public holidays and weekdays; if it has, of the numbers; whether it has studied if the pedestrian flow coupled with the vehicular traffic flow brought about by conveyance of guests, staff, service contractors and goods of the hotel upon the commissioning of the hotel will exceed the capacity of Lugard Road; if it has studied, of the findings; and (3) given that currently only a small number of vehicles issued with a permit are allowed to use certain road sections of Lugard Road, of the number of traffic accidents involving such vehicles on the road sections concerned in the past three years; whether it has studied if the casualties of traffic accidents occurring on the road sections in question will increase upon the commissioning of the hotel; if it has studied, of the findings?
6. Hon WONG Kwok-kin to ask: (Translation)
The Chief Executive stated in his 2014 Policy Address that strategic planning would be made for building a new acute general hospital at the Kai Tak Development Area ("the Kai Tak Hospital"). It has been reported that according to the latest assessment, the completion date of the Kai Tak Hospital, which the authorities originally forecast to be 2020 at the earliest, may be deferred to 2023. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:
(1) if the Hospital Authority ("HA") has assessed, based on the current progress, whether the service planning and technical feasibility study for the Kai Tak Hospital can be completed within this year as scheduled; the latest progress of the service planning; whether, based on the authorities' latest assessment, the hospital can be completed in 2020; if so, of the detailed timetable and the expected time for submission of funding applications to the Legislative Council; if not, the details of the reasons for that; and (2) if HA has assessed the impacts of the failure to complete the Kai Tak Hospital in 2020 on the redevelopment of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, on the service quality of the Hong Kong Children's Hospital upon commissioning and on the planning of the overall healthcare services in Kowloon; of HA's measures to mitigate such impacts?
*7. Hon Christopher CHEUNG to ask: (Translation)
In April this year, the Ministry of Finance of the State Council released the consultation paper on "Temporary Implementing Rules on Cross-border Performance of Audit-related Services by Accounting Firms (Exposure Draft)". According to the interpretations made by newspapers, the Exposure Draft proposes to require that where an accounting firm outside Chinese territory is appointed to undertake auditing business for a mainland enterprise listed outside Chinese territory, it shall engage an accounting firm on the Mainland which is qualified to undertake securities-related business or ranked among the top 100 in the consolidated assessment of the sector in the preceding year for business collaboration, and that the auditing work on the Mainland shall be undertaken by mainland accountants, but the audit report shall be signed off as well as the relevant audit liabilities shall be borne by the accounting firm outside Chinese territory ("the proposed requirement"). In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) given that previously the "Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement"("CEPA") stipulated that the validity period of the "Provisional Licence to Perform Audit-Related Services" to be applied for by Hong Kong accounting firms to conduct temporary auditing services on the Mainland was one year, and the validity period was subsequently extended to five years by a supplement of CEPA, whether the Government has assessed if the proposed requirement is in breach of CEPA; how it will follow up on the Exposure Draft, including whether it has raised any objection with the mainland authorities, or requested the mainland authorities to exempt Hong Kong accounting firms from complying with the proposed requirement; and (2) whether it has assessed the risks faced by Hong Kong accounting firms in undertaking such auditing work upon the implementation of the proposed requirement, as well as if there will be increased risks for Hong Kong people to invest in mainland enterprises listed in Hong Kong, hence undermining investors' confidence; whether it will take measures to prevent the rise of risks associated with misrepresentation of accounts by mainland enterprises listed in Hong Kong, so as to ensure that the status and reputation of the Hong Kong stock market will not be affected?
