A 98/99-12(1)

Legislative Council
Agenda

Wednesday 14 October 1998 at 2:30 pm


I. Papers

Subsidiary LegislationL.N. No.
1. Immigration (Places of Detention) (Amendment) Order 1998 324/98
2. Immigration Service (Designated Places) (Amendment) Order 1998 325/98
3. Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance (Public Pleasure Grounds) (Amendment of Fourth Schedule) (No.4) Order 1998 326/98

Sessional Papers

1. No.28- Construction Industry Training Authority
Annual Report 1997

(to be presented by Secretary for Education and Manpower)

2. No.29- Estate Agents Authority
Annual Report 1997/1998

(to be presented by Secretary for Housing)

3. No.30- Occupational Deafness Compensation Board
Annual Report 1997-98

(to be presented by Secretary for Education and Manpower)

4. No.31- Hong Kong Council on Smoking and Health
Annual Report 1997-1998

(to be presented by Secretary for Health and Welfare)

5. No.32- Sewage Services Trading Fund
Annual Report 1997-1998

(to be presented by Secretary for Works)

6. No.33- Electrical and Mechanical Services Trading Fund
Annual Report 1997-98

(to be presented by Secretary for Works)

7. No.34- Report of changes to the approved Estimates of Expenditure approved during the first quarter of 1998-99
Public Finance Ordinance : Section 8

(to be presented by Secretary for the Treasury)

8. No.35- Report by the Trustee of the Prisoners' Education Trust Fund for the period 1 April 1997 to 31 March 1998

(to be presented by Secretary for Security)

9. No.36- Hong Kong Sports Development Board
Annual Report 1997-98

(to be presented by Secretary for Home Affairs)

10. No.37- The Provisional Legislative Council Commission
Annual Report 1997-1998

(to be presented by Chairman of the Provisional Legislative Council Commission)

11. No.38- Companies Registry
Annual Report 1997-98

(to be presented by Secretary for Financial Services)

II. Questions

1. Hon CHAN Yuen-han to ask: (Translation)

The Government recently granted the former Tamar Site to the Hong Kong Tourist Association ("HKTA") on a two-year short-term lease for a nominal rent, for it to manage. In this connection, will the Administration inform this Council of:

  1. the purpose of granting the former Tamar Site to HKTA for a nominal rent;

  2. whether it is aware of any plans by HKTA to optimize the use of this piece of land; whether these plans will allow commercial organizations to organize commercial activities on the site; and whether HKTA will set a ceiling on the rents or fees charged by those commercial organizations; and

  3. whether the authorities have considered leasing other sites in Hong Kong in order to increase facilities for attracting more tourists, such as setting up open-air markets (e.g. flea market)?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Economic Services

2. Hon LAU Wong-fat to ask: (Translation)

Will the Government inform this Council of:

  1. the number of cases in which government land in the New Territories is currently leased under short term tenancy for the purpose of operating small-scale industrial undertakings;

  2. the basis for determining the rent payable in respect of the land concerned; and

  3. the average rate of increase in the annual rent per square metre of the land so leased over the past five years?

Public Officer to reply: Secretary for Planning, Environment and Lands

3. Hon LEUNG Yiu-chung to ask: (Translation)

According to the Government's estimate in early June this year, there would be at least 100 000 job vacancies available in the labour market within the next one and a half years. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council of:

  1. the classification of these jobs according to their academic qualifications requirements;

  2. whether it knows if there will be sufficient qualified Hong Kong residents to take up new positions in the professional, management, administrative or supervisory fields; and

  3. the respective numbers of positions among these jobs that have already been created and filled by recruitment; and how the progress in the creation of these positions and the recruitment of candidates compares with that originally estimated by the Administration?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education and Manpower

4. Hon YEUNG Yiu-chung to ask: (Translation)

It is reported that recently there have been successive cases in a practical school involving the alleged use of violence by students. In one case, a student beat the principal after being admonished for arriving late for school, and in another case two students assaulted a schoolmate in a bid to recover debts. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

