9 items of subsidiary legislation/other instrument and 5 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

(Debate and voting arrangements set out in LC Paper No. CB(3) 546/20-21 issued on 10 May 2021)

Dr Hon Pierre CHAN to ask:

Recently, a court case in which a five-year-old girl died of being abused has aroused wide public concern about the issue of child abuse. A child protection organization pointed out that last year, due to the epidemic, schools suspended classes on a number of occasions and quite a number of parents worked from home or lost their jobs; as such, children and parents spent more time together, resulting in more conflicts between them and an increase in the number of assistance-seeking cases about child abuse. On the other hand, during class suspension periods, some parents were unable to stay home to take care of their young children, resulting in an increase in child neglect cases. Regarding prevention and early identification of child abuse cases, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon Michael TIEN to ask:

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

Hon Mrs Regina IP to ask:

Last year, the Government entrusted the MTR Corporation Limited ("MTRCL") to take forward the development of two new railways, namely Tuen Mun South Extension and Northern Link. Under the "ownership" approach and the "Rail-plus-Property development" model, MTRCL is responsible for the construction and operation of the two new railways, and it will be granted the development rights of the topside properties at the railway stations by the Government to subsidize the railway construction costs. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon Vincent CHENG to ask:

At present, eight non-governmental organizations are subsidized by the Government for operating the Short-term Food Assistance Service Projects to provide basic food assistance to eligible individuals and families for a period of up to eight weeks (which may be extended for cases with special needs). Moreover, some organizations currently operate non-government subsidized food assistance service. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon Steven HO to ask:

The Japanese Government announced last month that it would start discharging nuclear wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the sea in two years' time. Some experts have pointed out that the nuclear wastewater containing radioactive substances will disperse across more than half of the Pacific Ocean within 57 days from the day of discharge, and spread over to all waters around the world in 10 years' time. As a result, the marine ecosystem and fisheries industry around the world (including Hong Kong) will inevitably be affected. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon LAU Kwok-fan to ask:

Quite a number of members of the public have relayed that as Mainland television ("TV") programmes are rich and diversified in content, opening up more local spectrums for free broadcast of more programmes of Mainland TV channels can provide members of the public with more choices of programmes, and is also conducive to their understanding of the Mainland's latest development and culture, their grasp of the national developments, and strengthening their sense of national identity. Regarding free cross-boundary broadcast of Mainland and Hong Kong TV programmes, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon YUNG Hoi-yan to ask:

The Chief Executive stated in the 2020 Policy Address that she hoped that young people could set their sights on the country, seizing the opportunities to study, work and live in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area ("GBA"), so as to broaden the scope for realising their dreams. In recent years, the Government has introduced, through the Youth Development Fund and various other channels, a number of schemes to assist the young people of Hong Kong in studying, taking up employment and starting businesses in the Mainland cities of GBA. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon Martin LIAO to ask:

The Hong Kong Mortgage Corporation Limited, wholly-owned by the Government through the Exchange Fund, launched the HKMC Annuity Plan ("the Plan") in July 2018. The maximum premium amount per person of this insurance product was increased from $1 million to $3 million in May 2019, and the minimum eligible age for subscription was lowered from 65 to 60 in February 2020. After making a lump-sum premium payment ranging from a minimum of $50,000 to a maximum of $3 million, an annuitant may receive a life-long stream of fixed amount of monthly annuity payments, and the cumulative amount of the monthly annuity payments received by the annuitant is guaranteed to be no less than 105% of the premium paid ("the guaranteed rate of return"). Regarding the Plan, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon Jeffrey LAM to ask:

On facilitating Hong Kong residents and enterprises to pursue development in the Mainland cities of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area ("Greater Bay Area"), will the Government inform this Council:

Hon CHUNG Kwok-pan to ask:

It has been learnt that burial services and facilities in Hong Kong, particularly that of public columbarium niches, have all along been in short supply. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon YIU Si-wing to ask:

To relieve the unemployment situation, the Government earmarked $6.6 billion under the Anti-epidemic Fund last year to create some 30 000 time-limited jobs in the public and private sectors within two years ("the Job Creation Scheme"). Moreover, the Government has recently created under the Scheme some 2 000 short-term jobs available for application by practitioners of the tourism industry (including tour guides, tour escorts, staff of travel agents, hotel practitioners and drivers of tourist coaches). The appointees will be responsible for providing managerial and administrative support for community vaccination centres starting this month. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon Starry LEE to ask:

In 2018, the business receipts of local online traders from selling of goods, services or information through electronic means amounted to $491.7 billion, representing an increase of 73% when compared with those in 2012. However, the results of a survey conducted earlier this year by a political party on online shopping traps showed that over 45% of the respondents had unpleasant experiences involving online shopping, most of which were related to the receipt of goods not matching the sale descriptions or being defective. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon Frankie YICK to ask:

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement ("the Agreement"), signed by 15 economies last year, is a free trade agreement of the world's largest scale. The total population of such economies accounts for 30% of the world's population and their total Gross Domestic Product ("GDP") accounts for one third of the global GDP. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon WONG Kwok-kin to ask:

It is learnt that an employee had died after contracting Coronavirus Disease 2019 ("COVID-19") at work, but his employer refused to admit the compensation liability and did not make a report to the Labour Department ("LD") in accordance with the Employees' Compensation Ordinance (Cap. 282). In respect of employees' compensation for contracting COVID-19 at work, will the Government inform this Council:

Dr Hon CHIANG Lai-wan to ask:

In recent years, a number of serious incidents of child abuse have occurred in Hong Kong, arousing public concern about the effectiveness of the existing mechanisms for preventing and identifying child abuse cases. On the prevention of child abuse, will the Government inform this Council:

Ir Dr Hon LO Wai-kwok to ask:

It has been reported that telephone deception has become increasingly rampant. The Police recorded close to 1 200 telephone deception cases in 2020, representing an increase of 80% when compared with 2019, and the amount of money involved in such cases in 2020 was $570 million (with one of the victims suffering a loss of $250 million), a substantial surge when compared with 2019 at $150 million. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon Wilson OR to ask:

According to the papers submitted by the Government to the Panel on Development of this Council in January and December 2019 respectively and other published information, the engineering infrastructure works for the Kwu Tung North/Fanling North ("KTN/FLN") New Development Areas ("NDAs") and the Hung Shui Kiu/Ha Tsuen ("HSK/HT") NDA will be completed in 2031 and 2037/2038 respectively. Furthermore, the entire project of Tung Chung New Town Extension ("TCNTE") is expected to be completed in 2030. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon KWOK Wai-keung to ask:

Currently, the Government has set up distribution points at designated general outpatient clinics under the Hospital Authority ("outpatient clinics"), post offices and MTR stations for members of the public to obtain deep throat saliva specimen collection packs ("collection packs"). Members of the public may return the deep throat saliva specimens ("specimens") collected by themselves to designated specimen collection points ("collection points") at specified hours for free Coronavirus Disease 2019 testing ("testing"). Some members of the public have relayed that since February this year when the Government started requiring the persons-in-charge of catering businesses and some scheduled premises to arrange for their staff to undergo testing once every 14 days, there has been a shortage of collection packs at various distribution points, rendering those persons who have to complete testing at a scheduled time unable to obtain collection packs in time. They have also pointed out that a majority of those persons who are required to regularly undergo testing do not know that, apart from obtaining collection packs and returning specimens, they may also go to the Community Testing Centres for free testing. Moreover, there are often long queues at the mobile specimen collection stations set up by the Government in the vicinity of the restricted areas/specified premises set out in the relevant mandatory testing declarations/notices. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon Holden CHOW to ask:

Under the law, persons placed under quarantine must not leave their place of quarantine within the quarantine period, and persons put under medical surveillance are also subject to certain restrictions on their itineraries within the surveillance period. The Labour Department ("LD") has called on employers to grant paid sick leave to their employees who are absent from work on account of being placed under quarantine or medical surveillance. However, some members of the public have pointed out that as "absence from work on account of being placed under quarantine or medical surveillance" is not the reason for taking sick leave under the Employment Ordinance (Cap. 57) (i.e. "being unfit for work on account of injury or sickness"), some employers have asked such employees to take no pay leave or offset their absence with their paid annual leave entitlements. Regarding issues of employees' rights and interests arising from the Coronavirus Disease 2019 ("COVID-19") epidemic, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon LUK Chung-hung to ask:

The Government is currently implementing a number of development projects in Kowloon East, such as Kai Tak Development and the Development of Anderson Road Quarry ("ARQ") Site project. The housing development related to the latter, expected to be completed in phases from the 2023-2024 financial year onwards, can accommodate a population of about 30 000. On the other hand, the Government put forward in the Railway Development Strategy 2014 new railway projects which included the East Kowloon Line ("EKL"), and pointed out that as EKL would be built in hilly terrains and, constrained by the climbing capability of railways, some sections of it had to be built deep underground. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon CHAN Han-pan to ask:

Various immigration control points have been closed one after another and various immigration quarantine measures have been put in place due to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 ("COVID-19") epidemic. As such, the Immigration Department has, since February last year, exercised discretion to allow Mainland residents holding Exit-entry Permits for Travelling to and from Hong Kong and Macao (commonly known as "Two-way Exit Permits") with an endorsement for visiting relatives to extend their limit of stay in Hong Kong, so that they can continue to take care of their family members in Hong Kong. Like other visitors to Hong Kong, such persons are ineligible for receiving COVID-19 vaccines provided by the Government. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

Hon CHAN Chun-ying to ask:

When delivering the Budget in February this year, the Financial Secretary indicated that, in order to cope with the increasing market demand for Northbound Trading of the mutual bond market access between Hong Kong and the Mainland (commonly known as "Bond Connect") and support its future commissioning of Southbound Trading, the Government will enhance the efficiency and capacity of, and introduce new functions to, the Central Moneymarkets Unit ("CMU"). In the long run, the Government will develop CMU into a major central securities depository platform in Asia and even the world. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council: