 |
A 11/12-23
Legislative Council
Agenda
Wednesday 28 March 2012 at 11:00 am
I. Tabling of Papers
| Subsidiary Legislation / Instruments | L.N. No. |
|---|
| 1. | Securities and Futures (Offences and Penalties) (Amendment) Regulation 2012 | 45/2012
| | 2. | Air Pollution Control (Vehicle Design Standards) (Emission) (Amendment) Regulation 2012 | 46/2012
| | 3. | Higher Rights of Audience Rules | 47/2012
| | 4. | Securities and Futures (Short Position Reporting) Rules | 48/2012
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Other Papers
| 1. | No. 83 | - | Report by the Commissioner of Correctional Services of Hong Kong Incorporated on the Administration of the Correctional Services Department Welfare Fund for the year ended 31 March 2011
| (to be presented by the Secretary for Security)
| | 2. | No. 84 | - | Financial Reporting Council Annual Report 2011
| (to be presented by the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury)
| | 3. | Report of the Legislative Council Investigation Committee established under Rule 49B(2A) of the Rules of Procedure in respect of the Motion to censure Honourable KAM Nai-wai
| (to be presented by Hon Mrs Sophie LEUNG, Chairman of the Investigation Committee, who will address the Council)
| | 4. | Report No. 15/11-12 of the House Committee on Consideration of Subsidiary Legislation and Other Instruments
| (to be presented by Hon Miriam LAU, Chairman of the House Committee)
| | 5. | Report of the Bills Committee on Road Traffic (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2011
| | (to be presented by Hon Miriam LAU, Chairman of the Bills Committee)
|
II. Questions for Written Replies
1. Hon Tommy CHEUNG to ask: (Translation)
The Government has indicated that, through close collaboration between the insurance industry and other stakeholders to combat insurance fraud and reduce accidents, there will be room to lower insurance premiums if insurance claims could be reduced, thus alleviating the difficulties of small and medium enterprises in taking out insurance. However, I still received a lot of complaints from the catering sector recently that after they encountered fraudulent insurance claims for employment injury compensation and reported such cases to the Police, their cases were turned away. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the respective number of cases accepted for investigation in each of the past three years by the Insurance Fraud Focus Group and the Maintenance and Champerty Focus Group set up by the Commercial Crime Bureau of the Police; and among such cases, of the respective numbers of those in which the persons involved were convicted as well as those which involved the catering sector;
| | (b) | of the circumstances under which frontline police officers will refer suspected fraudulent insurance claims received by them to the focus groups mentioned in (a); how it ensures that frontline police officers will not turn away relevant cases merely based on their subjective judgement that the cases are too minor; and
| | (b) | how it steps up publicity efforts to help members of the sector know the channels and ways to seek assistance from the relevant focus groups of the Police when they encounter suspected fraudulent insurance claims?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security
2. Hon WONG Yuk-man to ask: (Translation)
Medical incidents occur in public hospitals one after another in recent years, resulting in the partial loss of functional capacity of quite a number of patients and even the loss of lives. The hospitals did not make announcement to the public and the media on the incidents on many occasions on the ground that such incidents were not among the types of events required to be reported under the Hospital Authority’s ("HA") sentinel and serious untoward events policy ("types of reportable events"). For instance, it was reported in February this year by the media that a doctor at Prince of Wales Hospital used a ventouse to extract a baby in the course of delivery in September last year, and the baby was later confirmed to have a cerebral haemorrhage, but the hospital denied that this was a medical incident and did not give an account of the incident to the public. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:
| (a) | if HA has any plan to revise the "types of reportable events" at present; if not, the reasons for that; and
| | (b) | given that HA currently requires public hospitals to report all sentinel and serious untoward events to the HA Head Office within 24 hours, what measures HA has in place to ensure that the hospitals under it comply with the requirements of such reporting mechanism?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health
3. Hon Mrs Regina IP to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported by overseas media that Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. ("LB Holdings"), an investment bank which filed for bankruptcy protection, announced on 6 March this year that it had formally exited from the bankruptcy protection process which lasted for as long as three years, which means that LB Holdings may start selling its remaining assets (including bonds and real estate, etc.) step-by-step for settlement of its debts with various creditors. According to LB Holdings, the first group of payments, which is expected to exceed US$10 billion, can be paid back to its creditors from 17 April this year onwards at the earliest. In Hong Kong, quite a number of investors, who still hold Lehman Brothers-related Minibonds and other structured financial products ("the investors"), have yet to obtain any compensation as they have not yet reached settlement agreements with the distributing banks of such products. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:
| (a) | the authorities have assessed if the aforesaid investors will obtain any compensation from LB Holdings; if such an assessment has been made, of the estimated time when the investors will receive their compensation; and
| | (b) | the Government will assist the investors in Hong Kong in striving for compensation from LB Holdings?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
4. Hon Alan LEONG to ask: (Translation)
While the occupants have been moving into the three new public housing estates (namely Choi Fook Estate, Choi Tak Estate and Choi Ying Estate) in Kowloon Bay one after another, some residents have relayed to me that the ancillary facilities in the district in respect of transport and daily necessities remain inadequate. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | given that at present the residents in the district only rely on public light bus routes 83A and 83M as well as several franchised bus routes for transport connection, and some residents have pointed out that their services are completely inadequate, causing inconvenience particularly to the elderly and chronic patients to travel in and out of the district, whether the Transport Department has carried out any transport and traffic assessment so as to ensure that the public transport service currently provided is sufficient to meet the needs of the population of the three new housing estates; if it has, of the conclusion; if not, the reasons for that;
| | (b) | whether the Government has requested the transport operators to re-align their franchised bus routes or public light bus routes which run through the district or its vicinity, so as to facilitate the residents to travel in and out of the district; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
| | (c) | given that the existing ancillary facilities in respect of daily necessities in the district comprise only large supermarkets and chain stores but lack small shops such as "tea restaurants" and grocery stores, etc. that suit the standard of living of public housing tenants, whether the Government had considered matching the types of shops with the needs of the residents when planning for the relevant housing estates; if it had, whether it has assessed if there is a mismatch now; if it had not, of the reasons for that; and
| | (d) | given that no basic ancillary facility for housing estates such as large wet market, etc. has been completed so far since the occupation of the three housing estates, whether the Government has a timetable for building a wet market in the district; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport and Housing
5. Hon CHEUNG Man-kwong to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the utilization of education resources by local and non-local students, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether it knows the respective numbers of local and non-local students of each University Grant Committee ("UGC")-institution in each of the past three academic years, broken down by academic level and funding mode (i.e. UGC-funded and self-financing modes) of programmes; the places of origin of the non-local students (set out in detail the mainland cities, Asian cities or other regions, etc. they are from);
| | (b) | whether it knows, in each of the past three academic years, the respective numbers of hostel places provided by each UGC-funded institution for local and non-local students, as well as the respective numbers of local and non-local students who had applied for and were allocated hostel places, broken down by academic level and funding mode of programmes;
| | (c) | regarding the policy that all undergraduate students should be given an opportunity to stay in student hostels for at least one year of their studies, i.e. one-year hostel accommodation during the three-/four-year period of their studies, whether it knows, in the past three academic years as well as in the coming academic year, which funded institutions could not or may not be able to follow this policy to allocate hostel places to such students, as well as the number of those students not being offered at least one-year hostel accommodation during the three-/four-year period of their studies and the percentage of them in the total number of students of the institutions concerned; the solutions such institutions have put in place to solve the problem of not being able to allocate hostel places according to that policy;
| | (d) | whether it knows the average number of years of student hostel accommodation which can be arranged for each non-local student by each UGC-funded institution at present, broken down by academic level and funding mode of programmes;
| | (e) | whether it knows the amounts of funding for scholarships allocated from public funds to various UGC-funded institutions in each of the past three academic years, the respective numbers of local and non-local students who had applied for and were awarded this type of scholarships as well as the amounts they received, and the respective percentages of these two types of students who were awarded such scholarships, broken down by academic level and funding mode of programmes; what monitoring mechanism the Government and UGC have put in place to ensure the impartiality of all UGC-funded institutions in assessing and allocating various scholarships; what mechanism each UGC-funded institution has put in place to handle grievances and complaints concerning the assessment and allocation of scholarship;
| | (f) | whether it knows the policies or mechanism each UGC-funded institution has put in place to ensure that in approving and allocating study places, hostel accommodation and scholarships, the resources provided can first meet the needs of local students;
| | (g) | given that it was proposed in the 2006-2007 Policy Address that an inter-bureau steering committee chaired by the Chief Secretary for Administration ("the Steering Committee") would examine strategic issues relating to promoting Hong Kong as a regional education hub, and one of the issues under its purview was to consider whether the Government should provide hostel facilities or subsidize the provision of such facilities in the light of the lack of hostel facilities which had become the major barrier encountered by institutions in admitting non-local students, of the number of meetings the Steering Committee has held so far since its establishment; and whether it has offer any specific solution for addressing the demand for hostel places from non-local students; and
| | (h) | whether the Government had, prior to promoting Hong Kong as an education hub or the education services, correspondingly increased the resources and formulated policies, so as to ensure that inadequate resources would not lead to conflict between local and non-local students; if it had, what relevant measures it had put in place; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education
6. Hon CHEUNG Kwok-che to ask: (Translation)
With respect to vocational rehabilitation service, 15 social service units are at present participating in Sunnyway - On the Job Training Programme for Young People with Disabilities ("Sunnyway") to provide supported employment services to young people with disabilities or early signs of mental illness, with a view to enhancing their employability. Some members of the sector have reflected that as Sunnyway only targets at young people aged between 15 to 25, the number of participants of the programme is smaller than expected. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the original estimate of places that may be offered under Sunnyway and the actual number of participants in each of the past three years, broken down by the social service unit participating in Sunnyway and set out in the table below;
| broken down by the social service unit participating in Sunnyway and set out in the table below
| 2009-2010
| 2010-2011
| 2011-2012 |
| Estimated numbers of places to be offered under Sunnyway
| Actual numbers of participants of Sunnyway
| Estimated numbers of places to be offered under Sunnyway
| Actual numbers of participants of Sunnyway
| Estimated numbers of places to be offered under Sunnyway
| Actual numbers of participants of Sunnyway |
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| | (b) | whether the Social Welfare Department will consider removing the age limit of Sunnyway immediately so as to optimize the use of places available under it and minimize or avoid surplus places;
| | (c) | of the number and percentage of Sunnyway participants who succeeded in seeking employment in each of the past three years, together with the respective numbers and percentages of those participants, broken down by cohort of participants, who had worked continuously for half a year or more and for one year or more; how the authorities enhance the stability and continuity of the participants’ employment; and
| | (d) | among each cohort of participants who had completed Sunnyway in the past three years, of the number and percentage of those who so far had not yet found a job; and regarding those who had already completed the programme for one year but still had not found a job, whether the social service units concerned need to continue to provide training services for them; if so, of the amount of funding allocated by the authorities for providing training to this type of participants; if not, what other services the authorities provide to help them?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Labour and Welfare
7. Hon LAU Kong-wah to ask: (Translation)
A recent survey has revealed that quite a number of elderly people have depression problem, and nearly 30% of the elderly people are not satisfied with their own physical conditions, while nearly 40% of them would rather stay at home instead of going out to do something new. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether the Government has compiled statistics on the current number of elderly people in Hong Kong who have symptoms of depression among those who are aged over 60; among these elderly people, of the number of those who have sought medical help for depression;
| | (b) | whether the authorities will step up their efforts in helping elderly people suffering from depression to receive treatment and counselling, and whether they have plans to step up their efforts in helping and encouraging elderly people to participate in more community activities so as to increase contacts with their neighbours and live a healthy and pleasant life in their twilight years; and
| | (c) | given that Hong Kong will face the problem of an ageing population, whether the Government has assessed if the problem of depression among the elderly people shows a deteriorating trend and its impact on society?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health
8. Hon WONG Ting-kwong to ask: (Translation)
Earlier on, the report of a survey has pointed out that more than 46% of the people in Hong Kong are in the class of overweight or obesity, and that as people grow older, they are more likely to lose control over their weight. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether the authorities have recently conducted relevant surveys on obese people in Hong Kong; if they have, of the findings; if not, the reasons for that;
| | (b) | of the percentage of obese people in Hong Kong at present; how this figure compares with the relevant figures in other developed countries (e.g. Japan and Korea, etc.) in Asia and the Pacific region;
| | (c) | whether the authorities have assessed the impact of the problem of obesity of Hong Kong people and aggravation of the problem by an ageing population in the future on public health expenditure and the socio-economic development of Hong Kong; if they have, of the specific findings; if not, the reasons for that;
| | (d) | whether the Government is reviewing the overall effectiveness of the various campaigns implemented to promote a healthy lifestyle among the public at present; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
| | (e) | whether the authorities have considered setting promoting fitness for all a priority social policy; if they have not, of the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health
9. Dr Hon Joseph LEE to ask: (Translation)
The Audit Commission published the report on the results of value for money audits in October 2011, which pointed out that the Auxiliary Medical Service is deficient in managing duty attendance, it had not conducted any review of emergency stores for nearly 20 years, with some of the items being overstocked, having expired or being damaged, and the ambulances were even used for delivering first aid stores and equipment. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the present number of this type of auxiliary forces in Hong Kong, and the policy bureaux responsible for managing the various auxiliary forces;
| | (b) | of the respective numbers of full-time staff and voluntary workers in the various auxiliary forces in the past three years; the annual expenditure on the salaries for such staff and the total annual expenditures of the various auxiliary forces;
| | (c) | of the details of the authorities’ monitoring mechanism on auxiliary forces at present; whether they regularly review the auxiliary forces’ operation and use of funds, or request the auxiliary forces to submit work reports on a regular basis; if they do, of the details; if not, whether consideration will be given to conducting a comprehensive review of the operation of the various auxiliary forces;
| | (d) | whether the authorities had assessed the inadequacy of the various auxiliary forces in administrative management or allocation of resources in the past three years; if they had, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
| | (e) | whether the authorities had offered any recommendation or assistance to the various auxiliary forces in the past three years in relation to their operation so as to improve or enhance the efficiency in their administrative management and allocation of resources; if they had, of the details; if not, whether consideration will be given to making such offers in the future?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security
10. Hon IP Wai-ming to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that from late last year to early this year, accidents involving escalators occurred one after another in railway premises, and passengers are concerned about the safety of MTR’s lifts and escalators. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council if it knows:
| (a) | the current numbers of lifts and escalators in railway premises, their years of service and the stations in which they are located, and whether they are covered by manufacturers’ warranties;
| | (b) | the respective numbers of accidents involving lifts and escalators in railway premises as well as the number of passengers injured in each of the past three years, together with a breakdown by station and whether or not the lifts and escalators were under manufacturers’ warranties; and
| | (c) | the expenditure incurred by the MTR Corporation Limited on the maintenance of lifts and escalators in railway premises in each of the past three years?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport and Housing
11. Dr Hon PAN Pey-chyou to ask: (Translation)
In April last year, the staff of an outsourced cleansing service contractor of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department had incorrectly mixed cleansing agents, which caused an explosion and led to the death of a female cleansing worker. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether it knows the total number of privately run cleansing service companies in Hong Kong at present and the number of cleansing workers employed by these companies;
| | (b) | of the number of industrial accidents caused by incorrectly mixing chemicals which occurred in Hong Kong in the past three years as well as the number of employees involved in such accidents, broken down by year, job type as well as category of the accidents;
| | (c) | how the Government ensures the provision of adequate guidelines on occupational safety as well as relevant training for employees by privately run cleansing service companies;
| | (d) | in the past three years, of the number of inspections conducted by the Labour Department ("LD") of privately run cleansing service companies, and the number of employers concerned who were being prosecuted for contravening the occupational safety and health requirements, broken down by year and category of the prosecutions instituted; whether LD has formulated corresponding measures and organized publicity and promotional campaigns to increase the awareness of cleansing workers towards occupational safety and health; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
| | (e) | whether the Government has any plan to comprehensively review and step up the existing regulation regarding the safeguard for the occupational safety and health of cleansing workers by privately run cleansing service companies, including amending the legislation to specifically regulate how such companies safeguard the occupational safety and health of cleansing workers, etc.; if it has, of the details and the relevant timetable; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Labour and Welfare
12. Hon Paul CHAN to ask: (Translation)
It had been shown in the Budgets in the past five years that the fiscal surpluses had often been grossly underestimated by the Government, and there had been, among others, huge difference between the estimated and actual revenues from salaries tax and profits tax. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the estimated and actual amounts of the total revenues from salaries tax and profits tax in each of the past five years of assessment, together with the respective percentages of differences between the two amounts (set out in table form by year of assessment);
| | (b) | of the process and means by which the Government had assessed and estimated the revenues from salaries tax and profits tax in the past five years of assessment; and the reasons for grossly underestimating the actual tax revenues; and
| | (c) | whether the Government has reviewed the current process for assessing and estimating tax revenues with a view to rectifying the situation of grossly underestimating revenues from salaries tax and profits tax; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
13. Hon WONG Sing-chi to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the direct issue of Hong Kong full driving licence without test and Guangdong/Hong Kong cross-boundary vehicles, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | given that the Transport and Housing Bureau indicated in its reply to a question raised by a Member of this Council on 29 February this year that "[t]he Transport Department attaches great importance to possible abuse associated with the arrangement of direct issue of Hong Kong full driving licence. It will conduct investigation into applications suspected to involve the use of fraudulent documents. These cases may also be referred to the Police for consideration of taking prosecution actions depending on the circumstances":
| | (i) | whether it had conducted investigation into abuse associated with the arrangement of direct issue of Hong Kong full driving licence without test or applications involving the use of fraudulent documents in the past five years, and whether the Police had initiated any prosecution against such acts; if so, of the details, together with a breakdown by year; and
| | (ii) | whether any person had been found in the past five years to have obtained Hong Kong driving licence using fraudulent documents and the licence was subsequently cancelled; if so, of the details, together with a breakdown by year;
| | (b) | whether it knows the respective numbers of vehicles issued with Guangdong and Hong Kong licences and of drivers holding Guangdong and Hong Kong driving licences in the past five years; among them, the respective numbers and proportion of the licences registered on the Mainland and those registered in Hong Kong; the respective numbers of cases involving applicants directly issued with mainland driving licences on the strength of their Hong Kong driving licences, and those cases involving applicants directly issued with Hong Kong driving licences on the strength of their mainland driving licences, with a breakdown by year;
| | (c) | of the respective numbers of vehicle licence plates prefixed with FU or FV allocated under the international circulation permits issued by the authorities to vehicles registered outside Hong Kong in each of the past five years, as well as the criteria and standards based on which the authorities issued such licence plates to vehicles;
| | (d) | of the number of vehicles travelling between Guangdong and Hong Kong in the past five years; whether it knows the details of the cases of violation of traffic regulations of Guangdong and Hong Kong involving such vehicles (including the numbers of speeding, dangerous driving and drink driving cases, the number of persons prosecuted, the number of accidents and casualties), together with a breakdown by year, which direction the vehicles were travelling to and from (travelling from Hong Kong to the Mainland and return as well as travelling from the Mainland to Hong Kong and return) and nature of violation;
| | (e) | of the current procedures for persons owning vehicles registered on the Mainland and holding mainland driving licences to apply for driving such vehicles in Hong Kong, whether the applicants are required to take tests again or attend driving courses; of the vetting work performed by the relevant government departments in Hong Kong; of the number of mainlanders applying to drive in Hong Kong in each of the past five years; and
| | (f) | if it knows the current procedures for persons owning vehicles registered in Hong Kong and holding Hong Kong driving licences to apply for driving such vehicles on the Mainland; whether such applicants are required to take tests again or attend driving courses; the vetting work performed by the relevant government departments on the Mainland; the numbers of Hong Kong people applying to drive on the Mainland in each of the past five years?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport and Housing
14. Hon James TO to ask: (Translation)
The authorities expect that the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2011 will be passed in this legislative session to enable the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority ("MPFA") to implement the Employee Choice Arrangement (also known as "Mandatory Provident Fund ("MPF") Semi-portability") under the MPF System in November this year. The authorities have pointed out that upon the formal implementation of MPF Semi-portability, the trade would conduct more proactive sales and marketing activities targeting at MPF scheme members. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether it knows the current progress of the implementation of MPF Semi-portability;
| | (b) | whether it knows, in response to the implementation of MPF Semi-portability, what measures MPFA, being the registration authority for intermediaries, has in place to monitor MPF sales activities;
| | (b) | given that upon the implementation of MPF Semi-portability, the intermediaries’ sales targets will be extended from employers to employees, whether it knows how MPFA ensures that intermediaries will provide employees with services which meet their needs; whether targeted requirements will be stipulated in the licensing or other conditions for intermediaries;
| | (b) | given that MPF intermediaries are not required under the existing regulations to make public their commission rates, whether it knows if MPFA will, upon the implementation of MPF Semi-portability, require corporate intermediaries to make public their commission rates;
| | (b) | whether the authorities have in place the timetable for implementing MPF Full Portability; if so, of the timetable;
| | (f) | given that recently there are again comments that the management fees for MPF schemes are too high and their rates of return are lower than that of the Tracker Fund of Hong Kong, whether the Government has other measures to lower the management fees and improve the return performance of MPF schemes, apart from lowering the management fees by implementing MPF Portability; and
| | (g) | regarding the suggestion that MPFA or the Hong Kong Monetary Authority may provide a choice of index funds (e.g. the Tracker Fund of Hong Kong) at low charges for MPF scheme members in order to reduce the overall management fees of MPF schemes by means of market forces, whether the Government will consider similar suggestions?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
15. Hon CHAN Hak-kan to ask: (Translation)
Quite a number of pet owners have relayed to me that at present, the authorities do not regulate pet food and that such food products vary in quality, affecting the health of pets and even causing the death of some pets. They criticized that there were loopholes in the current practice. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether it had conducted any sampling test on the safety of pet food and verified the accuracy of the package descriptions in the past five years; if it has, of the details, if not, the reasons for that;
| | (b) | whether it knows if the authorities or the Consumer Council had received any complaint about pet food in the past five years; if they had, the number of such complaints;
| | (c) | whether it knows, among the places of origin of the pet food which is imported to Hong Kong at present, those places of origin where pet food is subject to sampling inspections before it is exported or is regulated by relevant local legislation;
| | (d) | which government departments members of the public can approach to seek assistance when they suspect any inconsistency between the ingredients of pet food and its label information or contamination of pet food, together with the channels for seeking assistance; and
| | (e) | whether it will consider amending the relevant legislation to bring pet food under regulation; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health
16. Hon Starry LEE to ask: (Translation)
According to the information of the Transport Department, the rates of deviations of the actual bus trips from the scheduled trips ("lost trip rates") of franchised bus routes in the three districts of Kowloon City, Sham Shui Po and Yau Tsim Mong were -11.1%, -9.8% and -9.3% respectively last year and were the highest among other routes across the territory. The Government explained that lost trips of buses were attributed to traffic congestion, traffic incidents, breakdowns of vehicle and staff shortage. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the respective lost trip rates of the various franchised bus routes passing or terminating in the various districts mentioned above in the past three years (set out in table form);
| | (b) | of the respective numbers and nature of complaints concerning the franchised bus routes in (a) in the past three years; among such complaints, the number of those involving lost trips;
| | (c) | what specific solutions the franchised bus companies have for the problem of staff shortage; and
| | (d) | whether any specific action has been taken to improve the situation of lost trips of franchised buses?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport and Housing
17. Hon Audrey EU to ask: (Translation)
Recently, the practice of some mainland companies engaged in the research and development of bear bile products of collecting bear bile by extracting bile from live bears for making Chinese medicinal products has aroused discussion among the international media, which allege that such means of extraction is extremely cruel. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the current number of registered proprietary Chinese medicines ("pCm") in Hong Kong that contain ingredients from bear bladders; whether it knows if such products include those made from bear bile extracted from live bears; if it knows, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; whether it will require holders of Certificate of Registration of pCm to provide the relevant information;
| | (b) | of the current number of Chinese medicine traders who possess or are engaged in the retail and wholesale trade of Chinese herbal medicines that contain ingredients from bear bladders; whether it knows if such Chinese herbal medicines include those made from bear bile extracted from live bears; if it knows, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; whether it will require Chinese medicine traders to provide the relevant information;
| | (c) | whether traders can import and export Chinese herbal medicines, pCm or related products that contain ingredients from bear bladders under the existing legislation; whether it knows if any trader is engaged in the import and export of Chinese herbal medicines, pCm or related products made from bear bile extracted from live bears; if it knows, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; whether it will require the importers and the exporters to provide the relevant information; and
| | (d) | whether it will introduce legislation to ban the possession, import/export, retail and wholesale of Chinese herbal medicines made from bear bile extracted from live bears?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health
18. Hon Albert CHAN to ask: (Translation)
I have learnt that once the Social Welfare Department, the Housing Department and the Hong Kong Housing Society approve the applications for grant for emergency alarm system ("EAS") for elderly recipients, EAS service to all these applicants will be provided by the same service provider, and the amount of EAS grant involved in the services provided by that service provider has amounted to tens of millions of dollars in aggregation. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | of the respective numbers of applications for EAS grant received by various government departments concerned in each of the past three years;
| | (b) | of the names of the service providers which had been referred new cases of EAS grant by the government departments concerned and provided EAS services to these applicants, as well as the numbers of new cases referred by the government departments concerned to each service provider, in each of the past three years;
| | (c) | of the respective amounts of EAS grant involved in the EAS services provided by various service providers mentioned in (b) for cases referred by the government departments concerned in each of the past three years; and
| | (d) | whether there are measures in place to ensure a level playing field in respect of the referral of cases of EAS grant to various EAS service providers by the government departments concerned; if there are, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Labour and Welfare
19. Hon Abraham SHEK to ask:
It has been reported that a local Secondary Four student of Indian origin and her two brothers are going to sit for the General Certificate of Education Examinations ("GCE"), and it will cost the family a total of $12,000 to pay the examination fees if they take all the GCE subjects, and the examination fee of GCE Advanced Supplementary Level ("AS-level")/Advanced Level ("A-level") Chinese subject is already $2,720/$4,080, which is higher than that of the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education ("HKDSE") Chinese Language examination of $540 paid by a local secondary student. It has also been reported that there are some 150 ethnic minority ("EM") students who want to sit for the examinations of GCE Chinese subject, but no financial assistance has been provided by the Government. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | given that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is bound by the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and that the Race Discrimination Ordinance (Cap. 602) has been enacted, whether it has assessed if the difference in the examination fee level set for local secondary students and that for EM students constitutes discrimination against EM students; if the assessment result is in the affirmative, of the details, and the measures it has taken to address the situation; if the assessment result is in the negative, the reasons for that;
| | (b) | of the respective numbers of EM students who had sat for the examinations of General Certificate of Secondary Examination, and GCE AS-level and A-level Chinese subject in each of the past three years; whether it has considered any measure to provide financial assistance or scholarships to EM students who have to sit for such examinations due to academic and employment needs, with a view to meeting their financial needs in paying the relevant examination fees; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
| | (c) | given that according to the government statistics in 2006, the median monthly income from main employment of the working ethnic minorities was $3,500, whether the Government has assessed if the current examination fees for GCE AS-level and A-level Chinese subject are at an affordable level for the families of EM students; if the assessment result is in the negative, of the principles it adopted and the factors it considered when determining the levels of such fees, and whether it has considered reducing such fees; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
| | (d) | of the total cost of the manpower and resources incurred for organizing the examinations of GCE AS-level and A-level Chinese subject in the past three years, and whether the total amount of examination fees received from EM students taking such examinations were adequate in offsetting the total organizing cost; if a surplus was recorded after deducting the total cost, of the details of how the surplus was used; if a deficit was recorded, whether the Government has conducted an assessment to evaluate the effectiveness of organizing the examinations of GCE AS-level and A-level Chinese subject as alternatives to the HKDSE Chinese Language examination; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
| | (e) | given that a non-governmental organization ("NGO"), which fights for EM’s interest, had sought help from the Community Care Fund ("CCF") to subsidise EM students in need to pay for the examination fees for GCE AS/A-level subjects, but was rejected, of the reasons for CCF to refuse to grant subsidy to the NGO concerned for such purpose; whether the Government will suggest CCF to re-consider approving similar requests for subsidy in the coming financial year?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education
20. Hon KAM Nai-wai to ask: (Translation)
Regarding Hong Kong’s contingency plan in respect of nuclear incidents, will the Government inform this Council:
| (a) | whether it has assessed the number of people in Hong Kong to be evacuated when the Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant is under an Off-Site Emergency situation (i.e. the radiological consequences of the emergency extend beyond the site boundary) and a reactor core meltdown takes place; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
| | (b) | whether the existing manpower and resources of the Government, as well as the load capacity of Hong Kong’s primary distributor roads, are adequate to cope with the need for people leaving Hong Kong in the event of nuclear incidents of varying levels; if so, of the details, if not, the reasons for that;
| | (c) | whether there will be electricity outages in various districts of the territory when a nuclear incident occurs at the Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant; if so, of the reasons for that, and what measures it has, including whether back-up power supply will be available for temporary use, to deal with the situation;
| | (d) | of the evacuation zone in Hong Kong when a nuclear incident of the same level as the one that took place in Fukushima of Japan last year occurs at the Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant; the criteria adopted for designating the evacuation zone; the criteria based on which the authorities determine whether it is necessary to extend the evacuation zone; and
| | (e) | given that the Security Bureau has announced earlier that it will conduct a drill under the Daya Bay Contingency Plan in the next quarter, of the details of the drill, including the exact date, scale as well as the participating government departments and organizations, etc.?
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Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security
III. Bills
Second Reading (Debates to resume), Committee Stage and Third Reading
| | 1. | Appropriation Bill 2012 | : | The Financial Secretary
| | Other Public Officers to attend the Second Reading debate | : | The Chief Secretary for Administration
Secretary for Education
Secretary for Food and Health
Secretary for Labour and Welfare
Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development
| | Amendments to heads of estimates in
committee of the whole Council on the Appropriation Bill 2012
| |
| (i) | Hon Albert CHAN to move the following motion:
Resolved that head 21 be reduced by $93,069,000 in respect of subhead 000.
| | Other Public Officer to attend
| : | Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs
| | (ii) | Hon Alan LEONG to move the following motion:
Resolved that head 21 be reduced by $1,055,640 in respect of subhead 000.
| | Other Public Officer to attend
| : | Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
| | (iii) | Hon Cyd HO to move the following motion:
Resolved that head 21 be reduced by $273,325 in respect of subhead 000.
| | Other Public Officer to attend
| : | Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs
| | (iv) | Hon Tanya CHAN to move the following motion:
Resolved that head 22 be reduced by $650,000 in respect of subhead 000.
| | Other Public Officer to attend
| : | Secretary for Food and Health
| | (v) | Hon James TO to move the following motion:
Resolved that head 122 be reduced by $64,740,000 in respect of subhead 000.
| | Other Public Officer to attend
| : | Secretary for Security
| | (vi) | Hon James TO to move the following motion:
Resolved that head 122 be reduced by $80,000,000 in respect of subhead 103.
| | Other Public Officer to attend
| : | Secretary for Security
| | (vii) | Hon WONG Yuk-man to move the following motion:
Resolved that head 142 be reduced by $85,760,000 in respect of subhead 000.
| | Other Public Officer to attend
| : | The Chief Secretary for Administration
| | (viii) | Hon Audrey EU to move the following motion:
Resolved that head 142 be reduced by $906,615 in respect of subhead 000.
| | Other Public Officer to attend
| : | Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
| | (ix) | Hon James TO to move the following motion:
Resolved that head 151 be reduced by $298,111 in respect of subhead 000.
| | Other Public Officer to attend
| : | Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
| | (x) | Hon Cyd HO to move the following motion:
Resolved that head 160 be reduced by $2,127,600 in respect of subhead 000.
| | Other Public Officer to attend
| : | Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development
| | (The amendments of Hon Albert CHAN, Hon Alan LEONG,
Hon Cyd HO, Hon Tanya CHAN, Hon James TO,
Hon WONG Yuk-man and Hon Audrey EU
were issued on 23 March 2012 under LC Paper No. CB(3)587/11-12)
|
| | 2. | Road Traffic (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2011 | : | Secretary for Transport and Housing
| | Secretary for Transport and Housing to move Committee stage amendments
(The amendments were issued on 20 March 2012
under LC Paper No. CB(3)576/11-12)
|
| 3. | Trade Descriptions (Amendment) Bill 2012 | : | Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development
|
IV. Members' Motions
Motion under Rule 49E(2) of the Rules of Procedure
Hon Miriam LAU to move the following motion:
That this Council takes note of Report No. 15/11-12 of the House Committee laid on the Table of the Council on 28 March 2012 in relation to the subsidiary legislation and instrument(s) as listed below:
| Item Number | Title of Subsidiary Legislation or Instrument
| | (1) | Rating (Exemption) Order 2012 (L.N. 14/2012).
|
Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
Clerk to the Legislative Council
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