Minutes of the 14th Meeting of the 5th Term City District Council

Date: 12 April 2018 (Thursday) Time: 2:30 p.m. Venue: Conference Room, Office

Present: Chairman: Mr PUN Kwok-wah, JP Vice-chairman: Mr CHO Wui-hung Members: Mr KWAN Ho-yeung, Roger The Hon LEE Wai-king, Starry, SBS, JP Mr YUE Chee-wing, Admond Mr YANG Wing-kit (Arrived at 2:43 p.m.) Mr YEUNG Chun-yu, Ronald Mr TING Kin-wa (Left at 6:16 p.m.) Mr HE Huahan Mr NG Po-keung (Arrived at 2:47 p.m.) (Left at 6:49 p.m.) Mr LUK King-kwong (Arrived at 3:57 p.m.) (Left at 6:39 p.m.) Dr the Hon LEUNG Mei-fun, Priscilla, (Arrived at 3:02 p.m.) SBS, JP (Left at 4:18 p.m.) Mr LAM Tak-shing Ir Dr CHENG Lee-ming Mr NG Fan-kam, Tony (Arrived at 2:37 p.m.) Ms LEUNG Yuen-ting (Arrived at 2:34 p.m.) Mr SIU Tin-hung, Terence Mr LAI Kwong-wai (Arrived at 2:37 p.m.) Mr SIU Leong-sing Dr KWONG Po-yin Mr LO Chiu-kit (Arrived at 2:40 p.m.) (Left at 6:14 p.m.) Ir CHEUNG Yan-hong, MH Mr HO Hin-ming, BBS, MH Mr LAM Pok, Jimmy

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Secretary: Ms WONG Wing, Eva Senior Executive Officer (District Council), Kowloon City District Office

In Attendance: Mr Franco KWOK, JP District Officer (Kowloon City) Miss SO Yi-ching, Venus Assistant District Officer (Kowloon City) Mr LAI Hau-yu, Philip Senior Liaison Officer (District Liaison)1, Kowloon City District Office Ms LAU Mei-yee, Helen Senior Liaison Officer (District Liaison)2, Kowloon City District Office Mr WONG Kam-keung, Eric Senior Liaison Officer (Building Management), Kowloon City District Office Ms KWOK Lai-kuen, Eva Senior Executive Officer (District Management), Kowloon City District Office Mr AU YEUNG Hoi Assistant Divisional Commander (Operations) (Kowloon City), Police Force Mr TANG Ping-hong Divisional Sergeant (Kowloon City), Ms LAI Mei-ling Chief Leisure Manager (Kowloon), Leisure and Cultural Services Department Mr TSOI Yuen-ming District Environmental Hygiene Superintendent (Kowloon City), Food and Environmental Hygiene Department Mr NG Leung-shui, Tommy Chief Transport Officer/Housing Project, Transport Department Mr LAU Ching-kwong, Senior Property Service Wallace Manager/Kowloon West and Sai Kung, Mr MA Hon-ngai, Harry Chief Engineer/East 4, Civil Engineering and Development Department 3

Attendance by Invitation: Item 1 Mr CHAN Ka-shun, Carlson, Commissioner for Labour JP Miss YIM Lai Kwan, Cindy Senior Labour Officer (Employment Services) (Operation), Labour Department

Item 3 Ms YIM Hau-wan, Evalina Regional Officer/Kowloon West, Independent Commission Against Corruption Ms LEUNG Ho-yee Senior Community Relations Officer, Independent Commission Against Corruption

Item 4 Miss HO Tsz-ting, Agnes Assistant Secretary for Food & Health (Food)3, Mr CHIU Yu-chow Assistant Director (Grade Management & Development), Food and Environmental Hygiene Department Mr LAI Chun-kwong Senior Superintendent (Operations) 3, Food and Environmental Hygiene Department

Item 5 Mr CHING Yiu-yuen Chief School Development Officer (Kowloon City),

Item 8 Mr Franco KWOK, JP District Officer (Kowloon City)

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The Chairman welcomed Members, representatives of government departments and attendees to the meeting of the Kowloon City District Council (KCDC). With regard to the permanent representatives of government departments, Ms LEE Nga-lai, Alice, District Commander (Kowloon City) of the Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) and Mr TSE Chick-lam, Chief Manager of Property Management of the Housing Department (HD) could not attend the meeting due to other commitments and were stood in by Mr AU YEUNG Hoi and Mr Wallace LAU 4 respectively.

2. Before discussing the agenda items, the Chairman reminded Members to declare interests in accordance with the KCDC Standing Orders. He also said that when the number of Members present at the meeting was less than 12, he would adjourn the meeting according to Order 12(1) of the Standing Orders. Lastly, he reminded the attendees to turn off the ringers on their mobile phones or to switch the phones to vibration mode and to remain silent during the meeting to avoid causing disturbances.

Meeting with the Commissioner for Labour

3. The Chairman welcomed Mr Carlson CHAN, JP, the Commissioner for Labour, to the meeting to brief Members on the work of the Labour Department (LD).

4. Mr Carlson CHAN, the Commissioner for Labour, briefly introduced LD’s work, with main points as follows:

(i) Overall employment in Hong Kong

4.1.1 Due to the promising economic situation in Hong Kong in recent years, the labour market was tight and the unemployment rate kept declining. In February 2018, the unemployment rate stood at 2.9%, representing an unemployed population of 107 000 and an overall employed population of 3 870 000. The unemployment rate in Kowloon City District was similar to that in Hong Kong as a whole and the situation was satisfactory.

(ii) Employment support

4.2.1 In 2017, LD helped more than 154 000 job seekers find a job and recorded more than 1 410 000 vacancies in private institutions. This showed that the current labour market stayed tight and there were relatively more job vacancies.

4.2.2 LD set up a total of 13 job centres in different districts. The Kowloon East Job Centre on the first floor of Trade and Industry Tower at No. 3 Concorde Road in Kowloon would serve the people in Kowloon City District. Nowadays, the majority of job seekers chose to find a job via LD’s 5

Interactive Employment Services or its mobile application rather than by visiting job centres in person. Besides, LD also set up Vacancy Search Terminals in various government departments and non-government organisations for people to search for information about job vacancies. People could find suitable job vacancies simply by touching the screens of the terminals and inputting their career orientation.

4.2.3 In the past, LD mainly served people at grass roots level, so the academic requirements of the relevant jobs were not high. In December 2016, LD launched Higher Education Employment Information e-Platform to provide employment related information and a job information web platform to job seekers with educational attainment at degree level, including Hong Kong students who were educated in tertiary institutes outside Hong Kong and the second generation of Hong Kong emigrants.

4.2.4 In 2017, LD held 18 large-scale job fairs, which provided 38 500 job vacancies and attracted nearly 30 000 job seekers. In the same year, LD’s job centres organised 946 district-based job fairs, among which 59 were organised in Kowloon East and more than 10 000 job vacancies were provided.

4.2.5 LD endeavoured to offer pre-job and on-the-job training to young people through the Youth Employment and Training Programme (YETP). It also set up two youth employment resource centres called Youth Employment Start in Kwai Fong and to provide pre-job career planning service to student youngsters as well as to provide support to young people who wished to work in a self-employed manner or to start their own business.

(iii) Service for ethnic minorities

4.3.1 LD launched the Employment Services Ambassador Programme for Ethnic Minorities in September 2014, which employed YETP trainees who were able to speak the languages of ethnic minorities as employment services ambassadors at job centres. Besides, LD had also launched a pilot scheme in May 2017, under which two employment assistants who had a good command of the languages of ethnic minorities were employed and deployed at Kowloon West Job Centre in Sham Shui Po and Employment in 6

One-stop in Tin Shui Wai to provide employment services to minority job seekers.

(iv) Subsidy schemes

4.4.1 Since the Work Incentive Transport Subsidy Scheme (WITS) was implemented in October 2011, more than 390 000 applications involving $1.76 billion from more than 120 000 applicants had been approved as at the end of February this year. In the 2018-19 Budget, the Government announced several one-off relief measures, including an initiative to provide a one-off extra allowance to recipients of WITS. Under the arrangement, recipients of WITS whose applications had been made in the Applicable Period, i.e. from the first day of the month in which the Appropriation Bill 2018 was passed to the date of passage of the Bill; and the six calendar months before that month, and eventually approved would be eligible for the one-off extra allowance. The extra allowance was equal to two times the average monthly amount payable to the recipients in their most recently approved WITS applications.

4.4.2 The Chief Executive’s 2017 Policy Address announced a series of enhancements to Low-income Working Family Allowance Scheme, which was renamed as Working Family Allowance (WFA) Scheme with effect from 1 April 2018. Upon the implementation of enhancements, it was expected that WFA Scheme would basically cover the applicants of household-based WITS. As such, household-based WITS would be abolished at the same time when the enhancements were implemented. Henceforth, eligible applicants might apply for WFA Scheme and/or individual-based WITS.

(v) Statutory minimum wage (SMW)

4.5.1 the SMW rate was raised to $34.5 per hour with effect from May 2017. Since it was implemented in May 2011 and revised thrice afterwards, the overall employment market was stable and the unemployment rate stayed at a low level. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate between December 2017 and February 2018 was 2.9% while the employed population was 3 870 000, marking an increase of 330 000 from the season before SMW was implemented. Among the newly-employed population, 7

70% were females, reflecting that SMW did attract more people, females in particular, to enter or re-enter the labour market.

4.5.2 From November 2017 to January 2018, the average monthly income of low-income full-time employees, i.e. the 10% of working population with the lowest employment income, had risen by 56.9%, or by 24.8% in real terms after discounting inflation, from before the implementation of SMW, indicating that the earnings of low-income employees continued to improve. As of March 2018, LD found 197 suspected cases of violation of the Minimum Wage Ordinance. After taking follow-up actions, LD confirmed that the employees in these cases were paid SMW or the amount falling short of SMW.

(vi) Labour relations

4.6.1 LD’s Labour Relations Division had set up 10 offices in different districts to provide voluntary conciliation service to employers and employees to help resolve labour disputes. The Kowloon East Office handling the labour disputes in Kowloon City District was located in Trade and Industry Tower at Concorde Road in Kowloon. In Hong Kong, the labour relations were generally stable. LD handled about 14 700 labour disputes and claims in 2017, more or less the same number as in 2016. Among these cases, more than 70% were settled through LD’s mediation. The cases which were not settled were referred to the relevant courts as wished by the claimants.

(vii) Imported workers

4.7.1 At present, the labour market was rather tight and certain industries might encounter a shortage of labour. Nevertheless, it had been the Government’s policy to ensure that local workers were accorded priority in employment. If employers had genuine difficulties in recruiting suitable staff locally, they could apply for importing workers at technician level or below under the Supplementary Labour Scheme (SLS). As of the end of February 2018, about 4 800 workers were imported under the scheme. They accounted for 0.1% of the total labour force in Hong Kong.

4.7.2 The Chief Executive’s 2017 Policy Address mentioned that certain sectors 8

faced the problems of labour shortages and recruitment difficulties. Ageing population in Hong Kong had caused a shortage of manpower in the elderly service sector. Thus the Chief Executive announced that on the premise that local workers’ priority for employment was safeguarded, the Government would explore with stakeholders the possibility of increasing imported workers at an appropriate and limited scale. For example, it would consider allowing subsidised units of elderly and rehabilitation services greater flexibility in the importation of care workers.

(viii) Occupational safety

4.8.1 Since three workers were killed while carrying out hand-dug tunnelling work in Gillies Avenue South in 2017, LD had held meetings and reached an agreement with the units which might employ contractors to carry out hand-dug tunnelling work, such as the Drainage Services Department, the China Light and Power Company Limited and the Hong Kong and China Gas Company Limited, to avoid adopting this risky tunnelling method as far as possible. Hand-dug tunnelling posed a higher risk as it was conducted in confined spaces and unexpected dangers such as gas leaks or flooding might occur in tunnels. To enhance protection of workers’ safety, LD had issued guidance notes at the end of last year, requesting the relevant institutions to use open-cut trench method or machinery when carrying out tunnelling work.

4.8.2 In 2017, there were a total of 29 fatal industrial accidents, 22 of which occurred in the construction sector. LD gave high regard to the situation and had introduced a series of measures to prevent industrial accidents incurring deaths or severe injuries, including conducting in-depth spot checks on construction sites at a higher risk, with the aim of prompting site officers-in-charge to enhance and implement the safety management system on construction sites to reduce the occurrence of accidents.

4.8.3 LD would also strengthen its participation in the safety management meetings for large-scale construction sites to provide professional advice on ways to reduce industrial accidents. Besides, LD would enhance publicity to encourage workers to make reports when contractors or duty holders did not provide workers with adequate safety measures so that LD would designate staff to conduct special inspections. 9

4.8.4 Besides producing radio clips and footages to inform workers that the proper use of safety helmets could help reduce head injuries effectively, LD also joined forces with the Occupational Safety and Health Council to provide subsidy to units in need of purchasing safety helmets with straps so as to enhance protection to workers.

4.8.5 As many severe industrial accidents happened owing to the negligence of duty holders, LD promised the Legislative Council that it would review the Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance, such as increasing the penalty for acts in breach of the ordinance, to reinforce the deterrent effects.

(ix) Abolishment of the offsetting arrangement under the Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) System

4.9.1 Last month, the current Government introduced to the labour and business sectors the preliminary idea of abolishing the offsetting arrangement under the MPF system. The preliminary plan was conceived to address the concern of employers and small-to-medium corporations in particular about their inability to pay severance payment or long service payment when necessary after the offsetting arrangement was abolished. The Government hence suggested assisting employers in setting up a designated saving account under their names, to which the employers would contribute 1% of employees’ monthly income to prepare for the grant of severance payment or long service payment. Besides, during the previous term of government, it was suggested that the severance payment and the long service payment be reduced from 2/3 of the last-month salary of employees to half of the last-month salary, but this was rejected unanimously by the labour sector as they feared that the proposal would undercut the employees’ welfare or undermine the protection to employees. Therefore, in the preliminary plan, the current government maintained the rate of payments at 2/3 of the last-month salary. In addition, the subsidy provided to employers during the transition period would be increased substantially from $7.9 billion as proposed by the previous government to $17.2 billion and the subsidy period would be extended from 10 years to 12 years. The preliminary plan was not yet finalised and the Government was meeting employer groups/business chambers and labour organisations to learn about their views on the plan.

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(x) Working hours policy

4.10.1 The previous government proposed adopting a legislative approach to mandate employers to enter into written employment contracts with lower income employees, which should include terms on working hours and overtime compensation arrangements. There should be a statutory requirement that when employees worked more than the working hours specified in the employment contract, they would be entitled to overtime pay at a rate no less than the rate of the agreed wages or the equivalent time-off in lieu so that these employees would be protected by the written employment contracts and the compulsory overtime compensation arrangements. Nevertheless, the labour sector opined that these proposals failed to resolve the problem of long working hours effectively.

4.10.2 The current government was drawing up working hours guidelines for 11 designated sectors through LD’s industry-based tripartite committees in the hope of fostering a culture amongst enterprises in providing reasonable working hours arrangements. Besides, LD planned to require or encourage employers to disclose more information about working hours arrangements when they publicised job vacancies via LD. This could increase transparency and allow job seekers to draw a comparison between the information provided and the sector-specific working hours guidelines so that they could decide to apply for the jobs or not.

5. Dr KWONG Po-yin raised the following views: (i) the management fees of MPF lacked transparency. Even if older people opted to invest in guaranteed fund, their MPF might still fail to provide adequate retirement protection; (ii) the number of MPF accounts that people held increased after they changed jobs and the people suffered from a loss when consolidating the MPF accounts. She suggested the Government or non-profit making organisations set up an independent trust fund similar to Tracker Fund of Hong Kong or Civil Service Provident Fund Scheme so that people could choose to invest in the trust funds which charged lower management fees and protect their capital; (iii) many companies requested employees to provide medical certificates issued by government clinics or even the accident and emergency departments of hospitals. Medical certificates issued by private clinics were not accepted, which was unreasonable and illegal. She hoped LD would follow up the issues; and (iv) some employers would only grant paid sickness days to employees when the employees submitted medical certificates for four consecutive days. As a 11 result, many people consulted doctor after work and their treatment was often delayed. A cancer patient even once enquired if specialist out-patient clinics were open at night. This showed a serious lack of protection for members of the public.

6. Mr Jimmy LAM put forward the following views: (i) a citizen reflected that when she attended an interview for the position of secretary as advertised, she was told that the post was actually responsible for selling products and she had to buy in some of the products before taking up the job. In view of this and as the summer was approaching, he enquired if LD would take actions to prevent people from falling into employment traps; (ii) some people who sought LD’s help in mediating in labour disputes failed to receive compensation as the procedures of compensation and mediation had taken up much time. Eventually the period expired and they failed to obtain compensation; (iii) he was pleased to learn that LD had paid regard to the minority employment and hoped LD would organise large-scale job fairs for them. At present, minority parents shared a common wish that their children could secure a job offering a promising future and bringing their talents into full play. Although these minority job-seekers had fulfilled the requirements in and English languages, they lacked vocational training; (iv) applicants for WITS were required to provide proofs of employment and income in six months. However, some people did not have the relevant proofs as they had just resigned or were in discord with their previous employers. He asked if LD could exercise discretion, for instance, replacing the proofs of employment and income by declarations made at District Offices; and (v) he suggested LD offer training to mothers, who had spare time when their children were at school.

