A 15/16-6
Legislative Council
Agenda
Wednesday 18 November 2015 at 11:00 am
I. Tabling of Papers
| Subsidiary Legislation / Instruments | L.N. No. | |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Legislative Council Ordinance (Amendment of Schedule 5) Order 2015 | 225/2015 |
| 2. | Maximum Amount of Election Expenses (Legislative Council Election) (Amendment) Regulation 2015 | 226/2015 |
Other Papers
| 1. | No. 26 | - | The Legislative Council Commission
Annual Report 2014-2015 |
| (to be presented by the President of the Legislative Council)
| |||
| 2. | No. 27 | - | Report of the Director of Audit
on the Accounts of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region for the year ended 31 March 2015 |
| (to be presented by the President of the Legislative Council)
| |||
| 3. | No. 28 | - | Report No. 65 of the Director of Audit
on the results of value for money audits - October 2015 |
| (to be presented by the President of the Legislative Council)
| |||
| 4. | No. 29 | - | Accounts of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region for the year ended 31 March 2015 |
| (to be presented by Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury)
| |||
| 5. | Report No. 4/15-16 of the House Committee on Consideration of Subsidiary Legislation and Other Instruments | ||
| (to be presented by Hon Andrew LEUNG, Chairman of the House Committee) | |||
II. Questions
1. Hon Dennis KWOK to ask: (Translation)
Under the small house policy, a New Territories indigenous male villager over 18 years old is entitled to one concessionary grant during his lifetime to build one small house. The Government indicated in October 2012 that, of the 1 300 hectares of idle land, 932 hectares had been zoned for "Village Type Development", and the planned use of such type of sites was mainly for the development of small houses by indigenous villagers. On the other hand, the general public have keen demand for residential housing (including public and private housing), but scarcity of land is a major factor restraining housing supply. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the estimated current number of New Territories indigenous villagers eligible for applying for building small houses, and the area of government lands reserved for building small houses; (2) whether it has drawn up any plan to cope with the situation where there are not enough government lands for building small houses; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (3) whether it has plans to formulate policies and measures to reduce the area and proportion of lands planned for building small houses, so as to release more land for developing public and private housing; if it does, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
2. Hon Christopher CHUNG to ask: (Translation)
The Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China held last month put forward the full implementation of the policy allowing one couple to have two children ("two-child policy"), in order to tackle the problem of ageing population on the Mainland. There are comments that the two-child policy, upon implementation, may impact on Hong Kong. For instance, people may once again flock to shops to snap up baby food and products such as powdered formula and diapers, and the demand for healthcare services, education, housing, etc. in Hong Kong may also be affected. Some university scholars have also pointed out that the two-child policy may give Mainlanders more incentive to come to Hong Kong to give birth. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:
(1) it has assessed if the implementation of the two-child policy will trigger a new wave of mainland pregnant women coming to Hong Kong to give birth; if it has assessed and the outcome is in the affirmative, of the authorities' corresponding measures; (2) it has assessed the specific impacts of the two-child policy, upon implementation, on the supply of and demand for powdered formula and other products for infants and young children, as well as on the demand for public and private healthcare services, education, housing, etc. in Hong Kong; if it has assessed, of the details; whether the authorities will discuss with the mainland authorities the ways to minimize the impacts of the policy on Hong Kong; and (3) it will conduct a study to identify the benefits to and business opportunities for Hong Kong which will be brought about by the implementation of the two-child policy, such as whether it will give a boost to the development of the education and medical services industries, promote the growth in the retail industry and slow down the pace of population ageing; whether the authorities will join hands with the business sector to consider formulating relevant policies and measures promptly, so as to take advantage of such opportunities?
3. Hon Mrs Regina IP to ask: (Translation)
The number of mainland visitors to Hong Kong dropped significantly from 4.55 million in February to 3.84 million in July this year. For September, the number of mainland visitors to Hong Kong registered a year-on-year decrease of 4.6%, whereas the number of non-mainland visitors saw a drop of 1.6%. The authorities have pointed out that the spending pattern of visitors to Hong Kong has changed. Their consumer sentiment is weaker than that in the past. As a result, the business receipts of the retail industry have shown a downward trend. Some members of the tourism and retail industries have relayed to me that the Government should be more proactive in promoting Hong Kong so as to attract more visitors to Hong Kong and boost the consumer market. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) given that the Government granted at the end of September this year a provision of $10 million to the Hong Kong Tourism Board ("HKTB") for launching a one-off matching fund for overseas tourism promotion under which tourist attractions could apply for funding to conduct overseas promotion work in collaboration with sectors such as tourism, retail, hotels, etc. in the coming months till March next year, and HKTB has approved the applications from 10 tourist attractions involving 69 recommended promotion projects, whether the Government knows the relevant details, and how HKTB will assess the effectiveness of the promotion work supported by the matching fund, and whether HKTB will advise successful applicants on ways to optimize the use of funding under the scheme so as to enhance the quality and effectiveness of their promotion projects; if HKTB will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (2) given that Hong Kong lacks new tourist attractions while faces acute competition from neighbouring Asian countries such as Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, which have broadcast in recent years enchanting promotional video footages in overseas markets to attract tourists, whether the Government will liaise with HKTB about the production of more appealing promotional video footages on Hong Kong to be broadcast on overseas media so as to enhance the competitiveness of Hong Kong's tourism industry; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
4. Hon CHAN Hak-kan to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that air pollution has been classified by the World Health Organization ("WHO") as a "human carcinogen" (i.e. Group 1) which is definitely carcinogenic to humans. Over the years, the Government has implemented a number of measures to reduce air pollution. Although the concentrations of major air pollutants recorded in 2014 on the roadside at busy districts in Hong Kong were lower than those in 1999, the levels of nitrogen dioxide went up instead of going down. It has been reported that on average, 3 000 premature deaths are attributable to air pollution each year, and the annual associated economic loss is as high as $40 billion on average. A number of environmental groups have therefore called on the authorities to step up efforts to improve roadside air quality. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it has assessed the effectiveness of the various policies implemented by the authorities in the past five years to improve roadside air quality; if it has, of the outcome; whether it has studied the causes for the levels of roadside nitrogen dioxide going up instead of going down in recent years; whether it has identified the type of roadside air pollutants for which immediate improvement measures are most required, and whether it has explored new measures to reduce the levels of various types of roadside air pollutants; (2) as it has been reported that the first super atmospheric automatic monitoring station on the Mainland, which will soon be completed in Changchun, can automatically analyze whether the ambient pollutants come from coal combustion, tail pipe emissions of motor vehicles or fugitive dust and hence can greatly help the authorities take corresponding measures, whether the Government will conduct studies on the introduction of such kind of system for real-time monitoring of the sources of various types of air pollutants, particularly the level of fine suspended particulates ("PM2.5") which may be harmful to the respiratory and cardiovascular systems; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (3) given that the authorities introduced last year a set of new Air Quality Objectives ("new AQOs") which are more stringent than the previous ones, but the new AQOs will be broadly attained only by 2020, and they are less stringent than WHO's air quality guidelines (e.g. the 24-hour average concentration limit for PM2.5 under the new AQOs is 75 μg/m3, which is three times of that under the WHO guidelines, and the new AQOs allow nine exceedances per year, which are six more than those allowed under the WHO guidelines), whether the Government will expeditiously revise the new AQOs to align them with the WHO guidelines and formulate more ambitious air quality improvement measures, with a view to attaining such objectives as soon as possible; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
5. Hon LEUNG Yiu-chung to ask: (Translation)
The Hong Kong Poverty Situation Report 2014 published by the Government on the 10th of last month indicates that after recurrent cash policy interventions, the number of elderly persons classified as poor accounted for 30% of the elderly population in 2014, and this percentage was similar to that of the year before. There are views that the current means-tested poverty alleviation measures are unable to resolve the problems concerning elderly poverty and retirement protection. Meanwhile, the Government has announced that it will conduct a public consultation on retirement protection at the end of this year. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it has assessed if the establishment of a universal retirement protection scheme will be more effective in resolving the problem of elderly poverty than the implementation of means-tested poverty alleviation measures; if it has assessed, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (2) of the approach to be adopted for conducting the aforesaid public consultation; the specific details of the various retirement protection options to be included in the consultation paper and whether universal retirement protection options will be included in such options; if such options will be included, of the timetable for implementing the relevant options; if not, the reasons for that; and (3) given that while the Research Report on Future Development of Retirement Protection in Hong Kong was published by a team led by Professor Nelson Chow way back in August last year which put forward universal retirement protection options, but the Government has not implemented any of such options so far, whether the Government will shoulder the financial and political responsibilities arising from the delay in implementing a universal retirement protection option; if it will not, of the reasons for that?
6. Hon Vincent FANG to ask: (Translation)
Last month, a Judge of the Court of First Instance of the High Court handed down a judgment on a judicial review case, criticizing the lamentable state of affairs of the Medical Council of Hong Kong ("MCHK") in handling complaints; the protracted and cumbersome process and procedures for handling complaints; the handling of complaints by MCHK members on a voluntary and part-time basis; the inadequacy in administrative support and personnel to handle the volume of complaints; as well as the lack of appropriate guidelines (including guidelines on declaration of interests) and structure for handling complaints. Regarding the regulation of registered medical practitioners by MCHK, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) given that the secretariat service provided by the Department of Health to MCHK incurs a public expenditure of approximately $25 million each year, and yet MCHK's efficiency in handling complaints has repeatedly been criticized by various sectors, and the aforesaid judgment criticized that it was both excessive and unreasonable for the Preliminary Investigation Committee of MCHK to take two years to handle the complaint concerned, how the Government supervises and assesses the work performance of the MCHK Secretariat; whether the Government will make reference to the aforesaid judgment and conduct a comprehensive review of the staff establishment, the complaint-handling procedures and the work efficiency of the MCHK Secretariat to ensure the proper use of public money; (2) as the aforesaid judgment has pointed out that MCHK has not formulated general guidelines on the topic of conflict of interests of its members and on the declaration of interests in relation to a complaint, and that MCHK should address this matter immediately, whether the authorities will make reference to the judgment and examine amending the Medical Registration Ordinance, including increasing the proportion of lay members of MCHK and improving the mechanism for declaration of interests by MCHK members, so as to forestall the public perception of "doctors harbouring each other" in the handling of complaints by MCHK; and (3) given that in the five-year period from 2009 to 2013, MCHK received on average 470 complaints a year against registered medical practitioners, of which only about 60 cases involved medical practitioners employed by the Hospital Authority and, in other words, complaints involving private medical practitioners accounted for 87% of the total number of complaints, whether the authorities will step up efforts in regulating private medical practitioners with a view to preserving public confidence in the medical profession?
*7. Dr Hon LAU Wong-fat to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that as quite a number of mini-storages currently available for rent by members of the public boast about their respect for customers' privacy, their staff will not inspect the articles stored by hirers and allow hirers to store and retrieve their articles by themselves. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether the setting up (including the locations) of mini-storages is subject to the regulation of any existing legislation; (2) whether it knows the current total number of mini-storages in Hong Kong as well as their geographical distribution; (3) how the Government prevents such storages from being used for storing dangerous, inflammable or prohibited articles; and (4) of the means through which the Government knows at present whether dangerous/inflammable articles are being stored in mini-storages and the types of such articles, so that appropriate fire-fighting methods can be adopted in case of fire in such mini-storages?
*8. Hon NG Leung-sing to ask: (Translation)
According to the Productivity Brief 2015 recently released by the Conference Board, an American think tank, the average annual growth rate of global labour productivity in 2014 was 2.1%, a level similar to that in 2013, but was lower than the relevant growth rate of 2.6% for the period from 1999 to 2006. The Brief projected that the average annual growth rate of global labour productivity in 2015 would further drop to 2.0%, and pointed out that the average annual growth rate of global total factor productivity had remained stagnant in the past three years. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it has concrete measures in place to enhance the labour productivity in Hong Kong; if it does, of the contents of the measures (including the industries involved and the effectiveness expected); if not, whether it will expeditiously formulate such measures; and (2) whether it has compiled statistics on the total factor productivity in Hong Kong; if it has, of the statistics compiled in the past 10 years; if not, whether it will consider compiling such statistics?
*9. Hon Michael TIEN to ask: (Translation)
Quite a number of parents of primary school students have relayed to me that their children have to complete considerable and difficult homework daily, resulting in their children lacking playtime. Some parents have even completed some of the homework for their children to avoid their children being deprived of sufficient rest time. As revealed by some surveys, primary school students currently have to complete on average seven to 10 assignments daily. Some lower primary students have even been given 23 assignments before the weekend break, who therefore have to work until midnight on Sunday to complete those assignments. Also, 90% of the parents are of the view that the current homework load has exerted pressure on their children. There are views that one of the reasons for the ever-increasing amount of homework for primary school students is that the Education Bureau ("EDB") removed the upper limits on the amount of homework for primary school students when it updated the Basic Education Curriculum Guide (Primary 1-6) in 2014. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether, in the past three years, it conducted any comprehensive study on whether primary school students have been given homework of an appropriate amount and level of difficulty, and assessed the impacts on primary school students' psychological and physical health caused by the pressure generated by the requirement to complete all the homework; whether it has assessed if the situation of giving considerable and difficult homework to students is contrary to the authorities' objectives for implementing the education reform; if it conducted such a study and made such an assessment, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (2) given that in the updated Guidelines on Homework and Tests in Schools issued by EDB to schools in October this year, there is a guideline stating that schools should try to arrange time within lessons as far as possible for students to complete part of their homework under teachers' guidance, whether EDB has conducted any extensive survey of the primary schools across the territory in respect of the implementation of this guideline; if EDB has, of the details (including the number of schools which have implemented that guideline); if not, whether EDB will conduct such a survey; and (3) whether it will, in the light of the outcome of the aforesaid surveys, state afresh in the relevant guidelines the upper limits on daily homework, e.g. the time for lower primary students to complete all their homework (including homework in formats such as written work, online exercise, oral practice, etc.) should not exceed 30 minutes a day, and that for upper primary students should not exceed 60 minutes; if it will, of the implementation timetable; if not, what measures the authorities will take to alleviate the pressure of homework on primary school students and their parents?
*10. Dr Hon Helena WONG to ask: (Translation)
In the past two months, drinking water samples taken from the wall-mounted thermostatic electric kettles ("kettles") in several kindergartens were found to have a lead content exceeding the provisional guideline value of the World Health Organization. In reply to my written enquiry, the Customs and Excise Department has advised that as kettles are electrical products, which are not subject to the regulation of the Consumer Goods Safety Ordinance (Cap. 456), issues relating to the safety of kettles are not within the purview of the Customs and Excise Department. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether there is any existing legislation regulating the safety and use of kettles; which government department(s) is/are responsible for the relevant regulatory work; (2) given that several drinking water samples taken from the kettles of kindergartens were found to have excessive lead content, whether the authorities will require kindergartens to replace those kettles which have not obtained international certification on safety compliance; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (3) given that when kettles are not in use at night, lead released from the lead-containing components of kettles may accumulate in the water stored therein, and hence the authorities have advised users to first drain the water stored in the kettles before using them every morning, fill them with fresh supply of water and heat it before drinking, whether the authorities have assessed the number of users who will follow such a recommendation; if they have assessed and the outcome is that only a small number of people will do so, whether the authorities will put forward other safety recommendations that are more practicable; if they will, of the details?
*11. Hon Christopher CHEUNG to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that in recent months, the share prices of quite a number of companies newly listed on the Growth Enterprise Market ("GEM") were abnormally volatile in the early stage of their listings, especially those of the companies listed by way of placement of securities by issuers. The Securities and Futures Commission ("SFC") has expressed concern about the situation and advised that SFC would follow it up under the existing review mechanism. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:
(1) in each of the past five years, the number of companies listed on GEM (i) by way of placement of securities, and among such companies, (ii) the number of those whose share prices rose by 100% or more in comparison with their issue prices within the first two weeks after listing (set out in the table below);
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 (up to October) (i) (ii) (2) the number of companies listed on GEM whose major shareholders reduced their shareholdings, in each of the past five years, within the first six months after the listing of their companies, as well as the average percentage of their reduced shareholdings; (3) how SFC currently follows up the situation in which the share prices of the companies listed on GEM are abnormally volatile, and whether SFC found irregularities (such as manipulation of stock prices) in the past three years; (4) whether the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited ("SEHK") is currently reviewing the arrangements concerning the listing of companies on GEM by way of placement of securities; if so, of the direction of the review, and whether SEHK has drawn up a timetable for implementing the various recommendations to be put forward in the review report; and (5) whether SEHK has plans to conduct a comprehensive reform of GEM's existing modus operandi, so that emerging enterprises with genuine interests in business development can raise funds by way of listing on GEM; if SEHK does, of the details?
*12. Hon Albert CHAN to ask: (Translation)
In recent years, I have received complaints from quite a number of members of the public that quite a number of franchised buses look very dilapidated and have poor performance. For example, some buses run upslope at a speed of less than 20 kilometres per hour ("km/h") only, which is far below the general speed limit (i.e. 50 km/h) on roads. They are concerned whether it is safe to ride on these buses. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it knows, in respect of the fleet of each franchised bus company, (i) the current average age of the buses and (ii) the respective numbers of buses aged 10 years or below and those aged above 10 years; (2) whether it knows the reasons for some buses running upslope at a speed of less than 20 km/h only; whether it has assessed if the horsepower of these buses meets the relevant requirements; if it has assessed and the outcome is in the affirmative, of the reasons for the authorities to allow these buses to run upslope at a low speed; if the assessment outcome is in the negative, the reasons for the authorities to allow these buses to run on roads; and (3) whether it will adopt measures to urge franchised bus companies to introduce buses of greater horsepower for plying routes with more upslope and downslope road sections, so as to shorten the bus journey time and enhance the protection of the safety of bus passengers; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
*13. Hon WONG Ting-kwong to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that the Police received 45 reports of thefts on board aircraft in the first seven months of this year, representing a 50% increase over the same period of last year. The total amount of money involved was as large as $3 million, exceeding that for the whole of last year. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) in each of the past three years, of (i) the number of reports of thefts on board aircraft and the total amount of money involved, (ii) the number of persons arrested on suspicion of stealing on board aircraft, with a breakdown by their country/place of origin, and (iii) the penalties generally imposed on the persons convicted of theft on board aircraft; (2) whether it has studied the reasons for the significant increase in the number of thefts on board aircraft in recent years, and the related modus operandi of the offenders; if it has, of the details; and (3) whether it has assessed if the number of thefts on board aircraft will continue to rise along with the development of the aviation industry; if it has assessed and the outcome is in the affirmative, of the authorities' counter measures in place; whether it will review (i) the effectiveness of the current publicity and educational efforts on prevention of such crimes, and (ii) whether the current manpower resources are sufficient for combating such crimes; whether it will consider amending the legislation to increase the relevant penalties?
*14. Dr Hon LAM Tai-fai to ask: (Translation)
The Territory-wide System Assessment ("TSA") is designed to gauge students' attainment of the basic competence in the three subjects of Chinese Language, English Language and Mathematics at the end of the three key learning stages (i.e. Primary 3, Primary 6 and Secondary 3). The Government has advised that TSA data help the Government review policies and provide appropriate support to schools, and schools may make use of the school-level report to devise plans for enhancing learning and teaching. In recent years, some stakeholders such as education groups and parents have been greatly concerned about over-drilling students by schools for the purpose of TSA and have requested the Education Bureau ("EDB") to abolish the Primary 3 TSA. Moreover, some private schools have decided not to participate in TSA any longer. Some school sponsoring bodies have relayed to me that as the academic standards of some students allocated to the schools are unsatisfactory and TSA questions have become increasingly difficult, it is quite normal that the performance of schools in TSA varies greatly. However, as EDB often takes the TSA performance of a school as an indicator of the school's competence in and quality of education provision without taking into consideration the school's actual circumstances, schools are put under immense pressure. On the other hand, the Secretary for Education has recently indicated that the Coordinating Committee on Basic Competency Assessment and Assessment Literacy has been established to review the content for assessment, assessment items and operational problems of TSA in the coming three months. EDB has also issued updated guidelines to all schools in the territory to request them not to drill students for TSA. The Secretary for Education has reiterated that TSA is presently the only assessment that objectively reflects the basic competencies of students in Chinese Language, English Language and Mathematics, and the decision to abolish TSA should not be taken lightly. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it reviewed the effectiveness of TSA in the past three years; if it did, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (2) whether it reviewed, in the past three years, what problems had arisen in the course of implementation of TSA; if it did, of the details, as well as the number of such reviews conducted; (3) of the numbers of public hearings and seminars organized by the authorities in the past three years to gauge stakeholders' views on TSA, as well as the respective numbers of attendees who were parents, teachers, school principals, students and representatives of school sponsoring bodies; (4) whether it held discussions with individual schools or their sponsoring bodies on the TSA data of the schools in the past three years; if it did, of the objectives of such discussions, and whether it made requests or suggestions to the relevant schools on improving their performance in TSA; if it did, of the details (including the number of schools involved); if not, the reasons for that; (5) whether it has forwarded the TSA data of schools to external reviewers for reference; if it has, of the details, and whether it has assessed if such a practice will affect the independence, fairness, and impartiality of external reviewers in conducting their reviews; (6) whether it has examined if the TSA questions, set by the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority in the past 10 years, were increasingly difficult; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (7) whether it has assessed if the existing TSA questions are overly difficult and the relevant assessment items too complicated and tricky, rendering students unable to answer them; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (8) whether it has invited independent professionals to conduct analyses and comparisons of the TSA questions used in the past years; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (9) of the other uses of the TSA data by EDB, in addition to the provision of such data to schools for enhancing learning and teaching; (10) whether it has used the TSA data as indicators to judge schools' competence in and quality of education provision; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (11) whether it will conduct a consolidated analysis of the TSA data together with the academic standards achieved by students when they were admitted to the schools, so as to assess the schools' competence in and quality of education provision in a more accurate manner; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (12) whether EDB has ensured that the TSA data of individual schools are kept in strict confidence; if EDB has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (13) whether EDB has issued internal guidelines to specify the time limit for keeping the TSA data confidential and that the data are not meant for other uses (such as being used as the basis for school quality assessment, closure of schools, etc.); if EDB has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (14) whether it will ensure that the right to use the TSA data be surrendered to schools and that the data will only be used by schools as reference to help improve teaching and learning; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (15) whether it will ensure that the various units under EDB will not use the TSA data (i) to assess the performance of schools, and (ii) as grounds for directing schools or their sponsoring bodies to implement reforms; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (16) whether EDB will change TSA into internal assessments conducted by schools and take samples from such assessments to conduct a territory-wide comparison, so as to provide reference benchmark for schools; if EDB will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (17) of EDB's justifications for not considering the abolition of the Primary 3 TSA for the time being; (18) whether it will consider combining the Primary 6 TSA with the Pre-Secondary One Hong Kong Attainment Test, or abolishing either one of those public examinations; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (19) whether it will consider the suggestion of holding the Primary 3 TSA in alternate years; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (20) whether it will consider inviting more stakeholders to join the aforesaid Coordinating Committee to help enhance the Committee's recognition; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (21) whether it has made reference to and comparison with overseas assessment systems; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (22) given that the Secretary for Education is unable to attend the public hearing on TSA to be held by the Panel on Education of this Council scheduled for the 29th of this month due to personal reasons, whether the Secretary will change his itinerary so as to attend the public hearing and to listen to stakeholders' views directly; if he will not, of the reasons for that; and (23) whether the Secretary for Education will attend another public hearing to be held by the Panel on Education of this Council scheduled for the 5th and 6th of next month; if he will not, of the reasons for that?
*15. Hon CHAN Yuen-han to ask: (Translation)
When designating certain sites as country parks in the past, the Government has excluded villages and agricultural lands as well as some adjacent government lands as the buffer area from the boundaries of country parks. There are currently 77 such country park enclaves ("enclaves") in Hong Kong. In recent months, some members of the public discovered that land formation works had been carried out in an enclave (namely Wong Chuk Yeung located near Ma On Shan Country Park). The works involved eradicating the plants and soil on a large piece of wetland and felling thousands of trees. They are worried that such kind of disorganized development will ruin the ecology of those lands, disrupting the balance between development and conservation. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the specific location, size and current land use of each enclave, and set out the information by District Council district; (2) whether the authorities received any application for altering the planned uses of enclaves in the past five years; if they did, of (i) the number of applications approved by the authorities, (ii) the locations of the sites involved in the approved applications, together with their original and altered planned uses, and (iii) the number of approved applications for rezoning for residential use; (3) whether it has regularly assessed the ecological value of the various enclaves; if it has, of the details (including the assessment criteria adopted); if not, the reasons for that; (4) of the number of inspections carried out and the number of prosecutions instituted by the authorities in each of the past five years to combat works or developments carried out in enclaves and Green Belt sites that violated their permitted land uses; (5) whether it is an existing practice of the authorities to designate the enclaves, Green Belt sites and lands within the country parks near the sites for sale as "designated areas" in the Conditions of Sale and stipulate therein that works may be carried out by lessees in the designated areas; if so, of the specific approach and the criteria for determining the size of the "designated areas"; and (6) given that the authorities have indicated that they adopt certain criteria (including conservation value, landscape and aesthetic value, recreation potential, size, proximity to existing country parks, land status and land use) in assessing whether the enclaves should be incorporated into country parks, of the quantitative indicators of such criteria; the measures to be taken by the authorities to ensure that the ecology around the enclaves will not be ruined by the development projects carried out in the vicinity?
*16. Hon LEUNG Che-cheung to ask: (Translation)
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the Chinese people's victory in the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. Apart from designating 3 September this year as an additional statutory holiday and general holiday, the Government has also organized a number of commemorative activities, including an official commemorative ceremony, exhibitions of relics and pictures, seminars, film shows, commemorative stamp issue and guided tours of war heritage sites, etc., enabling members of the public to remember firmly this episode in history. Some members of the public have relayed to me that the history of the three years and eight months of Japanese occupation in Hong Kong is very important, the Government is therefore duty-bound to set up a memorial hall of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, so that the future generations can have a deep understanding of the deeds of resistance against Japanese aggression and the wickedness of Japanese militarism. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it has plans to set up a memorial hall of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression in Hong Kong; if it does, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (2) whether it has plans to regularize the various commemorative activities organized this year; if it does, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (3) given that some family members of those guerrillas and martyrs who had participated in the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression in Hong Kong have compiled and published the relevant deeds, whether the authorities have plans to take the initiative to contact them, so as to collect and preserve more information about this episode in history, with a view to enabling such historical records to pass down the generations; if they do not have such plans, of the reasons for that?
*17. Dr Hon KWOK Ka-ki to ask: (Translation)
According to the information from the Centre for Health Protection ("CHP") under the Department of Health, between January and August this year, the patients of more than half of the reported cases of invasive pneumococcal disease were elderly persons (i.e. persons aged 65 or above). Besides, the number of deaths from pneumonia increased from 3 026 in 2001 to 7 502 in 2014 and among those who died from such disease in 2014, 7072 were elderly persons. On the other hand, elderly persons may receive pneumococcal vaccination under the Government Vaccination Programme or the Elderly Vaccination Subsidy Scheme (collectively referred to as "subsidy schemes") at present. Also, CHP announced in February this year that, as a one-off measure, with effect from 2 March this year, doctors who participated in the related subsidy scheme under the Childhood 13-valent Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine ("PCV13") Booster Vaccination Programme, if they had remaining doses of government-supplied PCV13, could provide such vaccination for those elderly persons who had never received subsidized pneumococcal vaccination. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it has assessed the effectiveness of the aforesaid two subsidy schemes and conducted studies on boosting the rate of elderly persons receiving pneumococcal vaccination; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (2) of the number of the elderly persons who have received the vaccination under the aforesaid one-off measure so far and its percentage in the elderly population; and (3) whether it will consider implementing pneumococcal vaccination programme for elderly persons on a long-term basis; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
*18. Dr Hon Elizabeth QUAT to ask: (Translation)
It is learnt that quite a number of dual-income parents have an acute demand for child care and after-school care services. Although the authorities have allocated additional resources for the provision of such services in recent years, the service places are still in short supply and service recipients are confined to grass-roots families. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) in each of the past 10 years, (i) of the respective numbers of non-profit-making organizations which provided child care and after-school care services, and (ii) the number of places, the number of applicants, the queuing time and the fees charged for each of the services (with a breakdown of (i) and (ii) by District Council district); (2) in each of the past 10 years, (i) of the number of schools which provided after-school care services, and (ii) the number of places, the number of applicants, the queuing time and the fees charged for the services (set out the names of schools as well as a breakdown of (i) and (ii) by District Council district); (3) given that subsidized child care and after-school care services are available for application only by recipient families under the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance Scheme and families receiving full rate grant or half rate grant under the School Textbook Assistance Scheme, whether the authorities will consider relaxing the eligibility criteria to include new arrival families, single-parent families and low-income families; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (4) given that quite a number of dual-income parents cannot pick up their children after school every day because of work, whether the authorities will consider improving the existing after-school care services provided in schools, including extending their service hours to cater for the needs of dual-income parents; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (5) given that in the past 10 years, the Social Welfare Department did not operate any child care centres in new towns such as Ma On Shan, Tseung Kwan O, Tin Shui Wai and Tung Chung, resulting in a prolonged lack of such services for young couples living in those new towns, whether the authorities will consider including child care centres as necessary infrastructure when planning new towns in future; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (6) given that the fee levels and quality of child care and after-school care services provided by private organizations vary greatly, whether the authorities will step up the regulation of such services; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (7) as there are comments that while the Labour and Welfare Bureau is currently responsible for formulating policies relating to child care services, the day-to-day regulation is under the purview of the Social Welfare Department and the Education Bureau respectively, coupled with the lack of co-ordination among those policy bureaux and government department, and the effectiveness of such services has been affected as a result, of the authorities' improvement measures to rationalize the situation?
*19. Hon Alice MAK to ask: (Translation)
In recent months, quite a number of tenants living on the upper floors of decades-old public housing estates have complained to me that the fresh water pressure in their flats is too low. Due to a low flow of water supply caused by the low water pressure, it takes them more time to do the laundry and when they are taking a bath, there is no hot water supply as the heat-generating devices of town gas water heaters cannot be activated. These situations have caused great inconvenience to their daily lives. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the minimum standard set by the authorities on the water pressure of fresh water supplied to public housing flats; the number of public housing flats across the territory in which the fresh water pressure did not meet that standard in the past three years (with a breakdown by housing estate); (2) of the number of complaints received in the past three years by the authorities from public housing tenants that the fresh water pressure in their flats was too low; the approaches adopted by the authorities for handling such complaints; the number and percentage of cases in which fresh water pressure in those flats met the minimum standard after the complaints had been handled; (3) whether the authorities adopted in the past three years measures to improve the situation in which the overall fresh water pressure in public housing estates was too low; if they did, of the details; and (4) whether it has formulated plans to check if the fresh water pressure in public housing estates across the territory meets the minimum standard and to carry out improvement works for those estates with fresh water pressure not meeting the standard; if it has, of the details (including the timetable); if not, the reasons for that?
