A 98/99-30(1)

Legislative Council
Agenda

Wednesday 24 March 1999 and Thursday 25 March 1999 at 2:30 pm respectively

I. Papers

Subsidiary Legislation L.N. No.
1.Housing Ordinance (Amendment of Schedule) Order 199963/99
2.Human Organ Transplant (Amendment) Regulation 199966/99
3.Employees Retraining Ordinance (Amendment of Schedule 2) (No.2) Notice 199967/99
4.Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Ordinance (80 of 1995) (Commencement) Notice 199968/99
5.Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes (General) Regulation (Cap. 485 sub. leg.) (Commencement) Notice 199969/99
6.Provident Fund Schemes Legislation (Amendment) Ordinance 1998 (4 of 1998) (Commencement) Notice 199970/99
7.Port Control (Cargo Working Areas) (Amendment) Regulation 199971/99
8.Occupational Retirement Schemes (Notices of Changes) Rules (L.N. 360 of 1998) (Commencement) Notice 199972/99
9.Occupational Retirement Schemes (Authentication and Certification of Documents) (Amendment) Rules 1998 (L.N. 361 of 1998) (Commencement) Notice 199973/99
10.Occupational Retirement Schemes (Fees) (Amendment) Rules 1998 (L.N. 362 of 1998) (Commencement) Notice 199974/99
11.Business Registration (Amendment) Ordinance 1999 (3 of 1999) (Commencement) Notice 199975/99
12.District Councils Ordinance (8 of 1999) (Commencement) Notice 199977/99


Sessional Papers

1.No.107- Occupational Safety and Health Council
Annual Report 1997-98

(to be presented by Secretary for Education and Manpower)

2.No.108-Hospital Authority
Annual Report 1997-1998 with Statement of Accounts and Auditors' Report

(to be presented by Secretary for Health and Welfare)

3.No.109-Report and Statement of Accounts of the Samaritan Fund together with the Director of Audit's Report for the year ended 31 March 1998

(to be presented by Secretary for Health and Welfare)

4.No.110-Aids Trust Fund
1997-98 Annual Accounts together with the Director of Audit's Report

(to be presented by Secretary for Health and Welfare)


II. Questions for Written Replies

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

It is reported that according to a research study, if air pollution continues to worsen, Hong Kong will become an uninhabitable place in 15 years' time. One of the contributors to air pollution in Hong Kong is the use of low-grade diesel purchased in the Mainland by the returning cross-border heavy goods vehicles. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

  1. of the annual average figures in respect of the following in various areas of Hong Kong over the past three years:

    1. the air pollution index; and

    2. The concentrations of respirable suspended particulates, nitrogen dioxide and ozone in the air;

  2. how these figures compare with those in major cities in the world; and

  3. whether it has assessed the impact of the use of low-grade diesel purchased in the Mainland by the returning cross-border vehicles on the air quality in Hong Kong, and the measures in place to deter such a practice?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Planning, Environment and Lands

2. Hon Bernard CHAN to ask:

It is reported that the Singaporean Government is setting up a Centre for Drug Evaluation in respect of new drugs for registration. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it has similar plans to establish such centre in Hong Kong, particularly in respect of Chinese medicine; if it has, of the steps it will take to ensure its competitiveness among drug evaluation centres in the region; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply: Secretary for Health and Welfare

3. Hon Michael HO to ask: (Translation)

It is reported that on average 400 packets of blood donated by the public were discarded by the Hong Kong Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service ("BTS") under the Hospital Authority ("HA") in each of the past six months. In response, the BTS indicated that the annual surplus-supply rate of blood stock during the period from 1995 to 1998 was less than 1%, which was lower than the international standard of 5%. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

  1. of the details of the international standard;

  2. whether it knows:

    1. the BTS's criteria for determining the quantities of blood to be collected and stored;

    2. the respective quantities of blood collected and discarded by the BTS in each of the past 36 months; the total quantities of blood discarded by all hospitals in each month during the same period; and

    3. the average quantities of blood disposed of in other countries during the same period; and

  3. whether it has issued any guidelines to the HA on matters relating to blood stock, including setting of the standard surplus supply rate; if so, the details of them?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health and Welfare

4. Hon LAW Chi-kwong to ask: (Translation)

Will the Government inform this Council of the following statistical breakdowns relating to persons, divided into groups by sex and age (with each age group covering 10 years), who came to settle in Hong Kong from the Mainland last year:

  1. the number and percentage of such persons in the relevant age group of the male and female populations of Hong Kong;

  2. the percentage of those who were allowed to come to Hong Kong for settlement on the grounds of family reunion in each age group of the male and female Mainland migrants concerned; and

  3. the percentage of holders of Certificate of Entitlement in each age group of the male and female Mainland migrants concerned?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

5. Hon SIN Chung-kai to ask:

Regarding the pilot scheme in respect of the application of information technology ("IT") in schools, will the Government inform this Council:

  1. of the criteria used in selecting the participating schools and the measures taken to ensure fairness in fund allocation;

  2. of the amount of money granted to each school in the scheme;

  3. of the progress and estimated completion time of its evaluation of the scheme; and

  4. whether it will consider providing funds to all schools for them to undertake IT projects; if so, the estimated total costs and the sources of funds; if not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply: Secretary for Education and Manpower

6. Hon Eric LI to ask: (Translation)

Regarding the granting of funds for various research projects by the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows of the following:

  1. the number of research projects approved by the Council in the past three years that were directly related to policy matters and people's livelihood in the territory; the total amount granted and the percentage of such grants out of the total amount granted by the Council;

  2. whether people from the relevant sector or professionals concerned were involved in the approval of grants for these research projects; and

  3. the mechanism in place to prevent overseas academics from obtaining grants to conduct researches that have no direct bearing on the territory during their short stay in Hong Kong?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education and Manpower

7. Hon Christine LOH to ask:

Regarding the proposal to build a Walt Disney theme park on Lantau Island, will the Government inform this Council:

  1. of the body or Government department that will enter into contracts with the Walt Disney Company;

  2. whether this Council will be consulted about various details, such as the terms of the draft contracts, the concessions made and the infrastructure to be provided by the Government, before the contracts are signed;

  3. whether the Government will compare the overall benefits to tourism and the economy which will be derived from Government's investments in the theme park project, to those benefits which will be gained if such investments are put to other uses; and

  4. how the port development plans on Lantau Island will be affected, and if the port facilities have to be relocated, of the recommended alternative locations?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Economic Services

8. Dr Hon David LI to ask:

According to a survey conducted by the Federation of Youth Groups, almost half of the young people interviewed believe that there is nothing wrong in buying pirated goods, whilst one third of them have no idea that laws protecting intellectual property rights have been enacted and another one third consider that a thriving market in fake items helps reviving the economy. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:

  1. it will step up efforts to promote the protection of intellectual property rights in primary and secondary schools; and

  2. it will consider launching specific educational programmes and providing additional funding for such programmes?
Public Officer to reply: Secretary for Trade and Industry

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

It is reported that the New World First Bus Services Limited and the Citybus Limited have, without the approval of the authorities, altered the routes of some scheduled buses. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:

  1. the authorities have detected any unauthorized alteration of bus routes by franchised bus companies (except alterations necessitated by emergencies on the road) during the past year; if so, the details of that, and whether prosecutions have been instituted against the bus companies concerned; if prosecutions have been instituted, the number of them; if prosecutions have not been instituted, the reasons for that; and

  2. it has assessed the impacts on the rights of passengers in case of traffic accidents involving buses running on unauthorized routes; and whether there were cases in which the passengers involved in such accidents were denied compensation?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport

10. Hon Emily LAU to ask:

Will the Executive Authorities inform this Council:

  1. of the respective numbers of men and women in the overall membership of the 350 government advisory and statutory bodies;

  2. of the respective numbers of men and women on the Home Affairs Bureau's database on persons who have a record of or interest in public service; and

  3. whether they have formulated plans to boost the number of women appointed to such bodies?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs

11. Hon Bernard CHAN to ask:

At present, private car drivers picking up passengers in the airport at Chek Lap Kok can park their cars only at the fee-charging car parks, which offer no grace period for short stay. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council if it knows:

  1. whether the Airport Authority had surveyed the practices in other major international airports before it made the decision of not providing a free pick-up area; if so, the results of the survey;

  2. whether the Airport Authority has plans to designate such a pick-up area for private cars; if not, the reasons for that; and

  3. given the long walking distance from the arrival hall to the car park, whether the Airport Authority will consider providing more convenient picking up arrangements for arriving business leaders?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Economic Services

12. Hon Christine LOH to ask:

With regard to the museums managed by the two Provisional Municipal Councils, will the Government inform this Council:

  1. of the categories of collections currently held in such museums;

  2. whether it has estimated the value of such collections by category; and

  3. of the current ownership and management responsibility of such collections; and how these will be affected upon dissolution of the two Provisional Municipal Councils?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs

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

Will the Government inform this Council whether:

  1. it knows the numbers of new cases of various types of cancer in each of the past three years; whether the numbers are on the rise, and how they compare with the corresponding figures in other cities with similar levels of development;

  2. it knows the types of cancer which are more commonly found in Hong Kong than in the cities of western countries, and the reasons for that;

  3. it knows the main causes of the three types of cancer with the highest incidence rates in Hong Kong; and

  4. it has any plan to step up educational programmes designed to enhance the awareness of the public about cancer and its causes?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health and Welfare

14. Hon Emily LAU to ask:

It is reported that some funeral parlours refuse to handle dead bodies of AIDS patients or to provide funeral services for them. In this connection, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council whether they have received such complaints; if so:

  1. whether they have investigated such complaints; and

  2. of the names of the funeral parlours which were the subjects of the substantiated complaint cases; and the actions they have taken in respect of such funeral parlours?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs

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

Regarding the occupancy position of industrial estates and the effectiveness of the industrial estates scheme, will the Government inform this Council:

  1. of the proportion of the total area of land occupied by factories in operation to the total leasable area of land in these estates;

  2. of the proportion of tenants who have vacated the sites to the total number of tenants;

  3. of the ways to dispose of the factories vacated by tenants; whether such vacant factories will be re-let to new tenants; and

  4. as the leased area of land in the Tseung Kwan O Industrial Estate only accounts for half of the total leasable area, whether it will review the effectiveness of the industrial estates scheme and consider re-designating the unleased land of the said industrial estate as a science park; if this will not be considered, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply: Secretary for Trade and Industry

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

Will the Government inform this Council:

  1. of the number of forged travel documents seized in each of the past three years;

  2. whether it has been notified by other countries of any detected cases involving the holding and the use of forged passports of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region ("HKSAR") of the People's Republic of China within their territories since the issuance of the HKSAR passports; if so, the number of forged passports involved in those cases; and

  3. whether it has assessed the adequacy of the security design of the HKSAR passports; if it is assessed as inadequate, the plans to improve the security design of such passports?
Public Officer to reply: Secretary for Security

17. Hon Michael HO to ask: (Translation)

It is reported that antibiotics are commonly used by the agricultural and fisheries industries in Hong Kong, which has resulted in the emergence of drug-resistant bacteria. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:

  1. it knows if it is common for the agricultural and fisheries industries in Hong Kong to mix antibiotics into the feed, and whether any survey has been conducted on the dosage of antibiotics used in the feed by the agricultural and fisheries industries in Hong Kong;

  2. it knows the percentage of antibiotics used by the agricultural and fisheries industries against the total amount used in Hong Kong last year; how such percentage compares with the global percentage as surveyed by the World Health Organisation;
  3. the use of antibiotics by agricultural and fisheries industries and veterinary surgeons in Hong Kong is regulated by the Agriculture and Fisheries Department; if so, the details of that; and

  4. measures will be formulated to monitor or control the use of antibiotics; if so, the details of them; if not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Economic Services

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

Will the Government inform this Council:

  1. of the respective numbers of government and aided secondary schools the libraries of which are equipped with computerized retrieval and circulation systems at present; the respective proportions of these schools to the total numbers of government and aided secondary schools; and

  2. whether there is any plan to subsidize the remaining government and aided secondary schools in installing such computer systems in their libraries; if so, of the estimated costs involved; if not, why not?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education and Manpower

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

Will the Government inform this Council:

  1. of the following in each of the past three years:

    1. The number of pensioners in the Government payroll;

    2. the total amount of pensions paid to the 10% lowest-paid pensioners in the Government payroll and the proportion of this amount in the Government's overall expenditure on pensions;

    3. the number of pensioners whose pensions were less than the standard amount payable to single persons for the same year under the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance Scheme; and

    4. whether there is any plan to review, in the consultancy study on the civil service retirement benefits schemes, if the pensions of low-income civil servants will be adequate to meet their basic needs in daily lives; if not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Civil Service

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

It is learnt that the accounts of a number of listed companies were only found to be irregular after the companies' financial hardship came to the surface and the auditors of such companies had not been able to uncover such irregularities during the regular audit exercises. On the other hand, quite a number of newly listed companies reported profits which fall far short of the profit estimates made in their prospectuses. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it has assessed:

  1. how the above situations are related to the professional competence and conduct of auditors; and

  2. if the existing legislation is adequate for regulating the work of auditors; if it has, the details of the assessment; if not, whether it will conduct such assessment; as well as the plans it has to strengthen the regulation of auditors?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Financial Services

III . Bills

Second Reading (Debate to resume)

Appropriation Bill 1999 : Financial Secretary

Clerk to the Legislative Council