4 items of subsidiary legislation and 21 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 8 July 2020)

Hon SHIU Ka-chun to ask:

Rule 56 of the Prison Rules stipulates that "prisoners may receive such books, periodicals, newspapers or other publications from outside the prison as the Commissioner [of Correctional Services] may determine" ("publications"). However, a Superintendent of the Correctional Services Department ("CSD") may withhold and dispose of a publication without forwarding it to the relevant person on remand or in custody if he has reasonable grounds to believe that such publication falls within the circumstances referred to in subrules (a) to (e) of the rule. I have received quite a number of complaints about CSD's withholding, without explanation, some publications (including those about the "anti-extradition to China" movement). In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon CHAN Hoi-yan to ask:

The Elderly Health Care Voucher Scheme, implemented for over a decade since its launch in 2009, aims to provide additional choices for the elderly on top of the public primary healthcare services, with a view to enhancing the primary healthcare services for the elderly. Some members of the public have criticized that after enhancement by the Government for a number of times, the Scheme still has long-standing shortcomings, including the small value and the narrow scope of use of health care vouchers, as well as the elderly being overcharged, etc. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon Vincent CHENG to ask:

Amid a rapid downturn of Hong Kong's economy which has been caused by the epidemic, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate from March to May this year was 5.9%, with the numbers of unemployed and underemployed persons surging to 230 000 and 130 000 respectively. To support employment, the Government has earmarked $6 billion under the Anti-epidemic Fund to create approximate 30 000 time-limited posts in both the public and private sectors in the coming two years, and is disbursing a subsidy of $7,500 to each eligible self-employed person ("SEP") under the Employment Support Scheme. Regarding the measures to support employment, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon CHEUNG Kwok-kwan to ask:

It has been reported that two district football teams respectively from Yuen Long and Tai Po announced earlier their withdrawal from the current football season of the Hong Kong Premier League ("HKPL"), thus leaving only one district football team competing for the HKPL champion. This situation has aroused concerns about the development and prospect of district football teams. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon Holden CHOW to ask:

It has been reported that since the eruption of the disturbances arising from the opposition to the proposed legislative amendments, around 100 primary and secondary school teachers have been arrested for suspected participation in unlawful activities. Also, quite a number of teachers have made hostile remarks on the Internet against the Police and instilled into students the idea of achieving justice by violating the law and hatred-inciting thoughts, but so far no cancellation of teacher registration has been heard of. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon Claudia MO to ask:

Certain provisions of the Basic Law, which make references to the common law, stipulate among other things that: the laws previously in force in Hong Kong which shall be maintained include the common law (Article 8), reference may be made to precedents of other common law jurisdictions in the adjudication of cases in accordance with the laws (Article 84), and the Court of Final Appeal may as required invite judges from other common law jurisdictions to sit on the Court of Final Appeal (Article 82). On the other hand, pursuant to Article 18 of the Basic Law, the Law of the People's Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region ("the National Security Law") was added to the list of national laws in Annex III to the Basic Law and applied in Hong Kong by promulgation on the 30th of last month. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon Abraham SHEK to ask:

On 10 October 2018, the Chief Executive announced in the 2018 Policy Address the reactivation of the scheme for revitalization of industrial buildings ("IBs"). One of the policy measures under the scheme is to encourage redevelopment of IBs by relaxing the maximum permissible non-domestic plot ratio by up to 20% for IBs constructed before 1987 on sites located outside the relevant "Residential" zones, subject to the planning approval by the Town Planning Board ("TPB") for the relevant planning applications which must be made within three years from 10 October 2018 to 9 October 2021, and the execution of the modified lease with full land premium charged under the prevailing mechanism within three years after the planning approval. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon CHAN Kin-por to ask:

The Traffic Accident Victims Assistance ("TAVA") Scheme, which is administered by the Social Welfare Department ("SWD"), aims to provide victims of road traffic accidents or their dependents with speedy financial assistance calculated on the basis of the injuries sustained by or the death of the former. It has been reported that some persons who had not sustained any injury in the traffic accidents happened to them obtained, by pretending to be feeling unwell, medical certificates for sick leave of no less than three days so that they can apply for assistance under the TAVA Scheme. Moreover, some members of the insurance industry have relayed that some organizations suspected of engaging in champerty have sent persons station outside the office of the Traffic Accident Victims Assistance Section of SWD to persuade TAVA Scheme applicants to entrust their cases to the solicitors designated by such organizations, and arrange them to apply for legal aid for instituting legal proceedings to make claims for compensation. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon LAM Cheuk-ting to ask:

The Law of the People's Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region ("NSL") came into operation at 11 p.m. on 30 June this year. Some members of the public consider that NSL has seriously damaged the "one country, two systems" and Hong Kong's rule of law as well as undermined human rights. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon Starry LEE to ask:

To promote the development of Hong Kong into a smart city, the Government is developing the "Common Spatial Data Infrastructure" ("CSDI"), a digital infrastructure facility, to facilitate the consolidation, exchange, sharing and innovative application of geospatial data among government departments and public and private organizations. The Government has set up, for coordination of the related work, a working group which is jointly led by the Development Bureau and the Innovation and Technology Bureau, and has a membership comprising representatives from those policy bureaux/government departments which are major holders of relatively larger amount of spatial data. The Government expects that the CSDI portal can be rolled out by the end of 2022 for public use. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon Tanya CHAN to ask:

As provided in Article 44 of the Law of the People's Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, which has come into effect since 30 June this year, the Chief Executive ("CE") shall designate a number of judges from the various levels of court to handle cases concerning offence endangering national security ("judges for national security cases"), and CE may, before making such designation, consult the Committee for Safeguarding National Security of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region ("the Committee") and the Chief Justice of the Court of Final Appeal ("CJ"). In this connection, will the Government inform this Council if it has studied:

Hon Martin LIAO to ask:

At present, the Coronavirus Disease 2019 ("COVID-19") epidemic in various places across the globe is still fluctuating, causing significant impacts on public health and the economy. The epidemic has put additional pressure on Hong Kong's economy, which has been dealt a double blow by the riots and the Sino-US trade conflicts. The World Health Organization has advised recently that the world still has a long way to go in tackling the COVID-19 epidemic, and this novel coronavirus may co-exist with mankind for a long time. The governments of various places across the globe have adopted various anti-epidemic measures for tackling the epidemic, including immigration control, lockdown and isolation measures, social distancing, and restricting the conduct of business in high-risk premises. Worldwide communities may need to maintain the operation of their societies and economies through a wider use of models such as working-from-home and e-commerce. All of these are regarded as the "new normal" whereby the mankind co-exists with the virus for a long time. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon KWONG Chun-yu to ask:

Regarding the public rental housing ("PRH") and the subsidized sale housing under the Hong Kong Housing Authority ("HA") and the Hong Kong Housing Society ("HKHS"), will the Government inform this Council (set out in different tables the information relating to HA and HKHS respectively in respect of (1) to (6)):

Hon CHU Hoi-dick to ask:

In view of the fact that the new Tin Shui Wai public market under planning will only be completed in 2027 at the earliest, the Government announced in October last year the plan to provide a temporary market adjacent to Tin Sau Road Park in Tin Shui Wai. The temporary market, which will be built by adopting the "Modular Integrated Construction" approach at a cost of about $30 million, is expected to commence operation at the end of this year the soonest. Regarding issues relating to the provision of temporary public markets, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon KWOK Wai-keung to ask:

Some members of the public have relayed that car parking spaces on the Hong Kong Island have all along been in short supply, resulting in illegal on-street parking of vehicles as well as activities of picking up/setting down passengers and loading/unloading goods by vehicles from time to time, which have aggravated the problem of traffic congestion and caused inconvenience to the residents. On the other hand, the Government has planned to implement pilot projects on automated parking systems in two government buildings proposed to be built on Chung Kong Road in Sheung Wan and Sheung Mau Street in Chai Wan. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon WONG Ting-kwong to ask:

To promote the development of Chinese medicine ("CM"), the Government has allocated $500 million to establish the Chinese Medicine Development Fund ("CMDF"). On developing CM, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon IP Kin-yuen to ask:

The Education Bureau ("EDB") announced on 18 June this year the launching of a Gift Book Pilot Scheme ("the Pilot Scheme"), under which all participating public-sector schools (including special schools) and Direct Subsidy Scheme schools will be allocated a one-off grant, calculated according to the number of students in each school (about $100 per student), for the procurement of printed books to be given to students for free. Under the Pilot Scheme, schools were required to complete the procurement procedure (including selecting books on the designated book lists provided by EDB, inviting quotations and placing orders for the books) within the period from 18 June to 9 July this year. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon Frankie YICK to ask:

It is learnt that the activities of using motor vehicles for illegal carriage of passengers for hire or reward ("illegal carriage of passengers") have been quite rampant in recent years, resulting in unfair competition for the public transport trades which operate legally. In addition, the third party risks insurance for the vehicles concerned may be invalidated due to the vehicles having been used for illegal carriage of passengers, and this may result in a loss of protection for their passengers and other road users. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon CHAN Han-pan to ask:

By implementing the Elderly Health Care Voucher Scheme ("EHV Scheme") and promoting the Voluntary Health Insurance Scheme ("VHIS"), the Government has encouraged members of the public to make wider use of private healthcare services, with a view to alleviating the pressure on the public healthcare system. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon Mrs Regina IP to ask:

Some student guidance personnel have relayed that while they join hands with school-based social workers and Student Guidance Teachers ("SGTs") to provide Comprehensive Student Guidance Service, their posts are not on the approved establishment of teaching staff members of their schools. As a result, their salaries are on the low side with a lack of promotion prospect. On the other hand, the Education Bureau ("EDB") wrote to a relevant organization on 28 June last year, indicating that EDB was collecting data and views by way of questionnaire survey and school visits, etc. in order to review the implementation of the relevant policies, including the mode of cooperation among student guidance personnel/school-based social workers and SGTs. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon Alice MAK to ask:

The Task Force on Land Supply submitted in December 2018 a report to the Government, in which it tendered a number of recommendations on land supply strategy and put forward eight land supply options worthy of priority studies and implementation. There are comments that it has been more than one year since the Government announced in February last year that it had fully accepted such recommendations, but the Government has achieved very little progress in its land development work. The tight supply of land over a prolonged period has aggravated the financial burden on housing for the public and hindered the development of various industries. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon LUK Chung-hung to ask:

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 pandemic has dealt a heavy blow to Hong Kong's aviation industry. To maintain Hong Kong's status as an international aviation hub, the Government has, earlier on, announced its decision to invest in Cathay Pacific Airways Limited ("CX") to help CX come out of financial distress. On the other hand, some employees in the aviation industry and the aviation support services sector have relayed that the Government's current relief measures have mainly benefited enterprises, with little direct assistance for employees. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council: