2 items of subsidiary legislation and 8 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 previous meetings since 8 July 2020)

(Standing over from the meeting of 21 October 2020)

(Standing over from the meeting of 21 October 2020)

(Standing over from previous meetings since 20 May 2020)

(Standing over from previous meetings since 20 May 2020)

(Standing over from previous meetings since 23 October 2019)

(Debate and voting arrangements set out in LC Paper Nos. CB(3) 195/19-20, CB(3) 218/19-20 and CB(3) 29/20-21 issued on 9 and 17 December 2019 and 15 October 2020)

(Standing over from previous meetings since 23 October 2019)

(Debate and voting arrangements set out in LC Paper Nos. CB(3) 195/19-20, CB(3) 218/19-20 and CB(3) 29/20-21 issued on 9 and 17 December 2019 and 15 October 2020)

(Items 10 to 12 standing over from previous meetings since 23 October 2019)

(Item 13 standing over from previous meetings since 13 November 2019)

(Item 14 standing over from previous meetings since 11 December 2019)

(Debate and voting arrangements set out in LC Paper Nos. CB(3) 195/19-20, CB(3) 218/19-20 and CB(3) 29/20-21 issued on 9 and 17 December 2019 and 15 October 2020)

(Standing over from previous meetings since 27 November 2019)

(Debate and voting arrangements set out in LC Paper Nos. CB(3) 195/19-20, CB(3) 218/19-20 and CB(3) 29/20-21 issued on 9 and 17 December 2019 and 15 October 2020)

(Items 16 and 17 standing over from previous meetings since 15 January 2020)

(Items 18 and 19 standing over from previous meetings since 20 May 2020)

(Standing over from previous meetings since 12 June 2019)

(Standing over from previous meetings since 3 June 2020)

Hon Alvin YEUNG to ask:

It has been reported that the Government is studying the issue of allowing Hong Kong people residing in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area ("Greater Bay Area") to vote, in their residing places, in the Legislative Council General Election to be held next year ("external voting arrangement"). Some members of the public are worried that the arrangement will contravene the well-established and effective election approach and undermine the fairness of the election. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon Alice MAK to ask:

Currently, organizations that plan to conduct fundraising activities in public places must first apply for permits or licences from the relevant government departments. Applications of fundraising activities for charitable purpose are vetted and approved by the Director of Social Welfare, whereas applications of fundraising activities for other purposes are vetted and approved by the Secretary for Home Affairs. Organizations that conduct fundraising activities must, after conclusion of the activities, submit to the relevant government departments a copy of the accounts or reports audited by a professional. However, fundraising activities conducted online are not subject to such regulation. Some members of the public are concerned that lawbreakers may launder money from unknown sources through such activities in order to subsidize unlawful activities such as those which threaten national security. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon LUK Chung-hung to ask:

In recent years, with more and more people taking orders on digital platforms to engage in jobs paid on a per-service basis such as food delivery and transport ("platform workers"), relevant work injury accidents and labour dispute cases have increased concomitantly. It is learnt that as the employment relationship between platform workers and platform companies is ambiguous, concerns have been aroused as to whether the employees' rights, benefits and welfare (e.g. paid leave, minimum wage and compensations for work injury accidents) of such workers are deprived of. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon Mrs Regina IP to ask:

It is learnt that Borrett Road at Mid Levels is a narrow, bendy and steep road with frequent occurrence of accidents. For instance, last month, a head-on collision between a motorcycle and a dump truck resulted in the death of the motorcyclist, and a private car running downhill lost control at a bend and fell off the slope, causing three injuries. During the school starting and finishing time, lunch break and holding of activities of the two nearby schools, a large number of private cars and school buses enter Borrett Road to pick up and drop off school children, causing traffic congestion. Moreover, there are heavy vehicles passing through Borrett Road from time to time which increases the traffic load there and makes traffic accidents prone to occur. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon Charles Peter MOK to ask:

It has been reported that recently, an Assistant Programme Officer appointed on civil service probationary terms by Radio Television Hong Kong ("RTHK") has been informed, before expiry of her three-year probationary period, that the RTHK management has decided to extend her probationary period by 120 days and to reopen the investigation into the complaints from the public against her. Some members of the public consider that the aforesaid decision is unusual and may be related to that staff member's performance in news covering at a government press conference held last year, and that RTHK has, after being pressurized by senior government management, punished by means of personnel arrangements the reporter who seeks the truth. They are of the view that such a move has undermined RTHK's editorial independence and public interest, and has weakened Hong Kong's image as a free and open society. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Dr Hon Helena WONG to ask:

Last month, the Education Bureau ("EDB") cancelled the registration of a primary school teacher on the ground that he had prepared lesson plans and learning materials that involved a well-planned dissemination of the message of Hong Kong independence, which constituted a serious professional misconduct. On the other hand, the Secretary for Education indicated earlier on that it was unnecessary to discuss in lessons the topic of Hong Kong independence; should such discussion be made, the conclusion that Hong Kong independence is infeasible must be reached. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon Claudia MO to ask:

It has been reported that in February this year, 30 animals were suspected to have been thrown from height in Sham Tseng, among which 18 died and 12 were injured. Last month, the Department of Justice ("DoJ") decided, after reviewing the findings of the Police's investigation, not to initiate prosecutions against the suspects involved in the case on grounds that the totality of the evidence was insufficient to establish a reasonable prospect of conviction. DoJ's decision has aroused strong dissatisfaction and queries among the public, and some members of the public have criticized the Government for disregarding justice and animal life by condoning perpetrators of cruelty to animals. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon Holden CHOW to ask:

When this year's National Day was drawing near, some members of the public flowed national flags on the streets and at public places in various districts to express patriotic sentiments and create festive atmosphere. However, they were confused and outraged upon the removal of all these national flags by the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department ("FEHD") on the National Day. They pointed out that while FEHD had swiftly removed such display items, it had not removed, after a prolonged period of time, those display items on the "Lennon Walls" in various districts which contained words that incited hatred and caused social dissension, arousing the suspicion of favouritism. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon WU Chi-wai to ask:

The Government commenced in 2015 a study on "Hong Kong 2030+: Towards a Planning Vision and Strategy Transcending 2030", which put forward the preliminary concepts for the New Territories North ("NTN") Development and formulated the broad land use concepts for three potential development areas ("PDAs") under the NTN Development, namely the San Tin/Lok Ma Chau Development Node, Man Kam To Logistics Corridor, and NTN New Town (totalling some 720 hectares of development area). The report on the Preliminary Feasibility Study on Developing the New Territories North published by the Government in 2017 examined a spectrum of development thresholds with different characteristics, including increasing the development intensity in East NTN with the addition of transport infrastructure to accommodate a higher population closer to 400 000. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon Andrew WAN to ask:

In 1999, the Government and The Walt Disney Company ("TWDC") formed a joint-venture company, namely the Hong Kong International Theme Parks Limited ("HKITP"). In 2000, the Government and HKITP signed an Option Deed under which an Option, with expiration date on 24 September 2020, was granted to HKITP for it to buy, for taking forward the Phase 2 development of the Hong Kong Disneyland ("HKDL"), a site of approximately 60 hectares adjacent to HKDL at Penny's Bay ("Phase 2 site"). After the site had been left idle for two decades, the Government announced on 23 September this year that having taken into account the current economic conditions, it would not extend the Option. Moreover, under the Deed of Restrictive Covenant ("DRC") signed between the Government and HKITP, the use of the Phase 2 site has to comply with the permitted uses as listed in DRC, which do not include residential and medical uses. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Dr Hon Fernando CHEUNG to ask:

There are comments that the Government's refusal to completely close all boundary control points ended up at least 290 000 persons entering the territory with exemption from the quarantine requirement between February and July this year. This resulted in the outbreak of the third wave of the epidemic, with residential care homes ("RCHs") for persons with disabilities and RCHs for the elderly bearing the severe brunt of the epidemic. Quite a number of such RCH residents were confirmed to be infected and died, while other residents living in the same RCHs were sent to quarantine facilities for quarantine. On coping with the epidemic by these two types of RCHs, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon IP Kin-yuen to ask:

Early this month, the Education Bureau ("EDB") determined that a primary school teacher under complaint was culpable for serious professional misconduct and cancelled his teacher's registration. EDB indicated that during the investigation, a professional team under EDB comprising directorate officers ("the professional team") had reviewed the relevant lesson plans and teaching materials as well as the investigation report submitted by the school concerned, and invited that teacher on two occasions to submit written explanations. However, that teacher claims that he was not given any opportunity for making an oral representation, and not until 6 October did he first learn from EDB's press conference about some of the grounds for the cancellation of his teacher's registration. As a result, he never had the opportunity to fully defend his case. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon Kenneth LEUNG to ask:

In 2017, 2018 and 2019, the overflow quantities of the various reservoirs in Hong Kong were 48.4 million, 44.4 million and 33.8 million cubic metres respectively, which were equivalent to about 5.5% of the quantities of Dongjiang water purchased in the respective years. In as early as 2004, the Drainage Services Department ("DSD") planned to implement the Inter-reservoirs Transfer Scheme ("IRTS") to divert the rainwater collected in Kowloon Byewash Reservoir to Lower Shing Mun Reservoir, so as to reduce the overflow from the former and increase the yield of the latter, and to reduce flood risk in the Lai Chi Kok area. DSD informed this Council in the following year that the construction works for IRTS would commence in 2010 and was expected to complete in 2012. However, the authorities for several years did not seek funding approval from this Council for the construction works for IRTS. Moreover, despite the recommendation in Report No. 64 of the Director of Audit published in April 2015 that the authorities should expedite the implementation of IRTS, not until 2019 did the relevant works commence. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon Elizabeth QUAT to ask:

Will the Government inform this Council of the following information regarding the trading (including import and re-export) of live animals other than livestock, cats, dogs and poultry:

Hon Paul TSE to ask:

Last month, the Financial Secretary pointed out that the fiscal deficit for the current financial year would soar to over $300 billion and fiscal reserves would plunge to around $800 billion. Other than the fiscal deficit, the expenditure has continued to increase. It has been reported that as both the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge ("HZMB") and the Hong Kong Section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link ("XRL") have failed to make ends meet as they had been hit by the Coronavirus Disease 2019 epidemic, the Government needs to provide subsidies of $1 billion and $350 million respectively. As the epidemic still persists, some academics and members of the public are worried that structural fiscal deficits will, coupled with the imminent implementation of the costly large-scale reclamation projects under the "Lantau Tomorrow Vision", deteriorate further and the financial pressure on the Government will surge. They have pointed out that it is incumbent upon the Government to generate revenue and manage costs, and to put the money previously allocated to various funds to effective use. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon Tony TSE to ask:

It has been reported that during last year's disturbances arising from the opposition to the proposed legislative amendments ("the disturbances"), the campus facilities of a number of tertiary institutions were extensively vandalized with a lot of properties stolen. As a result, such institutions have to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to carry out restoration works and step up campus security. Although the disturbances have subsided, incidents of facilities being vandalized, unauthorized posting of slogans and persons with different political views clashing with each other still happen from time to time in the campuses of a number of institutions. It has been reported that on the 26th of last month, some outsiders entered the campus of the University of Hong Kong, tearing up publicity materials and clashing with the students of the university. However, the university did not report the incident to the Police, and some security staff were subsequently disciplined for alleged mishandling of the incident. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Dr Hon Pierre CHAN to ask:

Will the Government inform this Council of the following statistics on the confirmed cases of Coronavirus Disease 2019 ("COVID-19") since January this year:

Hon Charles Peter MOK to ask:

There are comments that encouraging small and medium enterprises ("SMEs") and start-ups to participate in government procurements and helping them tap business opportunities will be conducive to promoting the economic development of Hong Kong in the long run. In recent years, the Government has introduced a new procurement policy which raises the weighting of the technical aspect in the overall score during tender assessment, and provided a platform through the Smart Government Innovation Lab ("Smart Lab") to match the business needs of government departments with the solutions proposed by technology suppliers. Regarding the measures to enhance the participation rate of SMEs and start-ups in government procurements and the effectiveness of these measures, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon Elizabeth QUAT to ask:

Regarding the measures to boost the economy and relieve people's hardship amid the Coronavirus Disease 2019 ("COVID-19") epidemic, will the Government inform this Council:

Dr Hon Helena WONG to ask:

Regarding police officers' way of handling of members of the public and reporters, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon CHAN Hak-kan to ask:

On promoting the popularization of electric vehicles ("EVs") in Hong Kong, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon Vincent CHENG to ask:

Under the Large Scale Operations on Target Streets implemented since 2014, the Buildings Department ("BD") each year selects one or more street sections and carries out large scale operations to dispose of the signboards alongside the sections. The relevant work includes investigation, issuing Dangerous Structure Removal Notices to or instituting prosecutions against owners of unauthorized or abandoned signboards, and engaging contractors to carry out removal or rectification works on behalf of the owners. On the other hand, it was pointed out in Report No. 71 of the Director of Audit published in November 2018 that there had been a number of inadequacies in BD's management of signboards. The Chief Executive stated in last year's Policy Address Supplement that BD would use new technologies such as big data, artificial intelligence and three-dimensional images on a pilot basis in black spot areas to enhance the efficiency of law enforcement actions, with a view to protecting public safety. However, it has been reported that the Government has not yet awarded service contracts for the new technologies concerned. In addition, quite a number of shops in various districts have been affected by the epidemic and closed down in recent months, resulting in a continuous increase in the number of abandoned signboards. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council: