A 13/14-12
Legislative Council
Agenda
Wednesday 18 December 2013 at 11:00 am
I. Tabling of Papers
| Subsidiary Legislation / Instruments | L.N. No. | |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Plant (Importation and Pest Control) (Quarantine Area) Order | 199/2013 |
| 2. | Declaration of Quarantine Area (Repeal) Order | 200/2013 |
| 3. | Education Ordinance (Amendment of Schedule 3) Notice 2013 | 201/2013 |
Other Papers
II. Questions
1. Ir Dr Hon LO Wai-kwok to ask: (Translation)
Currently, the Joint Office ("JO") set up by the Buildings Department and the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department is responsible for handling cases of inter-floor water seepage in buildings as well as coordinating investigations into and law enforcement actions about the relevant complaints. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the number of water seepage complaints received by JO this year to date, and how this figure compares with those of the past three years; of the respective numbers of cases concluded and those with the sources of water seepage established by JO, as well as the respective numbers of cases in which JO applied to the court for warrants for entry into premises and issued Nuisance Notices, in each of the past three years; (b) given that the processing of water seepage complaints entails the use of public resources, whether the authorities have any specific measure to prevent abuse of the complaint mechanism and eradicate false reports; if they have, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (c) as some professionals have pointed out to me that under certain circumstances, wrong conclusions on the sources of water seepage would be derived from the colour water tests currently adopted by JO, and that JO is exploring more effective methods for water seepage investigations and has recently commissioned a consultancy to pilot other testing equipment, of the preliminary outcome of such efforts; whether the Government has drawn up any timetable for the introduction of other testing methods or equipment to investigate the sources of water seepage; if no timetable is available, of the reasons for that?
2. Hon NG Leung-sing to ask: (Translation)
In recent years, given the advantages such as immediacy, unconstrained by time or location as well as low costs, etc., the conduct of financial transactions (including securities trading, fund transfer and trade settlements, etc.) through the Internet ("e-finance") has developed rapidly, and such transactions can be said to seep into every nook and cranny. However, some members of the finance industry have pointed out that as e-finance is a new and developing thing with cross-sector characteristics, and fake bank web sites have been uncovered from time to time in recent years, the risk involved in e-finance should not be overlooked. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) whether it has assessed the impact of e-finance on the development of the finance industry in Hong Kong; (b) whether it has assessed the risks faced by providers and clients of e-finance services; of the statistics on fake financial web sites and the number of reported fraud cases involving those web sites in the past three years; and (c) whether it has considered strengthening the regulation of the services of e-finance, including introducing a cross-sector and forward-looking financial risk regulatory regime and measures, so as to ensure the secure and sustainable development of e-finance?
3. Hon CHUNG Kwok-pan to ask: (Translation)
Some members of the industrial sector have pointed out that despite the Government's efforts to promote the development of various industries in recent years, it has not put forward any policy to boost the development of industries. Along with the upgrading and restructuring of industries, industrial activities in Hong Kong have evolved from focusing on the manufacturing process in the past into diversified developments comprising various parts such as design, research and development, market intelligence, management, after-sale services, marketing and exhibitions, etc. Meanwhile, with the increase in labour costs on the Mainland and the appreciation of Renminbi against Hong Kong dollars in recent years, quite a number of Hong Kong manufacturers who have set up factories on the Mainland intend to relocate the high-value added manufacturing processes back to Hong Kong. Regarding policies and measures to boost the development of industries, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) whether it will, as and when appropriate, review and revise the definition of "industrial use" promulgated by the Town Planning Board, and plan afresh the industrial land and related facilities in the territory, so as to boost the development of industries and related businesses in Hong Kong, encourage manufacturers to return to Hong Kong to develop the industries and facilitate their upgrading and restructuring, so as to address the excessive uniformity of Hong Kong's industrial structure; (b) given that the Planning Department conducted Area Assessments of Industrial Land in the Territory ("Area Assessments") in 2000, 2005 and 2009 respectively to identify suitable industrial land to be rezoned for non-industrial use (including residential use), of the progress of the Area Assessments being conducted currently; whether the authorities will, in response to the latest development needs of Hong Kong's economy and industries, examine the demand for industrial land in Hong Kong through the Area Assessments; and (c) since the current definition of "industrial use" provides that the usable floor area for showroom use in an industrial building must not exceed 20%, but there have been comments that marketing and exhibitions are important parts of industrial activities, whether the Government will examine the relaxation of this percentage to reduce the barriers to revitalizing industrial land?
4. Hon Gary FAN to ask: (Translation)
The Department of Health ("DH") is gradually outsourcing the health screening service ("screening service") provided at immigration control points ("control points"). Some health surveillance assistants ("HSAs") have indicated that they are worried about losing their jobs. They even query that DH has adopted harsh management measures and increased their work pressure recently, in an attempt to force them to resign so as to implement outsourcing of screening service. For example, some of the staff members who reside on Cheung Chau and had all along worked at the control point in Hong Kong-Macao Ferry Terminal have been deployed to work at the control point in Lok Ma Chau, and when they fail to spot mainland women who are pregnant for 28 weeks or more among the travellers arriving at Hong Kong, they will be required to write a report to give explanations. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) given the two recent cases of human infection of H7N9 avian influenza which were suspected to be imported from a place outside the territory, whether the authorities have assessed if the screening service contractors have sufficient manpower to cope with the demand for screening service in case of a major epidemic; if they have, of the details of the assessment; and how the authorities monitor the quality of the service provided by the additional staff members employed by the contractors; (b) of the number of non-local pregnant women spotted by HSAs through visual inspection at the control points in the past five years, and how the authorities assess the effectiveness of their work; and (c) given that some HSAs have pointed out that the number of mainland travellers visiting Hong Kong under the Individual Visit Scheme has continuously increased in recent years, and that due to the Immigration Department's gradual replacement of traditional counters with Automated Passenger Clearance System ("e-Channels") for immigration clearance for travellers holding electronic Exit-Entry Permits for Travelling to and from Hong Kong and Macao, the time for immigration clearance will be shortened, making it increasingly difficult for them to carry out the work of spotting non-local pregnant women through visual inspection, whether the authorities have reviewed the manpower of HSAs and the deployment of them to various posts, so as to alleviate the work pressure on these staff members?
5. Hon CHAN Han-pan to ask: (Translation)
It is learnt that some patients were triaged as semi-urgent when they sought treatments at the Accident and Emergency ("A&E") Department of the Prince of Wales Hospital ("PWH") and treated only after waiting for 26 hours. Meanwhile, given the ageing facilities and inadequate space in public hospitals, the Government is planning to apply to the Finance Committee of this Council for an allocation of $13 billion for carrying out minor works projects for public hospitals in the next five to 10 years with a view to improving their facilities. Regarding improvements to the services and facilities of public hospitals, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) as some members of the public living in areas without overnight out-patient services can only seek treatments at the A&E departments of public hospitals when they fall ill at night and if they are triaged as semi-urgent and non-urgent patients, their illnesses might be aggravated because of the exceedingly long waiting time for treatments, whether the authorities will encourage private healthcare institutions to enhance overnight out-patient services, and consider afresh introducing overnight general out-patient services in public hospitals, so as to alleviate the burden on A&E departments; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (b) given the large population covered by the New Territories West Cluster, and since Pok Oi Hospital ("POH") in the cluster is not a general hospital and Tin Shui Wai Hospital will be completed and commissioned only after a few years, most patients seek treatments at Tuen Mun Hospital ("TMH") resulting in TMH's services being unable to meet the demand, and coupled with a very tight supply of operating theatres in the cluster as POH has only eight operating theatres and TMH, as a general hospital, has only 11 operating theatres (compared with 16 operating theatres in PWH, which is also a general hospital), and that the equipment of the cardiac catheterization room of TMH is also insufficient and its other facilities (such as drainage and electrical wiring) are ageing, of the amount earmarked by the authorities for TMH's improvement works in the $13 billion funding application, and the details of the improvement works concerned; and (c) given that in each year from 2015-2016 onwards, there will be more local medical students graduating than now, whether it knows if the Hospital Authority has any plan to make complementary arrangements in respect of clinical equipment and facilities, so as to avoid the situation of "having the software but without the hardware"; if HA has such a plan, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
6. Hon Kenneth LEUNG to ask: (Translation)
The Motor Vehicle Idling (Fixed Penalty) Ordinance ("the Ordinance"), which came into operation on 15 December 2011, aims at improving roadside air quality. Recently, there have been press reports querying the perfunctory law enforcement by the Government with the result that the roadside air quality in urban areas has not improved and motorists have not developed green driving habits. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the number of authorized law enforcement officers and the total payroll costs for the relevant law enforcement work each year since the Ordinance came into operation; whether the authorities will increase the manpower to step up law enforcement; (b) whether the authorities have monitored the air quality in locations where pollution caused by vehicle emissions is more serious (e.g. minibus terminals) since the Ordinance came into operation, so as to assess the effectiveness of the Ordinance in improving air quality; if they have, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; whether the authorities have adopted other means to assess the effectiveness of the Ordinance; of the difficulties encountered by the authorities in law enforcement and the authorities' solutions; and the latest list of black spots of idling engines; and (c) of the respective numbers of vehicles timed, verbal warnings given and fixed penalty notices issued by the authorities to motorists who did not switch off idling engines, each month since the Ordinance came into operation; of a breakdown of such numbers by vehicle class, and the number of government vehicles involved?
*7. Hon Tommy CHEUNG to ask: (Translation)
The Asia-Pacific Small Business Survey 2013 released by CPA Australia on 26 November this year indicated that the confidence of Hong Kong small businesses in their own business fell sharply from the previous year surveyed. The confidence score of Hong Kong businesses regarding their own business next year was negative for the first time in five years, and the Hong Kong businesses surveyed were the least confident in the local economy next year among the six Asia-Pacific economies covered by the survey (i.e. Hong Kong, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand and Singapore). Regarding the business environment of the small and medium enterprises ("SMEs") in Hong Kong, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) whether it has assessed if the aforesaid report is a warning to the economic prospects of Hong Kong; if it has assessed, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (b) whether it has assessed if the room for survival of SMEs has been shrinking incessantly, resulting in a continuous decrease in the opportunities for members of the public to move up the social ladder through starting up businesses; if the assessment results indicate such a case, of the authorities' solutions; if it has not made such an assessment, the reasons for that; (c) whether it will conduct studies to follow up the problems reflected in the aforesaid report, including assessing the operating difficulties faced by Hong Kong SMEs at present, compiling statistics on the rates of increase in various components of operating costs, as well as ascertaining the main reasons for the drop of business confidence score and its long-term impacts on the Hong Kong economy, so as to put forward specific solutions; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (d) whether it will provide SMEs with tax concessions, establish SME designated zones or shopping malls, or subsidize SMEs to rent offices or shops, so as to enhance the competitiveness of SMEs; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
*8. Dr Hon LEUNG Ka-lau to ask: (Translation)
Regarding the waiting time for specialist out-patient ("SOP") services provided by public hospitals under the Hospital Authority between 2008-2009 and 2012-2013, whether the Government knows the following information (set out in table form):
(a) the respective waiting time of 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th and 90th percentile for new case bookings for the relevant SOP services in various hospital clusters, broken down by specialty; (b) the respective waiting time of 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th and 90th percentile for new case bookings for the relevant SOP services in various public hospitals, broken down by specialty; (c) the respective numbers of new cases handled by each doctor of the relevant SOP services per month on average in various public hospitals, broken down by specialty; (d) the respective numbers of old cases handled by each doctor of the relevant SOP services per month on average in various public hospitals, broken down by specialty; and (e) the respective waiting time of 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th and 90th percentile for new case bookings for patients to receive medical examinations (i.e. computer tomography scan, ultrasound scan, mammography and magnetic resonance imaging) in various public hospitals, broken down by type of such medical examinations?
*9. Hon Frankie YICK to ask: (Translation)
Some members of the business sector have relayed to me that the rapid development of airports in the Pearl River Delta ("PRD") region in recent years will have much impact on Hong Kong's position as an aviation hub. They have also pointed out that the fee levels of the services and facilities provided by the Hong Kong International Airport ("HKIA") (e.g. landing, parking and terminal building charges, as well as the rentals for offices, restaurants and retail shops) rank first among the airports in the PRD region, thus increasing operating costs and burdens for the freight industry. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) whether it knows how the fees charged by HKIA (including landing, parking and terminal building charges) compare to those charged by the various airports in the PRD region in the past three years; (b) given the view that the monopolization of the security service in HKIA by the Aviation Security Company Limited ("AVSECO") under the Airport Authority ("AA") has led to an incessant surge in security service charges in recent years, and it is learnt that AVSECO has requested for an increase of more than 25% for the charges on a two-year service contract, whether the authorities know the criteria based on which the company determines its charges; and (c) given the view that HKIA is a major infrastructure in Hong Kong and AA should not operate the airport solely on commercial principles which aim at maximizing profits from its services, whether the authorities will, in the light of the fact that HKIA is an infrastructure with the purpose of supporting Hong Kong's overall economic development, request AA to review if the existing fee levels for its various services are value-for-money and if they are competitive in the PRD region, as well as to study the feasibility of lowering all the relevant charges, so as to promote the sustainable development of Hong Kong's economy; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
*10. Hon Tony TSE to ask: (Translation)
It was reported last month that the Hong Kong Monetary Authority ("HKMA") decided to use about HK$1,258 million of the Exchange Fund ("EF") to form a joint venture with a London developer to jointly undertake a real estate project in Mayfair, London. Regarding the investment management of EF, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the Hong Kong industries (including professional services) that HKMA expects to have the opportunities to participate in or benefit from the aforesaid real estate project, as well as the relevant details and economic benefits; (b) of the respective total investments in and total income from the local and overseas investment projects of EF in each of the past five years, broken down by category of investment projects; (c) of the respective maximum, minimum and average differentials between the projected and actual investment returns of the local and overseas investment projects of EF in the past decade; whether HKMA has reviewed why such differentials arose; if it has reviewed, of the results as well as the improvement measures and proposals; if it has not, the reasons for that; (d) of the criteria and considerations based on which HKMA decides whether to use EF to invest in individual projects, and whether HKMA has adopted different criteria and considerations for local and overseas investment projects; if so, of the details and the reasons for that; whether HKMA, in making investment decisions, has taken into account the relevant impacts on and benefits to various industries in Hong Kong; and (e) whether HKMA has conducted regular reviews on the economic benefits brought about by the investment projects of EF to the overall economy of Hong Kong and the local industries; if so, of the details, as well as the improvement proposals that have been implemented and those yet to be studied?
*11. Hon James TO to ask: (Translation)
The Chief Executive indicated in the 2013 Policy Address that the Steering Committee on Housing Land Supply chaired by the Financial Secretary would be re-organized as the Steering Committee on Land Supply ("the Committee"), which would coordinate the overall plans for development and supply of land in Hong Kong for various uses, and adjust supply in response to changes in demand. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the composition of the Committee and the number of meetings held last year; (b) whether the Committee last year proposed any specific measure to increase residential land supply in the short to medium terms and recommended any individual sites for such use; if it did, of the number of sites that will be available for residential use and the respective numbers of residential flats that can be built in each of the next five years; (c) whether the Committee has made any recommendation on the Land Sale Programme ("LSP") in the fourth quarter of this year; if it has, of the details; whether the Committee has assessed the numbers of residential flats that can be supplied this year by the major sources of residential land supply (including Government's LSP, railway property development projects, projects of the Urban Renewal Authority, and lease modifications/land exchanges or other private developments), and how such figures compare with the target set by the Government early this year that the land supply in this year will be capable of producing 25 800 private residential flats, and whether it has assessed the supply of residential sites and flats next year; (d) given that the Government has estimated that 24 000 first-hand units can be offered for sale in 2013 (including 12 000 uncompleted units for which the Government would expedite the processing of their pre-sale consent applications, 8 000 uncompleted units ready for pre-sale and 4 000 unsold units in completed projects), whether the Committee has assessed if all of the aforesaid 24 000 first-hand units can be offered for sale at present, and the number of units sold among them; if the assessment result is that only some of such units can be offered for sale, of the reasons for that; (e) whether the Committee last year proposed any specific measure to increase the land supply for public housing in the medium to long term and recommended any individual site for such use; if it did, of the respective numbers of public rental housing flats and Home Ownership Scheme flats expected to be built in each of the five years starting from 2017-2018, and (f) whether the Committee has assessed the supply of commercial sites in LSP for this year; whether the Committee knows the progress of the relocation of the existing government facilities in the two action areas of Kowloon East and the development of the North Commercial District on Airport Island; whether the Committee has assessed the time when government departments located in Central, Mong Kok and Wan Chai can be relocated to other districts, with a view to increasing the supply of office sites in these districts?
*12. Hon CHAN Kin-por to ask: (Translation)
The Government of the last term proposed the development of six industries that Hong Kong enjoyed clear advantages ("six priority industries"), i.e. testing and certification, medical services, innovation and technology, cultural and creative industries, environmental industries and education services, to pave the way for Hong Kong to move towards a knowledge-based economy. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) whether it has completed the survey on the statistics on the six priority industries for 2012; if it has, of the statistics, including the number of persons employed in each industry, and the value added in the Gross Domestic Product contributed by each industry, etc.; if it has not, when it will complete the survey and release the statistics; (b) given that the Chief Executive indicated in the 2013 Policy Address that in promoting the six priority industries in the past four years, certain issues which needed to be addressed had been identified, e.g. the medical sector was facing manpower shortage and whether education services should be regarded as an industry, etc. and that the Economic Development Commission would review the industrial development strategies and policies in order to draw up relevant proposals, whether the relevant review has been completed; if so, of the review outcome and details of the relevant proposals; if not, the preliminary review outcome; (c) of the Government's long-term positioning of the medical and education services industries, and whether it will give up promoting the development of these two industries; given that the Government of the last term adhered to the economic principle of "big market, small government", whether the current Government will adopt a strategy of "making proactive efforts" in promoting industrial development, so as to expedite the pace of Hong Kong moving towards a knowledge-based economy; and (d) given the views that since the local market is small, whether the industries can exploit the mainland market is of utmost importance, whether the Government has conducted any study on the development opportunities of the six priority industries in the mainland market; whether it will take specific measures to enhance cooperation between the six priority industries and their counterpart industries on the Mainland (especially in the Pearl River Delta Region) and help Hong Kong enterprises tap into the mainland market?
*13. Hon LEUNG Yiu-chung to ask: (Translation)
Each year, quite a number of employees sustain injuries at work, and some of these employees are even defaulted on the periodical payments for absence from duty due to work injury ("work-injury payments") which their employers are required to pay them during their periods of temporary incapacity. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of a breakdown of the number of work injury cases in each of the past five years by (i) the age group (same as those set out in Table 1) to which the injured employees belonged, (ii) the trade to which they belonged, (iii) the type of jobs they were engaged in and (iv) the approved period of absence from duty due to work injury (same as those set out in Table 2);
Table 1Age Year 2008-2009 2009-2010 2010-2011 2011-2012 2012-2013 Below 16 16 to 20 21 to 25 26 to 30 31 to 35 36 to 40 41 to 45 46 to 50 51 to 55 56 to 60 61 to 65 66 to 70 71 to 75 76 to 80 Above 80
Table 2Period of absence from
duty due to work injuryYear 2008-2009 2009-2010 2010-2011 2011-2012 2012-2013 Less than 6 months 6 to less than 12 months 12 to less than 18 months 18 to less than 24 months 24 months or longer
(b) of the number of cases of default on work-injury payments and its percentage in the total number of work injury cases, in each of the past five years, together with a breakdown of such default cases by (i) reason(s) for defaulting on payment and (ii) period of absence from duty due to work injury (same as those set out in Table 2); (c) of the measures adopted by the Labour Department in the past three years to assist injured employees in recovering the defaulted work-injury payments; and (d) whether it has comprehensively reviewed the implementation and effectiveness of the measures mentioned in (c); if the effectiveness of the measures is not satisfactory, whether it will formulate a new and more effective policy to assist injured employees in recovering the defaulted work-injury payments; if it will formulate a new policy, of the relevant timetable; if not, the reasons for that?
*14. Hon CHAN Chi-chuen to ask: (Translation)
In October this year, the Director-General of the Department of Publicity, Culture and Sports Affairs of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region ("LOCPG") published an article in a local newspaper, claiming that the political system being implemented in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region ("HKSAR") is an executive-led system, rather than one with separation of executive, legislative and judicial powers with checks and balances among one another. Moreover, according to the Basic Law, the Chief Executive is directly subordinate and accountable to the Central People's Government ("CPG"). Early last month, a commentary was published in another local newspaper, claiming that LOCPG would be derelict of its duty had it stood with folded arms in the incident of HKSAR Government's vetting and approval of domestic free television programme service licence applications, and that HKSAR should get used to LOCPG "acting to defend the executive-led system". In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) whether it has studied the constitutional relationship of the legislature and courts at various levels with the executive authorities in HKSAR under the "one country, two systems" principle, as well as the powers of the legislature and courts in checking the executive authorities in deciding policies; (b) whether it has studied if LOCPG has any power to participate in or interfere with the policy decisions of the executive authorities and legislature of HKSAR; if the study result is in the positive, of the details; and (c) whether it will state publicly that, under the "one country, two systems" principle, the policy decisions made by the executive authorities and legislature of HKSAR on "the affairs" which HKSAR "administers on its own" in accordance with Article 22 of the Basic Law are not to be influenced by the organs of CPG in Hong Kong?
*15. Hon Claudia MO to ask: (Translation)
I have received complaints from quite a number of members of the public about the audio-visual programmes shown on the buses of the Kowloon Motor Bus Company (1933) Limited ("KMB") by the RoadShow Holdings Limited ("RoadShow"). The subjects of the complaints include that the current affairs programmes have a biased stance and the advertising time is excessively long. They consider that since as many as 2.6 million KMB passengers receive the information of these audio-visual programmes without choice every day, it is necessary for the authorities to tighten up the regulation of the quality of such programmes. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the details of the contract signed by the Transport Department ("TD") and KMB concerning the showing of audio-visual programmes on buses, including the requirements on programme contents; how TD monitors the audio-visual programmes shown by RoadShow in compliance with the contractual requirements; (b) given that under the aforesaid contract, advertising time must not exceed 20% per hour of programme service, but the Annual Report published this year by the Office of The Ombudsman has pointed out that in June 2011, TD started conducting quarterly random inspections on the airtime of the advertisements shown by RoadShow, and the findings in 2011 indicated that a significant majority of cases then had exceeded that percentage, and it was not until April 2012 that the requirement on percentage of advertising time was complied with, whether TD has again conducted random inspections and whether it has received complaints about the excessively long advertising time since the middle of last year; if it has, of the details; if it has not conducted random inspections again, the reasons for that; and (c) apart from the Film Censorship Ordinance (Cap. 392), the Control of Obscene and Indecent Articles Ordinance (Cap. 390) and the aforesaid contract, whether the contents of the audio-visual programmes shown on franchised buses are subject to regulation by any other legislation, guidelines or codes; if so, of the details; if not, whether the authorities will consider making reference to the Generic Code of Practice on Television Programme Standards issued by the Communications Authority under the Broadcasting Ordinance (Cap. 562) on television programmes and introducing a code of practice applicable to the audio-visual programmes shown on buses, so as to ensure that the contents of current affairs and information programmes shown on buses comply with the principles of accuracy, impartiality and fairness; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
*16. Hon TANG Ka-piu to ask: (Translation)
The Government indicated in the Policy Agenda of the 2007-2008 Policy Address that it would explore the establishment of multi-partite medical centres of excellence in paediatrics and neuroscience, so as to put together clinical services, medical research and professional training, and to concentrate professional knowledge, advanced technology and cases of complex illnesses in one place, thereby enhancing the competency of the two specialties. It is learnt that while the construction of the Centre of Excellence in Paediatrics has been confirmed and will be completed in 2017, there has been no further news on the development of the Centre of Excellence in Neuroscience ("CEN") to date. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the latest plan and construction timetable of CEN; (b) given that the Government has set up a steering committee to explore the establishment of CEN in Hong Kong, of the conclusions of the studies of the steering committee; whether the Government has accepted the recommendations of the committee; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (c) of the existing medical institutions which provide diagnostic services and treatments to neurological patients, as well as the respective numbers of doctors currently serving in such specialist services of public and private hospitals; of the number of such patients and the attendance of such specialist services, as well as their average waiting time, in the past decade; whether it has assessed the future demand for medical services of such patients; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (d) whether it knows if the local medical institutions conducted any research in respect of the treatment methods, medical prescriptions and rehabilitation services for neurological illnesses in the past decade; if they did, of the research findings; and (e) as the Government indicated in the middle of this year that it was considering the construction of a general hospital on a site in the Kai Tak Development Area, which was the site originally selected for CEN, of the latest site identified for CEN?
*17. Hon James TIEN to ask: (Translation)
There are comments that the current number of applications on the Waiting List for public rental housing ("PRH") has already exceeded 230 000 but the Housing Subsidy Policy and the Policy on Safeguarding Rational Allocation of Public Housing Resources (commonly known as "Well-off Tenants Policies") have failed to achieve the objective of ensuring rational allocation of the limited public rental housing resources by encouraging well-off tenants to vacate their PRH flats. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the detailed justifications for each of the following requirements of the Well-off Tenants Policies: (i) that the minimum length of residence for declaration of household income and/or assets be set at 10 years, and not a shorter period; (ii) that the thresholds of household income for payment of 1.5 times and double net rent plus rates be set at two and three times of Waiting List Income Limits ("WLILs") respectively; and (iii) that the threshold of net household asset value for vacation of PRH flats be set at 84 times of WLILs; (b) of the number of well-off tenants and the percentage of such number in the total number of PRH households in each of the past five years, with a breakdown by the level of the rents paid by such well-off tenants (i.e. 1.5 times rents, double rents or market rents); (c) of the number of well-off tenants who vacated their PRH flats in each of the past five years and, among such tenants, the number of those who vacated their flats upon purchase of Home Ownership Scheme flats; (d) whether it has studied the feasibility of the following suggestion which aims at boosting the turnover of PRH flats: where for three consecutive years the total monthly household income of a household has reached the level at which the household is required to pay double rent, such household is required to vacate its PRH flat within the three years immediately following, and upon vacation, the household will be refunded half of the total amount of double rent paid as subvention and be exempted from the requirement of restoring the rescinded PRH flat to its original form; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (e) whether it has considered converting the current tenancies of PRH flats, which bear no time limit, into fixed-term tenancies to ensure that precious public rental housing resources are allocated to needier people; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
*18. Hon Alan LEONG to ask: (Translation)
Last year, the Government conducted public consultation on proposed measures to better regulate pet trading. When reporting the outcome of the public consultation to a panel of the Legislative Council ("LegCo") on 16 April this year, the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department ("AFCD") indicated that it aimed to propose legislative amendments to the Public Health (Animals and Birds) (Animal Traders) Regulations (Cap.139, sub leg B) within this year, but such legislative proposal has not yet been introduced into LegCo so far. Moreover, some concern groups on animal interests consider that as only the breeding and selling of dogs will be regulated, the proposed amendments fail to regulate private breeding centres comprehensively. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the respective numbers of reports on animal abuse received and prosecutions instituted by AFCD and the Police in each of the past three years, with a breakdown by the type of animals abused; (b) of the sales volume of pets in each of the past three years, with a breakdown by the type of animals; (c) why it has not yet introduced the aforesaid legislative amendments into LegCo and when it will do so; (d) as some concern groups on animal interests are worried that under the proposed amendments, operation of private animal breeding centres in private residential premises is not prohibited, which makes it difficult for the authorities to conduct surprise inspections on such breeding centres, that application for licence to breed and trade animals may be made in the name of a person, and that no ceiling has been set on the number of such licences to be issued within the territory, whether the authorities have assessed if such situations would constitute loopholes of regulation, thus making it difficult for the authorities to control private pet-breeding activities effectively; if they have, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (e) whether AFCD has assessed if there are fewer cases of animal abuse and abandonment in countries or regions where private breeding of pets for commercial purposes is totally prohibited; if the assessment result is in the affirmative, of the details, and whether AFCD will consider adopting such a practice; if it has not conducted such assessment, of the reasons?
*19. Hon LEUNG Kwok-hung to ask: (Translation)
I have learnt that the registered social workers of the integrated family service centre set up in Sham Shui Po ("SSP Centre") by the International Social Service Hong Kong Branch ("ISS-HK") have repeatedly refused to recommend to the authorities applications for compassionate rehousing, splitting of public rental housing tenancy and the Conditional Tenancy Scheme ("housing assistance"). The applicants concerned had applied to the High Court for leave for judicial review against the relevant decisions, but their applications had been rejected. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) notwithstanding the Government's indication in its reply to my question on November 13 of this year that Hong Kong residents shall have the right to institute legal proceedings in the courts against the acts of the executive authorities and their personnel, as I have been advised by some members of the legal sector that the High Court Registry would not handle applications for leave for judicial review against the decisions made by non-governmental organizations ("NGOs") submitted by members of the public, and it would neither file the applications nor list the applications for hearings, whether the authorities have studied if members of the public may, under Article 35 of the Basic Law, apply for judicial reviews against the decisions made by social workers of the integrated family service centres under NGOs; if they have studied, of the results; whether there are measures to protect the rights of members of the public to seek judicial reviews against such decisions; if so, of the details; if not, how the Government ensures that the Social Welfare Department will not deprive members of the public of the rights to seek judicial relief by outsourcing its services; (b) whether it knows the number of registered social workers of SSP Centre; among them, the number of those who have received training relating to assessment of housing assistance applications; in the past five years, of the respective annual numbers of (i) cases of various housing assistance applications recommended to the authorities by SSP Centre, and (ii) such cases received by SSP Centre upon referral by Members of the Legislative Council or members of District Councils and, among such cases, the number of those that have been recommended to the authorities; (c) whether it knows if, in the past five years, the Social Workers Registration Board, the Office of The Ombudsman or the Equal Opportunities Commission ruled or criticized that the decisions made by SSP Centre or its social workers on the assessment of housing assistance applications were inappropriate, or instructed SSP Centre or its social workers to apologize to the applicants for such blunders; (d) whether the service area of SSP Centre covers the vicinity of Tung Chau Street Park; if so, whether it knows if the social workers of SSP Centre vetted, in the past five years, the eligibility of street sleepers near the Park regarding their applications for housing assistance; if they did, of the number of cases vetted; if not, the reasons for that; and (e) when a member of the public applies for judicial review against the decision of an NGO, whether the Department of Justice will appoint a legal representative to assist the NGO to make defence; if so, of the legal basis; whether litigation fees payable by the NGO are to be borne by public money; if so, whether the litigation fees are included in the one-off lump sum funds granted to the NGO by the Government; if not, whether the litigation fees shall be borne by the NGO on its own; whether it has assessed if an NGO will violate its objectives should it draw on the funds raised from routine fundraising activities for litigations?
*20. Dr Hon CHIANG Lai-wan to ask: (Translation)
Recently, quite a number of members of the public have complained to me that as lost trips are frequent in franchised bus services, they have wasted a lot of time waiting for buses. It is learnt that bus companies in many cities have already made use of satellite navigation systems to keep track of the locations of the buses in their fleets to provide the estimated arrival time of buses to passengers waiting for buses. Regarding the franchised bus services, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the respective numbers of complaints about franchised bus services received by the Transport Complaints Unit ("TCU") under the Transport Advisory Committee, the 1823 Call Centre and the hotlines of the franchised bus companies concerned in the past three years (set out in the table below); if it cannot provide the relevant information, of the reasons for that; Franchised bus company under complaint TCU 1823 Call Centre Franchised bus company concerned Kowloon Motor Bus Company (1933) Limited ("KMB") New World Bus Services Limited Citybus Limited New Lantao Bus Company (1973) Limited
(b) of the number of site investigations conducted in the past three years by the Transport Department ("TD") in response to complaints received about lost trips of buses, with a breakdown by District Council district in which investigation was conducted; if it cannot provide the relevant information, of the reasons for that; (c) given that the Government stated in its reply to a question of a Member of this Council in May 2011 that "TD often meets with the bus companies and bus captain unions to exchange views on ways to improve bus services", of the details (including the matters discussed) of the relevant meetings held in the past five years; if it cannot provide the relevant information, of the reasons for that; (d) given that the Government stated in its reply to the question cited above that "[i]n case a franchised bus company fails to make improvement or provide reasonable explanations in relation to the relevant complaint, the TD will issue letters to the relevant bus company regarding the complaint, requesting the bus company to maintain a satisfactory and efficient public bus service, and to implement improvement measures within a certain period of time", and if "the ...... companies are unable to make improvements within a specified period of time, the TD will issue a warning letter to the relevant bus company", of the respective numbers of (i) letters issued regarding the complaints, and (ii) warning letters issued by TD in the past three years and the details of those letters; if it cannot provide the relevant information, of the reasons for that; (e) given that the Government stated in its reply to the question cited above that it would continue to liaise with the relevant organizations to keep abreast of the latest technological development for introducing intelligent technologies to monitor and minimize lost or delayed trips in franchised bus services, of the present progress in this respect; if it cannot provide the relevant information, of the reasons for that; (f) whether the authorities will consider including provisions in the franchise agreements to be signed with bus companies in future to require such companies to provide passengers with real-time bus service information of all routes; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (g) as I have learnt that as most of the trips of some franchised bus routes (e.g. route nos. 2B, 2C and 2D of the KMB) are not serviced by wheelchair accessible low-floor buses, coupled with the serious problems of low frequency and lost trips, wheelchair users often have to wait for as long as an hour before they can board a bus, whether the Government will require franchised bus companies to use low-floor buses for all trips of those routes patronized by more wheelchair users; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
*21. Hon Christopher CHUNG to ask: (Translation)
The Government has implemented the Elderly Health Care Voucher Scheme ("EHCVS") since January 2009. Under EHCVS, all elderly people aged 70 or above are each provided annually with 20 healthcare vouchers of $50. Regarding the implementation of EHCVS, will the Government inform this Council :
(a) of the current number of elderly people in the territory eligible for using the healthcare vouchers; (b) whether it will consider afresh lowering the minimum age requirement for EHCVS to 65; if it will, of the estimated additional expenditure to be incurred and the implementation timetable; if not, the reasons for that; (c) of the current number of elderly people who have never used the healthcare vouchers and its percentage in the total number of eligible elderly people; whether the authorities have examined the reasons why these elderly people have never used the healthcare vouchers; if not, whether they will do so; (d) of the major channels and modes by which EHCVS is publicized among elderly people at present; given that some elderly people have pointed out that as the current television announcement in the public interest ("API") for EHCVS mainly convey to them the message that they can register for using the healthcare vouchers at any clinic with the EHCVS logo, quite a number of elderly people have mistakenly thought that the healthcare vouchers may only be used to pay for consultation and treatment fees of western medicine practitioners, whether the authorities will launch APIs which clearly inform the elderly people that the healthcare vouchers can also be used to pay for the healthcare services provided by other healthcare service providers such as Chinese medicine practitioners, chiropractors, dentists, physiotherapists, registered or enrolled nurses, medical laboratory technologists and optometrists, etc.; (e) given that at present, members of the public can obtain the List of Enrolled Healthcare Service Providers by (i) visiting the eHealth System of the Health Care Voucher web site, or (ii) calling the recorded message telephone system of the Health Care Voucher Unit of the Department of Health, but these two channels are too complicated for average elderly people, whether the authorities will conduct studies on ways which are more convenient for the elderly people to make enquiries, e.g. providing a telephone hotline answered by real persons and providing the elderly people, verbally or by mail, with information on suitable healthcare service providers based on their districts of residence, types of their illnesses, medical needs, etc.; (f) as quite a number of elderly people have limited mobility or cannot leave home to consult doctors because of their illnesses, and some elderly people suffering from chronic illnesses require regular home visits by healthcare workers to provide them with services, whether the healthcare vouchers may be used to pay for outreach home medical and nursing services at present; if so, whether the authorities have publicized this; if not, whether they will make such arrangements expeditiously; and (g) of the number of cases in which healthcare service providers have been found to have involved in frauds taking advantage of EHCVS since EHCVS was launched, the amount involved, and the channels through which the authorities have uncovered such cases; whether the authorities have taken the initiative to conduct random checks on suspicious cases?
*22. Hon WU Chi-wai to ask: (Translation)
Some members of the public have relayed to me that at present, different policy bureaux and government departments have adopted vastly different approaches for releasing information to the public and the scope of information released varies greatly. For example, the web sites of the Planning Department and the Environmental Protection Department ("EPD") provide only summaries of consultancy study reports, and members of the public wishing to access full texts of the reports need to visit the relevant departments in person, with some of those reports available in Chinese or English only. In addition, the agendas, minutes and documents of meetings of some statutory organizations whose decisions involve significant public interest, including the Town Planning Board ("TPB") and the Advisory Council on the Environment ("ACE"), are often available in English only, causing much inconvenience to members of the public who are not proficient in English. There are comments that this is inconsistent with the Government's claim that it "recognizes the need for the community to be well informed about the Government, the services it provides and the basis for policies and decisions that affect individuals and the community as a whole" in its Code on Access to Information. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the respective (i) criteria, (ii) scope, (iii) time limits and the reasons for such requirements, and (iv) formats adopted for releasing information by policy bureaux, government departments and statutory organizations set out in Table 1;
Table 1Policy bureaux, government departments and statutory organizations (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) Central Policy Unit Civil Engineering and Development Department Electrical and Mechanical Services Department Planning Department Leisure and Cultural Services Department Buildings Department Transport Department Highways Department Environmental Protection Department Home Affairs Department Transport and Housing Bureau Development Bureau Labour and Welfare Bureau Environment Bureau Home Affairs Bureau Town Planning Board Advisory Council on the Environment Country and Marine Parks Board
(b) of the reasons why various policy bureaux, government departments and statutory organizations have adopted different approaches and criteria in releasing information, and whether such approaches and criteria will be standardized; (c) (i) of the titles and dates of completion, (ii) the modes of public access, (iii) the contents and languages available for public access, and (iv) whether the public are informed through departmental web sites or the Information Services Department of the availability of access, to the reports on consultancy studies completed in the past five years by the policy bureaux and government departments set out in Table 2;
Table 2Policy bureaux and government departments (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) Central Policy Unit Civil Engineering and Development Department Electrical and Mechanical Services Department Planning Department Leisure and Cultural Services Department Buildings Department Transport Department Highways Department Environmental Protection Department Home Affairs Department Transport and Housing Bureau Development Bureau Labour and Welfare Bureau Environment Bureau Home Affairs Bureau
(d) whether it will make a blanket request that all policy bureaux, government departments and statutory organizations (especially the Planning Department, the Transport Department, the Highways Department, EPD, TPB and ACE) must upload onto their web sites, for public inspection, the summaries as well as full texts of the reports on consultancy studies that have been commissioned and completed since the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region; (e) whether it will draw up guidelines to require that the executive summaries and full text of the reports on all open consultancy studies must be available in both Chinese and English; whether it will request TPB and ACE to provide the agendas, minutes and information papers of their meetings in both Chinese and English for public inspection; (f) as regards applications made under the Town Planning Ordinance (Cap. 131) and the Environmental Impact Assessment Ordinance (Cap. 499) on which deliberations have been completed, whether the Government will review the approach in storing and releasing information related to those applications, such as exploring the setting up of an online database for members of the public to download such information; and (g) whether it has any plan to introduce a portal to enable members of the public to have an overview of information on the past and ongoing consultancy studies conducted by various departments; if it has, whether the portal will provide email registration service to enable members of the public to subscribe for regular updates on the relevant consultancy studies as well as the meetings and relevant public information of statutory organizations (such as TPB)?
* For written reply
III. Bills
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Second Reading (Debates to resume), Committee Stage and Third Reading
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| 1. | Toys and Children's Products Safety (Amendment) Bill 2013 | : | Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development
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Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development to move Committee stage amendments (The amendments were issued on 11 December 2013 under LC Paper No. CB(3)253/13-14) | |||
| 2. | Waste Disposal (Amendment) Bill 2013 | : | Secretary for the Environment
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Secretary for the Environment to move Committee stage amendments (The amendments were issued on 10 December 2013 under LC Paper No. CB(3)250/13-14) | |||
IV. Motion
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Proposed resolution under section 34(2) of the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance Secretary for the Environment to move the motion in the Appendix. |
| (The motion was also issued on 12 December 2013 under LC Paper No. CB(3) 265/13-14) |