2 items of subsidiary legislation/instruments and 4 other papers to be laid on the Table of the Council set out in Appendix 1

Members to ask 22 questions (6 for oral replies and 16 for written replies)

Contents of 22 questions, Members to ask such questions and public officers to reply set out in Appendix 2

(Standing over from the meeting of 10 July 2019)

(Standing over from the meeting of 10 July 2019)

(Debate and voting arrangements set out in LC Paper Nos. CB(3) 760/18-19 and CB(3) 55/19-20 issued on 27 June and 21 October 2019)

(Standing over from the meeting of 30 October 2019)

(Standing over from the meeting of 30 October 2019)

(Standing over from the meeting of 23 October 2019)

(Standing over from the meeting of 30 October 2019)

(Standing over from the meeting of 12 June 2019)

(Standing over from the meeting of 10 July 2019)

(Debate and voting arrangements set out in LC Paper No. CB(3) 771/18-19 issued on 27 June 2019)

(Standing over from the meeting of 23 October 2019)

(Standing over from the meeting of 3 July 2019)

(Debate and voting arrangements set out in LC Paper No. CB(3) 723/18-19 issued on 19 June 2019)

(Standing over from the meeting of 23 October 2019)

(Standing over from the meeting of 30 October 2019)

(Standing over from the meeting of 12 June 2019)

(Standing over from the meeting of 12 June 2019)

Hon Andrew WAN to ask:

On 26 July this year, the Chief Secretary for Administration ("CS") apologized to members of the public for the Police's handling of the incident of some white-clad men attacking members of the public in the MTR Yuen Long Station. On the same day, the Junior Police Officers' Association of the Hong Kong Police Force ("JPOA") issued a statement in response, "lodging the most severe condemnation" against the drawing of a rash conclusion publicly by CS about the right or wrong of the Hong Kong Police Force, and asking those incumbents with insufficient ability to lead the civil servants to vacate their positions for more capable persons. However, in respect of some civil servants initiating a public meeting, the Government issued a solemn statement on 1 August this year, pointing out that according to the Civil Service Code, civil servants must uphold their political neutrality, and must serve the incumbent Chief Executive ("CE") and Government with total loyalty. On 21 October this year, a police sergeant made a remark on a social networking platform, criticizing CE and the Secretary for Home Affairs for having had an in-depth dialogue with demonstrators earlier on. However, according to the Police General Orders, a police officer should at all times abstain from any activity which is likely or appears to be likely to interfere with the impartial discharge of his/her duties, including speaking publicly on matters of a political nature other than in the course of official duties. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon Tanya CHAN to ask:

It has been reported that San Uk Ling Holding Centre ("the Centre"), which is close to the boundary, was originally used for detaining illegal entrants pending repatriation. During the period from 5 August to 2 September this year, the Police sent, on a number of occasions, persons arrested in "anti-extradition to China" demonstrations to the Centre for temporary detention. Some persons who had been detained have pointed out that the search rooms and detention rooms in the Centre lack proper lighting and partitioning, and some of them have claimed that they were hurled abuse at, brutally assaulted and even sexually assaulted in the Centre by police officers. The Police have not used the Centre again for detaining demonstrators since 2 September. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon LAM Cheuk-ting to ask:

It has been reported that from late night on 21 July this year to the early hours on the following day, a large number of white-clad men (some of them suspected to be members of triad societies) assaulted members of the public and journalists with weapons at MTR Yuen Long Station and its vicinity. After launching the assaults, the white-clad men went into Nam Bin Wai Village and gathered there. A police superintendent led a team of police officers into the village to carry out criminal investigation, and talked with the white-clad men in the village office. He subsequently told the journalists at the scene that no one holding offensive weapons had been spotted, and he did not make any arrest on the spot. Some members of the public queried that the Police had let the criminals walk free and colluded with triad societies. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon Elizabeth QUAT to ask:

In recent months, radical demonstrators have resorted to various kinds of illegal and violent acts, including hurling petrol bombs, detonating remote-controlled bombs, setting fire at entrances/exits of MTR stations and shops, as well as attacking police officers with corrosive fluid, iron rods and sharpened objects. Some members of the public are concerned that the fact that demonstrators' acts are increasingly violent may be linked to the prevalence of messages on the Internet which are fake, provoke sentiments of hatred and rationalize violence. It has been reported that some countries have enacted legislation to combat the dissemination of messages on the Internet which are fake and jeopardize public safety. For example, Germany enacted the Network Enforcement Act in 2017, France enacted the Law Against the Manipulation of Information and the Law Against False Information in 2018, and Singapore enacted the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Bill this year. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon CHEUNG Kwok-kwan to ask:

It has been reported that earlier on, some secondary school students with different political views had confrontations in a school, subsequently dozens of persons dressed in black arrived there to express support for one of the parties and they surrounded the school and yelled; they even forced their way into the school and drew graffiti everywhere and vandalized the facilities. Furthermore, some students of tertiary institutions detained, attacked and insulted a lecturer who held different political views, hurled abuse at and surrounded the presidents of the institutions concerned, stormed the presidents' offices, as well as caused widespread destructions and drew graffiti on campus. Some members of the public have expressed concern about political disputes and violence permeating schools. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon MA Fung-kwok to ask:

The Performing Industry Association and quite a number of arts groups have relayed to me that in recent months, a number of cultural and arts activities have been cancelled or rescheduled due to demonstrations involving violence. The reasons for the arts groups to make such decisions include early closure of venues under the Leisure and Cultural Services Department ("LCSD") and traffic disruption. The arts groups concerned not only have suffered loss of box office income, but also have to deploy manpower and financial resources to handle follow-up work such as ticket refund. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon Kenneth LAU to ask:

Since June this year, scenes of members of the public taking to the street to demonstrate have been seen time and again. During the demonstrations, some demonstrators resorted to violent and illegal acts, including storming and forcing their way into the Legislative Council Complex, laying siege to government structures (including the Police Headquarters, police stations and the Revenue Tower), setting fire on streets and at entrances/exits of MTR stations, hurling petrol bombs at police officers, blocking roads, and vandalizing public facilities such as government structures and traffic lights. Some members of the public are concerned that such acts have seriously breached public peace and jeopardized public safety. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon Dennis KWOK to ask:

Between July and September this year, quite a number of members of the public went, in response to calls on the Internet, to the Hong Kong International Airport ("HKIA") and its neighbouring areas to stage demonstrations. At the request of the Airport Authority Hong Kong, the court granted an interim injunction order on 13 August which restrained any person from unlawfully and wilfully obstructing or interfering with the proper use of HKIA, and up to the present, the injunction order still remains in force. Regarding the law enforcement actions taken by the Police against the demonstrations staged at HKIA and its neighbouring areas, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon CHAN Chun-ying to ask:

It has been reported that recently, a hedge fund helmsman has publicly cast doubt if Hong Kong has foreign exchange reserves sufficient for maintaining the Linked Exchange Rate ("LER") System, and pointed out that the unceasing protests will lead to a serious downturn in Hong Kong's economy, causing a large capital outflow within the coming 12 to 18 months. Moreover, recently there have been rumours from time to time that the Hong Kong Monetary Authority ("HKMA") plans to enact legislation to cap the amount of cash that members of the public may withdraw daily. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon HUI Chi-fung to ask:

It is learnt that since June this year, some members of the public and the media found helicopters hovering in the air above during a number of large-scale demonstrations; and some demonstrators subsequently found that their clothes and exposed skin of the arms and legs were stained with fluorescent powder. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon Charles Peter MOK to ask:

Facial and visual image recognition technologies enable the identification of individuals' identity and vehicles' registration marks ("number plates") by comparing videos or visual images with a database. It has been reported that earlier on, some police officers, when conducting searches on the belongings of passengers on board a public bus, used high-definition digital video cameras to record the faces of passengers at a close distance. Regarding the use of facial and visual image recognition technologies by various government departments and public organizations, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon HO Kai-ming to ask:

In September last year, the Hong Kong Housing Society ("HKHS") launched the Letting Scheme for Subsidized Sale Developments with Premium Unpaid ("Letting Scheme"), under which eligible owners of HKHS's subsidized sale flats ("SSFs") are allowed to let their flats with premium unpaid to families in need. In July this year, the Hong Kong Housing Authority ("HA") decided to join the Letting Scheme on a trial basis, and intended to invite applications starting from the fourth quarter of this year from eligible owners of HA's SSFs for letting their flats with premium unpaid. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon Paul TSE to ask:

Recently, the founder of a hedge fund cast doubt on whether Hong Kong's foreign exchange reserves are sufficient to maintain the Linked Exchange Rate System. He also forecast that the System would naturally expire in 2047, and suggested investors to convert their Hong Kong dollar assets into US dollar assets as early as possible. On the other hand, some members of the private banking sector have relayed that in recent months, the number of applications for opening offshore bank accounts by their clients (especially those Hong Kong people with liquid assets of value ranging between several million and 10 million to 20 million Hong Kong dollars, and Mainlanders whose foreign assets are based in Hong Kong) has substantially increased, as these clients feel that it is safer to hold their assets in overseas places (e.g. Singapore) than in Hong Kong. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon WONG Kwok-kin to ask:

Will the Government provide the following statistics for 2017 and 2018 respectively (adopting the first quarter of 2004 as the base period, i.e. first quarter of 2004=100):

Hon LUK Chung-hung to ask:

With an aim to attract talents to join the retail industry, the Government, the Vocational Training Council and the Hong Kong Retail Management Association jointly launched in 2014 the Earn and Learn Pilot Scheme for the Retail Industry ("the Earn and Learn Scheme") to provide student-workers with an opportunity to "earn and learn" as well as a well-defined progression pathway. According to the arrangement under the Earn and Learn Scheme, if the student-workers of the Foundation Diploma ("FD") programme, upon graduation, become full-time employees of the same employers as those during the training period, they will be entitled to a monthly income of not less than $11,000. It has been learnt that the first four runs of the FD programme were completed between 2016 and this year. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:

Hon KWOK Wai-keung to ask:

Regarding each and all of the selected industry sections listed in the table below, will the Government inform this Council of the following information on middle-level managerial and professional employees in each year of 2017 and 2018: (i) the Nominal Salary Index (A), (ii) the Real Salary Index (A), (iii) the Nominal Salary Index (B), (iv) the Real Salary Index (B), and (v) the number of employed persons (using the first quarter of 2004 as the base period)?

Hon Mrs Regina IP to ask:

Since June this year, scenes of members of the public taking to the street to demonstrate have been occurred time and again. During the demonstrations, some masked demonstrators committed serious crimes, including arson, vandalising public facilities and shops, and hurling petrol bombs at police officers. In order to restore public order, the Government announced on 4 October this year the introduction of the Prohibition on Face Covering Regulation to ban the use of facial covering that is likely to prevent identification in unlawful or unathorized assemblies, public meetings and public processions. On the other hand, it has been reported that earlier on, the Police called, one after another, several duty magistrates outside office hours for making an urgent application for a warrant to search the residence of a demonstrator who had been shot and arrested. However, the magistrates did not answer the calls, hung up the phone, and even rejected the application on grounds of "no urgency". In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon CHAN Hoi-yan to ask:

Under the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance (Cap. 138), only "authorized sellers of poisons" may carry on a business of retail sale of pharmaceutical products containing poisons (including those in Parts 1 and 2 of the Poisons List), and only registered premises of such type of sellers ("pharmacies") may use Chinese names comprising the term "藥房". Apart from such type of sellers, operators of shops holding a "listed seller of poisons" licence ("medicine stores") may also sell pharmaceutical products containing poisons in Part 2 of the Poisons List. Some pharmacists have relayed that retail shops with Chinese names comprising terms such as "藥坊", "藥店" and "藥粧" ("other drugstores") have mushroomed in recent years. While a majority of those stores are not operated by the aforementioned two types of sellers, their names easily lead members of the public and tourists into mistaking them for being authorized to sell controlled pharmaceutical products, resulting in a lack of protection for consumers' rights and interests. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Dr Hon Pierre CHAN to ask:

At present, upon receipt of a staff complaint involving matters of a particular hospital or cluster, the Hospital Authority ("HA") will, having regard to the nature of the complaint, refer the case to the hospital or cluster concerned for handling, namely conducting investigation and reverting to the complainant on the result. If the complainant is not satisfied with the investigation result, he/she may lodge an appeal to the respective Cluster Chief Executive or Hospital Governing Committee ("the second-tier handling procedure"). If the complainant is still dissatisfied with the appeal result, he/she may further lodge an appeal to the Staff Appeals Committee under the HA Board ("the third-tier handling procedure") for a final decision. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon Tony TSE to ask:

The Government has indicated in this year's Policy Address that it will review over 300 "Government, Institution or Community" sites with a total area of some 300 hectares currently earmarked for standalone public facility, and put forward concrete proposals for sites with no development plan, including developing multi‑purpose public facility buildings under a "single site, multiple use" model, developing residential projects and public facilities under a mixed development mode, etc. The Government will also assist non‑governmental organizations in optimizing their under‑utilized sites, and facilitate, by providing support and introducing mixed residential, education and welfare uses, the redevelopment of the low‑rise buildings on such sites by the organizations concerned. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon Gary FAN to ask:

Since 9 June this year, a number of large-scale public meetings and processions ("public events") relating to the "anti-extradition to China" movement have taken place in Hong Kong, with some of such events turning into confrontations between the Police and members of the public. Some police officers used force and arrested demonstrators within the precincts of the properties of the MTR Corporation Limited ("MTRCL") and MTR stations. It is learnt that on many occasions before the commencement of public events, MTRCL closed a number of MTR stations situated in the vicinity of the places where public events were held, and suspended train services. MTRCL also deployed trains to transport police officers between different MTR stations for discharging duties. Moreover, on many occasions, MTRCL closed MTR stations and stopped train services during normal train service hours. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon Vincent CHENG to ask:

As pointed out in Report No. 72 of the Director of Audit published in April this year, several indicators showed that the performance of the employment services of the Labour Department ("LD") had been unsatisfactory in recent years: the numbers of visitors to the 13 job centres and three industry-based recruitment centres decreased continuously; the number of visits to the Interactive Employment Service ("iES") website decreased continuously; and the dedicated employment services provided for young people, the elderly and middle-aged, people with disabilities and members of ethnic minorities were plagued with various problems, including decreased numbers of participants, as well as low retention rates and short retention periods for job placements. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council: