Council Meeting (Agenda) 15 January 2025

(1)

whether it will explore drawing up a religious and cultural map of Hong Kong in collaboration with the tourism industry, local temples, monasteries and religious institutions, so as to promote Hong Kong's diverse religious culture to the public as well as Mainland and overseas tourists through practical guiding information on religious tourism itineraries;

(2)

whether it will step up publicity on activities organized by local temples, monasteries and religious institutions, and promote the cultures of meditation and vegetarianism, etc.; and

(3)

whether it will consider producing online and offline games related to local religions, such as presenting badges to participants who have completed a visit to a religious attraction and unlocking the next visiting task for them, thereby offering lively and interesting ways for participants to visit all the religious attractions in Hong Kong?

(1)

of the respective numbers of public transport routes plying between WKCD and the Hong Kong West Kowloon Station of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link as well as between WKCD and the MTR Austin Station at present; the frequency of the services concerned; whether special traffic arrangements are implemented on the roads concerned on Saturdays, Sundays and during major festivals;

(2)

whether it has considered providing public car parks or hourly parking spaces in WKCD to meet the demand for private car parking spaces; if so, of the timetable; if not, the reasons for that; and

(3)

how it will solve the problem of inconvenient public transport in WKCD as a whole to better bring into play its functions?

(1)

as it is learnt that in the event of damage or loss of supporting documents for real estates, even if certified copies of assignments (commonly known as "photocopied deeds") are obtained as replacement through law firms, the titles will still be regarded as incomplete, which may affect property prices and mortgage applications, whether the Government has reviewed if photocopied deeds approved by the Land Registry ("LR") have the legal effect of proving full titles in the market;

(2)

of the number of applications made by members of the public to LR for photocopied deeds in the past three years and the main reasons for such applications; and

(3)

whether it has considered comprehensively promoting the digitalization of proof of ownership of fixed assets such as houses, land and vehicles; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

(1)

of the identification process for HKGP partners, the selection criteria (including whether priority will be given to teams with experience of investing in local innovation and technology projects), and the monitoring mechanism; whether it will regularly review and improve the relevant process, criteria and mechanism; if so, of the areas in which adjustments will be made;

(2)

as it is learnt that some partners have yet made any investment and have not even set up offices and investment teams in Hong Kong, how the Government will follow up, including whether it will consider recovering the uninvested funds for allocation to other partners; and

(3)

as the Government indicated in 2022 that HKGP's returns would be disclosed five years after its operation, and the arrangements for regular disclosure would also be considered by then, whether the Government has given instructions to the partners in this regard, and what follow-up actions it will take, including whether it will conduct a comprehensive assessment of the partners' investment strategies and performance; prior to the formal implementation of the disclosure arrangements, what measures the Government has in place to ensure that the partners make good use of the funds to maximize investment returns?

(1)

of the number of judicial review cases filed with the court in the past five years in respect of the Government's alleged excessive restriction of basic human rights and, among such cases, the respective numbers and percentages of those cases in which the Government had won and lost, as well as a breakdown of the legal costs incurred by the Government; the respective litigation costs needed to be paid by the Government in respect of such unsuccessful cases; and

(2)

whether there were cases in the past in which the Government insisted on lodging appeals despite considering that the cases would have a low success rate after taking into account the aforesaid test; if so, of the factors taken into consideration by the Government in insisting on lodging the appeals; how the Government will hold the officials concerned accountable for such unsuccessful cases in the future?

(1)

of the justifications for determining the right of referral on the basis of the job positions rather than the qualifications of CMPs;

(2)

given that it is learnt that the Chinese Medicine Council of Hong Kong and its Chinese Medicine Practitioners Board would discuss the issue of fully implementing the practice of enabling RGs and MLTs to accept referrals from registered CMPs and put forward recommendations thereafter, of the progress of the relevant discussions and the timetable for putting forward specific recommendations; and

(3)

in order to promote inter-disciplinary collaboration in healthcare services among CMPs and supplementary medical professionals, whether it has taken the initiative to discuss with various professional medical groups to clarify and rationalize the processes, responsibilities and obligations of CMPs in the referral process; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

(1)

of the total number of fraud cases received by the Police involving phishing SMS in the past two years (including the number of cases involving fake government departments and its percentage), the age distribution of the victims and the loss incurred, together with a breakdown by police region;

(2)

whether the Police have stepped up law enforcement actions against phishing SMS in the past two years; if so, of the details (including the number of fraudsters arrested in each of the law enforcement actions, the age distribution of the arrested persons, the modus operandi of the criminals, as well as their trials, convictions and sentences); if not, the reasons for that;

(3)

whether the authorities have assessed or compiled statistics on the effectiveness of "Scameter" and "Scameter+" in combating frauds in the past two years, such as the total number of enquiries and reports recorded by such devices, and the number of "Call Alert" and "Website Detection" notifications issued to members of the public by Scameter+; and

(4)

given that there are views that even though the SMS Sender Registration Scheme has built the first barrier for fraud prevention, the chances of members of the public being defrauded will increase significantly when fraudsters have successfully breached this barrier (i.e. members of the public have failed to realize in time the emergence of phishing SMS and mistakenly accessed fraudulent websites), whether the authorities have considered enhancing the functions of Scameter or Scameter+, such as cooperating with various web browser developers or antivirus software developers to share information on suspicious websites, so that when members of the public access (especially through their computers) such suspicious websites, their browsers or antivirus software can immediately block them, thus building a second barrier to prevent more people from being defrauded; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

(1)

of the law enforcement mechanism (including the circumstances under which joint enforcement operations will be undertaken) and the human resources allocated (including staff establishment and the number of outsourced personnel) of the interdepartmental working group on feeding ban enforcement ("the Working Group") established by the Government; the respective numbers of patrols and joint enforcement operations conducted each month to combat illegal feeding of wild animals since the establishment of the Working Group, as well as the average cost of each operation; how the Government assesses the effectiveness of the aforesaid enforcement operations;

(2)

regarding illegal feeding of feral pigeons, of the respective numbers of reports received and fixed penalty notices issued by the relevant departments in each month since August last year and, among them, the respective numbers of those involving feeding of feral pigeons in private places (such as residential premises) and the number of successful prosecutions;

(3)

whether it has compiled statistics on the changes in the number of feral pigeons at black spots of feral pigeon congregation in each month after the aforesaid amendments to Cap. 170 came into operation as compared with the figures for the same period in the previous year, together with a breakdown by the 18 districts across the territory; and

(4)

of the number of reports received by the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department in the past three years of illegal feeding of wild pigs, as well as the respective numbers of cases of wild pig sightings and human injuries caused by wild pigs, together with a breakdown by urban and rural areas; as it is learnt that recently, there have been frequent incidents of wild pigs causing nuisances to rural agricultural land and even human injuries, whether the Government has assessed the annual average economic losses resulting from wild pig damage to agricultural land, and reviewed the effectiveness of the existing measures to prohibit feeding of wild pigs, so as to minimize such losses; whether it will consider drawing reference from the practices of the Mainland and other regions to compensate farmers whose agricultural land has been damaged; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

(1)

of the respective numbers of Hong Kong young people going to partner economies and young people from partner economies coming to Hong Kong through the Scheme in each of the past five years, with a breakdown by the type of short-term employment taken up by them; if it does not keep such information, of the reasons for that;

(2)

as it is learnt that Hong Kong has different requirements under the Scheme for young people from different partner economies in respect of medical, healthcare (including hospitalization), repatriation and liability insurance, whether the authorities will consider unifying the relevant standards; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and

(3)

as it is learnt that a Hong Kong youth participating in the Scheme was unfortunately killed in a car accident during his stay in Australia, of the follow-up actions taken by the authorities in respect of the incident, and whether they know if the young victim has received compensation from the insurance company; whether the authorities will step up publicity to remind Hong Kong young people participating in the Scheme to take out specialty risk insurance covering working holidays instead of the general travel insurance; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

(1)

whether it has estimated the number of residential units and population in areas that fall within the OZP (i) at present, (ii) in 2034 and (iii) in 2044 respectively; whether it has plans to improve the ancillary transport facilities in areas that fall within the OZP in the light of population growth; if so, of the details and the relevant timetable for completion;

(2)

as it is learnt that the authorities have all along been planning for the development of the Sai Tso Wan Park at Sin Fat Road, and the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department surrendered the site of the Sai Tso Wan car park to the Lands Department in March last year, but the authorities have not come up with a timetable for the development of the site so far, of the reasons for that, and the circumstances under which the authorities will commence the relevant works;

(3)

apart from the Sai Tso Wan Park, whether the authorities have planned for additional community facilities in areas that fall within the OZP; if so, of the details and the relevant timetable for completion; if not, the reasons for that;

(4)

on the sites zoned for Comprehensive Development Area or residential purposes in accordance with the OZP, of the respective numbers of (a) buildings, (b) buildings to be redeveloped soon, (c) ‍units with business operations (i.e. (I) industrial, (II) warehouse, (III) office and (IV) other business operations), and (d) vacant units (i) which are for industrial use or (ii) which provide accommodation for a mix of industrial and commercial uses (set out in the table below);

(5)

as there are views that with the successive completion of residential developments in the Yau Tong Industrial Area, the air and noise pollution generated by the industrial undertakings in the vicinity will cause nuisance to the daily lives of an increasing number of residents, and it has been reported that a concrete batching plant in the area is suspected of continuing to operate in contravention of the law in spite of the rejection of its licence renewal by the Environmental Protection Department, of the authorities' measures in place to assist in reprovisioning the existing industrial undertakings in the area, so as to minimize the incompatibility between land use and planning;

(6)

whether the Government has requested that developers construct waterfront promenades in developments adjacent to the waterfront in the area; if so, of the relevant completion dates, and how it ensures the continuity of the various sections of the waterfront promenades; if not, the reasons for that, and whether the Government will consider constructing waterfront promenades itself when developers have not done so;

(7)

as there are views that the site of Yau Tong Bay Comprehensive Development Area is suitable for building a marina to tie in with the positioning of Kowloon East as the second core business district and promote the development of culture, sports and tourism in Kowloon East, whether the Government has measures in place to tie in with such development; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;

(8)

as it is learnt that there are quite a number of buildings with historical and social values in Cha Kwo Ling Village (e.g. the former Four Hills Public School and other stone buildings), whether the Government will conserve and revitalize them for the purposes of tourism and display of cultural characteristics; and

(9)

as it is learnt that the liquefied petroleum gas filling station at Wai Lok Street will be reprovisioned in the vicinity, and there are views that the proposed site will impede the public's enjoyment of the waterfront, whether the Government has plans to identify a new site in Kowloon East for reprovisioning the filling station under the principle of optimizing the use of waterfront sites?

(1)

of the number of complaints and reports received by the government departments concerned (including the Marine Department and the Police) in each of the past two years about issues revolving around touting custom and management of sightseeing vessels on both sides of the Victoria Harbour (in particular the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront area); the number of inspections conducted and enforcement actions taken by the departments concerned in respect of such situation, as well as the number of prosecuted and convicted cases;

(2)

whether improvements will be made promptly by the authorities to address the issues revolving around the management of waterborne sightseeing activities, inadequate ancillary tourist facilities, etc. at the Kowloon Public Pier; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;

(3)

of the number of passenger trips and occupancy rate of the various water taxi routes in the past two years; whether regular reviews of such service have been conducted by the authorities in terms of publicity, routes, ancillary facilities for disembarkation, etc., with a view to turning such service into a major waterborne sightseeing attraction and tourism project in Hong Kong;

(4)

following the commissioning of the Kai Tak Sports Park ("KTSP") and the increase in waterfront facilities on both sides of the Victoria Harbour, whether the authorities will explore increasing the calling points for water taxis commuting between the two sides of the Victoria Harbour, so that they can serve as temporary transport support to facilitate crowd dispersal during large-scale events held in KTSP or waterfront areas along the Victoria Harbour; and

(5)

whether the authorities will, from the tourism perspective, conduct comprehensive review and planning for the potential of aquatic tourism at the Victoria Harbour and the ancillary facilities there, including, among others, upgrading the tourist facilities at piers and disembarkation points, stepping up the dissemination of real-time information on aquatic tourism itineraries to tourists, as well as offering packages and promotions incorporating aquatic tourism alongside tourism activities held at the waterfront of the Victoria Harbour, thereby enriching the characteristics of Hong Kong's tourism; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

(1)

as the 2024 Policy Address proposes to explore the application of big data to foster international research collaboration on herb-drug interaction so as to promote the internationalization of CM, whether the Government will work with the Mainland to formulate an information exchange mechanism regarding CM data and the related application of artificial intelligence, with a view to supporting the development of CM towards internationalization;

(2)

as there are views that developing standards for Chinese materia medica is conducive to the development of the CM industry, but there are inconsistencies between the Pharmacopoeia of the People's Republic of China implemented in the Mainland and the Hong Kong Chinese Materia Medica Standards formulated in Hong Kong at present, whether the Government has plans to further harmonize the two sets of standards;

(3)

to promote the trading of Chinese medicines both within and outside the country, whether the Government has plans to further apply the testing and certification mechanism of the Government Chinese Medicines Testing Institute to international commercial activities; and

(4)

to facilitate the development of the whole industrial chain for the CM sector, whether the Government has considered further improving the policies relating to Chinese herbal medicines and decoction pieces, including the relevant supporting facilities for storage and logistics?

(1)

of the total number of visitor arrivals to Hong Kong in 2024 and whether this number met the Government's expectations; the rate of increase in the number of Mainland visitor arrivals following the resumption and expansion of the multiple-entry endorsements arrangement for Shenzhen residents; the estimated number of visitor arrivals to Hong Kong in 2025; whether the Government has plans to seek further tourism measures benefiting Hong Kong from the Central Government;

(2)

how the Government will implement the Development Blueprint for Hong Kong's Tourism Industry 2.0 and utilize the Central Government's various tourism measures benefiting Hong Kong to promote Hong Kong's tourism development and deepen its appeal as a tourist city, with a view to attracting more visitors from the Mainland and overseas to visit Hong Kong; and

(3)

given that Hong Kong integrates both Chinese and Western food cultures and has long been renowned as a "culinary paradise", how the Government promotes Hong Kong's cuisine to attract more visitors; whether the Government has plans to apply to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization for the designation of Hong Kong as a "World City of Gastronomy"; if so, of the progress?

(1)

whether it has compiled statistics on the number of persons with special needs in Hong Kong who meet the eligibility criteria for the beneficiaries of SNT since 2019, as well as their age distribution;

(2)

of the number of applications for acting as the settlors under SNT submitted to SNTO since 2019 and, among such applications, the number of cases in which approvals were given to set up the trust accounts, the trust accounts were activated and closed, together with a breakdown by age group of the settlors and the beneficiaries;

(3)

of the current threshold amount for the first payment of funds when the SNT accounts are opened; the average amount of funds deposited into the trust accounts activated upon the death of the settlors (i.e. the Further Payment) since 2019;

(4)

of the total accumulated balance of SNT since 2019; its investment portfolios and returns, as well as the percentage of its investment management fees and other costs in the value of SNT;

(5)

whether the Government will review the mechanism of the SNT services; and

(6)

whether SNTO has organized publicity and promotional activities to attract more parents of persons with special needs to open trust accounts; if so, whether it has assessed the effectiveness of such activities?

(1)

of the following information on the Yu Lan Festival held in venues borrowed from the Leisure and Cultural Services Department or the Hong Kong Housing Authority in various districts in the past five years: the content of the event (including whether any Shengong opera was performed), the number of participants, the number of participating groups, the scale of the event, and the venues borrowed;

(2)

whether it has considered, by following the example of the country in establishing a regime for representative inheritors of national ICH, recognizing and supporting a group of inheritors who have profound attainments and influence in the Yu Lan cultural sphere, so that they can pass on relevant skills and experience through the apprenticeship system, workshops, etc.;

(3)

whether it has considered incorporating Yu Lan culture into school curricula or extra-curricular activities, and organizing seminars, exhibitions and workshops on Yu Lan culture, so as to popularize the public's understanding of the origins, customs and underlying cultural significance of the Yu Lan Festival, thereby enhancing the community's sense of cultural identity;

(4)

whether it has plans to step up its support for ICH items such as the Yu Lan Festival, including setting up a dedicated fund for organizing relevant activities, nurturing cultural inheritors, and collating and protecting relevant information, and to devise a reward mechanism to encourage the organization of Yu Lan cultural activities which combine innovation with tradition, thereby increasing the community's attention to and participation in Yu Lan culture; and

(5)

of the measures in place to encourage cross-sectoral collaboration between the Yu Lan Festival and other cultural, tourism and commercial projects, such as by working with tourism organizations to launch Yu Lan culture-themed tourism itineraries or working with designers to develop relevant cultural derivatives, and relaxing the relevant regulations on hawking to allow more snack stalls to hawk during the Yu Lan Festival, so as to attract more people?

(1)

of the following information in respect of NIAS since its launch (set out by the aforesaid three industries of strategic importance): (i) the number of applications received, and among them, the respective numbers of those that were successful, unsuccessful and pending approval; (ii) the average amount of funding granted among the successful cases; and (iii) the average time taken for vetting and approving each of the applications;

(2)

among the enterprises with projects approved under NIAS, of the respective numbers of successful applications for RTH-NIAS and TechTAS-NIAS, as well as the respective approved quotas of engaging research talents and non-local technical personnel; whether the Government will raise the quotas under these two initiatives; if so, of the details; and

(3)

given that the quota of engaging non-local technical personnel by enterprises under TechTAS-NIAS is valid for 24 months, whether the validity period of such quota will be extended to bring it on a par with the 36-month project duration of NIAS, so as to facilitate follow-up on the projects concerned by the non-local technical personnel; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

(1)

given that the Government plans to launch the Primary Dental Co-‍care Pilot Scheme for Adolescents in the first quarter of this year, of the specific implementation details (including the operation mode) of the scheme, and how it ensures that the relevant subsidies can effectively help adolescents aged between 13 and 17 establish a good habit of receiving regular oral check-ups;

(2)

of the factors to be considered in drawing up the service quota and the application process for the Community Dental Support Programme, and how it ensures that the quota can be fairly allocated to persons with financial difficulties;

(3)

how the Government monitors and assesses the service quality in the process of providing oral health assessment and related dental treatments, so as to ensure that the beneficiaries can receive necessary dental care; and

(4)

whether the Government has plans to further expand the aforesaid scheme in the future, particularly in respect of complicated dental treatments, and how it will take into account the views of professional dentists in order to enhance the services?

(1)

whether it knows the number of attendances at the A&E departments of all public hospitals across the territory during the Christmas public holiday last month, as well as the average waiting time of Priority 5 patients under the A&E triage system; of the differences in such data compared with those on non-public holidays;

(2)

in respect of the public hospitals where the waiting time for A&E services exceeded eight hours during the holiday, whether it knows the corresponding measures taken by the Hospital Authority ("HA") to ensure that there is sufficient manpower, so that urgent patients can receive timely treatment;

(3)

given that a total of 18 general outpatient clinics ("GOPCs") provided services during the Christmas public holiday last month, whether it knows the criteria adopted by HA in determining the GOPCs providing such services; the number of attendances during that period, as well as the difference in such number compared with that on weekdays;

(4)

in view of the attendance at the A&E departments of Prince of Wales Hospital, United Christian Hospital and Kwong Wah Hospital during the Christmas public holiday last month, whether it knows if HA will provide additional GOPC services in the districts concerned in future;

(5)

given that the Government has consolidated and uploaded onto the GeoInfo Map ("the Map") information of private hospitals, private healthcare institutions, family doctor clinics and Chinese medicine clinics providing consultation services during public holidays, and according to the information on the Map, there were only some 40 ‍private hospitals, private healthcare institutions and family doctor clinics providing consultation services during the Christmas public holiday last month, of the measures put in place by the Government to encourage more private healthcare institutions to provide consultation services during holidays;

(6)

apart from the Map, whether the Government will step up publicity on the clinics in various districts which provide consultation services during public holidays;

(7)

whether it will work out with private healthcare institutions a mechanism for providing consultation services during public holidays, so as to ensure that there are sufficient private clinics in all 18 districts across the territory to meet public demand; and

(8)

whether it will implement on a trial basis telehealth services and community pharmacy collaboration projects during public holidays, so that patients can receive teleconsultations and obtain appropriate medication?

(1)

of the specific measures in place to achieve the population target proposed by the Chief Executive, and whether it has drawn up a timetable and an action plan for this purpose; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;

(2)

whether it has assessed the effectiveness of the existing policies to absorb population, including the Top Talent Pass Scheme, the Admission Scheme for Mainland Talents and Professionals, the Technology Talent Admission Scheme, the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme, the Admission Scheme for the Second Generation of Chinese Hong Kong Permanent Residents, the Immigration Arrangements for Non-local Graduates, and the system of Permits for Proceeding to Hong Kong and Macao (commonly known as "One-way Permits"); whether the authorities will revise such policies in the light of the Chief Executive's population target, and whether performance indicators will be introduced for such policies;

(3)

as it is learnt that the current birth rate in Hong Kong remains at a low level, and the 2023 Policy Address has proposed a number of measures to encourage childbirth, including a Newborn Baby Bonus, raising the accommodation-related tax deduction ceiling, priority arrangement for subsidized sale flats, and priority arrangement for public rental housing allocation, whether the Government has assessed the effectiveness of such measures, including the number of beneficiaries so far;

(4)

given that according to the Government's projection, the elderly dependency ratio, i.e. the number of persons aged 65 and above per 1 000 persons aged between 15 and 64, will continue to deteriorate from 342 in 2023 to 632 in 2046, whether the authorities have assessed the social expenditure so incurred and the effectiveness of various existing measures for promoting population growth in lowering that ratio; whether the Government has studied other options to improve the situation;

(5)

given that according to the Government's projection, the labour force participation rate ("LFPR") will decrease from 55.2% in 2023 to 51.6% in 2046, whether the authorities have assessed the impact of such change on the fiscal revenue, and the respective effectiveness of various existing measures to promote population growth in mitigating the decrease in LFPR; whether the Government has studied other options to improve the situation;

(6)

whether the Government has plans to comprehensively review the local policies on housing, education, healthcare and so on, so as to tie in with the current objectives of attracting talents and promoting population growth; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and

(7)

as there are views pointing out that it is currently difficult for members of the public to access information on the discussions at the meetings of the Human Resources Planning Commission, whether the authorities will, in the light of the ongoing social concerns about the discussion on population policy, release the contents of the Commission's discussions on a regular basis, including the agendas, relevant discussion papers and minutes of meetings, so that the community can gain an understanding of the relevant policy directions and recommendations; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

(1)

of the respective numbers of service recipients, places utilized and utilization rates of the child-minding services of aided child care centres, After School Care Programme for Pre-primary Children, After School Care Programme for Primary School Students and Neighbourhood Support Child Care Project in various districts in the previous year;

(2)

whether the Government will explore conducting a comprehensive review on the policies on women (including employment, health, marriage and sexual harassment), as well as formulating a blueprint for women's development in Hong Kong, so as to ensure that women enjoy equal rights in the political, economic, cultural, social, familial spheres, etc., and set quantitative objectives for raising the labour force participation rate for females, thereby motivating more women to join the workforce; if so, of the details and the timetable; if not, the reasons for that;

(3)

of the Government's plans in place to step up the promotion of family-friendly employment practices, such as drawing reference from the Mainland's experience and implementing the "mother post" employment mode, offering tax incentives to enterprises to encourage them to implement more family-friendly measures, and taking the lead in setting up child care facilities in the workplaces of government personnel, so as to facilitate the entry of women with caring burden into the workforce; and

(4)

whether it will organize more job fairs, training exhibitions, job referral services, etc. targeting at female job seekers, and set up an additional dedicated webpage on job vacancies for women on the Labour Department's Interactive Employment Service website, so as to assist women in re-entering the workforce?

(1)

as there are views that the lack of transparency about the data on various costs and sales of oil companies in Hong Kong has made it difficult for the community to monitor the market effectively, of the authorities' policies and measures in place to require the oil companies to disclose more data, including those on costs, fuel duties and sales, thereby enhancing market transparency and safeguarding consumers' right to know;

(2)

given that the Competition Commission ("the Commission") put forward six recommendations on improving market competition in its Report on Study into Hong Kong's Auto-fuel Market released in 2017, of the authorities' monitoring and improvement work in respect of the development and structure of the local auto-fuel market since the release of the Report; whether the Government has maintained communication with the Commission to investigate if various anti-competitive conducts are involved in the auto-fuel retail market; if it has, of the details; if it has not, the reasons for that;

(3)

as there are views pointing out that the global tensions in recent years have led to volatility of international oil prices, whether the authorities have studied what measures are in place to help motorists and the transport industry cope with the possible fluctuations in oil prices, thereby sparing them from the heavy burden of oil prices; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and

(4)

as the Government indicated in its reply to a question raised by a Member of this Council on 4 May 2022 that it would not introduce a requirement for the supply of 95 RON petrol at petrol filling stations because this would make it necessary for oil companies to construct and modify facilities at their oil terminals and petrol filling stations, which would incur additional operating and capital costs and thus lead to higher oil prices instead, but there are views that the price of 95 RON petrol is about 20% lower than that of 98 RON petrol in Guangdong Province and Singapore, and the oil prices in Hong Kong are still on the rise at present, whether the authorities will, having regard to the latest market situation, study afresh the feasibility of introducing 95 RON petrol in a bid to increase the choices of less expensive fuel products on the market and obviate the need for users to pay for expensive fuels?

(1)

whether the Government has formulated a specific work plan for striving for Hong Kong's accession to RCEP; if so, of the details, such as the objectives and completion time frame of the various stages, as well as the major government departments and the relevant responsible organizations involved;

(2)

how it will follow up on the exchanges between the delegation of this Council and the relevant parties in Japan on Hong Kong's accession to RCEP; and

(3)

whether the Government has conducted a detailed economic impact assessment to quantify the economic benefits that may be brought about by Hong Kong's accession to RCEP, including the growth rates of the Gross Domestic Product, volume of export trade, diversification of trading partners and foreign direct investment?