A 18/19-4
Legislative Council
Agenda
Wednesday 31 October 2018 at 11:00 am
I. Tabling of Papers
| Subsidiary Legislation / Instruments | L.N. No. | |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Land (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Amendment) Regulation 2018 | 205/2018 |
| 2. | Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters (Sweden) Order (Commencement) Notice | 206/2018 |
| 3. | Foreign Lawyers Practice (Amendment) Rules 2018 (Commencement) Notice | 207/2018 |
| 4. | Solicitors' Practice (Amendment) Rules 2018 (Commencement) Notice | 208/2018 |
| 5. | Summary Disposal of Complaints (Solicitors) (Amendment) Rules 2018 (Commencement) Notice | 209/2018 |
| 6. | Pharmacy and Poisons (Amendment) (No. 6) Regulation 2018 | 210/2018 |
Other Papers
| 1. | No. 16 | - | Hong Kong Productivity Council
Annual Report, Independent Auditor's Report and Financial Statements 2017-18 |
| (to be presented by Secretary for Innovation and Technology) | |||
| 2. | No. 17 | - | Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation
Annual Report 2017-2018 |
| (to be presented by Secretary for Innovation and Technology) | |||
| 3. | No. 18 | - | The Land Registry Trading Fund Hong Kong
Annual Report 2017-18 |
| (to be presented by Secretary for Development) | |||
| 4. | No. 19 | - | Electrical and Mechanical Services
Trading Fund Report 2017/18 |
| (to be presented by Secretary for Development) | |||
| 5. | No. 20 | - | The Government Minute in response to the Report of the Public Accounts Committee No. 69A and No. 70 of May and July 2018 |
| (to be presented by Chief Secretary for Administration, who will address the Council) | |||
II. Questions
1. Hon Tony TSE to ask: (Translation)
In recent years, there were several incidents in which demonstrations staged on campus by students of tertiary institutions developed into confrontations. In those incidents, some students broke into and occupied offices or conference rooms of the institutions concerned, swearing at and jostling teaching staff, barring them from leaving, and even obstructing ambulance personnel from sending the injured to the hospital for treatment. There are comments that the failure of the institutions concerned to report such incidents to the Police in a timely manner caused the confrontations to escalate, thereby increasing the odds of teaching staff being subject to insults and injuries as well as emboldening trouble-makers in future to make bolder moves. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it knows the number of incidents in the past five years in which demonstrations on campuses of tertiary institutions developed into confrontations, as well as the number of teaching staff, security staff and other persons who sustained injuries in those confrontations; (2) of the number of confrontations referred to in (1) which were handled by police officers; among such cases, the respective numbers of those which were reported to the Police by the institutions concerned and by other persons, and those in which the Police took the initiative to intervene; whether police officers are authorized to enter the campuses without prior consent of the institutions concerned to take law enforcement actions; if so, of the circumstances under which they will do so; and (3) whether the Education Bureau and the Police will step up communication with and provide additional support to tertiary institutions, including assisting the institutions in reviewing the adequacy of their security measures and manpower on campus, as well as issuing guidelines on the circumstances under which the institutions and their teaching staff should report to the Police for assistance as well as those under which the Police should take the initiative to enter campuses to take law enforcement actions?
2. Hon Paul TSE to ask: (Translation)
In March this year, the Financial Secretary announced the rolling out of a Caring and Sharing Scheme ("the Scheme"), under which $4,000 will be disbursed to those members of the public who are not required to pay salaries tax for the preceding year and, for those members of the public whose benefits from concessions in salaries tax and rates are less than $4,000 in total, an amount of money will be disbursed to them to make up for the difference. The Government expected that the application arrangements for the Scheme would be announced before the end of this year and the Scheme would be open for applications in February next year at the earliest, but no progress has been heard so far. I have learnt that the office under the Working Family Allowance Office responsible for implementing the Scheme has yet to be set up, and the relevant computer program is still under development. Quite a number of members of the public have complained that the slow implementation of the Scheme has given them an impression that the Government is quick to collect taxes but slow to disburse payments and that the administrative efficiency of the bureaucracy is too low. Regarding efficiency in policy implementation, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether the implementation progress of the Scheme (including the setting up of the office and the development of the computer program) is behind schedule; whether it will expedite the relevant work so as to implement the Scheme as early as possible and to receive applications and disburse payments on an earlier date; (2) whether, in the light of the situation that the implementation of the Scheme has taken an excessively long time and thereby has fallen short of the public's expectation, the Government will comprehensively review its efficiency in policy implementation; and (3) given that it has been announced in the Policy Address delivered recently that the Government will spend about $7 billion on the construction of a civil service college, whether it has plans to provide civil servants with specialized training courses in the areas of enhancing the efficiency of policy implementation, strengthening inter-departmental collaboration as well as avoiding the lack of coordination and shirking of responsibilities among various government departments, etc.?
3. Hon MA Fung-kwok to ask: (Translation)
The Obscene Articles Tribunal ("OAT") gave Killing Commendatore, a literary work newly released by a renowned Japanese writer, an interim classification as a Class II (Indecent) article and made that classification official on 12 and 26 July this year respectively. The incident has aroused heated discussions among the culture and publication sectors as well as the public. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) given that OAT shall give notice in newspapers after it has made an interim classification in respect of an article and any person who submitted, or would have been entitled to submit, the article may require OAT to review that interim classification within five days of that interim classification taking effect, but such time limit may not be adequate for the persons concerned who are in places outside Hong Kong to learn of that interim classification and require a review, whether the Government will improve the relevant arrangements; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (2) whether it will make public the reasons for OAT to classify Killing Commendatore as a Class II article, and enact legislation to require that the reasons for OAT to classify an article as Class II or III be made public; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (3) given that the Government, upon reviewing the Control of Obscene and Indecent Articles Ordinance, proposed in 2015 an array of improvement measures (including increasing the minimum number of adjudicators at each OAT hearing from two to four and increasing the total number of adjudicators from 500 to 1 500), of the reasons why such measures have not yet been implemented and when they will be implemented?
4. Hon Starry LEE to ask: (Translation)
The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress passed in August this year the Draft Amendment to the Individual Income Tax Law ("the new tax law"), which will take effect on 1 January next year. Under the new tax law, the length of residency for which an individual must pay individual income tax on his or her income obtained inside and outside China is shortened from the current one year to 183 days. Those Hong Kong people who will be affected include the following three categories: persons who reside and work on the Mainland, persons who reside on the Mainland but return to Hong Kong every day for work, and retirees who have settled on the Mainland. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:
(1) it has assessed the respective numbers of the aforesaid three categories of Hong Kong people who will be affected by the new tax law; (2) it had, before the passage of the new tax law, relayed to the Central Authorities the impact of the new tax law on Hong Kong people; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (3) it has measures put in place to mitigate the impacts of the new tax law on Hong Kong people; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
5. Hon WONG Ting-kwong to ask: (Translation)
Since July this year, the United States ("US") Government has imposed, one after another, three tranches of additional tariff measures on imports from Mainland China of a total worth of US$250 billion. In response, the Government of China has concurrently imposed additional tariff measures on imports from US of a total worth of US$110 billion. There are comments that the Sino-US trade conflicts may last for a protracted period of time, and their impacts on Hong Kong's economy are expected to surface gradually from the third quarter of this year. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:(1) of the outcome of the latest assessment of the impacts of the Sino-US trade conflicts on Hong Kong's economy; the mitigation measures implemented by the authorities at the international level and the progress of such measures; (2) of the respective numbers of applications received and approved by the authorities so far since the enhancement measures for the "Dedicated Fund on Branding, Upgrading and Domestic Sales" were rolled out in August this year, as well as the average amount of grant and average processing time taken for each approved application; whether the authorities will raise the ceiling of the ratio of grant under the SME Export Marketing Fund to the expenditure incurred for export promotion activities, as well as provide financial assistance in respect of expenses on production line relocation; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (3) as the Financial Secretary has pointed out that the Sino-US trade conflicts may affect Hong Kong's banking sector through the credit and liquidity risk channels, whether the authorities have reviewed the capability of Hong Kong's financial system to withstand such challenge and made good preparation for that; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
6. Hon Kenneth LEUNG to ask: (Translation)
The Fraud and Money Laundering Intelligence Taskforce ("the Taskforce"), led by the Police with members comprising representatives from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority ("HKMA"), the Hong Kong Association of Banks and a number of banks, was established in May last year for a period of 12 months. It has been reported that the Taskforce prepared an alert called Combating Human Trafficking in Hong Kong and the Asia-Pacific Region, but the Police have not published the alert for fear that it may lead to Hong Kong being labelled as a hub for human trafficking. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) when the Police will publish the aforesaid alert; of the number and subjects of the assessment reports and alerts which have been issued to the financial sector, and other tasks undertaken, by the Taskforce to enhance the ability of financial institutions in identifying and reporting suspicious transactions involving human trafficking; (2) of the respective numbers of reports on suspicious transactions related to human trafficking which were received by the Police and HKMA in each of the past five years, and the total amount of money involved; among such cases, the number of those in respect of which law enforcement actions have been taken by the Police, and the respective numbers of persons arrested, prosecuted and convicted; and (3) whether it has reviewed the effectiveness of the Taskforce; if so, of the details; whether the Taskforce will become a standing mechanism; if so, of the relevant staffing establishment and the way forward in the work of the Taskforce?
*7. Hon Abraham SHEK to ask:
Will the Government inform this Council, in tabulated form, of the respective numbers of residential units produced from projects undertaken by the private sector in each of the years from 2015 to 2018 on sites involving applications for (i) lease modification, (ii) land exchange and (iii) private treaty grant?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport and Housing
*8. Dr Hon Elizabeth QUAT to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that the Equal Opportunities Commission ("EOC") received a total of 233 complaints about sexual harassment in the past three years and, among them, over 190 were in the employment field. Under the Sex Discrimination Ordinance (Cap. 480), acts of sexual harassment in the employment field is unlawful. Not only is the harasser required to bear legal liability, his employer may also be held vicariously liable. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the names of the policy bureaux, government departments and subvented organizations which have at present formulated (i) policies on eliminating sexual harassment and (ii) mechanisms for handling sexual harassment complaints, as well as the details of the policies and mechanisms concerned; (2) whether it has assessed if the various policy bureaux, government departments and subvented organizations have formulated appropriate measures to eliminate sexual harassment in the employment field; if it has, of the outcome; if not, the reasons for that; (3) whether it knows if EOC will step up publicity and educational efforts targeting at employers so as to eliminate acts of sexual harassment in the employment field; if EOC will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (4) whether it will expeditiously present to this Council the Discrimination Legislation (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill which seeks to outlaw sexual harassment between participants in the workplace who have no working relationship with each other; of the effectiveness the authorities expected of the legislative amendments concerned in curbing acts of sexual harassment in the employment field?
*9. Dr Hon CHIANG Lai-wan to ask: (Translation)
At present, the Department of Health offers two types of services, namely maintenance and detoxification treatment, through the Methadone Treatment Programme ("MTP") in methadone clinics ("clinics") on an outpatient basis to treat drug addicts'opioid dependence. Recently, I have received complaints from members of the public that quite a number of drug addicts gather, take drugs and engage in drug trafficking activities near various clinics, raising doubts on the effectiveness of MTP. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the respective numbers of patients who were (i) newly registered and (ii) re-registered, as well as (iii) the total number of registered patients, at each clinic in each of the past three years (set out in Table 1);
Table 1
Clinic 2015 2016 2017 (i) (ii) (iii) (i) (ii) (iii) (i) (ii) (iii) (2) of the number of (i) average daily attendance at each clinic, with a breakdown by whether the patients sought (ii) maintenance or (iii) detoxification treatment, in each of the past three years (set out in Table 2);
Table 2
Clinic 2015 2016 2017 (i) (ii) (iii) (i) (ii) (iii) (i) (ii) (iii) (3) of the number of patients who were provided with counselling services at each clinic in each of the past three years; (4) of the respective average and longest time taken by persons who were successfully rehabilitated through MTP in each of the past three years; and (5) whether the Government (i) reviewed the effectiveness and way forward of MTP, (ii) enhanced counselling and referral services and (iii) allocated additional resources to MTP, in the past three years, in order to more effectively help drug addicts quit the drug-taking habit; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
*10. Hon YUNG Hoi-yan to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that workmanship problems are more commonly seen in the private residential buildings completed in recent years than before. Such problems include hollow floor tiling within flats, leakage in the drainage pipes on external walls of buildings and within flats and leakage around windows'opening within flats. I have also received complaints from a number of flat owners of private housing estates located in districts such as Ma On Shan and Tseung Kwan O, who pointed out that since their moving in, the remedial works necessitated by the poor workmanship had caused great distress to them. They were dissatisfied with the fact that they had spent their lifetime savings on acquiring their own homes and yet they were unable to live in peace. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it has assessed if the workmanship of newly completed private residential buildings has shown a worsening trend in recent years; if it has assessed, of the outcome and follow-up measures; if not, the reasons for that and whether it will conduct such an assessment; (2) of the existing mechanisms and measures for regulating the workmanship of private residential developments (except those for building safety), as well as the scope of and the standards adopted for the regulatory work; when such mechanisms and measures were first introduced, as well as the date(s) on which they were last amended and the details thereof; whether it conducted in the past three years a comprehensive review to see if such mechanisms and measures were still relevant to the present circumstances; if it did, of the details and the outcome; if not, the reasons for that and whether it will conduct such a review expeditiously; and (3) of the measures to improve the workmanship of private residential buildings, so as to better protect the rights and interests of minority property owners?
*11. Hon James TO to ask: (Translation)
In reply to a question I raised in May this year about the investments made by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority ("HKMA") in the infrastructure projects of the countries and regions along the Belt and Road ("B&R"), the Government indicated that HKMA had all along been actively sourcing investment opportunities globally, including B&R-related projects, and that infrastructure was a key asset class of the Long Term Growth Portfolio ("LTGP") of the Exchange Fund. Besides, the Financial Secretary ("FS") stated in September this year in his blog article on B&R development that "with the support of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, HKMA is exploring cooperation with some state-owned enterprises to jointly look for attractive overseas projects with stable returns, and to consider investing in these projects as equity investors." On the other hand, the authorities have capped the proportion of the market value of LTGP in the accumulated surplus of the Exchange Fund at one-third. Also, 50% of the capital of the Future Fund, which was set up by the Government in 2016, has been placed in LTGP. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the details of each of the B&R-related projects joint-investment into which HKMA is exploring with state-owned enterprises ("joint-investment projects"), including the form, size, region and horizon of the investments; and the earliest time anticipated for investing in the first project; (2) given that the average annual internal rate of return of LTGP was 13.7% from 2009 to 2017, whether the authorities anticipate that the average internal rate of return of joint-investment projects will be higher than that figure; of the factors which HKMA will consider in determining whether to invest in joint-investment projects and whether those factors include the said rate of return; (3) of the approach currently adopted by HKMA for exploring cooperation with state-owned enterprises and for performing due diligence in respect of joint-investment projects, so as to minimize investment risks; whether HKMA will make the investments itself or through investment managers; should it be the latter, of the selection criteria (including their experience and track records) for investment managers; (4) given that the risks involved in equity investment are generally higher than those associated with loans and other forms of investments, whether HKMA will invest in joint-investment projects in the form of loans or through other forms of investments; if so, of the respective numbers of projects to be invested in different forms in the coming three years, as anticipated by HKMA; (5) whether HKMA will, in respect of joint-investment projects, (i) establish a mechanism to minimize investment risks, (ii) request that terms for protecting its investments be included in investment agreements, and (iii) contain potential losses (e.g. capping the investment amounts); (6) as the Deputy Chief Executive of HKMA has indicated that HKMA will maintain the requisite governance rights in various types of investment projects under LTGP, so as to ensure its ongoing right to monitor such investment projects, otherwise it will consider abandoning the relevant projects, whether such principle applies to joint-investment projects; if so, how HKMA will manifest the requisite governance rights; (7) whether there will be differences between joint-investment projects and other types of investment projects under LTGP in respect of matters relating to business strategy, personnel appointment powers, etc.; (8) whether HKMA has set ceilings in respect of (i) the amount of its investment in individual joint-investment projects, (ii) the total amount of investments in joint-investment projects, and (iii) the proportion of the total amount of investments in joint-investment projects in LTGP or the Exchange Fund; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (9) of the circumstances and mechanism under which HKMA may revise the ceiling of the proportion of the market value of LTGP in the accumulated surplus of the Exchange Fund; apart from the money that has been set aside for the Future Fund, whether there is a mechanism to enable the Government to invest additional amount of funds from fiscal reserves in LTGP; and (10) given that according to the Exchange Fund Ordinance (Cap. 66), the Exchange Fund is under the control of FS and in exercising such control, he is required to consult members of the Exchange Fund Advisory Committee who are appointed by the Chief Executive, how the authorities will resolve the differences in the event that members of that Committee, FS or HKMA have diverse views on investments in B&R-related projects or joint-investment projects; whether FS is authorized by the law to make the final decision?
*12. Hon Holden CHOW to ask: (Translation)
Under section 4(1) of the Public Cleansing and Prevention of Nuisances Regulation (Cap. 132BK) ("the Regulation"), no person shall deposit any litter in any public place, in the common parts of any building, on any land (except with the consent of the owner of the land), etc. Law enforcement officers of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department ("FEHD") may take law enforcement actions under that provision against persons dirtying the aforesaid places by feeding birds (e.g. leaving behind residual feed on the ground). Nevertheless, there are from time to time persons who persistently feed birds in the common parts of private land, which causes hygiene problems. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the number of persons to whom fixed penalty notices for feeding birds were issued, by invoking section 4(1) of the Regulation, by FEHD in each of the past three years (set out by District Council district); and (2) of the respective numbers of cases among those in (1) in which bird feeding took place (i) in the common parts of public rental housing estates and private housing estates and (ii) on private lands; if there was no such case, of the reasons for that, and whether the Government will assist the administrators of private lands in stopping bird feeding in the common parts of private lands and imposing punishment for such acts; if so, how it will provide assistance?
*13. Hon YIU Si-wing to ask: (Translation)
I have learnt that two bank accounts under the name of a travel agency were frozen one after another within two years. The person-in-charge of the travel agency made repeated enquiries with the bank concerned and demanded unfreezing of the accounts, but to no avail. It was only after he had sought assistance from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority ("HKMA") that the two accounts were unfrozen. As far as he knows, the reason for the accounts of his travel agency being frozen was probably that his travel agency had organized several years ago a tour group to Iran which was then under the sanctions of the United Nations ("UN"). In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether HKMA (i) has issued guidelines regarding the circumstances under which banks may freeze accounts, and (ii) knows the number of bank accounts which were frozen in each of the past three years on the grounds that there had been fund transfers between the account holders and the countries being sanctioned by UN; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (2) whether HKMA has drawn up guidelines or codes of practice to require that, in respect of freezing of accounts, banks must (i) conduct it in a transparent and reasonable manner, (ii) set a time limit for the freeze, (iii) explain to the customers concerned the reasons, and (iv) propose solutions; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (3) as quite a number of travel agencies in Hong Kong are actively exploring business opportunities in the countries along the Belt and Road, which will give rise to fund transfers with these countries, and such travel agencies are worried that their bank accounts may be frozen in the event that such countries are suddenly sanctioned by UN, how HKMA will allay the industry's concern in this regard and provide the needed assistance?
*14. Hon HO Kai-ming to ask: (Translation)
Under the Hawker Assistance Scheme ("the Scheme") launched by the Government in June 2013, hawker licensees of about 4 300 fixed-pitch hawker stalls in 43 hawker areas might choose to apply for a relocation cum reconstruction grant or surrender of their licences to the Government for an ex-gratia payment of $120,000. The Scheme expired in June this year. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the respective numbers of applications for surrender of hawker licences received and approved by the Government under the Scheme; (2) of the number of pitches available for allocation (except those unsuitable for allocation due to safety reasons) in the 43 hawker areas upon expiry of the Scheme, with a breakdown by district and hawker area; (3) of the respective total numbers of licensed hawkers in the 43 hawker areas (i) before the launch and (ii) upon expiry of the Scheme, with a breakdown by district and hawker area; and (4) as the Government indicated at a committee meeting of this Council that it would consider re-issuing the surrendered hawker licences for application by interested parties, of the timetable and progress of the work concerned, and whether the trade and the public will be consulted on the relevant arrangements; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
*15. Hon Vincent CHENG to ask: (Translation)
Some ethnic minority ("EM") groups have pointed out that learning Chinese can help EM people integrate into society. However, non-Chinese speaking ("NCS") students have encountered difficulties in learning Chinese. As a result, their opportunities for further studies, employment as well as upward mobility are limited. The Education Bureau ("EDB") has implemented since 2014 the "Chinese Language Curriculum Second Language Learning Framework" to step up the support for NCS students in learning Chinese. Besides, the Chief Executive has announced in the 2018 Policy Address that the Government will introduce new measures to allow NCS students to learn Chinese more effectively. Although the authorities have pointed out that the various support measures are gradually delivering results, and the number of schools which admit NCS students has been on the rise, there are still quite a number of complaints about schools'refusal to admit NCS students. Moreover, as the results generally achieved by NCS students in the subject of Chinese Language in public examinations are unsatisfactory, their rate of admission to local universities through the Joint University Programmes Admissions System is generally lower than that of Chinese speaking students. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the respective numbers of (i) secondary schools, (ii) primary schools and (iii) kindergartens which admitted NCS students in the past three school years, and set out in the table below a breakdown by District Council ("DC") district;
DC District 2015-2016 2016-2017 2017-2018 (i) (ii) (iii) (i) (ii) (iii) (i) (ii) (iii) ... ... ... Total (2) of the respective numbers of requests for assistance or complaints about the learning of Chinese by NCS students that EDB received in the past three school years from (i) students, (ii) parents and (iii) schools (with a breakdown by type) and the major content of such requests or complaints; how EDB handled and followed up the cases; (3) as I have received complaints that while most of the EM students, instead of taking the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education ("HKDSE") Examination for Chinese Language, sit for the General Certificate of Secondary Education (Chinese) Examination or examinations for other internationally recognized Chinese Language qualifications in which it is easier for them to get higher grades, the various tertiary institutions in Hong Kong have not published clear conversion tables in respect of the relevant academic results, resulting in such students being unable to assess whether their examination results meet the Chinese language proficiency requirements of the institutions, whether the authorities will explore improvement measures; (4) whether the authorities will, in the long run, commission experts to design a "Chinese as a Second Language Curriculum" for both primary and secondary levels; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (5) whether the authorities will consider reforming the HKDSE Examination for Chinese Language (e.g. introducing a HKDSE examination paper dedicated for NCS students); if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
*16. Hon LEUNG Yiu-chung to ask: (Translation)
It is learnt that there are currently more than 150 000 deaf/hard-of-hearing persons in Hong Kong, many of whom are residing in public housing estates. As all public housing estates in Hong Kong are currently not installed with visual fire alarm systems, there is a lack of protection for the safety of such persons. It has been reported that the Housing Department ("HD") launched a trial scheme in August last year to install fire alarm flashing lights in units of public housing estates, but HD has so far not given an account of the progress. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the details and progress of the trial scheme as well as the manpower involved; whether HD has consulted the deaf/hard-of-hearing persons and concern groups in respect of the implementation of the trial scheme; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (2) whether the deaf/hard-of-hearing public housing tenants may currently apply for fire alarm flashing lights to be installed by HD in their units; if so, (i) of the respective numbers of applications received, approved and rejected by HD since last year; (ii) if there were rejected applications, of the reasons for the rejection; whether the tenants concerned may lodge an appeal; if so, of the mechanism involved; (iii) of the number of cases to-date in which the works for installation of fire alarm flashing lights have been completed; (iv) whether HD has provided training and guidelines for the frontline staff on handling such applications, and distributed application forms to the tenants concerned; if so, of the details; if not, whether HD will do so as soon as possible; and (3) whether it will consider making amendments to the Buildings Ordinance (Cap. 123) and the Fire Services Ordinance (Cap. 95) to require that (i) all newly constructed public and private residential buildings must be installed with a visual fire alarm system, and that (ii) existing residential buildings must be retrofitted with such a system within a specified period of time; if so, of the details and the timetable; if not, the reasons for that?
*17. Hon LAM Cheuk-ting to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that the Hospital Authority ("HA") has transferred patients'personal data to the Faculty of Medicine of The Chinese University of Hong Kong ("the Faculty of Medicine") each year since 2010 to facilitate the conduct of a Patient Experience Survey through telephone interviews by the Faculty of Medicine. A respondent has recently complained that HA has transferred her personal data (including consultation records) to the Faculty of Medicine without her consent. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council if it knows:
(1) the quantity and contents of the patients'personal data that were transferred by HA to other organizations in each of the past three years, with a breakdown by reason for the transfer and name of organization; (2) whether HA had, prior to transferring the patients'personal data mentioned in (1) to other organizations, obtained the consent of each data subject; if HA had, of the relevant procedure and details; if not, the reasons for that, and whether the authorities have assessed if such a practice has contravened the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (Cap. 486); if the authorities have assessed and the outcome is in the affirmative, of the authorities'remedial measures and law enforcement actions; and (3) (i) how the organizations to whom HA has transferred patients'personal data store such data, (ii) at what stage they destroy the data, and (iii) whether they have transferred the data to other organizations; if they have, of the details?
*18. Hon Jeremy TAM to ask: (Translation)
Lion dance, dragon dance and unicorn dance sports ("dragon and lion dance sports") have been included in the Intangible Cultural Heritage Inventory of Hong Kong. The Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage stipulates that governments should safeguard intangible cultural heritage ("ICH"), that is, to take measures, including identification, documentation, research, preservation, protection, promotion, enhancement, transmission and revitalization, to ensure the viability of ICH. On the other hand, under section 4C of the Summary Offences Ordinance (Cap. 228), any person who organizes or participates in a lion dance, dragon dance or unicorn dance, or any attendant martial arts display in a public place is guilty of an offence, unless the person has been issued with a permit or granted an exemption by the Commissioner of Police. Some members of the public have relayed that the procedure for handling permit applications and the documents required to be submitted by applicants vary among the divisional police stations, leaving the public unsure of what to do. Some parents have also relayed that on the eve of their young children's participation in dragon and lion dance sports, they received phone calls from the Police enquiring about their children's detailed information (e.g. hobbies, personalities, family backgrounds and academic achievements); such an act by the Police may arouse unnecessary worries among parents, thereby making them unwilling to allow their children to continue to participate in such sports. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) as the Government indicated in its reply to a question raised by a Member of this Council on 11 June 2014 that given the unique nature of dragon and lion dance sports, it was necessary for the Government to ensure that the sports would not disturb public order or jeopardize public safety, and the permit system helped ensure that the sports would not be used by lawbreakers to carry out illegal activities, (i) in what way the nature of such sports is unique, and (ii) how such a nature may lead to such spots disturbing public order or jeopardizing public safety; (2) of the respective numbers of permit applications received and rejected by the Police in each of the past five years; among the cases rejected, the respective numbers of applications rejected on the grounds that such activities, in the Police's judgment, (i) might disturb public order or jeopardize public safety and (ii) might be used by lawbreakers to carry out illegal activities; (3) of the respective numbers of people in each of the past five years who were arrested, prosecuted and convicted for committing criminal offences during their participation in dragon and lion dance sports (with a breakdown by offence), as well as the punishments imposed on those convicted; (4) of the channels, apart from checking if the participants have any records of criminal convictions, through which the Police vet their backgrounds when processing permit applications, as well as the details of such work; whether such channels include making phone calls to the parents of young participants; (5) whether the Police will issue or update the internal guidelines for handling permit applications, including standardizing the handling procedure and the documents required to be submitted by applicants, and ensuring that the various divisional police stations will act in strict compliance with the guidelines; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (6) whether it has reviewed if the current policies and measures regulating dragon and lion dance sports are contrary to the obligation to safeguard ICH; if it has, of the outcome; if not, whether it will conduct a review immediately; of the measures the Government will take to mitigate the negative labelling effect on dragon and lion dance sports brought about by the current policies and measures, so as to avoid deterring members of the public who aspire to preserve and promote such a traditional culture from participating in such sports?
*19. Hon CHAN Chi-chuen to ask: (Translation)
It has been reported that a Mainland company is suspected of pirating a foreign company's software in developing its software and it made exaggerated statements in promoting the software. The person-in-charge of that company was granted approval in 2012 for coming to Hong Kong for settlement under the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme ("the Scheme"). Besides, the media have uncovered a number of exaggerated and misrepresented statements in the curriculum vitae of that person uploaded onto the company's website. Quite a number of members of the public doubt whether the Immigration Department ("ImmD") stringently scrutinized the information submitted by the applicants when it processed applications under the Scheme in the past. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether ImmD contacted the relevant organizations or institutions in the past five years for the purpose of verifying the information submitted by the applicants under the Scheme; if so, of the number of applications refused by ImmD in each of the past five years on the grounds that the applicants had submitted false or misrepresented information; (2) whether ImmD will conduct sampling reviews on the authenticity of the information submitted, by persons who have been granted approval for coming to Hong Kong for settlement, in their applications under the Scheme; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (3) whether, under the existing mechanism, ImmD may revoke the resident status of those persons found to have poor conduct or bad reputation after they have been granted approval for coming to Hong Kong for settlement under the Scheme, so as to ensure that Hong Kong's reputation will not be tarnished; if not, of the reasons for that?
*20. Hon WONG Kwok-kin to ask: (Translation)
According to the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Ordinance (Cap. 485), employees/self-employed persons whose monthly relevant income is less than $7,100 are not required to make contributions to their accounts under mandatory provident fund ("MPF") schemes. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of (i) the number of employees who had joined MPF schemes and (ii) the total amount of contributions made to the relevant MPF accounts, in each year from 2015 to 2017 (set out in Table 1);
Table 1
Type of employees Period for which such persons
were not required to make
MPF contributions2015 2016 2017 (i) (ii) (i) (ii) (i) (ii) Full-time employees six months or more less than six months Part-time employees six months or more less than six months Self-employed persons six months or more less than six months Total: (2) of (i) the number of employees who had joined other recognized retirement schemes and (ii) the total amount of contributions made to the relevant accounts under such retirement schemes, in each year from 2015 to 2017 (set out in Table 2);
Table 2
Other recognized retirement schemes 2015 2016 2017 (i) (ii) (i) (ii) (i) (ii) Civil Service Pension Scheme MPF exempted occupational
retirement schemesTotal: (3) of the number of employees who were exempted from joining any local retirement scheme, in each year from 2015 to 2017 (set out in Table 3);
Table 3
Type of exempt persons 2015 2016 2017 Domestic employees People from overseas who entered Hong Kong for employment for not more than 13 months, or who were covered by overseas retirement schemes Employees of the European Union Office of the European Commission in Hong Kong Employees aged above 65 Employees aged below 18 Total: (4) of the number of employees who were required to join but had not yet joined any MPF scheme, in each year from 2015 to 2017 (set out in Table 4); and
Table 4
Type of employees 2015 2016 2017 Full-time employees Part-time employees Total: (5) whether it will consider making contributions to the employees'MPF accounts for those months in which the relevant income of such employees is less than $7,100, so as to enhance the retirement protection for such employees; if so, of the details and timetable; if not, the reasons for that?
*21. Hon Jimmy NG to ask: (Translation)
The Chief Executive stated in her Policy Address delivered in October 2017 that she had "called upon all policy bureaux to uphold the principle of meritocracy and cast their net wide in scouting for talents. Anyone with ability and the commitment to serve the community will stand a chance to join various statutory and advisory bodies and tender advice to the Government". Regarding the statutory and advisory bodies ("SABs") in Hong Kong, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether the Government compiled statistics in the past three years on the political affiliations of members of various SABs; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; (2) as there are comments that as the society of Hong Kong has become increasingly diversified, the Government needs to listen to the views of various stakeholders in the process of policy formulation, whether the Government reviewed in the past three years the roles of SABs in policy formulation; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and (3) given that the Government has launched, one after another since last year, the Pilot Member Self-recommendation Scheme for Youth and the Member Self-recommendation Scheme for Youth, but only 15 advisory committees are covered by such schemes, representing 3% of the approximately 490 SABs in Hong Kong, whether the Government will review the effectiveness of such schemes and introduce improvements, e.g. relaxing the age restriction as well as gradually opening up all SABs for self-recommendation by young people; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
*22. Hon CHEUNG Kwok-kwan to ask: (Translation)
In August this year, a Hong Kong resident, who was serving a life sentence handed down by a local court in the Philippines many years ago for alleged drug possession, requested through his family members the Immigration Department ("ImmD") to provide his immigration records 18 years ago as evidence for the purpose of lodging an appeal to the Supreme Court of the Philippines. However, ImmD was unable to provide the relevant information because the immigration records of Hong Kong people would be retained for 10 years only and would all be destroyed thereafter. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of (i) the time when ImmD started implementing the arrangement of retaining immigration records for 10 years and (ii) the reasons for implementing the arrangement; (2) whether ImmD has assessed if there will be practical difficulties for extending the retention period for immigration records; if ImmD has assessed, of the outcome; (3) whether it knows other jurisdictions'retention periods in general for the immigration records of their nationals and visitors; and (4) whether ImmD will draw experience from this incident and review the relevant retention period; if so, when the review will be conducted; if not, of the reasons for that?
* For written reply
III. Government Bills
| First Reading and Second Reading (Debate to be adjourned)
| |||
| 1. | Supplementary Appropriation (2017-2018) Bill | : | Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
|
| 2. | Inland Revenue (Amendment) (No. 6) Bill 2018 | : | Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury
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| Stand-over item (since the meeting of 24 October 2018)
Second Reading (Debate to resume), Consideration by Committee of the Whole Council and Third Reading | |||
| Inland Revenue (Amendment) (No. 4) Bill 2018 | : | Secretary for Food and Health
| |
| Secretary for Food and Health to move amendments
(The amendments were issued on 12 October 2018 under LC Paper No. CB(3) 26/18-19) | |||
| (Debate and voting arrangements for Inland Revenue (Amendment) (No. 4) Bill 2018 in committee of the whole Council (issued on 23 October 2018 under LC Paper No. CB(3) 65/18-19(01)) (same as the Appendix to the Script of Council meeting of 24 October 2018))
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IV. Members' Motions
| 1. | Proposed resolution under section 34(4) of the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance
Hon Kenneth LEUNG to move the following motion: Resolved that in relation to the Tax Reserve Certificates (Rate of Interest) (Consolidation) (Amendment) Notice 2018, published in the Gazette as Legal Notice No. 147 of 2018, and laid on the table of the Legislative Council on 10 October 2018, the period for amending subsidiary legislation referred to in section 34(2) of the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance (Cap. 1) be extended under section 34(4) of that Ordinance to the meeting of 28 November 2018. | ||||
| 2. | Proposed resolution under section 34(4) of the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance
Hon Kenneth LEUNG to move the following motion: Resolved that in relation to the - | ||||
| (a) | Inland Revenue (Double Taxation Relief and Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with respect to Taxes on Income) (Republic of India) Order, published in the Gazette as Legal Notice No. 155 of 2018; and
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| (b) | Inland Revenue (Double Taxation Relief with respect to Taxes on Income and Prevention of Tax Evasion and Avoidance) (Republic of Finland) Order, published in the Gazette as Legal Notice No. 156 of 2018,
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| and laid on the table of the Legislative Council on 10 October 2018, the period for amending subsidiary legislation referred to in section 34(2) of the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance (Cap. 1) be extended under section 34(4) of that Ordinance to the meeting of 28 November 2018.
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| Stand-over items: Members'motion nos. 3 to 5 (since the meeting of 24 October 2018)
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| 3. | Motion under Article 73(5) and (10) of the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China
Hon Claudia MO to move the motion in Appendix 1. | ||||
| (The motion was issued on 15 October 2018
under LC Paper No. CB(3) 31/18-19) | |||||
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| 4. | Motion under the Legislative Council (Powers and Privileges) Ordinance
Hon Claudia MO to move the motion in Appendix 2. | ||||
| (The motion was issued on 8 October 2018
under LC Paper No. CB(3) 19/18-19) | |||||
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| 5. | Motion under the Legislative Council (Powers and Privileges) Ordinance
Hon LAM Cheuk-ting to move the motion in Appendix 3. | ||||
| (The motion was issued on 15 October 2018
under LC Paper No. CB(3) 27/18-19) | |||||
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| Stand-over item: Member's motion no. 6 (since the meeting of 11 July 2018)
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| 6. | Restructuring the governance of MTR Corporation Limited
Hon Michael TIEN to move the following motion: (Translation) That the MTR Corporation Limited ('MTRCL') has built and operates 11 railways in Hong Kong, and in the future, seven new railway projects will most likely be assigned to MTRCL; the people of Hong Kong heavily rely on the railway system as a mode of transport, but in recent years, there have been strong views in society on the service quality, corporate governance and supervision of works of MTRCL; the Hong Kong SAR Government as the majority shareholder of MTRCL has a major responsibility of monitoring MTRCL in providing to the public the safest railway services and infrastructure of the best quality; in this connection, this Council urges the SAR Government to adopt the following measures to restructure the governance of MTRCL to restore public confidence in MTRCL: | ||||
| (1) | setting up an independent railway development department-given that at present, a railway from planning to construction involves various government departments, including the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department, the Civil Engineering and Development Department, the Buildings Department and the Highways Department, resulting in fragmentation of responsibilities and inefficiency; besides, responsible for all the works of roads, tunnels, bridges, etc. in Hong Kong, the Highways Department can hardly attend to everything at the same time, thus giving rise to problems in the regulation of railways; hence, the SAR Government should set up an independent railway development department dedicated to railway works and directly responsible to the Secretary for Transport and Housing;
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| (2) | planning new development areas in tandem with their ancillary railway facilities-in planning some of the new development areas in the past, since the SAR Government did not concurrently consider ancillary transport facilities, serious traffic problems arose in such areas, and the SAR Government then constructed railways in a rush, thus causing the works quality to fall; hence, new development areas and ancillary railway facilities should be planned in tandem in order to prevent the quality of railway projects from being affected by very tight work schedules;
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| (3) | urging MTRCL to regularly review its investment strategy of updating the signalling system-in the past, repeated serious disruptions of MTR train services were caused by the ageing signalling system; hence, MTRCL should regularly upgrade the signalling system to the latest version, rather than refusing to upgrade the signalling system on the ground of the cost being the prime factor of consideration, so as to ensure provision of stable and reliable public transport services to passengers;
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| (4) | rationalizing the appointment of the Chairman and the Chief Executive Officer of MTRCL-to cope with the foreseeable railway projects, either of the Chairman and the Chief Executive Officer of MTRCL, being the two highest persons-in-charge, should have an engineering background to facilitate monitoring of the works progress at the highest level;
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| (5) | supervising MTRCL in reviewing the criteria of its internal tendering system-when drawing up the criteria of its internal tendering system, MTRCL should study following the criteria of the tendering system of the SAR Government which draw greater reference from the past performance, cooperative attitude, accountability performance of tenderers, etc., rather than overstressing the principle of 'the lowest bid wins'and the number of times the tenderers were awarded railway projects in the past as priority considerations, so as to avoid monopolization;
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| (6) | requiring MTRCL to strengthen the project management notification system-MTRCL should draw up specific and transparent notification criteria and make improvements on two levels: on the first level, requiring frontline site staff to report to the management in higher ranks the site conditions, including but not limited to issuing to contractors non-conformance notices/reports for any work that does not comply with plans and works requirements, and on the second level, reporting to the Government all construction problems in respect of repeated mistakes without rectification, delays in resolving such problems and suspected violations of statutory requirements; and
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| (7) | raising MTRCL's requirements for supervision of the works of contractors-MTRCL should draw reference from the requirements of the SAR Government in supervising public works, including considering the introduction of the Contractor Management Handbook for public works to conduct regular assessments on the quality, progress and safety of works, environmental protection, management and attitude of the persons-in-charge of projects, subcontracting of works, performance of procurement, etc., and requiring resident site staff to conduct thorough on-site supervision, thereby effecting more stringent supervision of railway projects.
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| Hon LUK Chung-hung, Hon CHAN Han-pan, Dr Hon KWOK Ka-ki and Hon LAM Cheuk-ting to move amendments to the motion
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| (The amendments were issued on 6 July 2018
under LC Paper No. CB(3) 810/17-18) | |||||
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| Stand-over item: Member's motion no. 7 (since the meeting of 24 October 2018)
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| 7. | Studying the formulation of policies for homosexual couples to enter into a union
Hon CHAN Chi-chuen to move the following motion: (Translation) That this Council urges the Government to study the formulation of policies for homosexual couples to enter into a union so that they can enjoy equal rights as heterosexual couples. | ||||
| Dr Hon Priscilla LEUNG, Hon AU Nok-hin and Hon Gary FAN to move amendments to the motion
| |||||
| (The amendments were issued on 19 June 2018
under LC Paper No. CB(3) 704/17-18) | |||||
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