A 15/16-27
Legislative Council
Agenda
Wednesday 25 May 2016 at 11:00 am
I. Tabling of Papers
Other Papers
| 1. | No. 97 | - | The Government Minute in response to the Report of the Public Accounts Committee No. 65 of February 2016 |
| (to be presented by the Chief Secretary for Administration, who will address the Council)
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| 2. | No. 98 | - | Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation
Annual Report 2015 |
| (to be presented by the Financial Secretary)
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| 3. | Report No. 18/15-16 of the House Committee on Consideration of Subsidiary Legislation and Other Instruments | ||
| (to be presented by Hon Andrew LEUNG, Chairman of the House Committee)
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| 4. | Report of the Bills Committee on Securities and Futures (Amendment) Bill 2016 | ||
| (to be presented by Hon CHAN Kam-lam, Chairman of the Bills Committee)
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| 5. | Report of the Bills Committee on Human Reproductive Technology (Amendment) Bill 2015 | ||
| (to be presented by Dr Hon KWOK Ka-ki, Chairman of the Bills Committee) | |||
IIA. Questions under Rule 24(4) of the Rules of Procedure
1. Hon CHAN Hak-kan to ask: (Translation)
In the afternoon of the 20th of this month, the entire roof of the Chan Tai Ho Multi-purpose Hall at the City University of Hong Kong collapsed abruptly, injuring three persons. There are views that the accident may be attributable to the roof being covered by green vegetation and thus being overloaded. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it will launch urgent measures immediately to ensure the structural safety of all roofs with green vegetation in Hong Kong, so as to safeguard public safety; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
| Public Officers to reply | : | Secretary for Development
Secretary for Education Secretary for the Environment |
2. Hon Starry LEE to ask: (Translation)
On the 20th of this month, the entire roof of the Chan Tai Ho Multi-purpose Hall at the City University of Hong Kong ("CityU") collapsed abruptly, injuring three persons. There are comments that CityU carried out works to cover the roof in question with green vegetation early this year, thus putting an additional load on the roof, and the vegetation thoroughly soaked by the rain in recent days had added further load to the roof. As a result, the roof, which was mainly built on a metal frame structure, collapsed due to overloading. CityU indicated that as the contractor responsible for the greening works considered that the works would not affect the building structure, CityU had not applied to the Buildings Department for an approval for undertaking the works. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it knows the current number of buildings in Hong Kong the roofs of which are mainly built on metal frame structures and covered with greening vegetation, as well as their geographical distribution; whether it will immediately inspect the roofs of those buildings to ensure their structural safety; if it will, of the details, if not, the reasons for that; and (2) whether it will immediately formulate guidelines to require that approval must be obtained from the Buildings Department prior to undertaking any rooftop greening works the coverage of which exceeds a prescribed area; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
| Public Officers to reply | : | Secretary for Development
Secretary for Education Secretary for the Environment |
3. Hon IP Kin-yuen to ask: (Translation)
On the 20th of this month, the entire roof of the Chan Tai Ho Multi-purpose Hall at the City University of Hong Kong collapsed abruptly, resulting in mild injuries of three persons. Fortunately, no activity was ongoing in the Hall at that time, otherwise severe casualty might have been caused. It is learnt that the accident may be attributable to the roof being covered by vegetation and thus being overloaded. The Secretary for Education indicated that he would write to all primary and secondary schools in the territory, requesting them to examine the safety of the greening works on school premises. It has been reported that quite a number of schools have implemented roof greening projects with funding obtained from the Environment and Conservation Fund, which has aroused concerns whether the roofs of such buildings are in imminent danger of collapse, thereby endangering the lives of teachers, staff and students. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether the authorities will immediately conduct an assessment to see if the existing greened roofs of the buildings on the premises of various primary and secondary schools are in imminent danger of collapse (e.g. conducting a comprehensive programme to review the safety of the roof greening works on all primary and secondary school premises), and take concrete measures immediately to assist these schools in eliminating such danger, so as to alleviate public concerns about the safety of the school environment; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
| Public Officers to reply | : | Secretary for Education
Secretary for Development Secretary for the Environment |
4. Dr Hon Helena WONG to ask: (Translation)
On the 20th of this month, the entire roof of the Chan Tai Ho Multi-purpose Hall at the City University of Hong Kong collapsed abruptly, injuring three persons. The accident has aroused public concern about the building safety issues that may arise from roof greening works. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it will immediately deploy manpower and resources to inspect the greened roofs (including those with vegetation cover) of buildings such as hospitals, cultural/recreational/sports facilities and exhibition halls across the territory, so as to ascertain the structural safety of such roofs; if it will, of the details of the inspection work and how the inspection findings will be made public; if not, the reasons for that?
| Public Officers to reply | : | Secretary for Development
Secretary for Education Secretary for the Environment |
II. Questions
1. Hon Christopher CHUNG to ask: (Translation)
At 7:35 am on the 10th of this month, the Hong Kong Observatory ("HKO") issued the first Red Rainstorm Warning ("RW") Signal of that day. Ten minutes later, the Education Bureau ("EDB") announced that classes of AM schools and whole-day schools were to be suspended on that day. Some parents have relayed to me that as most of the primary and secondary school students were already in school or on their way to school at the time when the class suspension announcement was made, coupled with the fact that different arrangements were made by various schools after the class suspension announcement was made, students and parents felt confused and complaints were heard everywhere. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) at what time on that day EDB received the notification that HKO was about to issue the Red RW Signal; why EDB announced the class suspension arrangement only after the Signal had been issued for 10 minutes; (2) as some parents consider that the relevant guidelines issued by EDB to schools were unclear as reflected by the fact that some schools continued to run classes for students as usual after the class suspension announcement while some others contacted parents and asked them to pick up their children as soon as possible, whether EDB can clarify which is the proper arrangement and whether EDB will review and improve the relevant guidelines; and (3) as there are views that the RW Signals issued by HKO at present are too general and give no indication of heavy rainstorms in individual districts, whether HKO will consider giving, concomitant with the issuance of RW Signals, an illustration of which districts have heavier rainfall so as to remind the commuting public to get prepared promptly and enable EDB to consider, in light of the actual rainfall intensity of various districts, arranging for suspension of classes for schools in districts with heavier rainfall after HKO has issued the Amber RW Signal?
2. Hon James TIEN to ask: (Translation)
Quite a number of young people have relayed to me that although the prices of residential properties have fallen gradually since September last year, they still cannot achieve their aspiration of buying their first properties as the Government has yet to relax the various demand-side management measures targeted at the property market, including the implementation of Buyer's Stamp Duty and doubled ad valorem stamp duty ("DSD") (commonly known as "two harsh measures") as well as the lowering of the loan-to-value ("LTV") ratio on mortgage loans to be offered by banks, the Mortgage Insurance Programme ("MIP") coverage ratio and the maximum debt-servicing ratio ("DSR") for borrowers. It is learnt that for a residential flat with a sale price of five million dollars, the maximum amount of mortgage loan that may be offered by a bank is 60% of the price of that property (i.e. three million dollars). As a result, the buyer has to pay as much as two million dollars for down payment. However, there are comments that such an amount is usually not readily affordable to common young singletons or couples. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the measures in place to assist young singletons or couples in buying properties, including when it will restore the maximum LTV ratio offered by banks to 70% and the maximum MIP coverage ratio to 90%; (2) given that the central banks of many nations have adopted low or negative interest rate policies in the light of the slowdown of global economic growth, and the United States is raising its interest rates at a lower rate and a slower pace than expected, whether the authorities will consider lowering the assumed interest rate hike from 3% to a more realistic level of 2% in calculating the stressed-DSR cap; and (3) when the authorities will relax or withdraw the "two harsh measures", for instance, extending the timeframe for disposing of the original property from six months to 12 months under the arrangement of refunding the doubled DSD to people who have acquired a new residential property as replacement, so as to provide more flexibility for such people?
3. Hon TAM Yiu-chung to ask: (Translation)
The authorities have planned to set aside a site at Siu Lang Shui ("SLS") in Tuen Mun for leasing under short-term tenancy to operators of roadside cargo compartments (commonly known as "skips") for storing idling skips ("skip storage site"), with a view to reducing the number of such skips placed on roads or in public places. Quite a number of Tuen Mun residents have relayed to me that as the external transport of SLS currently relies on Lung Fu Road and Wong Chu Road for connecting to Route 9, the provision of a skip storage site at SLS will overload Wong Chu Road, which is already heavily congested at present. They have also pointed out that in recent years the spate of environmental problems arising from refuse collection vehicles and dump trucks commuting to and from the West New Territories Landfill and the fill bank have already caused great nuisance to residents of the areas from Lung Mun Oasis to Lung Kwu Tan. As such, the provision of the skip storage site at SLS will only aggravate the problems concerned. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether the authorities have conducted a comprehensive and in-depth assessment on the impact of the provision of the skip storage site on the traffic flows along Lung Fu Road and Wong Chu Road as well as the environmental hygiene in the vicinity, and conducted consultation with the residents of the neighbouring areas; if they have, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (2) given that at SLS there is a butterfly reserve which has been listed as a Site of Special Scientific Interest, whether the Environmental Protection Department has studied the impact of the provision of the skip storage site on the ecology of SLS and the survival of butterflies there; and (3) whether the authorities have considered other options as an alternative to the provision of the skip storage site at SLS; if they have, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
4. Dr Hon Fernando CHEUNG to ask: (Translation)
With an ageing population and a rising population of persons with disabilities ("PWDs") in Hong Kong in recent years, there has been a continuous increase in the demand for long-term care services in the community. As at 31 March this year, there were 3 753 and 9 691 persons waiting for various types of day services and residential services provided for PWDs respectively, and nearly 32 000 persons were waiting for various subvented residential care services for the elderly. However, the Government always attributes the cause of its failure to increase such services in the short run to site identification difficulty. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it will, when planning public rental housing and Home Ownership Scheme projects, consider setting aside no less than 10% of the gross floor area for the provision of long-term care and welfare facilities so as to increase the provision of such facilities and allow service users to integrate into the community; if it will, of the implementation timetable and details; if not, the reasons for that; (2) whether the Government, being the major shareholder of the MTR Corporation Limited ("MTRCL"), will request MTRCL, when developing railway residential projects, to set aside no less than 10% of the gross floor area for the provision of long-term care and welfare facilities; if it will, of the implementation timetable and details; if not, the reasons for that; and (3) whether it will, when selling residential sites in future, consider including in the relevant land leases conditions that the developers must set aside no less than 10% of the gross floor area for the provision of long-term care and welfare facilities; if it will, of the implementation timetable and details; if not, the reasons for that?
5. Hon CHEUNG Kwok-che to ask: (Translation)
Quite a number of residents of the housing estates under the Tenant Purchase Scheme ("TPS") have relayed to me that the Hong Kong Housing Authority ("HA") owns a large number of unsold units in certain TPS estates, and yet HA, being the major owner in such estates, has not taken an active role and adopted double standards in the management of TPS estates. For example, HA, being the owner of a number of units in Leung King Estate, has not taken part in the handling of the estate's hawking problem and stated that the estate's Owners' Corporation ("OC") must take responsibility for handling the problem. As the hawking problem of the estate remains unresolved for a long time, a spate of clashes, which were caused by hawker clearing operations, occurred in February this year. Furthermore, some non-government organizations have sought my assistance claiming that difficulties had repeatedly been created deliberately to deter their use of the facilities in Shan King Estate. When I helped those organizations follow up the matter with the relevant government departments, I was told that while HA had appointed a representative as a member of the management committee of Shan King Estate's OC and had one vote, HA would uphold the spirit of respecting and maintaining the autonomy of the OC and would not interfere in the management of the estate. However, at the general meeting of the OC of Cheung Wah Estate in Fanling held in August last year, the representative from HA cast a vote against the owners' call for overturning a decision regarding the replacement works of water mains. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it knows the respective names of the TPS estates built the earliest and latest; and set out by estate name of the current numbers of residents as well as the current numbers and percentages of unsold units in various estates; (2) of the total number of votes cast by the representatives from HA in the past five years at the general meetings of the OCs of TPS estates, and set out by estate name the percentages of HA's ownership shares in the aggregate ownership shares of the estates concerned; and (3) as some residents have queried that HA adopts double standards on issues relating to the management of TPS estates, whether the Government has assessed if such a query about HA is substantiated; when the OCs of TPS estates handle management issues which involve significant public interests, of the standards and mechanism adopted by HA for determining its stance on and the ways to handle such issues?
6. Hon IP Kin-yuen to ask: (Translation)
Quite a number of students have recently sought my assistance, saying that some self-financing post-secondary institutions collected the first instalments of tuition fees at a too early stage and required students to pay exorbitant enrolment deposits. One of the students paid a total of more than HK$30,000 as the first instalment of tuition fees and enrolment deposit, an amount equivalent to half-year's tuition fees, when that student applied for admission to a self-financing full-time undergraduate programme. That student was later admitted to a subsidized undergraduate programme via a channel other than the Joint University Programmes Admissions System, and hence declined the offer of that self-financing degree place. However, that student was not refunded the first instalment of tuition fees and the enrolment deposit. As there were still six months to go before the programme concerned was to commence and that student had never used any facilities of the institution concerned, the student considered such practice of the institution unreasonable. On the other hand, according to the Secretary for Education's reply to a question raised by a Member of this Council on 14 October 2015, the Education Bureau ("EDB"), noticing that some self-financing post-secondary institutions might collect the first instalments of tuition fees at a too early stage, had already started discussing the matter with the institutions in 2015; EDB was at that time comprehensively collecting relevant information from various self-financing post-secondary institutions, in the hope that through rounds of discussions with the institutions in the coming year, it could come up with more reasonable arrangements regarding the time for collecting the first instalments of tuition fees and the amount of the fees. Regarding the collection of the first instalments of tuition fees and enrolment deposits by self-financing post-secondary institutions, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it knows the respective total amounts of the first instalments of tuition fees and enrolment deposits collected by each self-financing post-secondary institution in each of the past five academic years, as well as the respective total amounts of the first instalments of tuition fees and enrolment deposits which were not refunded to students who had declined offers (set out in a table); (2) as EDB had indicated that it was discussing with self-financing post-secondary institutions issues relating to the collection of the first instalments of tuition fees at a too early stage, of the latest progress of the relevant discussions; and (3) whether EDB will require various self-financing post-secondary institutions to collect enrolment deposits the amounts of which are standardized and reasonable, and not to collect the first instalments of tuition fees at a too early stage (e.g. more than six months prior to the commencement of the programmes); if EDB will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
*7. Hon Claudia MO to ask: (Translation)
As Hong Kong needs to share with its neighbouring regions on the use of frequencies in the frequency band for FM analogue sound broadcasts, there may be mutual interferences in radio broadcasting services from Hong Kong with those from the Guangdong Province. In this respect, the Hong Kong Government and the Guangdong provincial authorities signed a Frequency Coordination Agreement in 2000. The aim was to put in place procedures for mutual notifications of technical parameters of transmitting stations and handling of interference cases, thereby protecting mutually the existing radio broadcasting services of both sides from interferences and establishing a mechanism for handling of interferences that might arise in future. On the other hand, it has been reported that broadcasts from some official radio stations of the Guangdong Province can currently be received at a number of locations in Hong Kong. Although the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development has already given his reply in respect of this matter to the Panel on Information Technology and Broadcasting of this Council, I and some members of the public still have doubts. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) given that the Government has refused to disclose the contents of the aforesaid Agreement on the ground that they contain internal information on the use of radio frequencies in the neighbouring regions of the Guangdong Province, whether the Government has formally consulted the Guangdong provincial authorities to see if they agree to disclose the contents of the Agreement; if so, of the specific reply of the Guangdong provincial authorities; (2) of the details of the regular meetings held between the Office of the Communications Authority ("OFCA") and the Guangdong provincial authorities in the past five years regarding the use of radio frequencies on both sides, including the number, dates and venues of the meetings, as well as the lists of officials attending such meetings; whether OFCA has taken any follow-up actions on the issues discussed; if so, of the details; (3) given that OFCA regularly deploys staff to conduct measurements of broadcasting signals of radio stations at various locations in Hong Kong, and will notify the Guangdong provincial authorities to make adjustments when the broadcasting signals transmitted from the Guangdong Province are found to have caused interferences, of the details of the measurements conducted by OFCA in the past five years, including the dates, locations and results of the measurements; of the details of the interferences found to have been caused by the broadcasting signals transmitted from the Guangdong Province during such measurements, including the dates and locations of the measurements, the magnitudes of the interferences, the radio broadcasting services in Hong Kong interfered, as well as the details of the adjustments made by the Guangdong provincial authorities; (4) given that it is shown on the official websites of some radio stations in the Guangdong Province that Hong Kong is one of the broadcasting areas of such radio stations, whether the Government is aware of the situation; if so, whether it has approached the Guangdong provincial authorities to gain an understanding of the situation and taken follow-up actions; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (5) given that according to the assessments of some electrical and electronic engineering experts, some radio stations in the Guangdong Province have used amplifiers in their transmitting stations in Shenzhen and enhanced the radiated power of antennas, with the transmission direction of broadcasting signals being pointed to Hong Kong, whether the Government is aware of the situation; if so, whether it has approached the parties concerned to gain an understanding of the situation and taken follow-up actions; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
*8. Hon YIU Si-wing to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that recently, over a thousand tourists who had joined Mainland inbound tour groups ("Mainland groups") were coerced to shop in Hong Kong, which has seriously tarnished the reputation of Hong Kong's tourism industry. It has also been reported that the travel agents which received the Mainland groups concerned were operating without a licence, and the tourist guides involved did not hold any Tourist Guide Pass ("Pass"). On the other hand, some travel agents and tourist guides launched a non-cooperation movement early this year (i.e. travel agents refusing to display their licence numbers on tour coaches and tourist guides refusing to wear Passes on their chests). Some members of the tourism industry have pointed out that such acts have not only caused difficulties to the inspection of Mainland groups, but also created opportunities for unlicensed travel agents to receive Mainland groups in Hong Kong unlawfully. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether the authorities have assessed if the non-cooperation movement has impacted on Mainland groups' visits to Hong Kong; if they have assessed and the outcome is in the affirmative, of the impact; if the assessment outcome is in the negative, the reasons for that; (2) of the measures the authorities have in place to minimize the adverse impacts caused by the non-cooperation movement; and (3) given that some people who are familiar with the operation of the tourism industry have pointed out that the operation of travel agent business without a licence, the provision of tourist guide services by tourist guides not holding any Pass, and tourist guides coercing Mainland group tourists to shop are still rampant at present, of the authorities' new measures to tackle such problems so as to safeguard the reputation of Hong Kong's tourism industry?
*9. Hon MA Fung-kwok to ask: (Translation)
There are views that both the two existing free-to-air television stations and Radio Television Hong Kong ("RTHK") seldom broadcast local sports tournaments or produce sports programmes, making it difficult for members of the public to obtain sports information and watch local tournaments. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the number of sports television programmes broadcast by RTHK last year, together with their respective names, numbers of episodes, number of hours of broadcast, as well as their broadcasting time (set out in a table); (2) whether RTHK will produce more sports television programmes and increase the numbers of hours of sports television programmes broadcast in the coming year; if RTHK will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (3) whether RTHK will broadcast live or recorded local sports tournaments (e.g. football and basketball matches) through its digital television programme channels and analogue television programme channels in the coming year; if RTHK will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (4) of the reasons why the two existing domestic free television programme service licences do not require the licensees to broadcast a specified number of hours of sports programmes; whether the Government will include such a requirement when issuing new licences or renewing the licences in future and require a specified proportion of the sports programmes to cover local tournaments, so as to provide more opportunities for members of the public to gain access to sports information and local tournaments; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (5) whether it has taken measures to encourage the two free-to-air television stations to broadcast local sports tournaments live and produce more sports programmes; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
*10. Hon Jeffrey LAM to ask: (Translation)
According to the survey findings of the "Standard Chartered Hong Kong SME Leading Business Index" for the latest quarter released by the Hong Kong Productivity Council on the 27th of last month, the overall business index of the small and medium enterprises ("SMEs") in Hong Kong had declined for three consecutive quarters, and hit a new record low in three years, with the surveyed SMEs generally holding a gloomy outlook on the business prospect. Nearly 20% of such SMEs indicated that they would not rule out the possibility of winding up their businesses within one year should the economic downturn continue and 28% of those SMEs from the retail industry, which was the most affected industry, had so indicated. Regarding assisting SMEs in tiding over economic downturn, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it has responded to the aforesaid survey findings; if it has, of the details; (2) in respect of the retail, tourism, catering and hotel industries of Hong Kong, of the respective number of persons employed, the under-employment and unemployment rates, and the situation of SMEs among those industries winding up their businesses since January this year; (3) whether it has made adequate preparation and formulated corresponding measures for assisting SMEs in tiding over economic downturn; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (4) given that the Hong Kong Mortgage Corporation Limited ("HKMC") has launched the SME Financing Guarantee Scheme ("FGS") to provide loan guarantees for Hong Kong enterprises in order to assist enterprises in meeting their financing needs, of (i) the number of applications received, (ii) the number of applications approved and (iii) the aggregated amount of loan guarantees granted, under FGS by HKMC since January this year, together with a breakdown by the industry to which the relevant enterprises belong; (5) whether it has assessed the effectiveness of FGS; if it has assessed, of the outcome; and (6) given that the Government introduced the Special Loan Guarantee Scheme ("SpGS") in December 2008 to help SMEs secure loans from lending institutions with the Government providing loan guarantees, and SpGS ended in late 2010, whether the Government will re-launch SpGS in light of the current economic downturn; if it will, of the details?
*11. Hon CHAN Kin-por to ask: (Translation)
Under the Elderly Vaccination Subsidy Scheme ("EVSS"), elderly persons (i.e. persons aged 65 or above) who are eligible can get a subsidy of HK$190 for receiving 23-valent polysaccharide pneumococcal vaccination at the clinics of private medical practitioners enrolled in EVSS. Nevertheless, it has been reported that among the 7 502 persons who died from pneumonia in Hong Kong in 2014, as many as 7 072 were elderly persons; and pneumonia has surpassed heart disease as the second killer disease in Hong Kong. Some medical practitioners have pointed out that the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ("CDC") have recommended the provision of the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine ("PCV13") for elderly persons, which utilizes new conjugation technology and offers long-term protection. In addition, the Centre for Health Protection launched a one-off measure in March 2015 to allow eligible elderly persons who had never received pneumococcal vaccination before to be vaccinated with the remaining stock of PCV13 of the "Childhood PCV13 Booster Vaccination Programme". As at February 2015, the remaining stock of such vaccines amounted to some 3 400 doses, and about one-third of which could be utilized until the end of May 2015, while the rest could be utilized until the end of October 2015. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the number of elderly persons who received vaccination of the aforesaid remaining stock of PCV13, and the percentage of such number in the total number of elderly persons; among the remaining stock, of the quantity of vaccines which were discarded as they had expired; (2) whether it knows the supply situation of PCV13 in Hong Kong last year; (3) whether it has plans to switch to adopt PCV13 as the pneumococcal vaccines under EVSS, and procure additional doses of such type of vaccines in order to ensure a sufficient supply of vaccines; if it does not have such plans, of the reasons for that; (4) given that the number of fatal geriatric cases of pneumonia has been continuously rising in recent years, whether the authorities will consider providing elderly persons with free vaccination of PCV13; if they will, of the details; if not, whether other effective measures are in place to reduce the number of such fatal cases; and (5) whether it has considered regularly updating the guidelines for EVSS, reviewing the effectiveness of the vaccines under EVSS and using more effective vaccines to enhance the elderly's resistance against pneumonia, with reference to international experience and recommendations (e.g. the aforesaid recommendation put forward by CDC); if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
*12. Hon Mrs Regina IP to ask: (Translation)
Recently, some members of the public have relayed to me that students have to wait for an extremely long time for diagnostic services of mental health experts provided by the Government or the Hospital Authority. In reply to a question raised by me at the meeting of this Council of 27 January 2016, the authorities indicated that the Department of Health had implemented the Student Health Service since the 1995-1996 school year, under which annual check-ups (which included examination related to psychological health and behaviour etc.) were arranged for primary and secondary school students at student health service centres, and students in need were referred to the special assessment centre, specialist clinics (including psychiatric clinics), schools or social welfare organizations for detailed assessment and follow-up. Regarding the mental health problems of students, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it knows the more common types of mental illnesses among primary and secondary school students in the past three school years, and the respective numbers of primary and secondary school students suffering from those illnesses; (2) whether the Education Bureau ("EDB") requires schools to notify it after learning that a student has been diagnosed with mental illness; if EDB does, of the number of such cases in the past three school years and, among these cases, the number of those diagnosed by psychiatrists in private practice; (3) of the measures in place to support schools in taking care of students suffering from mental illnesses; and (4) whether it knows, in respect of the new cases of the psychiatric specialist outpatient clinics in public hospitals in each of the past three years, (i) the overall average waiting time of such cases and (ii) the average waiting time of new cases involving persons aged 18 or below?
*13. Hon Frankie YICK to ask: (Translation)
According to the Waste Disposal Ordinance (Cap. 354) and its Subsidiary Legislation C, the Waste Disposal (Chemical Waste) (General) Regulation, waste car batteries, which contain pollutants such as lead and sulphuric acid, are classified as chemical waste subject to regulation and hence must be collected by licensed chemical waste collectors for delivery to licensed chemical waste treatment facilities for disposal. However, it is learnt that the number of authorized recycling or disposal facilities for waste car batteries ("R/D facilities") has reduced from two in the past to one at present. Given that there are nearly 700 000 vehicles currently registered in Hong Kong and car batteries generally have a life expectancy of two to three years only, meaning that at least 200 000 car batteries need to be recycled and treated each year, some members of the vehicle maintenance trade have suspected that some of the waste car batteries have been discarded indiscriminately because there are insufficient R/D facilities. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it knows the respective quantities of waste car batteries collected in each of the past three years by various licensed collectors of waste batteries and by R/D facilities; among them, the respective quantities of waste car batteries which, after treatment, were (i) delivered to landfills, (ii) recycled for re-use and (iii) exported to places outside Hong Kong; (2) whether it has looked into the reasons why only one R/D facility remains in operation at present; whether the authorities have provided adequate support to the operator concerned, so as to help it resolve the difficulties in business operation; if they have, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (3) whether it knows the maximum quantity of waste car batteries which may be treated each year by the only R/D facility at present; whether it has assessed if such capacity can meet the market demand; if it has assessed and the outcome is in the negative, of the measures the authorities have in place, before any new R/D facilities can be provided, to ensure that all waste car batteries will be properly treated; (4) given the continuous upward trend of the number of registered vehicles, whether the authorities will take measures to increase the number of R/D facilities; if they will, of the details; if not, the measures the authorities have in place to prevent indiscriminate discard of waste car batteries which have not been properly treated, thereby causing environmental pollution and posing hazards to public health; and (5) whether it will consider including car batteries in the mandatory producer responsibility schemes; if it will, of the details, and the expected timetable for implementation; if not, the reasons for that?
*14. Hon Tony TSE to ask: (Translation)
The Land Titles Ordinance (Cap. 585) enacted by this Council on 7 July 2004 was gazetted on the 23rd of the same month. Cap. 585 aims to replace the deeds registration system with a new system for registering the title to land and the interests in the land subject to which the title is held, so as to provide greater certainty to both the ownership of land and title to property, and simplify property conveyancing procedures. During the scrutiny of the relevant bill, the authorities proposed that Cap. 585 be implemented two years after its enactment so as to allow sufficient time for the authorities to enact the relevant regulations and to finalize the guidance notes for legal practitioners and members of the public. The authorities also undertook to conduct a review of Cap. 585 during the two-year period. However, Cap. 585 has not yet been implemented after almost 12 years since its enactment. The implementation of the title registration system has thus been held off indefinitely. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the reasons why the authorities have not yet implemented Cap. 585 and the title registration system; the latest progress of the aforesaid review, including the specific problems that have yet to be solved and the relevant reasons, as well as the expected time when such problems can be solved; (2) whether it has set a timetable for the implementation of Cap. 585 and the title registration system; if it has, of the details, including whether public consultation will be conducted before the implementation; if it has not set a timetable, the reasons for that, and whether the authorities have plans to shelve Cap. 585 and the title registration system; (3) whether it has assessed the impacts of the long delay in implementing Cap. 585 and the title registration system on property conveyancing and protection of the interests of property owners, especially those interests involved in the land and properties in the New Territories; if it has assessed, of the outcome, and whether it will provide the relevant quantified information; and (4) as the authorities have indicated the need to provide for a system for determination of land boundaries applicable to the land governed by the Land Registration Ordinance (Cap. 128) and the land registered under Cap. 585, of the latest progress of the relevant work; as the Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors has put forward a number of recommendations on the system for determination of land boundaries, including establishing a legal framework for determination of land boundaries and proper registration of land boundary plans under the Land Survey Ordinance (Cap. 473), as well as setting up a land boundary records system under the Land Survey Authority, etc., whether the authorities will accept such recommendations; if they will, of the details and implementation timetable; if not, the reasons for that?
*15. Hon Alice MAK to ask: (Translation)
The authorities have indicated that upon the commissioning of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge ("HZMB"), public transport complementary services will be provided at the Hong Kong Boundary Crossing Facilities ("HKBCF") of HZMB to facilitate members of the public to travel to and from various districts in the territory and the Hong Kong International Airport ("the airport"). To tie in with such development, corresponding changes will also be made to the public transport services on Lantau Island. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it knows, during the peak and low travel seasons last year, the respective average patronages and frequencies at different hours of a day for the services provided by (i) airport buses (i.e. "A" route buses) and (ii) North Lantau external route buses (i.e. "E" route buses); (2) whether it knows the respective numbers of passenger trips to and from the airport made on "A" route buses by (i) outbound travellers, (ii) people greeting or seeing off travellers, and (iii) airport staff, in each of the past three years, and the respective percentages of such numbers in the total number of passenger trips; (3) of the respective toll collection arrangements and toll levels for the Lantau Link and the Tuen Mun-Chek Lap Kok Link upon the commissioning of HZMB; whether the authorities will consider abolishing such toll collection at that time; (4) given that fare concessions are currently offered to airport staff using the Airport Staff Octopus Card to pay for their trips to and from the airport on specified routes or journeys of franchised buses and the Airport Express Line, whether it knows the reasons why such concessions do not apply to all franchised bus routes and train trips stopping at the airport, and the criteria adopted by the operators concerned for deciding whether or not to offer such concessions for individual routes; whether the authorities will suggest the operators concerned to offer similar fare concessions to staff working at HKBCF of HZMB in future; and (5) as the vehicular flows on Lantau Island (particularly Tung Chung district) will increase upon the commissioning of HZMB, of the measures the authorities will put in place to cope with problems such as traffic congestion or traffic accidents that may arise from the increase in the vehicular flows?
*16. Hon Paul TSE to ask: (Translation)
Under the existing legislation, any person operating an employment agency ("EA") in Hong Kong must hold an EA licence (or a certificate of exemption) issued by the Labour Department ("LD"). Moreover, certain countries exporting foreign domestic helpers ("FDHs") require that EAs providing employment services for FDHs ("FDH-EAs") must hold a business accreditation certificate ("BAC") issued by these countries before such FDH-EAs may arrange FDHs from these countries to come and work in Hong Kong. However, it has been reported that currently some 70% of FDH-EAs do not have the relevant BACs and merely link up with those EAs with BACs for importing FDHs, resulting in substantial variation in the quality of FDHs provided. For example, it has been reported that certain FDH-EAs recommended to prospective employers FDHs who were pregnant, addicted to drugs or heavily in debt, or who hid knives under their beds. On the other hand, some FDHs deliberately create problems for their current employers hoping that their employers terminate their contracts prematurely so that they can change employers (commonly known as "job-hopping"), and this problem has become increasingly rampant. Also, it has been reported that recently the number of cases of FDHs lodging, on expiry of their contracts, torture/non-refoulement claims under the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment in an attempt to continue to stay in Hong Kong has increased sharply. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the number of complaints, received by LD and the Consumer Council, involving FDH-EAs not holding a licence issued by LD and/or a BAC issued by the FDH exporting country concerned, details of the follow-up actions taken by them, and among such cases, the number of those in which prosecutions were instituted by LD, since the beginning of this year; (2) of the protection, provided under the existing legislation and mechanism for importing FDHs, for those employers who were misled by some FDH-EAs which falsely claimed to be holding the relevant licence/BAC and thus unfortunately hired FDHs who were pregnant, addicted to drugs, heavily in debt or with an intention of job-hopping; (3) of the number of cases of FDHs suspected of job-hopping uncovered and the number of FDHs' applications for change of employers rejected, by the Immigration Department ("ImmD"), as well as the number of FDHs who lodged torture/non-refoulement claims immediately after their applications for change of employers had been rejected, since the beginning of 2014; the details of such claims and the follow-up actions taken by the authorities; and (4) given that the report published by the Audit Commission on 5 April this year has pointed out that ImmD needs to strengthen follow-up actions on suspected FDH job-hoppers, of those recommendations for improvement put forward by the Audit Commission that ImmD has so far implemented, and the new policies and measures ImmD has put in place to deter FDHs from job-hopping?
*17. Hon IP Kwok-him to ask: (Translation)
The daily average quantity of municipal solid waste disposed of in Hong Kong is nearly 10 000 tonnes, and food waste accounts for around 40% of such waste. It has been reported that the Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel ("HKRITA") has successfully developed a technology through natural fermentation to convert food waste with high sugar contents, such as bread and cakes, into pellets and then into eco-friendly yarns, which could be used as textile raw materials. Such a research and development ("R&D") result has recently won an international award. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it has implemented food waste recycling initiatives in collaboration with eateries, hotels as well as the food production and processing industries; if it has, of the effectiveness of such initiatives and whether it will enhance such initiatives; if there is no collaboration, the reasons for that; (2) whether it will assist HKRITA in promoting the aforesaid R&D result to persons engaged in local textile industry and encouraging them to use eco-friendly yarns as textile raw materials; if it will, of the details and implementation timetable; if not, the reasons for that; and (3) whether it will examine focusing its efforts on promoting to overseas markets the textile products made with eco-friendly yarns, and building, through such textile products bearing "made in Hong Kong" labels, the international image of Hong Kong as an environment-friendly city; if it will, of the details and implementation timetable; if not, the reasons for that?
*18. Hon Emily LAU to ask: (Translation)
As at the end of last year, there were more than 341 000 foreign domestic helpers ("FDHs") in Hong Kong. Regarding the situation of FDHs who were reported missing in Hong Kong, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the number of cases of FDH reported missing which were received by the authorities in the past three years, with a breakdown by the nationality of the missing FDHs; among such FDHs, the number of those who were subsequently found; (2) how the authorities investigated and followed up the cases of FDH reported missing mentioned in (1), and whether they made enquiries with the relevant consulates; and (3) whether it has investigated if human trafficking was involved in those cases of FDH reported missing; if it has investigated and the outcome is in the affirmative, of the policies and legislation in place to prevent FDHs from falling victim to human trafficking activities; if the investigation outcome is in the negative, the reasons for their disappearance?
*19. Dr Hon Elizabeth QUAT to ask: (Translation)
To allow flexibility in the use of land resources and alleviate the problem of insufficient land supply, the Government introduced a few years ago a scheme to lease vacant government lands not needed in the short term to non-profit making organizations ("NPOs") at a nominal rent of $1 on a short-term basis for implementing community projects or other temporary uses. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the number of applications for lease of vacant government lands on a short-term basis received by the authorities from NPOs in the past three years, and the community projects for which the lands were intended to be used (set out in detail in a table); (2) given that quite a number of locations under flyovers are close to residential housing and conveniently accessible by means of public transport, whether the Government has any plans to include vacant sites under flyovers in the aforesaid short-term tenancy scheme, so that NPOs can rent those sites for implementing community projects; if it does, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (3) given that some NPOs which have rented vacant government lands have indicated that after renting the lands, they often have to spend a substantial amount of money on land development and construction of infrastructures, and such a situation has deterred quite a number of NPOs from applying for lease of vacant lands, whether the authorities have considered establishing a matching fund to share the relevant development costs; if they have, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
*20. Hon Charles Peter MOK to ask: (Translation)
Some members of the information and technology ("IT") industry have relayed to me that IT talents in Hong Kong are in short supply, and the support given to IT practitioners for upgrading their professional skills is also inadequate. In addition, the relevant professional qualifications of them are not well recognized. All these have hindered the development of IT manpower resources in Hong Kong. They have also pointed out that if such a situation remains unimproved in the long run, Hong Kong's competiveness will be undermined. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the respective numbers of (i) places of IT related courses and (ii) graduates from such courses, offered by each of the institutions funded by the University Grants Committees ("UGC-funded institutions") in each of the past three years (set out in a table); (2) whether it has any plan to conduct, in the coming three years, comprehensive studies on the medium and long term demand for IT manpower resources in Hong Kong, with a view to formulating a policy to resolve the shortage of IT talents; (3) of the number of people who applied, in each of the past three years, to the Continuing Education Fund for reimbursement of tuition fees after completing courses on information and communications technology ("ICT"), with a breakdown by the institution which offered the course and by course title; whether it has any plan to collaborate with the IT industry in conducting regular reviews to see if the scopes and contents of the ICT courses covered by the Fund meet the needs of the industry; if it does, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (4) given that the authorities plan to arrange internship for Secondary Six students of enriched IT classes starting from the 2017-2018 school year, and encourage technology companies to offer internship positions and other support, whether the authorities will consider arranging similar internship opportunities for the students of the IT courses offered by UGC-funded institutions; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (5) of the new policies and measures to be put in place to attract local IT talents to stay in Hong Kong for their career development; whether it has any plan to help local practitioners to upgrade their skills in technology areas which are much in demand, so as to strengthen their competiveness; if it does, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (6) given that the Government indicated earlier that members of the ICT industry and members of the public had not yet reached a consensus on the implementation details of the proposed unified framework for professional recognition for the industry, whether the authorities have any plan to consult the industry again on this matter; if they do, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
*21. Hon TANG Ka-piu to ask: (Translation)
Some members of the public have relayed to me that the current procedures for selecting centralized liquefied petroleum gas ("LPG") suppliers for subsidized housing estates/courts are unfair, and it is difficult for the public to monitor the quality of gas supply service and whether the LPG prices are reasonable. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it has grasped and regularly monitors the price data on centralized LPG sold by various suppliers, including changes in costs as well as in import and retail prices; if so, of the details; (2) whether it has required all suppliers to publish the price information on centralized LPG; if so, of the details of such information, including the relevant web addresses (if such information is published on web sites); (3) of the approaches adopted by the authorities for selecting suppliers for subsidized housing estates/courts; whether the supplier who secured the gas supply service contract of a housing estate/court through an open tender will, upon expiry of such a contract, be awarded a new gas supply service contract of that housing estate/court without the need to go through a competitive bidding process; if so, of the details; and (4) in respect of each of the housing estates/courts whose suppliers are currently selected through open tenders, of the respective terms of the first and subsequent service contracts awarded to the suppliers concerned?
*22. Hon Kenneth LEUNG to ask: (Translation)
It is learnt that the Taishan Nuclear Power Station ("TNPS"), which is under construction, employs the latest European Pressurized Reactors ("EPRs"), but so far no EPR vessel worldwide is formally in operation. In addition, the completion dates of the EPR nuclear power plants under construction in France and Finland respectively have seen repeated delays as the plants have failed to comply with the respective nuclear safety standards of the two countries. According to the information of the Nuclear Safety Authority in France ("ASN"), the metallic pressure vessels in the EPR nuclear power plant under construction in France have yet to pass the safety tests on withstanding high temperature and high pressure, and the manufacturer of these vessels is also the supplier of the pressure vessels for TNPS. After the release of the aforesaid information by ASN, the Mainland authorities have announced that the construction of TNPS would be halted, but there are news that TNPS will be completed and commissioned in the first half of next year. Given that TNPS is only 130 kilometres ("km") from Hong Kong and its electricity generating capacity almost doubles that of the Daya Bay Nuclear Power Station ("DBNPS"), the safety of Hong Kong people may be seriously threatened in the event that a nuclear incident occurs at TNPS. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) given that the safety of TNPS under construction has been called into question, whether the Government has approached the China General Nuclear Power Group, which is responsible for the construction of TNPS, and related Mainland agencies to see if the construction of TNPS has encountered technical and construction problems; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (2) given that TNPS has employed the novel design of EPR, whether the Government has requested the Mainland authorities to provide, on a regular basis, information on the construction progress and safety compliance of TNPS; whether it has considered discussing with the Mainland authorities the setting up of a notification mechanism applicable to nuclear power stations under construction so that the Government will get to know if any anomalies have occurred during the construction of nuclear power stations so as to enhance transparency; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (3) as it is stipulated under the DBNPS notification mechanism that the Daya Bay Nuclear Power Operations and Management Co. Ltd will notify the Hong Kong Nuclear Investment Company Limited ("HKNIC") within two working days after the discovery of any Licensing Operational Event ("LOE") not involving emergency response (including LOEs at Level 0 or 1 classified under the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale ("INES")), and HKNIC will immediately make public the event on its website, whereas emergency events at Level 2 or above under INES will, in accordance with the emergency response mechanism, be disclosed and followed up by the designated units related to emergency response of the Governments of Hong Kong and the Guangdong Province, whether the authorities have discussed with TNPS-related bodies the setting up of a similar notification mechanism; if they have, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (4) given that while the Government has formulated the Daya Bay Contingency Plan to respond to nuclear incidents at DBNPS, it has not formulated contingency measures to respond to the nuclear incidents that may occur at other nuclear power plants within the Guangdong Province for the reason that such nuclear power plants are situated more than 130 km from Hong Kong, whether the authorities will formulate a set of contingency plans to respond to nuclear incidents that may occur at TNPS in the light of TNPS's huge electricity generating capacity and the employment of the novel design of EPR in TNPS; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (5) as the authorities conducted a large-scale exercise to test the Daya Bay Contingency Plan in 2012 and indicated that they expected to hold another large-scale exercise about three years later, whether the authorities have plans to hold a large-scale exercise for nuclear incidents in the near future; if they do, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (6) as the white paper on "China's Nuclear Emergency Preparedness" published by the State Council in January this year states that the Guangdong Province and the Hong Kong SAR have been incessantly enriching the contents of their collaborative mechanism on nuclear emergency preparedness and refining the communication platform for nuclear emergency preparedness between Guangdong and Hong Kong, and that "[t]he relevant departments of the central government have held special training sessions focusing on various disciplines in conjunction with the departments concerned of Hong Kong and Macao SAR governments with a view to raising the professional level of the local public, therefore contributing positively to maintaining the prosperity and stability of both Hong Kong and Macao", whether the Government knows the details of the "relevant departments" and the "training sessions" mentioned in the white paper?
* For written reply
III. Government Bills
| Second Reading (Debate to resume), Committee Stage and Third Reading
| |||||||||||
| 1. | Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes (Amendment) Bill 2015
| : | Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
Under Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury | ||||||||
| |||||||||||
|
(Debate and voting arrangements for Committee stage of the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes (Amendment) Bill 2015 (issued on 17 March 2016 under LC Paper No. CB(3) 483/15-16(01)))
| |||||||||||
| 2. | Property Management Services Bill
| : | Secretary for Home Affairs
| ||||||||
| Secretary for Home Affairs to move Committee stage amendments
(The amendments were issued on 29 January 2016 under LC Paper No. CB(3) 345/15-16) | |||||||||||
| (Debate and voting arrangements for Committee stage of the Property Management Services Bill (issued on 1 March 2016 under LC Paper No. CB(3) 435/15-16(01)))
| |||||||||||
| 3. | Chinese Permanent Cemeteries (Amendment) Bill 2015
| : | Secretary for Home Affairs
| ||||||||
| Secretary for Home Affairs to move Committee stage amendments
(The amendments were issued on 13 April 2016 under LC Paper No. CB(3) 512/15-16) | |||||||||||
| (Debate and voting arrangements for Committee stage of the Chinese Permanent Cemeteries (Amendment) Bill 2015 (issued on 24 May 2016 under LC Paper No. CB(3) 623/15-16(01)))
| |||||||||||
| 4. | Inland Revenue (Amendment) (No. 4) Bill 2015
| : | Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
Under Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury | ||||||||
| Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury to move
Committee stage amendments
(The amendments were issued on 13 April 2016 under LC Paper No. CB(3) 516/15-16) | |||||||||||
| (Debate and voting arrangements for Committee stage of the Inland Revenue (Amendment) (No. 4) Bill 2015 (issued on 24 May 2016 under LC Paper No. CB(3) 624/15-16(01)))
| |||||||||||
| 5. | Promotion of Recycling and Proper Disposal (Product Container) (Amendment) Bill 2015
| : | Secretary for the Environment
| ||||||||
| Secretary for the Environment to move Committee stage amendments
(The amendments were issued on 13 April 2016 under LC Paper No. CB(3) 514/15-16) | |||||||||||
| (Debate and voting arrangements for Committee stage of the Promotion of Recycling and Proper Disposal (Product Container) (Amendment) Bill 2015 (issued on 24 May 2016 under LC Paper No. CB(3) 625/15-16(01)))
| |||||||||||
| 6. | Companies (Winding Up and Miscellaneous Provisions) (Amendment) Bill 2015
| : | Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
Under Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury | ||||||||
| Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury to move
Committee stage amendments
(The amendments were issued on 13 April 2016 under LC Paper No. CB(3) 513/15-16) | |||||||||||
| (Debate and voting arrangements for Committee stage of the Companies (Winding Up and Miscellaneous Provisions) (Amendment) Bill 2015 (issued on 26 May 2016 under LC Paper No. CB(3) 637/15-16(01)))
| |||||||||||
| 7. | Electoral Legislation (Miscellaneous Amendments) (No. 2) Bill 2015
| : | Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs
| ||||||||
| Hon WONG Yuk-man to move Committee stage amendments
(The amendments were issued on 19 May 2016 under LC Paper No. CB(3) 609/15-16) | |||||||||||
| (Debate and voting arrangements for Committee stage of the Electoral Legislation (Miscellaneous Amendments) (No. 2) Bill 2015 (issued on 26 May 2016 under LC Paper No. CB(3) 638/15-16(01)))
| |||||||||||
| 8. | Securities and Futures (Amendment) Bill 2016
| : | Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
| ||||||||
| Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury to move
Committee stage amendments
(The amendments were issued on 18 May 2016 under LC Paper No. CB(3) 601/15-16) | |||||||||||
| (Debate and voting arrangements for Committee stage of the Securities and Futures (Amendment) Bill 2016 (issued on 26 May 2016 under LC Paper No. CB(3) 639/15-16(01)))
| |||||||||||
| 9. | Judiciary (Five-day Week) (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 2016
| : | The Chief Secretary for Administration
| ||||||||
| 10. | Kai Tak Cruise Terminal Bill
| : | Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development
| ||||||||
| Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development to move
Committee stage amendments
(The amendments were issued on 22 April 2016 under LC Paper No. CB(3) 543/15-16) | |||||||||||
| (Debate and voting arrangements for Committee stage of the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal Bill (issued on 26 May 2016 under LC Paper No. CB(3) 640/15-16(01)))
| |||||||||||
| 11. | Human Reproductive Technology (Amendment) Bill 2015
| : | Secretary for Food and Health
| ||||||||
| Secretary for Food and Health to move Committee stage amendments
(The amendments were issued on 13 May 2016 under LC Paper No. CB(3) 590/15-16) | |||||||||||
| 12. | Interception of Communications and Surveillance (Amendment) Bill 2015
| : | Secretary for Security
| ||||||||
| |||||||||||
IV. Government Motions
| 1. | Proposed resolution under the Road Traffic Ordinance
Secretary for Transport and Housing to move the following motion: Resolved that the period extended to 20 June 2016 by Legal Notice No. 54 of 2011, and for which there remains in force the limit on the number of vehicles which may be registered as public light buses specified in the Public Light Buses (Limitation on Number) Notice (Cap. 374 sub. leg. K), be further extended to 20 June 2021. |
| 2. | Proposed resolution under the Public Bus Services Ordinance
Secretary for Transport and Housing to move the following motion: Resolved that the franchise granted on 22 September 2015 under section 5 of the Public Bus Services Ordinance (Cap. 230) to Citybus Limited (城巴有限公司) and published in the Gazette as G.N. 7692 of 2015 is not subject to sections 27, 28, 29 and 31 of that Ordinance for the entire period of the franchise. |
| 3. | Proposed resolution under the Public Bus Services Ordinance
Secretary for Transport and Housing to move the following motion: Resolved that the franchise granted on 22 September 2015 under section 5 of the Public Bus Services Ordinance (Cap. 230) to New Lantao Bus Company (1973) Limited (新大嶼山巴士(1973)有限公司) and published in the Gazette as G.N. 7693 of 2015 is not subject to sections 27, 28, 29 and 31 of that Ordinance for the entire period of the franchise. |
| 4. | Proposed resolution under the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Ordinance
Secretary for Security to move the following motion: Resolved that the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters (Sweden) Order, made by the Chief Executive in Council on 16 February 2016, be approved. |
|
(The Order is in Appendix I and was also issued on
14 April 2016 under LC Paper No. CB(3) 518/15-16) | |
| 5. | Proposed resolution under the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Ordinance
Secretary for Security to move the following motion: Resolved that the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters (Argentina) Order, made by the Chief Executive in Council on 16 February 2016, be approved. |
|
(The Order is in Appendix II and was also issued on
14 April 2016 under LC Paper No. CB(3) 518/15-16) | |
V. Members' Motions on Subsidiary Legislation and Other Instruments
VI. Members' Bills
| First Reading
| ||
| Bank of Communications (Hong Kong) Limited (Merger) Bill
| ||
| Second Reading (Debate to be adjourned)
| ||
| Bank of Communications (Hong Kong) Limited (Merger) Bill | : | Hon NG Leung-sing
|
| Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
Second Reading (Debate to resume), Committee Stage and Third Reading | ||
| Kowloon Tong Church of the Chinese Christian and Missionary Alliance Incorporation (Amendment) Bill 2014 | : | Dr Hon Priscilla LEUNG
|
VII. Members' Motions
| 1. | Motion under the Legislative Council (Powers and Privileges) Ordinance
Hon WONG Yuk-man to move the following motion: That this Council appoints a select committee to inquire into the clashes between the Police and members of the public in Mong Kok from the night of 8 February to the early morning of 9 February 2016 which caused injuries to many people, and other related matters; and that in the performance of its duties the committee be authorized under section 9(2) of the Legislative Council (Powers and Privileges) Ordinance (Cap. 382) to exercise the powers conferred by section 9(1) of that Ordinance. Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Security | ||||
| 2. | Motion under the Legislative Council (Powers and Privileges) Ordinance
Hon WONG Yuk-man to move the following motion: That this Council appoints a select committee to inquire into the incident of the alleged airport security breach by the family members of Chief Executive LEUNG Chun-ying during the period from the night of 27 March to the small hours of 28 March 2016, and other related matters; and that in the performance of its duties the committee be authorized under section 9(2) of the Legislative Council (Powers and Privileges) Ordinance (Cap. 382) to exercise the powers conferred by section 9(1) of that Ordinance. Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Security | ||||
| 3. | Actively studying the establishment of a middle class commission
Hon Tommy CHEUNG to move the following motion: (Translation) That this Council requests the Government to actively study the establishment of a middle class commission. Amendments to the motion | ||||
| (i) | Hon Frankie YICK to move the following amendment:
(Translation) To add "the middle class has always been an important force for maintaining social stability and promoting economic development, but in recent years, the long-standing concerns in the external economic environment, the seriously lopsided development of Hong Kong's industries, the short supply of housing, the polarization between the rich and the poor, and the never-ending political wrangling have caused the middle class to face problems of housing, taxation, education and healthcare, etc., and created a trend of downward mobility of the middle class; the Government's support for the middle class has all along been limited to one-off relief measures such as providing tax rebates, increasing tax allowances, exempting rates or offering electricity charge subsidies, etc., but these measures are just utterly inadequate for the middle class and have not practically alleviated their plight; in addition, as currently there is no precise definition of the middle class, and the Government does not regularly provide statistics and information specific to the middle class, if the authorities or community organizations use such information to formulate policies or measures to support the middle class, such policies or measures will very often be out of focus, biased and superficial; in this connection," after "That"; and to add "to comprehensively review the policies or measures relating to the middle class from a focused and higher-level perspective, so as to alleviate the various problems faced by the middle class and consolidate the strength of the middle class, thereby promoting afresh economic development and strengthening the momentum of upward mobility of the community as a whole; the relevant measures should include: Definition (1) to lay down a clear and precise definition of the middle class, and regularly publish relevant statistics in respect of the definition; Development of industries (2) to adopt a multi-pronged approach to promote diversified development of industries in Hong Kong, so as to create more jobs at the middle and senior levels as well as business start-up opportunities in various industries and professions; (3) to further strengthen regional economic development for integration with the economic development circles of different regions on the Mainland, so as to provide more and better career development opportunities for middle-class professionals within or outside the territory; Housing (4) to expedite the identification of land for developing new development areas, optimize the use of rock caverns and carry out reclamation on an appropriate scale outside Victoria Harbour, so as to increase the supply of residential land on all fronts; and to increase the transparency of the housing plans as well as the supply of and demand for residential land for the next 10 years, and conduct an interim strategic review of and make corresponding adjustment to the relevant plans every five years; (5) to actively study the exploitation of green belt areas and 'brownfield sites' for the purpose of residential development; (6) to introduce a tax allowance for rentals for the marginal middle class; Taxation (7) to adjust salaries tax downwards, in particular widening tax bands for salaries tax and lowering the marginal rate, so as to vigorously alleviate the burden of the marginal middle class; (8) to relax the restrictions on the dependent parent or dependent grandparent allowance by relaxing the eligibility requirement from living in the same unit to living in the same housing estate; Education (9) to introduce a tax allowance for children's education to alleviate the burden of children education expenses on middle-class families; (10) to substantially increase the salaries tax deduction for self-education expenses and the subsidy under the Continuing Education Fund; Healthcare (11) to provide tax deduction for medical insurance contributions; and (12) to provide tax deduction for medical examinations to encourage the middle class to undergo such examinations on a regular basis" immediately before the full stop. | ||||
| (ii) | Hon SIN Chung-kai to move the following amendment:
(Translation) To add "as the Government has disregarded the needs of the middle class over the years," after "That"; to delete "establishment of a" after "study the" and substitute with "concerns of the"; and to delete "commission" immediately before the full stop and substitute with ", which include: (1) raising the various tax allowances, including the basic allowance for individuals, married person's allowance as well as dependent parent allowance, and widening the tax bands for salaries tax and abolishing the standard rate for salaries tax, so that members of the public pay their salaries tax according to the marginal tax rate, thereby alleviating the tax burden on the middle class; (2) reintroducing the Sandwich Class Housing Scheme to increase the opportunities for the middle class to acquire homes; (3) increasing the numbers of days of paid maternity leave and paternity leave and introducing flexible working hours to perfect family-friendly policies and promote a culture of work-life balance; (4) reviewing the teaching quality of government and subsidized schools, and allocating additional resources for such schools to adopt the teaching mode of Direct Subsidy Scheme schools and the merits of International Baccalaureate programmes, so that children of middle-class families can enjoy quality education; (5) upholding local core values and combating corruption to rebuild a society with integrity and fairness, thereby providing the middle class with an environment with fair competition; and (6) formulating proposals for electing the Chief Executive and the Legislative Council by universal suffrage with equal rights to make nomination, to vote and to stand for election in an open, fair and impartial manner, with a view to forging a consensus on promoting democracy, thereby strengthening the middle class's sense of belonging to Hong Kong". | ||||
| (iii) | Hon Christopher CHEUNG to move the following amendment:
(Translation) To add "the middle class, despite being the mainstay of Hong Kong society, has to bear increasingly heavy livelihood and financial burdens and face pressures of downward mobility; in this connection," after "That"; to delete "actively study the establishment of" after "Government to" and substitute with "expeditiously establish"; and to add "to formulate permanent and focused policies and measures, with a view to alleviating the livelihood and financial burdens of the middle class and providing them with more opportunities for upward mobility and room for development" immediately before the full stop. | ||||
| (iv) | Dr Hon KWOK Ka-ki to move the following amendment:
(Translation) To add "as the Government's measures to assist the middle class in recent years have no merit worth mentioning, the middle class has been unable to resolve their livelihood difficulties; in this connection," after "That"; to delete "actively study the establishment of" after "Government to" and substitute with "expeditiously establish"; and to add "whose functions include studying the following matters: (1) immediately constructing subsidized housing on idle Government land and increasing the number of subsidized sale flats to provide the middle class with a home acquisition ladder, and to enable the middle class to purchase flats for self-occupation at reasonable prices; (2) expeditiously implementing 15-year free education and stepping up the regulation of Direct Subsidy Scheme schools to ensure that the tuition fees of such schools are set at a reasonable level, thereby alleviating the burden of children education expenses on middle-class families; (3) refraining from using a salary-based approach to define the scope of application of standard working hours to ensure that the middle class has more leisure time to enjoy life; and (4) stepping up the regulation of private hospitals, enhancing the service quality of public hospitals, allocating additional land for constructing private hospitals, and immediately abolishing the Drug Formulary system, so as to alleviate the healthcare burden on the middle class" immediately before the full stop. | ||||
| (v) | Hon Starry LEE to move the following amendment:
(Translation) To add ", as the middle class is the mainstay of society," after "That"; and to add "to cater for the interests of the middle class and respond to their different demands, as well as to create more opportunities for upward mobility to expand the ratio of the middle-class population, thereby enabling the society to develop in a sustainable, stable and harmonious manner" immediately before the full stop. | ||||
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| 4. | Reconstructing the image of Hong Kong's tourism industry
Hon YIU Si-wing to move the following motion: (Translation) That according to the Third Quarter Economic Report 2015 published by the Government in November 2015, inbound tourism slackened further in the third quarter of 2015, and overall visitor arrivals to Hong Kong fell by 6.4% as compared to the same period last year, the first decline since the third quarter of 2009; the Report also points out that exports of travel services (covering visitors' spending on shopping, food and beverages, accommodation and entertainment, etc.) fell by 5.6% in real terms in the third quarter, and the average achieved hotel room rate also dropped by 13.1% as compared to the same period last year; as the share of tourists' shopping expenditure in retail sales value has been substantial (around 42% in 2014), the further slackening of inbound tourism has led to a decline in Hong Kong's total retail sales value for seven consecutive months this year, recording the longest downward trend over the past six years; this will also further affect Hong Kong's economy and employment; in this connection, this Council urges the Government to seriously review the reasons for the decline in visitor arrivals to Hong Kong, formulate corresponding measures and allocate additional resources to reconstruct the positive image of the tourism industry, with a view to preventing the continued decline in visitor arrivals to Hong Kong which will affect Hong Kong's economic development. Amendments to the motion | ||||
| (i) | Hon TANG Ka-piu to move the following amendment:
(Translation) To add ", the tourism industry has all along brought a large number of middle-level and elementary job opportunities to the hotel, catering and transport sectors, etc.; however," after "That"; to add "to reverse the present development trend of the Hong Kong tourism industry, which emphasizes quantity rather than quality, so as" after "resources"; to delete ", with a view to preventing the continued decline in visitor arrivals to Hong Kong which will affect" after "tourism industry" and substitute with "and enable healthy development of the tourism industry, with a view to creating more job opportunities and promoting"; and to add "; the relevant measures should include: (1) to expeditiously establish a travel industry authority to centrally monitor travel agents, tour escorts and tourist guides; (2) to adopt decisive measures to combat the use of unscrupulous operation practices in the tourism sector such as 'zero/negative/low-fare' tours and coerced shopping, etc., and step up publicity among visitors to Hong Kong on the need for vigilance against those unscrupulous operation practices and on the channels for lodging complaints; and to examine regulating the proportion and duration of 'arranged shopping' in the daily itinerary of inbound tours from the Mainland; (3) to formulate an overall development strategy for the tourism industry, which should not only facilitate visitors in retail consumption, but also strengthen the development of exploration tourism, including local in-depth tourism, cultural tourism and eco-tourism, so as to attract visitors of different types (including visitors who are with high spending power, young or stay overnight) to Hong Kong; (4) to promote the development of tourism supporting facilities and scenic spots, such as home-stay lodgings, creativity bazaars and night markets, etc., and to amend existing legislation to support and dovetail with such development; (5) to improve the infrastructural facilities (including water and power supply facilities) and transport links on some outlying islands, such as Po Toi Island and Tung Ping Chau, etc., so as to make good use of their rich tourism resources for developing these places as new tourist spots and benefit the economic development of local residents; (6) to improve the hardware ancillary facilities at existing scenic spots and step up the promotion of a 'hospitable culture' among the tourism sector and the public, with a view to upgrading the tourism quality of Hong Kong; and (7) to closely keep in view changes in visitor arrivals to Hong Kong and activities of visitors carrying duty-free commodities into the Mainland for sale (commonly known as 'parallel trading activities'), and to join hands with the Mainland authorities to continuously combat parallel trading activities and formulate timely and appropriate measures, so as to deal with the problem at root and reduce unnecessary conflicts between Mainland visitors and local people" immediately before the full stop. | ||||
| (ii) | Hon POON Siu-ping to move the following amendment:
(Translation) To add ", as the Hong Kong tourism industry and related industries employ over 200 000 employees, which is around 7.6% of the overall employment population in Hong Kong, the livelihood of the 200 000-odd employees will directly be affected if the tourism industry development continues to shrink; yet," after "That"; to add "effective" after "formulate"; and to add "enhance the binding effect of the industry directives issued by the Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong to ensure protection of the rights and interests of front-line staff in the tourism industry, expeditiously establish a tourism industry authority to balance the rights and interests of the operators and practitioners in the tourism industry, and" after "resources to". | ||||
| (iii) | Hon Gary FAN to move the following amendment:
(Translation) To add "the Government has proposed in the 2015-16 Budget that an additional $80 million will be allocated to the Hong Kong Tourism Board to step up its promotion of the tourism industry; however," after "That"; and to add "to develop a greater variety of tourism, including cultural tourism and eco-tourism with local characteristics, etc., to welcome tourists from around the world, and to step up efforts to combat rip-offs such as 'zero/negative-fare' tours and 'shadow tour group members', etc., adopted by Mainland travel agencies, so as" after "resources". | ||||
| (iv) | Hon Paul TSE to move the following amendment:
(Translation) To add "tourism and related industries are of utmost importance to the economy of Hong Kong, but" after "That"; to add "establish a tourism bureau to consolidate the various tourism-related departments and institutions, and" after "the decline in visitor arrivals to Hong Kong,"; and to delete "and allocate additional resources" after "measures" and substitute with "to conduct studies on effective use of resources and overall planning, execution and regulation". | ||||
| (v) | Hon CHAN Hak-kan to move the following amendment:
(Translation) To add "Hong Kong's tourism industry is now facing challenges;" after "That"; and to add "; when formulating measures on promoting the development of the tourism industry, the Government should focus on enhancing the visitor receiving capacity of Hong Kong society, including increasing the number of tourist spots and improving transportation and other ancillary facilities, etc., and take full account of the actual situations in Hong Kong, so as to avoid any adverse impacts on people's daily lives; at the same time, the Government should expeditiously establish a travel industry authority to enhance the regulatory regime for the tourism industry, and step up law enforcement to combat unscrupulous shop operators who rip off visitors" immediately before the full stop. | ||||
| (vi) | Hon Charles Peter MOK to move the following amendment:
(Translation) To add "coupled with the fact that Hong Kong lags behind other Asian competitors due to its shortage of large-scale convention facilities," after "past six years;"; and to add "and expedite the expansion of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre and the planning of new convention facilities to enhance Hong Kong's capacity to hold conventions and attract more high value-added business travellers," after "tourism industry,". | ||||
| (vii) | Hon SIN Chung-kai to move the following amendment:
(Translation) To add "expeditiously establish a travel industry authority to strengthen the monitoring of local travel agents, tour escorts and tourist guides," after "the decline in visitor arrivals to Hong Kong,"; and to add "step up promotion in the international market and" after "resources to". | ||||
| (viii) | Hon Jeffrey LAM to move the following amendment:
(Translation) To add "and" after "the decline in visitor arrivals to Hong Kong,"; to delete "and allocate additional resources to" after "measures" and substitute with ", including giving consideration to examining afresh the entry arrangements and policy for Mainland visitors and relieving Mainland visitors' sentiments, with a view to reversing the decline in visitor arrivals to Hong Kong in the short run; in the long run, the Government should also formulate a comprehensive development strategy and blueprint for the tourism industry, and make stronger efforts to develop different tourism facilities and scenic spots, so as to"; and to delete "continued decline in visitor arrivals to Hong Kong" after "preventing the" and substitute with "persistent shrinkage of visitor arrivals to Hong Kong". | ||||
| (ix) | Dr Hon Fernando CHEUNG to move the following amendment:
(Translation) To delete ", with a view to preventing the continued decline in visitor arrivals to Hong Kong which will affect Hong Kong's economic development" immediately before the full stop and substitute with "; the relevant measures include: monitoring visitor arrivals to Hong Kong based on the actual visitor receiving capacity of Hong Kong, so as to attract visitors from different countries to Hong Kong with planning and promote the sustainable development of the tourism industry; and regulating activities of carrying duty-free commodities into the Mainland for sale (commonly known as 'parallel trading activities') to avoid the impacts of massive parallel trading activities on Hong Kong people's quality of life". | ||||
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| 5. | Motion for the adjournment of the Council under Rule 16(4) of the Rules of Procedure
Hon Claudia MO to move the following motion: (Translation) That this Council do now adjourn for the purpose of debating the following issue: the successive 'forced disappearance' of the shareholders and managers of Causeway Bay Books. Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Security | ||||