A 98/99-41(1)

Legislative Council

Agenda
Wednesday 16 June 1999 at 2:30 pm

I. Papers

Subsidiary LegislationL.N. No.
1.Employees' Compensation Ordinance (Amendment of Second Schedule) Order 1999 146/99
2.Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance (Amendment of Schedule 2) Order 1999147/99
3.Banking Ordinance (Declaration under Section 2(14)(d)) (No.2) Notice 1997 (Amendment) Notice 1999148/99
4.Smoking (Public Health) (Amendment) Ordinance 1997 (93 of 1997) (Commencement) Notice 1999 149/99
5.Smoking (Public Health) (Amendment) Regulation 1998 (L.N. 13 of 1998) (Commencement) Notice 1999150/99
6.Merchant Shipping (Safety) (Subdivision and Damage Stability of Cargo Ships over 100 Metres in Length) (Amendment) Regulation 1999 (L.N. 99 of 1999) (Commencement) Notice 1999151/99
7.Travel Agents (Amendment) Regulations 1988 (L.N. 240 of 1988) (Commencement) Notice 1999152/99
8.Dogs and Cats (Amendment) Ordinance 1997 (97 of 1997) (Commencement) Notice 1999153/99

II. Questions

1. Dr Hon David LI to ask:

It is reported that the Commission on Innovation and Technology is set to recommend a scheme for importation of mainland talents with an unlimited quota to facilitate technology development in Hong Kong. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council how it will assess that an applicant's expertise is essential for Hong Kong's development of information services industry and high value-added industries?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

2. Hon James TO to ask: (Translation)

Some tenants of domestic flats deliberately default on the payment of rent. The owner concerned has to apply to the Lands Tribunal for repossession and recovery of the rent in arrears. Very often, by the time the Lands Tribunal rules on the application, the tenant has already defaulted on rent payment for many months. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:

  1. it knows if such cases are prevalent; if they are prevalent, how they can be prevented;

  2. it will consider simplifying the procedure of the Lands Tribunal in handling owners' applications for repossession and recovery of rent in arrears; and

  3. whether there is legislation enabling the authorities to prosecute such habitual rental defaulting tenants; if so, the details of it; if not, whether it has assessed the need to enact such legislation?
Public Officer to reply: Secretary for Housing

3. Hon Emily LAU to ask: (Translation)

In her reply to the Chairman of the Panel on Information Technology and Broadcasting of this Council on 11 May, the Director of Administration said that a Member of the Executive Council ("ExCo"), who is employed by a company a division of which had been engaged by the Government to conduct a strategic assessment on the concept of a Cyberport in Hong Kong, had not been excluded from the deliberations of the Council on the Cybeport project, because the interest involved was not a direct and significant pecuniary interest and did not amount to an exclusionary interest. In this connection, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council:

  1. of the definitions of "direct and significant pecuniary interest" and "exclusionary interest" (please give examples to illustrate what constitute such interests); of the reasons for the ExCo Member, whose company had been involved in the assessment of the Cyberport concept, not being regarded as having a direct and significant pecuniary interest which amounted to an exclusionary interest in the deliberations of the Cyberport project;

  2. whether the current rules of the ExCo on declaration of interests and on exclusion from deliberations are different from those before handover of sovereignty; if so, of the differences; and

  3. of the number of occasions since the handover of sovereignty on which ExCo Members declared direct and significant pecuniary interests or exclusionary interests, and were excluded from deliberations of the Council on the related matters; and the nature of such declarations and exclusions?
Public Officer to reply : Chief Secretary for Administration

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

In reply to my written question on 28 April this year, the Secretary for Economic Services advised that in the past three years, there were four successful prosecutions against vessels involved in the emission of excessive fumes, with an average penalty of $2 000. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

  1. whether it has taken the initiative to deploy staff to monitor if vessels are emitting excessive fumes and to prosecute owners of vessels that have emitted excessive fumes, instead of taking actions only after it has received complaints; and

  2. if there are measures in place to reduce the emission of excessive fumes from vessels; if there are, the details of them; if not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Economic Services

5. Dr Hon HO Chung-tai to ask: (Translation)

It is reported that quite a number of international enterprises have indicated their interest in becoming tenants at the Cyberport. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:

  1. it will consider stipulating in the tenancy agreements that the tenants have to employ local professionals; if not, the reasons for that;

  2. the tenants, when importing professionals not available in Hong Kong, will be required to train local professionals, so as to achieve the target of technology transfer; and

  3. it will make references to the terms in the tenancy agreements of similar projects overseas in drawing up such agreement terms?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Information Technology and Broadcasting

*6. Hon Emily LAU to ask:

Regarding senior officials attending media programmes on current affairs as guest speakers, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council:

  1. whether the Chief Secretary for Administration has ever attended such programmes; if not, the reasons for that;

  2. of the bureau secretaries who have not attended such programmes in the last two years; and

  3. whether the Chief Executive will instruct senior officials to attend more of such programmes, so as to enhance the transparency and accountability of the work of the Administration?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs

*7. Hon Timothy FOK to ask: (Translation)

In presenting the Budget for this financial year, the Financial Secretary stated that the Government was discussing with the Walt Disney Company the building of a theme park in Hong Kong. It is reported that the Company had asked for the provision of extensive infrastructure in its previous negotiations with the governments of other places on the construction of theme parks. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council of:

  1. the commitments or financial subsidies to be offered to the Company; and whether it has assessed how the offer of such commitments or financial subsidies will help in promoting the development of cultural, sports and entertainment activities in Hong Kong; and

  2. given the controversy surrounding the Cyberport project, the measures in place to ensure that the outcome of the negotiations will be compatible with public interest, and whether there is any plan to enhance the transparency of the negotiation process?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Economic Services

*8. Dr Hon YEUNG Sum to ask: (Translation)

It is reported that the World Health Organization has pointed out that obesity will be the major health problem for mankind in the next century. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

  1. whether statistics are available on the weight to height ratios of the population in Hong Kong; if so, of the figures as compared with the standard ratios recommended by the World Health Organization; if not, whether it will conduct surveys in this regard;

  2. how it helps the public prevent obesity or provides treatment to members of the public who suffer from obesity; and

  3. of the plans in place to curb the increase in the number of obesity cases and prevent obesity-related diseases; and the resources involved in carrying out each of such plans?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health and Welfare

*9. Hon Ambrose CHEUNG to ask: (Translation)

Cathay Pacific Airways has recently cancelled quite a number of flights, disrupting the itineraries of travellers booked on the affected flights, and affecting the departure of quite a number of out-bound tours. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

  1. whether the existing mechanism enables members of the public to lodge claims for compensation in respect of delayed or cancelled flights; if so, the details of the compensation; if not, the reasons for that;

  2. of the measures in place to exempt travel agents from the responsibility of compensating their customers for any loss due to the delay or cancellation of flights; and

  3. how it regulates the relevant airlines in offering compensation to the affected passengers and travel agents?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Economic Services

*10. Hon HUI Cheung-ching to ask: (Translation)

Subsequent to a review of the operation of the Special Finance Scheme for Small and Medium Enterprises, a number of changes were made to the Scheme in April this year, including increasing the Government's share of credit risk to 70% from the original 50%. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council of:

  1. the total number of loan applications received since the implementation of the changes to the Scheme, and among them, the number of approved cases and the total amount of loans involved; and

  2. the respective numbers of participating lending institutions which have signed the new Deed and those which have not yet signed, as well as the latter's reasons for not signing yet?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Trade and Industry

*11. Hon CHOY So-yuk to ask: (Translation)

Regarding the exhibitions organised by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council ("TDC"), will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:

  1. for each exhibition organised in 1998,

    1. if the target visitors are trade members or members of the public;

    2. the respective exbibition areas allocated to local exhibitors and those of other territories or countries; and

    3. the net income of the TDC; and

  2. whether local participants may receive subsidies or enjoy concessions from the TDC?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Trade and Industry

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

It is reported that Lantau has been identified in a study as lying within a seismic risk zone, and large magnitude earthquakes may happen there. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:

  1. it has estimated the extent of damage to major infrastructures in Hong Kong, such as the Mass Transit Railway and the new airport, when an earthquake with magnitude 6 or greater on the Richter scale occurs in Hong Kong; if so, the details of that; and

  2. it has drawn up any contingency plans to deal with the situation in case the major infrastructures in Hong Kong are damaged in an earthquake; if so, the details of such plans?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

*13. Hon LEE Kai-ming to ask: (Translation)

