LegCo Paper No. FC 132/96-97
(These minutes have been
seen by the Administration)
Ref : CB1/F/1/2

Legislative Council Finance Committee

Minutes of the proceedings of the meeting held on Friday, 25 April 1997, at 2:30 pm in the Legislative Council Chamber

Members present :

Members absent :

Public officers attending :

Mr Kevin HO: JP Secretary for the Treasury
Mrs Carrie LAM: Deputy Secretary for the Treasury
Miss Annette LEE: Principal Assistant Secretary for Education and Manpower (2)
Dr Y M LEUNG: Assistant Director of Education
Mr Daniel W C LAM: Chief Systems Manager of Information Technology Services Department
Ms Michelle LI: Principal Assistant Secretary for Education and Manpower (1)
Mr Alfred WONG: Controller, Student Financial Assistance Agency
Mr Esmond LEE: Principal Assistant Secretary for Planning, Environment and Lands
Mr Frank PHILLIPS: Chief Estate Surveyor of Lands Department
Mr C M MO, JP: Principal Government Land Agent of Lands Department

Clerk in attendance :

Mrs Vivian KAM: Assistant Secretary General 1
Staff in attendance :
Mrs Constance LI: Chief Assistant Secretary (Finance Committee)

Item No. 1 - FCR(97-98)5
HEAD 40 - EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
Subhead 305 Code of Aid for secondary schools
Subhead 834 Equipment for computer studies

Members reiterated their concern for the provision of more computer equipment and advanced software to schools to better equip the next generation for the economic development of Hong Kong. The Principal Assistant Secretary for Education and Manpower (2) noted members concern and assured members that the Administration was moving in that direction.

2. The Committee approved the proposal.

Item No. 2 - FCR(97-98)6
CAPITAL WORKS RESERVE FUND
HEAD 710 - COMPUTERISATION
Student Financial Assistance Agency
"New Subhead "Student Financial Assistance Management System"
HEAD 173 - STUDENT FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE AGENCY
Subhead 001 Salaries

3. On the non-realisable savings made possible by the proposed integrated computer system, the Controller, Student Financial Assistance Agency advised that with automation of some manual vetting processes, teachers would no longer need to check the eligibility of students under the schemes and could devote more time to teaching duties. Members noted that such notional savings in teachers time would not result in any deletion of posts in schools.

4. The Committee approved the proposal.

Item No. 3 - FCR(97-98)7
CAPITAL WORKS RESERVE FUND
HEAD 701 - LAND ACQUISITION
Home Purchase Allowance

5. Members noted that the original proposal had been discussed at the Finance Committee meeting on 19 July 1996 but was negatived. The Administration had revised the proposal in the light of members comments.

6. In response to members questions, the Administration gave the following clarifications:

Home Purchase Allowance (HPA) would not be payable for domestic premises used for commercial purposes including storage of commercial items, as the use of the premises was in breach of the lease.
The Administration would use the same unit of measurement for calculating the floor area of the replacement flat and the flat for which HPA would be payable. Normally, the net area of the property would be used for calculation, except for some complicated old buildings where only the gross area could be measured.
For joint owners or company owners, an individual owner or shareholder would only be eligible for HPA up to two properties, with the HPA calculated pro rata to the share for each joint owner or shareholder.

7. On behalf of the Democratic Party (DP), Mr Albert CHAN supported the revised proposal which was the result of discussions with the Administration since July last year. DP considered the revised proposal generally acceptable, although they still had reservations on the proposal for HPA to be paid at only 50% of the full rate for a tenanted flat despite its being the only tenanted flat of the owner. As to whether the 50% rule would apply also to tenanted flats owned by non-profit-making organisations, the Chief Estate Surveyor of Lands Department (CES/Lands) advised that while the issue had not been specifically discussed within the Administration, he saw no reason why 50% of the HPA would not be payable if the organisation could demonstrate that the tenanted flat was for charitable purpose.

8. Mr IP Kwok-him indicated that the Democratic Alliance for Betterment of Hong Kong supported the revised proposal in view of the need to expedite improvements to the environment of some old districts. In reply to Mr IP, CES/Lands advised that a flat was classified vacant if it was not the principal residence of the owner and no tenant had a right to live there. CES/Lands confirmed that no HPA would be paid for the vacant flat if its owner had a residence elsewhere.

9. The Committee approved the proposal.

Item No. 4 - FCR(97-98)8
CAPITAL WORKS RESERVE FUND
HEAD 701 - LAND ACQUISITION

New Subhead "Redemption money and interest payable thereon in respect of land exchange entitlements under the New Territories Land Exchange Entitlements (Redemption) Ordinance"

10. Responding to a member on the present status of the legislative amendments to the New Territories Land Exchange Entitlements (Redemption) Ordinance, the Principal Assistant Secretary for Planning, Environment and Lands advised that the Legislative Council had passed the Ordinance in December 1996 which provided for the payment of redemption money in accordance with the rates set out in the Schedule to the Ordinance. The rates for the redemption money were based on the monetised values of the land exchange entitlements effective from 1 October 1997. As the monetised values had been updated to be effective from 1 April 1997, an amendment bill would shortly be introduced to update the rates in the Schedule accordingly. As regards whether approval of the funding proposal would bind the Legislative Council in its consideration of the legislative amendments, the Deputy Secretary for the Treasury advised that the proposal sought approval of a financial commitment for payment of redemption money under the Ordinance, and the actual rates would still be subject to approval of the amendment bill by the Legislative Council. Should the Council disapprove the proposed rates, redemption payment would only be made in accordance with the approved rates set out in the Schedule.

11. The Committee approved the proposal.

12. The Committee was adjourned at 2:55 pm.

Legislative Council Secretariat
26 May 1997

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