Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
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Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Finance Committee Report on the examination of the Estimates of Expenditure 2010-2011 June 2010 Finance Committee Report on the examination of the Estimates of Expenditure 2010-2011 June 2010 CONTENTS Chapter Page I Introduction 1 – 2 II Constitutional and Mainland Affairs 3 – 16 III Civil Service 17 – 23 IV Financial Services 24 – 30 V Public Finance 31 – 35 VI Commerce, Industry and Tourism 36 – 44 VII Communications and Technology 45 – 50 VIII Environment 51 – 58 IX Housing 59 – 66 X Transport 67 – 76 XI Central Administration and Other Services 77 – 83 XII Food Safety and Environmental Hygiene 84 – 92 XIII Health 93 – 105 XIV Administration of Justice and Legal Services 106 – 113 XV Security 114 – 124 XVI Education 125 – 134 XVII Welfare and Women 135 – 144 XVIII Labour 145 – 151 XIX Home Affairs 152 – 160 XX Works 161 – 168 XXI Planning and Lands 169 – 174 Appendix Page I Programme of the special meetings of the Finance 175 – 176 Committee II Summary of written and supplementary questions and 177 – 179 requests for additional information III Attendance of members and public officers at the 180 – 203 special meetings of the Finance Committee IV Speaking notes of Policy Secretaries 204 - 288 Chapter I : Introduction 1.1 At the Legislative Council meeting on 24 February 2010, the Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government introduced the Appropriation Bill 2010. Following the adjournment of the Bill at Second Reading and in accordance with Rule 71(11) of the Rules of Procedure, the President of the Legislative Council referred the Estimates of Expenditure to the Finance Committee for detailed examination before the Bill was further proceeded with in the Council. 1.2 The Finance Committee set up under Rule 71(1) of the Rules of Procedure comprises all Members of the Council except the President. The Committee held 20 sessions of special meetings over five days from 22 to 26 March 2010 to examine the Estimates. The purpose of these special meetings was to ensure that the Administration was seeking a provision no more than necessary for the execution of the policies of the Government for 2010-2011. 1.3 To facilitate the smooth conduct of business, members of the Committee were invited to submit written questions on the Estimates and a total of 3 194 written questions were received and forwarded to the Administration for replies. Both the printed and electronic copies of the written replies by the Controlling Officers were forwarded to members prior to the special meetings. The replies can also be browsed at the Council’s website. 1.4 Each session of the special meetings from 22 to 26 March 2010 was dedicated to a specific policy area and attended by the respective Director of Bureau and his/her key Controlling Officers. The schedule of the 20 sessions is given in Appendix I. At the start of each session, the Director of Bureau/Controlling Officer concerned gave a brief presentation on the spending priorities and provisions sought under his/her programme areas. The Chairman then invited members to put questions to the Administration. A set of the record of the proceedings of the 20 sessions is given in Chapters II to XXI. Questions which were not dealt with and requests for further information were referred to the Administration for written replies after the meetings, while broad policy issues raised during the meetings were referred to the respective panels for follow up, where necessary. 1.5 A total of 77 supplementary questions and requests for additional information were referred to the Administration for reply after the special meetings. All the written replies to these questions were forwarded to members prior to resumption of the Second Reading debate on the Appropriation Bill 2010 on 14 and 15 April 2010. A summary of the number of the questions and additional requests for information is given in Appendix II. 1 Chapter I : Introduction 1.6 The attendance of members and public officers at the special meetings is given in Appendix III. The speaking notes of Directors of Bureaux at the special meetings are contained in Appendix IV. 1.7 This report, published in both Chinese and English, is presented to the Legislative Council on 30 June 2010 in accordance with Paragraph 53 of the Finance Committee Procedure. 2 Chapter II : Constitutional and Mainland Affairs 2.1 At the invitation of the Chairman, Mr Stephen LAM, Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs (SCMA), briefed members on the estimated expenditure of the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau (CMAB), the Registration and Electoral Office (REO), the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data, and their work priorities in 2010-2011 (Appendix IV-1). 2010 Legislative Council By-election 2.2 Mr Ronny TONG queried why the Administration did not provide a detailed breakdown of the provision for the preparation and conduct of the 2010 Legislative Council By-election as requested in his written question. He said that the breakdown was necessary for members to assess whether the provision for the By-election was reasonable. He enquired about the reduction in expenditure, if any, if the five vacant seats of the five geographical constituencies were uncontested. 2.3 SCMA advised that the overall estimated expenditure for the preparation and conduct of the By-election was $159 million, including $31 million for staff cost, $3 million for publicity and $125 million for other election expenses such as the cost of hiring venue, employment of polling and counting staff and free mailing for candidates. Compared with the expenditure of $154 million on the District Council Election in 2007, and $280 million on the Legislative Council Election in 2008 which covered both geographical and functional constituencies, the estimate of $159 million for the By-election was considered reasonable taking into account the costs for operating more than 500 polling stations in five geographical constituencies. 2.4 As regards the reduction in expenditure if any seat was uncontested in the By-election, SCMA advised that an amount approximately equivalent to the expenditure required for operating the polling stations in the constituency concerned could be saved. The actual amount of saving would depend on the size of the constituency and the number of polling stations in it. The expenditure of operating a polling station was about $130,000. For example, if the seat of Kowloon West was uncontested, there would be no need to operate the 68 polling stations planned for the constituency, and this would result in a saving of about $8.36 million. Similarly, about $21.77 million would be saved if there was no need to operate the 177 polling stations in the New Territories West constituency. 2.5 SCMA further advised that irrespective of whether there were uncontested seats in the By-election, certain expenditure such as the publicity cost of $3 million and the cost of certain preparatory work still had to be incurred. 3 Chapter II : Constitutional and Mainland Affairs The Chief Electoral Officer of the Registration and Electoral Office (CEO/REO) supplemented that REO had already employed some staff to prepare for the By-election and such costs were not dependent on the number of polling stations to be operated on the polling day. However, if there were uncontested seats in the By-election, fewer staff would be recruited at later stages and there would be savings in such costs. 2.6 Mr CHEUNG Hok-ming said that many people considered it a waste of public money to spend $159 million for the By-election. He learned that some village people in the New Territories might express their discontent by refusing to lease the venues in their villages for use as polling stations. He asked whether the By-election expenses would be reduced if some polling stations were not set up in those villages, and how the Administration would ensure the smooth conduct of the By-election in these circumstances. 2.7 SCMA noted that some members of the rural community had expressed reservations about the By-election. REO was trying to obtain their agreement for hiring their venues for use as polling stations. It was still the Administration's target to set up 530 polling stations in the five geographical constituencies, and 30 polling stations in police stations and penal institutions of the Correctional Services Department. CEO/REO supplemented that it was the responsibility of REO to ensure that adequate polling stations were available for the By-election. If a venue hiring request was rejected, REO would look for an alternative venue in the vicinity as far as possible, but electors might then need to travel a longer distance to vote. 2.8 Ms Audrey EU noted that for the By-election, REO would create about 20 additional time-limited civil service posts and recruit over 260 non-civil service contract (NCSC) staff in 2010-2011, and the provisions for these posts were $6 million and $15 million respectively. She enquired about the duties of these staff and queried why the respective provisions for each of the civil service posts and NCSC posts were as high as $300,000 and $60,000. 2.9 SCMA advised that about 20 officers, mainly Executive Officers I and Executive Officers II, would be seconded from other bureaux/departments to REO for six to nine months. Apart from the duties on the polling day, these officers would also be responsible for some pre-election tasks and follow-up actions after the By-election. The 260 NCSC staff would be employed for six to nine months to fill positions such as Electoral Assistant and Workman.