*20. Hon TANG Ka-piu to ask: (Translation)
In the 2015 Policy Address, the Government proposed to apply the concept of revitalizing water bodies to nullahs and river channels when carrying out large-scale drainage improvement works and drainage planning for new development areas, striving to achieve efficient drainage and, at the same time, promote greening, biodiversity, beautification and water-friendly activities ("revitalization works"). The Government has indicated that it will engage a consultant to study the proposal for exploring practicable options for revitalizing water bodies. In connection with revitalization works, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the number of large-scale drainage improvement works commenced in the past five years, and set out in a table the names, expenditures, contents and anticipated completion dates of the various projects; (2) whether it has set safety levels for the various nullahs across the territory according to their drainage capacities; if it has, of the details; (3) of the average monthly displacement of the various nullahs across the territory, as well as the months with the highest and lowest displacement in each of the past five years; (4) of the factors and conditions based on which the authorities decide whether or not to carry out revitalization works; (5) whether it will make reference to overseas experience in revitalizing nullahs and river channels, including the construction methods and the arrangements for post-revitalization management; of the examples of the overseas experience introduced by the authorities into the various completed and ongoing large-scale drainage improvement works, and set out the information by project name in a table; (6) of the current numbers of completed and ongoing large-scale drainage improvement works which have incorporated, or have planned to incorporate, water-friendly activities, and set out the information by project name; the management models for various types of water-friendly activities; (7) of the work progress of the aforesaid consultancy study; (8) whether it has drawn up a priority list for various revitalization works; if it has, of the details; of the number of revitalization works to be commenced in the next five years, and set out in a table the names, contents and anticipated commencement dates of the various projects; and (9) as Tai Wai Nullah is the upstream channelized section of Shing Mun River, and a number of residential areas are located on both sides of the river, whether the authorities will consider according priority to the revitalization work of this nullah, so as to enable residents living nearby to experience the pleasure of water-friendly activities; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
*21. Hon WU Chi-wai to ask: (Translation)
At present, standards on parking provision for residential developments, community facilities, commercial facilities, industrial developments and business developments are set out in the Hong Kong Planning Standards and Guidelines. It is learnt that there are quite a number of redevelopment projects in developed areas (e.g. Kowloon City district) with small site areas, and yet they have to provide for car parks in order to meet the relevant provision standards for private parking spaces. As such, quite a number of the street-front ground floor spaces in those redevelopment projects have been taken up by car park entrances, resulting in a reduction in the number of street-level shops to be built. A high density of car park entrances in those districts also cause inconvenience to pedestrians. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether the Government will consider providing private parking spaces in comprehensive parking facilities built by the Government or public organizations (e.g. the Hong Kong Housing Society and the Urban Renewal Authority) in districts where there are relatively more small scale redevelopment projects, for purchase by developers of redevelopment projects in the districts, so that those projects do not have to provide for parking facitlities; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (2) whether it reviewed the standards on parking provision set out in the Hong Kong Planning Standards and Guidelines in the past three years; whether it has plans to lower the relevant standards applicable to redevelopment projects; if it does, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
*22. Hon Paul TSE to ask: (Translation)
Standard Chartered Bank has recently announced a substantial loss in the third quarter of this year, causing the Singaporean sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holdings ("Temasek"), one of its major shareholders, to suffer huge losses. The Exchange Fund ("EF") of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority ("HKMA") recorded a loss of $63.8 billion in the third quarter of this year. Amid the downturn of the international investment environment, the investment returns of the Mandatory Provident Fund ("MPF") schemes have fallen accordingly. Employees not only suffer the losses from the MPF investments but also have to pay exorbitant management fees. There are comments that while EF recorded the highest ever loss in the third quarter of this year, the losses from the MPF investments for the same period are far more substantial, with the loss of the former representing about 1.9% of its total fund size, while the losses of the latter as high as 12%. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it knows the total amount of contributions made to the MPF schemes, the fund investment performance, the average rate of investment returns, the total amount of fees charged and the average percentage of such fees in the total amount of contributions, since January this year; (2) given that the share price of Standard Chartered Bank, one of the note-issuing banks of Hong Kong, has recently fallen by nearly two-thirds as compared to the level in 2010, causing losses to the long-term investment of national sovereign wealth funds like Temasek, and that EF which has engaged many investment experts has also failed to withstand fluctuations in the investment market, whether the Government has reviewed if the following practice is still appropriate: mandating employees to make contributions to the MPF schemes and transferring their contributions to fund managers for investment in the hope that the returns can provide retirement protection for the employees; if it has, of the details; if not, whether it will conduct such a review expeditiously; (3) given that some members of the public have all along criticized that fund managers charge excessively high fees which have gnawed the investment returns of the MPF schemes, whether the Government will conduct studies on allowing employees to make their own investment arrangements for their contributions, such as employees using their contributions to subscribe directly for passively managed funds which charge lower administration fees (such as the Tracker Fund of Hong Kong), so that they are not required to pay the fees of funds under the MPF schemes; (4) as some members of the public have queried that the Government's purpose of implementing the MPF schemes is to protect the income of fund managers but not to provide retirement protection for employees, how the Government removes such a perception among members of the public, so that they are willing to make contributions on a long-term basis; and (5) given that the Commission on Poverty will launch a six-month public consultation on retirement protection in December this year and will, at that time, also consult the public on the arrangement under which an employer may use the accrued benefits derived from the contributions he made for an employee to an MPF scheme to offset the severance payment or long service payment payable to the employee under the Employment Ordinance (Cap. 57) (commonly known as "the offsetting arrangement"), whether the Government will consider including in the scope of consultation the proposal of completely abolishing the MPF schemes to enable members of the public to make their own saving and investment arrangements for retirement?
* For written reply