On 25 May this year, an explosion occurred when a container carrying used motorcycles and spare parts was being lifted onto a barge in the cargo handling area off Stonecutters Island, causing a number of casualties; there had also been incidents in the past two years in which containers exploded while carrying used motorcycles. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

  1. after its investigation into the causes of these incidents, of the measures it has taken to prevent the recurrence of similar incidents; and

  2. whether it has any plan to introduce legislative amendments to regulate the use of containers for the conveyance of used vehicles; if not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply: Secretary for Security

*14. Hon Howard YOUNG to ask:

Will the Government inform this Council whether it is aware:

  1. of the languages in which the Hong Kong Tourist Association publishes tourist information and handles tourists' complaints; and

  2. if the Association has adequate resources to publish tourist information in more languages and recruit persons who know these languages to handle tourists' complaints, or to train up its staff to do so?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Economic Services

*15. Hon Mrs Miriam LAU to ask:

In his reply to a question raised during the examination of draft Estimates of Expenditure 1999-2000 by the Finance Committee of this Council, the Director of Environmental Protection said that his Department is participating in a project with the Hong Kong Polytechnic University for the development of a low cost diesel particulate trap which is suitable for local operating conditions. In this connection, will the Administration inform this Council of:

  1. the details and present progress of the project;

  2. the expected time for the diesel particulate trap to be marketed and its estimated unit price;

  3. the types of vehicles that can make use of the particulate trap;

  4. the effectiveness of the particulate trap in reducing the quantities of suspended particles in diesel emissions; and

  5. the plans it has to encourage owners of diesel vehicles to install the particulate trap?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Planning, Environment and Lands

*16. Hon Mrs Sophie LEUNG to ask: (Translation)

Will the Government inform this Council:

  1. of the respective numbers of full-time, mixed full-time, part-time day-release and part-time evening courses offered to Secondary 3 and Secondary 5 school leavers by various technical institutes of the Vocational Training Council in each of the past three years, with a breakdown of applications and enrolments in each of the courses;

  2. whether it knows the employment situation of the graduates from these courses in the past three years and their average monthly salaries in the first year of their employment; and

  3. whether it has conducted any survey to find out if the employers concerned consider the knowledge and skills which the graduates learned from the courses can meet the requirements at work; if it has, the findings of the survey; if not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education and Manpower

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

It is reported that the Government has proposed to the International Organization for Standardization the inclusion of a set of Chinese characters commonly used in Hong Kong ("the set") in the ISO 10646 international coding standard. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

  1. of the current progress of the proposal;

  2. of the Chinese characters included in the set and their total number;

  3. whether it knows the views of the academic sector and the industrial and commercial organizations on the Chinese characters that should be included in the set;

  4. of the measures in place to encourage various organizations to adopt the international coding standard;

  5. given that changing over to a new coding standard will involve an enormous amount of data conversion work, whether the Government knows the attitude towards the adoption of the new coding standard of other countries and territories where Chinese characters are used; and

  6. whether consideration will be given to setting up a body similar to the State Language Work Committee in the Mainland to standardize the characters commonly used in Hong Kong?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Information Technology and Broadcasting

*18. Hon Christine LOH to ask:

In relation to the handling of claims for the dependent parent or grandparent allowance under the Inland Revenue Ordinance (Cap. 112), will the Administration inform this Council:

  1. how the Inland Revenue Department ("IRD") verifies such claims;

  2. whether IRD will consider providing assistance to contending claimants in resolving who should claim such allowance in respect of the same dependent person; and

  3. whether IRD will consider enacting rules to require dependent persons to confirm who maintain them?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Treasury

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

The Octopus processors installed on franchised buses are quite often suspended from use, thereby causing inconvenience to passengers who only know that they cannot pay the bus fare by Octopus card after they have boarded the bus. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council if it knows:

  1. the percentage of scheduled trips served by buses installed with Octopus processors not in use in the past year against the total number of scheduled trips served by buses installed with such processors;

  2. the reasons for these processors being suspended from use;

  3. the formula for calculating the fees payable by the franchised bus companies to the company responsible for managing the Octopus system; whether it has assessed the correlation between the formula and the franchised bus companies not using Octopus processors; and

  4. whether paying bus fares by Octopus cards or by cash will make any difference to the net proceeds of the franchised bus companies; if there is such a difference, the details of it?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport

* For written reply.

III. Bills

First Reading

1. Import and Export (Amendment) Bill 1999
2. Protection of Non-Government Certificates of Origin (Amendment) Bill 1999
3. Adaptation of Laws (No.16) Bill 1999
4. Occupational Retirement Schemes (Amendment) Bill 1999

Second Reading (Debates to be adjourned)

1. Import and Export (Amendment) Bill 1999:Secretary for Trade and Industry
2.Protection of Non-Government Certificates of Origin (Amendment) Bill 1999:Secretary for Trade and Industry
3.Adaptation of Laws (No.16) Bill 1999: Secretary for Health and Welfare
4.Occupational Retirement Schemes (Amendment) Bill 1999:Secretary for Financial Services

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

1. Labour Tribunal (Amendment) Bill 1999:Chief Secretary for Administration
2.Adaptation of Laws (No.13) Bill 1998: Chief Secretary for Administration
3.Adaptation of Laws (No.15) Bill 1998: Chief Secretary for Administration
4. Small Claims Tribunal (Amendment) Bill 1999:Chief Secretary for Administration
5.Roads and Tunnels Legislation (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 1999:Secretary for Transport

IV. Motions

Proposed resolution under the Road Traffic Ordinance

Secretary for Transport to move the following motion:

RESOLVED that the period 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.) and extended to 20 June 1999 by Legal Notice No. 306 of 1997, be further extended to 20 June 2001.

V. Members' Motions

1. Proposed resolution under the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance

Dr Hon HO Chung-tai to move the following motion:

RESOLVED that in relation to the -

  1. Estate Agents Practice (General Duties and Hong Kong Residential Properties) Regulation, published as Legal Notice No. 124 of 1999; and

  2. Estate Agents (Determination of Commission Disputes) Regulation, published as Legal Notice No. 125 of 1999,
and laid on the table of the Legislative Council on 26 May 1999, the period referred to in section 34(2) of the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance (Cap. 1) for amending subsidiary legislation be extended under section 34(4) of that Ordinance to the meeting of 30 June 1999.

2. Privatisation of Government departments

Hon LEE Cheuk-yan: (Translation)

That, in view of the Government's plans to corporatise, privatise or demutualise a considerable number of government departments and public organisations, this Council urges the Government not to blindly believe in the effectiveness of privatisation, and to face up to the impacts of such plans on the job security of the staff concerned and on the quality of service; this Council also urges the Government, before deciding whether privatisation programmes should be implemented, to fully consult the staff concerned and the public and to gain their acceptance and support, as well as to formulate in detail mechanisms for the executive authority, the legislature and the public to monitor the quality of service and the charging of fees.

Amendment to Hon LEE Cheuk-yan 's motion

Hon LAU Kong-wah: (Translation)

To delete "not to blindly believe in the effectiveness of privatisation" and substitute with "to retain its responsibility for providing public services while striving to enhance cost-effectiveness, introduce mechanisms for competition, improve service quality and reduce its financial burden; at the same time, this Council requests the Government to clearly specify the criteria for determining which departments and organisations are suitable for corporatisation, privatisation or demutualisation"; to delete "and on" from "job security of the staff concerned and on" and substitute with ","; and to add "and the charging of fees" after "the quality of service"

Public Officer to attend: Financial Secretary

3. Facilitating the financial industry

Hon Bernard CHAN:

That, in view of the Government's continuing effort to open and liberalize the financial market, this Council urges the Government to ensure a level playing field for all local and overseas market participants; apart from being a market regulator, the Government should act as an active facilitator by designating specific officials to help sustain local financial development and promote Hong Kong's financial services throughout the world

Amendment to Hon Bernard CHAN's motion

Hon FUNG Chi-kin:

To delete "level playing field" and substitute with "fair, liberal and highly open operating environment"; to delete "being a market regulator" and substitute with "regulating the market appropriately"; to delete "designating specific officials to help sustain local financial development and promote" and substitute with "strengthening first the functions of the departments responsible for financial affairs in promoting"; and to add ", and secondly, in promoting market development, give due consideration to the market's overall capacity, prevent all forms of manipulative and unfair competition, expedite the training of local professionals including qualified supervisory personnel in the financial sector, and ensure that operators of small and medium businesses have room for survival and development, so as to enhance Hong Kong's status as a financial centre and facilitate a balanced, sustainable and healthy development of the market" after "Hong Kong's financial services throughout the world".

Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Financial Services

Clerk to the Legislative Council