*8. Hon CHUNG Kwok-pan to ask: (Translation)
It is learnt that quite a number of factories owned by Hong Kong businessmen in Vietnam were damaged during the anti-Chinese riots which happened earlier on. The Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development indicated on the 21st of last month that he had tasked the Director of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Singapore ("HKETO(SG)") to travel to Ho Chi Minh City to pay visits to the affected factories run by Hong Kong businessmen at the arrangement of the Hong Kong Business Association Vietnam, in order to gauge the local situation and follow up on ways to provide assistance to the Hong Kong businessmen there. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it has compiled statistics on the number of Hong Kong businessmen affected by the anti-Chinese riots and the amount of their financial losses; (2) of the follow-up actions taken by the officials of HKETO(SG) after inspecting the situation of the Hong Kong businessmen in Vietnam, including whether they have assisted the Hong Kong businessmen in seeking compensation from the Vietnamese authorities; (3) given that, in responding to the suggestion for Hong Kong to sign an investment protection agreement with the authorities of Vietnam, the authorities have indicated that Hong Kong and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations ("ASEAN") will commence formal negotiation on the Hong Kong - ASEAN Free Trade Agreement next month in order to strengthen the economic and trade relations between Hong Kong and ASEAN Member States, thereby allowing Hong Kong businessmen to have better access to the ASEAN markets as well as securing better protection, of the provisions for protection of Hong Kong businessmen to be put forward by the authorities in the negotiation of the agreement; and (4) given that the several riots which occurred in the Asia-Pacific region in recent years have impacted on the investment projects and personal safety of the Hong Kong businessmen in that region, whether the authorities will consider taking measures to safeguard the lives and properties of Hong Kong businessmen investing there?
*9. Hon Jeffrey LAM to ask: (Translation)
With the ever-growing economic and business activities between Hong Kong and the Mainland, Hong Kong people doing businesses on the Mainland ("Hong Kong businessmen") have encountered problems from time to time and therefore have to seek assistance. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council of:
(1) the number of requests for assistance received from Hong Kong businessmen or their families by the mainland offices of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region ("the mainland offices") in each of the past three years, together with a breakdown by type of such requests and by whether or not the issues concerned had been resolved, as well as the reasons for some cases yet to be resolved; (2) the current general procedures and practices of the mainland offices in handling requests for assistance from Hong Kong businessmen who face the following situations on the Mainland: (i) being embroiled in commercial disputes, (ii) having disputes with the mainland authorities, (iii) having problems on legal matters, and (iv) having personal safety issues; and (3) the measures taken and work carried out by the Government in the past three years to enhance the functions of the mainland offices?
*10. Hon Abraham SHEK to ask:
Networked Readiness Index ("NRI") is a measure of how prepared an economy is in applying the benefits of information and communications technologies for promoting economic growth and well-being. According to the Global Information Technology Report published by the World Economic Forum in April this year, Hong Kong has achieved an overall NRI ranking of the eighth place in 2014, six places higher than that of last year, out of the 148 economies surveyed, but her rankings in some NRI indicators (e.g. software piracy rate - 30th, tertiary education gross enrollment rate - 39th, government procurement of advanced technology products - 19th, percentage of individuals using the Internet - 33rd, capacity for innovation - 29th, and share of workforce employed in knowledge-intensive activities - 29th) have remained quite low. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it will step up its efforts to advance Hong Kong's positions in the aforesaid NRI indicators; if so, of the specific measures formulated for each indicator; (2) whether it will provide funding support to the local industries, so as to boost the number of knowledge-intensive jobs and promote the development of a knowledge-based economy in Hong Kong; and (3) as the aforesaid Report has pointed out that the Singaporean Government has "a clear digital strategy that offers the best online services in the world", whether the Government has compared its recently updated 2014 Digital 21 Strategy with Singapore's digital strategy in respect of the development of online services; if so, of the outcome; if not, the reasons for that; of the latest progress of the Government's plan to promulgate the updated 2014 Digital 21 Strategy?
*11. Hon James TIEN to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council ("HKMAO") is currently responsible for coordinating a review on Hong Kong's capacity to receive visitors, which includes a study on Shenzhen residents visiting Hong Kong on the one-year multiple-entry Individual Visit Endorsements ("multiple-entry endorsements"). In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it knows the differences in terms of scope between the study under the coordination of HKMAO and the Assessment Report on Hong Kong's Capacity to Receive Tourists completed by the Government at the end of last year; of the time that the Government plans to submit the relevant report to HKMAO, and the expected time for it to start the discussion with the mainland authorities on adjusting the number of mainland visitors visiting Hong Kong under the Individual Visit Scheme ("IVS"); (2) as the Government indicated in its reply to a question raised by a Member of this Council in October 2012 that the authorities had not compiled any statistics on people engaged in parallel trading activities, whether the authorities have compiled such statistics at present; if they have not, how the authorities conduct studies on the impacts, on Hong Kong residents, of mainland residents visiting Hong Kong on the multiple-entry endorsements and engaging in parallel trading activities; (3) whether it knows if the Shenzhen authorities have compiled any statistics on mainland residents engaged in parallel trading activities; if the Shenzhen authorities have such statistics, of the details; if it has not made any enquiry with the Shenzhen authorities about such information, the reasons for that; (4) as the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development indicated in his reply to a supplementary question raised by a Member of this Council on the 11th of this month that the Government had previously conducted a four-week survey during which 96.52% of the mainland visitors visiting Hong Kong on the multiple-entry endorsements only made one single trip into Hong Kong on the day of arrival ("one trip per day"), of the number of mainland visitors visiting Hong Kong on the multiple-entry endorsements each month in the past three years and, among them, the percentage of those who made one trip per day; (5) whether it has assessed what specific impacts on Hong Kong's economy and employment, etc. which will be brought about by replacement of the multiple-entry endorsements by one trip per day endorsements; if it has assessed, of the outcome; if not, the reasons for that; and (6) whether it has conducted studies on taking measures to first reduce the number of those mainland visitors to Hong Kong who have relatively less spending power, instead of substantially cutting the number of IVS arrivals across the board, so as to avoid causing excessive impacts on Hong Kong's economy and employment while at the same time alleviate the inconvenience caused by visitors to local residents in their daily lives; if it has conducted such studies, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
*12. Hon Tony TSE to ask: (Translation)
In recent years, the MTR Corporation Limited ("MTRCL") has been actively developing property development investments and railway-related businesses (e.g. its wholly-owned project of MTR Stockholm AB (MTRS) in Sweden) outside Hong Kong (including the Mainland, Europe and Australia). In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it knows the information on each of the businesses/projects of MTRCL outside Hong Kong, including the specific contents, as well as the investment amounts, expected and actual profits and returns, etc., in the past three years; whether MTRCL has assessed and managed the risks of each investment and development project outside Hong Kong; if it has, of the results; whether MTRCL has set any objective of investment returns, made clear the individuals/institutions bearing the various types of risks, set an upper limit on risk tolerance, set a cap on the amount and share of investment, and how it ensures that the company will not put the cart before the horse by developing businesses outside Hong Kong at the expense of its local business; (2) of the role, powers and responsibilities of the Government in MTRCL's development of businesses outside Hong Kong; whether it has formulated relevant codes and guidelines for compliance by MTRCL; if it has not, of the reasons for that; if it has, the specific contents of such codes and guidelines, and whether it has reviewed and amended them on a regular basis; and (3) whether it has assessed the pros and cons of MTRCL's development of businesses outside Hong Kong with respect to the railway services provided by MTRCL in Hong Kong; if it has, of the assessment outcome and corresponding measures; if not, the reasons for that?
*13. Hon Christopher CHUNG to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the support provided by the Government and relevant organizations for promoting the development of the innovation and information technology ("IIT") industries in Hong Kong, e.g. subsidies/sponsorships for various activities such as visits, exhibitions, seminars, forums, workshops and training courses as well as perfecting the system for recognition of information and communications technology professional qualifications, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the respective numbers of activities/projects, which aimed at promoting IIT development, subsidized by the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer ("OGCIO") and the Innovation and Technology Commission ("ITC"), in each of the past five years, and set out, by name of the organization subsidized, in a table the titles and nature of the activities/projects, the subsidizing department (OGCIO/ITC), dates of the activities/projects, amounts of the subsidies and numbers of times that the organizations concerned had been subsidized; (2) of the respective criteria based on which OGCIO and ITC decide whether or not to subsidize an organization or activity/project, as well as the scope and amount of a subsidy to be granted; of the specific policy bases for such criteria, and the persons (if government officials are involved, of their ranks) responsible for vetting and approving the applications for subsidies; (3) whether it knows the respective numbers of activities/projects, which aimed at promoting the development of IIT, sponsored by the Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company Limited ("Cyberport") and the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation ("STP") in terms of money or venues, in each of the past five years, and set out, by name of the organization sponsored, in a table the titles and nature of the activities/projects, dates of the activities/projects, amounts and/or venues sponsored and numbers of times the organizations concerned had been sponsored; (4) whether it knows the respective criteria based on which Cyberport and STP decide whether or not to sponsor an organization or activity/project, as well as the form and amount of a sponsorship to be offered; of the specific policy bases for such criteria, and the persons (if government officials are involved, of their ranks) responsible for vetting and approving applications for sponsorships; (5) whether it knows, since the establishment in 2007 of the Hong Kong Institute for IT Professional Certification ("HKITPC"), which is responsible for assessment and certification of information technology ("IT") professional qualifications, the total number of IT professional certifications that the Institute has awarded, the total amount of subsidies that the Institute has received from the Government and the format (one-off or recurrent) of such subsidies, the total number of persons that the Institute has awarded certifications, and the status of the Institute's certifications being recognized by relevant professional bodies in Hong Kong and on the Mainland as well as internationally; (6) given that the Government currently proposes the establishment of a unified information and communications technology professional recognition framework ("unified framework"), of the differences between the positioning of this framework and that of HKITPC; whether it has assessed if there is any overlap of the functions of these two entities in concurrently awarding certifications and if there is any waste of resources in this respect; if it has assessed, of the findings; and (7) as it is reported that currently the certifications awarded by the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers and the British Computer Society (Hong Kong Section) gained recognition of professional qualifications internationally and on the Mainland through the professional recognition by the Engineers Registration Board, whether there will be/is a similar mechanism for mutual recognition of the certifications to be awarded by the unified framework proposed by the Government and being awarded by HKITPC, so as to avoid creating extra pressure on local IT practitioners arising from the need to sit for different examinations in order to obtain different professional certifications?
*14. Hon CHAN Kin-por to ask: (Translation)
In 2003, the Department of Health ("DH") issued the Code of Practice for Private Hospitals, Nursing Homes and Maternity Homes ("the Code"), which sets out the standards of good practice for healthcare institutions to adopt. The Code provides that private hospitals must keep a schedule of charges in respect of wards, investigative and treatment procedures and medical supplies, at the admission office and other appropriate places for reference by patients. During its inspections of private hospitals, DH checks the latter's compliance with the requirements set out in the Code. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the number of complaints received in the past five years by DH from members of the public about the charges levied by private hospitals, with a breakdown by type of complaints (such as sudden charge increases, unreasonable charges, failure to provide information on charges to patients beforehand, etc.) and the outcome of investigation; whether DH has taken any follow-up action against private hospitals for alleged breaches of the relevant requirements in the Code; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (2) of the number of inspections of private hospitals conducted by the authorities in each of the past five years, and the number of such inspections in which private hospitals were found to have failed to make available complete information on charges at suitable places for reference by patients in accordance with the Code; (3) given that the Code is not part of the law and hence DH can only advise or remind private hospitals to provide patients with complete information on charges in accordance with the Code, whether the authorities will consider giving legal effect to the Code and setting penalties for breaches of the Code (such as subjecting private hospitals with serious breaches to revocation of their licences); if they will, of the details; if not, what measures the authorities have in place at present to ensure that private hospitals will provide complete information on charges to their patients; (4) given that the Government requires the private hospitals to be developed on the two reserved sites at Wong Chuk Hang and Tai Po to provide at least 51% of their in-patient bed days taken up in a year for services to local residents through standard beds at packaged charge and to provide the public with comprehensive information on charges, whether the authorities will explore requiring existing private hospitals to abide by the same requirements; if they will, of the details; if not, the justifications for that; and (5) given the recommendations in the Director of Audit's Report No. 59 that the authorities should explore ways to enhance the transparency of charges levied by private hospitals taking into account the good practices adopted locally and overseas (such as requiring private hospitals to ensure that every patient is informed, prior to or upon his admission to the hospital, of the estimated total charges which are likely to be incurred, and enacting laws on the transparency in medical charges), and that the authorities have agreed to the recommendations of the Audit Commission, whether the authorities have commenced studies on the relevant recommendations; if they have, of the progress and the latest findings; if not, the reasons for that?
*15. Hon Dennis KWOK to ask:
The Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements ("the Convention") was adopted at the twentieth session of the Hague Conference on 30 June 2005. The Convention aims to assure that when the contracting parties agree on a court to hear a civil or commercial dispute, the agreement and any resulting judgment will be recognized and enforced in any Contracting State to the Convention. The Department of Justice published two consultation papers in 2004 and 2007 respectively to seek comments on the Convention, particularly with regard to the question of whether the Convention should apply to Hong Kong. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it has decided to seek the application of the Convention to Hong Kong under Article 153 of the Basic Law; if it has, of the views of the interested parties and stakeholders received in the aforesaid consultations; if not, whether it will conduct consultations again before it makes the decision; (2) whether it has assessed what effects the application of the Convention to Hong Kong will have on the Judiciary in respect of its workload, manpower and court facilities, and particularly, the potential impact on the civil and commercial lists; if it has, of the findings and details; if not, the reasons for that; (3) whether it has explored to what extent Hong Kong could, upon the application of the Convention to it, encourage more contracting parties to choose this jurisdiction as the seat for the resolution of international civil or commercial disputes, and bring about potential development opportunities for the legal profession; if it has, of the detailed findings; if not, the reasons for that; and (4) given that the Minister for Law of Singapore stated during a recent Parliamentary sitting that Singapore was studying the feasibility of acceding to the Convention, and in the light of the proposed establishment of an International Commercial Court in Singapore, whether it has explored the adoption of appropriate measures and reform proposals, apart from seeking the application of the Convention to Hong Kong, to maintain and enhance Hong Kong's status as an international dispute resolution centre in the Asia Pacific region?
*16. Dr Hon CHIANG Lai-wan to ask: (Translation)
In 2012-2013, the public hospitals and psychiatric specialist out-patient clinics ("SOPCs") of the Hospital Authority ("HA") provided treatment and support services to more than 195 000 persons with mental health problems. As at 31 March 2013, there were 334 doctors (including psychiatrists) in the psychiatric service departments of HA, and the doctor-to-patient ratio was 1 to 583. There are views that the ratio reflects a serious manpower shortage of psychiatrists. Regarding public mental health services, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it knows the respective numbers of serving psychiatrists and vacancies of psychiatrists in HA, as well as the changes in the number and percentage in the manpower of psychiatrists in each of the past 10 years, with a tabulated breakdown by rank and hospital cluster; whether HA has any plan to fill the aforesaid vacancies and provide additional resources for the training of psychiatrists; if HA has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (2) whether it knows the number of psychiatric patients seeking medical treatment from public hospitals or SOPCs in each of the past 10 years, with a tabulated breakdown by year, type of services (in-patient services, out-patient services and day services) and hospital cluster; (3) whether it knows the criteria adopted by SOPCs for determining the seriousness and urgency (i.e. priority 1, priority 2 and routine category) of psychiatric cases; (4) whether it knows the number of cases, in each of the past five years, in which the mental patients no longer needed further treatment after treatment; (5) of the procedures adopted by the authorities for following up the reports made by members of the public on nuisances caused by persons suspected to be mental patients or by persons with erratic behaviours; and the measures in place to prevent such persons from causing further nuisances to others when they refuse to receive treatment or follow-up services; (6) whether it knows if HA's psychiatric community outreach services have taken the initiative to reach out for suspected mental patients and provide them with suitable services at the earliest opportunity; if they have, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (7) whether it has studied the feasibility of introducing a registration system for clinical psychologists and counsellors, with a view to enhancing the professional services provided to people suffering from emotional problems and reducing their prospect of developing mental illnesses; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (8) given that recently, there have been several homicide cases allegedly committed by persons suspected to be suffering from seizures of mental illness (e.g. cases of shooting in Kai Ching Estate, a mother hacking her daughter to death at Wing Cheong Estate, and a chair falling from height in Mong Kok causing the death of a pedestrian), whether the authorities will conduct a comprehensive review on the services currently available to psychiatric patients (including interventions and rehabilitation treatments), and expedite the study on the need and feasibility of introducing community treatment orders for protection of public safety; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
*17. Hon TANG Ka-piu to ask: (Translation)
I have received a complaint alleging that while the result of the fetal morphology scan ("ultrasound scan") conducted for a pregnant woman at the Prince of Wales Hospital showed no abnormal prenatal development, the woman subsequently gave birth to a baby suffering from arthrogryposis multiplex congenita ("AMC") and cleft palate. After lodging a complaint with the Hospital Authority ("HA"), the woman was told that the ultrasound scan was conducted for her by a mainland doctor participating in medical exchange at the public hospital. As the hospital did not maintain records of ultrasound images, there was no way to tell if there had been any mistake involved in the scan. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:
(1) in the past three years, the number of cases in which the ultrasound scans conducted at public hospitals detected possible (and later confirmed) cases of AMC (with a breakdown by the gestational age of the pregnant woman when the ultrasound scan was conducted) and the number of new-born babies diagnosed with the illness; (2) if HA has formulated guidelines on the procedures for conducting ultrasound scans by doctors as well as the qualifications required of the doctors conducting the scan; if so, of the details of the guidelines, the basis of their formulation and the last revision date, as well as how HA monitors compliance by doctors with such guidelines; if not, the reasons for that and whether it will consider drawing up such guidelines; (3) if HA has put in place measures to ensure that healthcare personnel clearly explain the purposes and restrictions of ultrasound scans to pregnant women, and to ensure that the latter understand the contents of the explanations; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that and whether it will consider drawing up such measures; (4) if HA has set up a mechanism to review the accuracy of the diagnoses made using ultrasound scans; if so, of the details; if not, whether it will set up such a mechanism; and (5) if HA has set up a mechanism to handle complaints about the antenatal checks conducted by midwives and mainland doctors participating in medical exchange; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
*18. Hon WU Chi-wai to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the flight paths and runway capacity of the Hong Kong International Airport, as well as the management of the Pearl River Delta airspace, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) when considering the introduction of new flight paths for aircraft arrivals and departures, what constraints (other than the considerations of noise nuisances to nearby residents arising from aircraft using such flight paths and the terrain constraints) faced by the authorities, and whether they have explored solutions to such constraints; whether they have assessed by how much the runway capacity of the Hong Kong International Airport will increase as a result of the introduction of new flight paths; if they have assessed, of the findings; and (2) as it has been reported that under the current management arrangements of the Pearl River Delta airspace, aircraft approaching or departing from Hong Kong must enter and leave Hong Kong's airspace at a height of over 15 000 feet, and such height limit has restricted the runway capacity of the Hong Kong International Airport, whether the Civil Aviation Department will discuss with the authorities of the Mainland and Macao, through the tripartite working group established with the Civil Aviation Administration of China and the Macao Civil Aviation Authority, the relaxation or even abolition of such a height limit; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
*19. Hon Paul TSE to ask: (Translation)
The Government announced in October last year that the Chairman of the Airport Authority Hong Kong ("AA") had agreed to extend his service for one year from 1 June 2014. However, the Government announced on the 30th of last month that (i) for personal reasons, the Chairman concerned would not extend his service ("the former Chairman"), (ii) the incumbent Chairman of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council ("TDC") would take up appointment as Chairman of AA from 1 June 2015 ("the Chairman-designate"), (iii) during the one-year interim period, an incumbent AA board member (who had just resigned from the office of Chairman of the Infrastructural Planning Committee of AA) would take up appointment as Chairman of AA ("the interim Chairman"), and (iv) a person who had resigned from his office of Member of the Executive Council ("ExCo") as well as three other persons were appointed as new AA board members. In addition, the incumbent Executive Director of TDC, who has served TDC for a decade, has tendered his resignation from TDC and will take up the post of Chief Executive Officer of AA. On the other hand, it has been reported that the aforesaid personnel changes stemmed from the disputes which happened earlier between the former Chairman and the interim Chairman over the planning of the North Commercial District ("NCD") of the Hong Kong International Airport ("HKIA"), including whether or not to convert the underground Automatic People Mover depot ("the underground depot") concerned into a commercial centre to tie in with the development of the third runway at HKIA, etc. Regarding the appointments of board members and transfers of senior staff members of AA and TDC, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it knows if the interim Chairman has any plan to overturn the decision made by the AA Board that there is no need to relocate the underground depot; as there are comments that the proposed third runway at HKIA will be the airport runway with the highest construction costs in the world, whether it has assessed if the relocation of the underground depot to tie in with the NCD development will further increase such construction costs, and whether the relocation is the option which best serves the public interest; if it has assessed, of the outcome; if the outcome is that the proposal will increase the construction costs, of the estimated increase in the construction costs of the third runway; (2) as there are comments that the Chairman-designate does not have any experience in airport management, why the Government would rather make such a complicated arrangement of appointing an interim Chairman in order to facilitate the Chairman-designate to head AA one year later, and whether it had, from the perspective of public interest, considered other candidates with experience in airport management; if it had, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (3) as there are views that given AA is in charge of the important aviation infrastructure projects and the development of the aviation industry of Hong Kong, while TDC is responsible for promotion of Hong Kong's external trade, and yet the appointments of the board chairmen/ members of AA and TDC as well as transfers of their senior staff members are akin to "political appointments of a private-club-style", of the measures that the Government will take to convince the public that the appointments of AA board members (including the appointments of the interim Chairman and the Chairman-designate, as well as the appointment of a person who had resigned from the office of ExCo Member as an AA board member), as well as the coming transfers of TDC's Chairman and Executive Director to AA, are based on public interest and objective appointment criteria, instead of mere political considerations; and (4) as the Government has indicated that it has appointed the interim Chairman as the Chairman of AA because of its trust in his ability, why he was appointed to the position only on a temporary basis for one year and he was not allowed to continue to assume the position one year after; as the Government trusts that the Chairman-designate is a capable person and is willing to make a complicated arrangement to facilitate him to head AA one year later, why it had not retained him to continue to serve TDC to promote Hong Kong's external trade; given that the incumbent Executive Director of TDC will also change his job to serve as the Chief Executive Officer of AA following the Chairman-designate's upcoming change of his appointment to AA, whether the Government has assessed, from the viewpoints of the two institutions' operations and public interests, if the complicated arrangements that the top two persons-in-charge of TDC will leave TDC one after another to take up appointments with AA while the term of office of the current interim Chairman of AA only lasts for one year will give rise to confusion and waste of manpower; how the Government explains to the public that the aforesaid series of personnel arrangements were made out of practical needs and not political consideration, and such arrangements will not obstruct the operations of AA and TDC?
*20. Hon Frederick FUNG to ask: (Translation)
To prepare for the United Nations Climate Change Conference to be held in Lima, Peru in December this year, representatives from many countries commenced the United Nations climate change negotiations in Bonn, Germany early this month. It has been reported that the Environmental Protection Agency of the United States, whose greenhouse gas emissions are the second highest in the world, has proposed the Clean Power Plan aiming to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 30% nationwide from the 2005 levels by 2030. China's representatives have also undertaken that China will make active contributions to advancing the negotiations. For instance, China is considering setting a target of the cap on the greenhouse gas emissions for the first time in 2016, and including this target in the next five-year plan which will commence in 2016. This initiative is different from the past practice of setting the carbon intensity targets according to the gross domestic products. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it has looked into and grasped the latest policy direction of the mainland authorities for setting a cap on greenhouse gas emissions; whether it has assessed the impact of the aforesaid new initiative adopted by the mainland authorities on Hong Kong's control of greenhouse gas emissions; and (2) given that Hong Kong currently follows the mainland authorities' practice of setting the carbon intensity target in formulating its emission reduction target (i.e. to reduce carbon intensity by 50% to 60% by 2020 from the 2005 level), whether the Government will follow the mainland authorities' new initiative and formulate emission reduction targets by setting a cap on the total greenhouse gas emissions; if it will, of the timetable; if not, the reasons for that?
*21. Dr Hon LAM Tai-fai to ask: (Translation)
On the 10th of this month, the State Council published the White Paper on "The Practice of the 'One Country, Two Systems' Policy in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region" ("White Paper"). It is clearly stated in the White Paper that "the central government is sincerely in favour of moving Hong Kong's democratic governance forward" and this is the "solemn commitment of the central government", but "the system of universal suffrage for selecting the chief executive and forming the Legislative Council must serve the country's sovereignty, security and development interests" and "the chief executive to be elected by universal suffrage must be a person who loves the country and Hong Kong". On the other hand, initiators of the action to occupy the Central District ("Occupy Central") scheduled the "Popvote" to be conducted on the 22nd of this month ("622 Popvote"), through which members of the public would choose a proposal for selecting the Chief Executive by universal suffrage in 2017, and Occupy Central will strive for the implementation of that proposal. Some members from the pan-democratic camp and initiators of Occupy Central have indicated that the White Paper was published to target at the 622 Popvote and the 1 July march this year. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it has assessed the respective impacts of the entire event of the 622 Popvote and its voting results on advancing constitutional development; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (2) whether it has assessed the impact of the White Paper on the 622 Popvote; if it has, of the details; it not, the reasons for that; (3) whether it has assessed how the Central Government look at the 622 Popvote; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (4) whether it has identified any foreign forces participating in the organization of the 622 Popvote; (5) whether it will make reference to the proposal scoring the highest number of votes in the 622 Popvote when consolidating the views collected from the public consultation exercise on constitutional development and drawing up constitutional development proposals; (6) whether it has assessed if the results of the 622 Popvote will stimulate more people to participate in Occupy Central; if the assessment outcome is in the affirmative, of the details and the deployment to be made; if the assessment outcome is in the negative, the justifications for that; (7) whether it has conducted any assessment on the accuracy of the 622 Popvote's voter turnout figures announced; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (8) whether it has received any complaint lodged by members of the public about the 622 Popvote; if it has, of the details; (9) of the police manpower deployed for maintaining public order on the day the 622 Popvote was conducted; (10) whether it has assessed if the organization of the 622 Popvote has breached the law; if the assessment outcome is in the affirmative, of the legal provisions breached; (11) whether the Government called on the public not to participate in the 622 Popvote; if it did, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (12) whether it will formulate policies or measures to prevent activities similar to the 622 Popvote from being conducted again in order to avoid any impact on the constitutional development; if it will, of the details; (13) whether it will publicize the contents of the White Paper comprehensively to enable the public to judge if the White Paper is published to target at the 622 Popvote; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (14) whether it has assessed the impacts of the entire event of the 622 Popvote and its voting results on the 1 July march this year; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
*22. Dr Hon KWOK Ka-ki to ask: (Translation)
The Environmental Protection Department ("EPD") launched the Air Quality Health Index ("AQHI") on 30 December 2013 to provide the public with information on the health risk of air pollution. EPD updates the AQHI hourly on the basis of the data (including concentrations of pollutants such as ozone, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, respirable suspended particulates and fine suspended particulates) recorded by the general monitoring stations and roadside monitoring stations in various districts. During the period between 1 pm to 7 pm on 8 June 2014, the AQHI in Tung Chung persistently stood at 10+, the highest level of the index, with health risk of the "serious" category. During the same period, the AQHIs in most other districts also reached level 10+ in certain intervals. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the respective cumulative duration of various health risk categories as indicated by the monitoring stations in various districts since 30 December 2013, to be set out in the table below;
Districts in which monitoring stations are located Cumulative duration of various health risk categories
(hours)Low
(AQHI scale: 1-3)Moderate
(AQHI scale: 4-6)High
(AQHI scale: 7)Very high
(AQHI scale: 8-10)Serious
(AQHI scale: 10+)Central/Western Eastern Kwai Chung Kwun Tong Sha Tin Sham Shui Po Tai Po Tap Mun Tsuen Wan Tung Chung Yuen Long Tuen Mun Causeway Bay Central Mong Kok (2) apart from setting on its web site the recommended precautionary actions for members of the public (including people with heart or respiratory illnesses and outdoor workers) to be taken under different AQHIs, whether EPD has taken special measures in districts where, and on any day when, AQHIs of level 7 or above were recorded, in order to protect the health of the public; if EPD has, of the details; (3) whether various government departments have jointly devised measures to improve the air quality in Hong Kong, particularly Tung Chung and the urban areas, based on the AQHIs recorded by monitoring stations in various districts; if they have, of the details; if not, whether they will assess the effectiveness of introducing the AQHI system; (4) whether it studied in the past three years the major sources of air pollutants in Hong Kong; if it did, of the details; (5) whether it studied in the past three years the correlation between direction and speed of wind and the AQHI of level 7 or above recorded in different districts; if it did, of the findings; (6) whether it has studied the reasons for the relatively high AQHIs recorded in some districts, e.g. Tung Chung; whether the authorities, prior to planning the construction of large-scale infrastructural facilities in those districts, have assessed the impacts of such facilities on the air quality of those districts and the neighbouring areas, both during the construction period and after commissioning of such facilities; if they have, of the details; and (7) whether it will install additional general or roadside monitoring stations at suitable locations to facilitate more comprehensive monitoring of air quality of various districts; if it will, of the details?
* For written reply
IV. Bills
| First Reading
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| 1. | Securities and Futures and Companies Legislation (Uncertificated Securities Market Amendment) Bill 2014
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| 2. | Sex Discrimination (Amendment) Bill 2014
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| 3. | Private Columbaria Bill
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| Second Reading (Debate to be adjourned)
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| 1. | Securities and Futures and Companies Legislation (Uncertificated Securities Market Amendment) Bill 2014 | : | Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
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| 2. | Sex Discrimination (Amendment) Bill 2014 | : | Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs
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| 3. | Private Columbaria Bill | : | Secretary for Food and Health
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| Second Reading (Debate to resume), Committee Stage and Third Reading
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| Inland Revenue (Amendment) Bill 2014 | : | Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
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