  1. of the total number of cases reported to the authorities concerned in the past three years involving the use of violence by students inside and outside schools and, of these cases, the number of those involving the use of violence against principals or teachers;

  2. whether it has assessed if there is a need for enhancing the current support for practical schools (such as the provision of social workers and professional psychological counsellors); and

  3. of the measures in place to ensure the personal safety of teachers and allay their psychological fears that they may be attacked by students?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education and Manpower

5. Dr Hon LUI Ming-wah to ask: (Translation)

Will the Government inform this Council:

  1. of the respective numbers of applications received and approved, as well as the number of the relevant employment visas issued since the implementation of the Pilot Scheme for the Entry of Mainland Professionals, together with a breakdown of the figures by trade and post;

  2. whether it has reviewed the effectiveness of the pilot scheme; if so, what the details are; and

  3. whether it will consider extending and expanding such a scheme, as well as streamlining the relevant application procedures?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education and Manpower

6. Hon Fred LI to ask: (Translation)

Regarding the monitoring of public utilities companies, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:

  1. the legal basis on which the Hong Kong and China Gas Company Limited, the China Light and Power Company Limited, the Hongkong Electric Company Limited and the Hongkong Telecom, require customers to pay deposits; the respective numbers of customers involved and of the total amounts of deposits received by the respective companies; and

  2. if the public utilities companies concerned will pay to customers the interests generated by their deposits when refunding the deposits to the customers; if such interests are not paid to the customers, why not; and whether the Administration has considered requiring the public utilities companies to pay their customers the interests generated by their deposits when refunding the deposits?

Public Officer to reply: Secretary for Economic Services

*7. Hon CHAN Kwok-keung to ask: (Translation)

There are quite a number of Hong Kong residents who stay in the mainland for employment, marriage or settlement in recent years. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

  1. whether it has estimated,

    1. the respective numbers of Hong Kong residents staying in the mainland for employment, marriage or settlement in the past and next five years, with a breakdown of the data in respect of these residents in each of the above categories by occupation, age, sex and province or county in which they live;

    2. the respective numbers of mainland-born legitimate children of Hong Kong residents who are living in the mainland at present and in the next five years;

    3. the number of Hong Kong residents who travel between Hong Kong and the mainland every day for employment in the mainland at present;

    4. the number of Hong Kong residents who live in the mainland and travel across the border every day for employment in Hong Kong at present; and

  2. if no estimation has been made in respect of part (a), the reason of it; and whether it will consider collecting information for the purpose of estimation?

Public Officer to reply: Secretary for Security

*8. Hon Martin LEE to ask: (Translation)

Will the Government inform this Council:

  1. of the total number of Consents to Assign that the Lands Department has issued since January this year, permitting the sale of uncompleted flats (commonly known as "advance sale of flats");

  2. of the criteria that the Lands Department adopts in vetting and approving such applications;

  3. of the average time required for vetting and approving such applications; the longest and shortest time involved; and why some of the applications took longer time to be vetted and approved; and

  4. whether before completing the transaction of flats, buyers of such flats are entitled and allowed to ask for documents relating to the vetting and approving of the properties for sale, such as the correspondence between government departments and developers, occupation certificates, certificates of compliance and so on; if not, why not?

Public Officer to reply: Secretary for Planning, Environment and Lands

*9. Hon Emily LAU to ask: (Translation)

Will the Executive Authorities inform this Council if they will consider improving the design of primary and secondary school premises so as to provide adequate sports venues and facilities, for promoting students' physical development?

Public Officer to reply: Secretary for Education and Manpower

*10. Hon CHENG Kai-nam to ask: (Translation)

Will the Government inform this Council of:

  1. the total number of flats (including uncompleted flats) which have already been put up for sale by the authorities concerned under the Sandwich Class Housing Scheme;

  2. the total number of flats which are under construction and not yet put up for sale under the Scheme; and

  3. the balance of loan quotas still available for application under the Sandwich Class Housing Loan Scheme?

Public Officer to reply: Secretary for Housing

*11. Hon WONG Yung-kan to ask: (Translation)

The Marine Fish Culture Ordinance (Cap. 353) stipulates that a licence issued for engaging in fish culture within a fish culture zone shall not be transferable. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

  1. of the reasons for making such a provision;

  2. whether an assessment has been made to determine if this provision is still in keeping with present-day needs; and

  3. whether there is any plan to amend the relevant provision; if not, why not?

Public Officer to reply: Secretary for Economic Services

*12. Hon Mrs Selina CHOW to ask: (Translation)

Will the Government inform this Council of the number of principals and headmasters of government-aided secondary and primary schools who have reached the retirement age of 60 in the current and the past two school years; among them, the number who applied for extension of service; and the number of applications approved and the reasons for approving the extension of their service?

Public Officer to reply: Secretary for Education and Manpower

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

Regarding the Government's intervention in the stock and futures markets in August funded by its reserves, will the Government inform this Council whether and when it will conduct a comprehensive review of such action and make public the results of the review; and of the reasons if no review is to be conducted?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Financial Services

*14. Hon Mrs Miriam LAU to ask: (Translation)

Will the Government inform this Council, in respect of the past three years:

  1. of the number of complaints about licensed ferry services received by the authorities concerned each year, and the main subjects of complaint;

  2. whether any licensees of ferry services have breached the conditions of their licences, for example by reducing the frequency of ferry service or suspending the service without prior approval; if so, what the details are; and

  3. how the authorities concerned have penalized these licensees in breach of the licence conditions?

Public Officer to reply: Secretary for Transport

*15. Hon LAU Kong-wah to ask: (Translation)

It is learnt that cracking and shifting of a section of the tarmacadamed road surface have occurred on the northbound lane of the Ting Kau Bridge only four months after its opening. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

  1. of the reasons for the occurrence of the above situation;

  2. whether the occurrence of the above situation is related to supervising measures during the construction of the Ting Kau Bridge; and

  3. of the details of the designed and the actual vehicle flows per hour of the Bridge?

Public Officer to reply: Secretary for Works

*16. Dr Hon David LI to ask:

It is reported that some schools which have to switch their medium of instruction from English to Chinese from this academic year onwards are experiencing difficulty in sourcing good Chinese textbooks and reference books. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it had considered allowing a sufficient lead-in time before it decided on the implementation date of the switch?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education and Manpower

*17. Hon Howard YOUNG to ask:

From 1 June 1998 onwards, holders of Mainland Travel Permit for Taiwan Residents (MTP) with an entry-exit endorsement issued by the Mainland authorities may be allowed to stay in Hong Kong for seven days without the need of an entry permit issued by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region whilst they are en route to or from the Mainland. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:

  1. there is any change in the average daily number of visitors from Taiwan to Hong Kong after the introduction of the policy; and

  2. discussions will be held with the Mainland authorities to consider issuing such endorsements immediately upon applications by MTP holders in the restricted area of the airport at Chek Lap Kok?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

*18. Hon Eric LI to ask: (Translation)

In connection with the development of gifted education, will the Government inform this Council:

  1. whether it knows the progress of incorporating gifted education in pre-service and in-service teacher training programmes organised by tertiary institutions; of the number of tertiary institutions providing such teacher training programmes at present and the number of prospective teachers and in-service teachers who have attended or are attending the relevant programmes;

  2. of the measures in place to promote activities or programmes relating to gifted education in primary and secondary schools; and the effects of implementing those measures; and

  3. whether it has considered providing assistance to school teachers in areas such as financial resources, class schedule and programme arrangement with a view to encouraging teachers to participate in various gifted education training programmes?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education and Manpower

*19. Hon Christine LOH to ask:

In 1976, the Government of the United Kingdom ratified, with certain reservations and declarations, the International Covenants on Civil and Political Rights as well as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and extended them to Hong Kong, among other British dependant territories. In this connection, will the Administration inform this Council whether these reservations and declarations are still relevant to and necessary for Hong Kong; if so, what the reasons are; if not, whether they will be removed?

Public Officer to reply: Secretary for Home Affairs

*20. Hon CHEUNG Man-kwong to ask: (Translation)

Regarding the distribution of students and school places among government, subsidized and private schools throughout the territory, will the Government inform this Council:

  1. how the respective numbers of classes, places and students (including repeaters) at Primary six level compare with those at Secondary 1 level at the beginning of each of the 1997-98 and 1998-99 school years;

  2. whether there was an over-supply of Secondary 1 places in the two school years; if so, what the reasons were;

  3. of the forecast numbers of Secondary 1 classes (with specification in respect of the class size adopted for calculation), places and students in the next two school years;

  4. whether the Administration will adopt measures to make optimum use of the surplus Secondary 1 places, such as to encourage those secondary schools which have enrolled students with less satisfactory academic performance to take the lead in reducing the size of each class; and

  5. when the Administration will implement the plan to reduce the class size in secondary schools?

Public Officer to reply: Secretary for Education and Manpower

* For written reply.

III. Bills

First Reading

1. Adaptation of Laws Bill 1998

2. Adaptation of Laws (No. 2) Bill 1998

Second Reading (Debates to be adjourned)

1. Adaptation of Laws Bill 1998 : Secretary for Security

2. Adaptation of Laws (No. 2) Bill 1998 : Secretary for Security

Second Reading (Debate to resume), Committee Stage and Third Reading

Fisheries Protection (Amendment) Bill 1998 : Secretary for Economic Services

IV. Members' Motions

1. Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance

Hon Andrew WONG:

RESOLVED that the Statutes of the University of Hong Kong (Amendment) Statutes 1998, published as Legal Notice No. 299 of 1998 and laid on the table of the Legislative Council on 9 September 1998, be amended by repealing section 3(a) and substituting -

"(a) by repealing paragraph 1 and substituting -

    "1. Subject to the approval of the Council, on the recommendation of the relevant Board of Faculty and endorsed by the Senate, the Dean of each Faculty shall either be -

      (a) elected, for a period of 3 years, by the members of the relevant Board of the Faculty, from among the teachers in the Faculty; or

      (b) appointed by the Council, for such period as the Council shall determine.

    A Dean shall be eligible for re-election or re-appointment.".".

2. Sustainable development in Hong Kong

Prof Hon NG Ching-fai: (Translation)

That this Council urges the Government, in formulating public policies and development plans in future, to adopt the concept of 'sustainable development' as the fundamental basis for its macro-policy, and thoroughly consider the impacts of various policies and plans on the natural and human environment, the neighbouring regions, and even the future of mankind.

Amendment to Prof Hon NG Ching-fai's motion

Hon Christine LOH: (Translation)

To add "and include in its policy commitments" after "and thoroughly consider"; and to add "; this Council also urges the Government to adopt a full set of indicators to measure the extent to which Hong Kong is moving towards sustainable development" after "and even the future of mankind".

Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Planning, Environment and Lands

3. Rehousing all cage home lodgers and single persons

Hon LAU Chin-shek: (Translation)

That this Council urges the Government to review and formulate housing policies relating to cage home lodgers and single persons and set a timetable for rehousing all these people; in the interim, the Government should allocate more land in various urban districts for the construction of a sufficient number of singleton hostels and, at the same time, devise a comprehensive package of integrated services to cater for the housing, welfare and counselling needs of such people, so as to assist these cage home lodgers and single persons who are in the lowest social stratum in solving problems in their livelihood.

Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Home Affairs



Clerk to the Legislative Council