7. Ir Dr CHENG Lee-ming raised the following enquiries: (i) he enquired if employers could not pay long service payment, they would be penalised and if employers were limited companies, the directors would bear the liability; (ii) the long service payment of officers working for District Council (DC) Members might reach $200,000 if they had completed the employment for three consecutive terms of the DC Members, i.e. 12 years, at a monthly salary of $15,000. He enquired if the long service payment would be paid by DC Members or the Government; and (iii) regarding legislation on standard working hours, LD only targeted at 11 types of labour jobs. However, many people in Hong Kong made use of their mental capacity and worked on mobile phones or computers. He enquired how the working hours of these mental labourers would be calculated to ensure the legal requirements were met if the mental labourers were required to work overtime on mobile phones or computers. 12

8. Mr Terence SIU put forward the following views: (i) many lower-income families could be directly benefitted by applying for WITS and WFA Scheme. Although the Government had relaxed the income and asset limits for WFA Scheme, many people, including housewives, did not know about the arrangement and hence the number of applications for the scheme was on the low side. He hoped LD would attend to the matter; and (ii) the issue of importation of workers had been under discussion for many years. At present, many types of jobs, including jobs in elderly services, medical services, architecture, cleaning and catering, faced difficulties in recruitment. He suggested the Government raise the percentage of imported workers from 0.1% to 0.5% or even 1%. This would have limited impacts on the employment of local workers and could help solve the longstanding problems in society, such as elder abuse in elderly homes. He believed the policy bureaux should focus their attention on proposing policy directions and explaining the details to the public rather than conducting consultations again.

9. Mr YANG Wing-kit expressed concern with problems relating to employment. Currently, the unemployment rate in Hong Kong was low, but most jobs were related to the financial sector and many university graduates could only work in a field that was unrelated to their academic discipline. As there was a growing demand for talents in different trades in the Mainland, he enquired if LD, in addition to organising local job fairs, would invite businessmen and corporations from the Mainland to hold job fairs in Hong Kong so as to provide more options to Hong Kong people to develop their career.

10. The Hon Starry LEE expressed the following views: (i) she recognised LD’s support to ethnic minorities. Nevertheless, the minority population in Kowloon City District kept increasing. These people were concerned about the pathways for their next generation and sought LD’s assistance in helping their children move up the social ladder. Thus she wanted to know if LD would provide outreaching service to the ethnic minorities; (ii) she agreed with Mr YANG Wing-kit that young people should not confine themselves to Hong Kong. She requested LD to explain if it had organised any job fairs to introduce job opportunities in the Mainland; and (iii) there was a labour shortage in Hong Kong. She believed LD should study ways to release the labour force of new migrants and mothers whose children had grown up.

11. Mr LO Chiu-kit declared that he was a solicitor. He put forward the following comments: (i) under the existing legislation, if conflicts arose between 13 employers and employees in case of accidents, such as conflicts over whether the employees were self-employed, LD would generally issue letters to the employers and the employees after conducting follow-ups and investigations. This indicated that the Commissioner for Labour did not have the authority to arbitrate in the disputes and thus would refer the cases to the Legal Aid Department. Besides, some employers quoted Section 16 of the Employees’ Compensation Ordinance and requested employees to undergo medical assessment by doctors named by the employers’ insurance company. As most of the assessment reports stated that the conditions of the injured employees had become stable, the employers would not pay sickness allowance equivalent to 4/5 of the employees’ average daily income to the employees. He believed LD should take an active step and designate officials to intervene in the cases. LD should take statements from other employees so as to confirm initially whether the employees injured were self-employed or employed by the employers. It should also review the reports issued by Government doctors and the doctors named by the insurance company closely. In many cases, the employees injured could only prosecute the employers by applying for legal aids and the lengthy prosecution procedures caused great annoyance to them. He also pointed out that some reports issued by LD were not detailed enough. He hoped LD would pay more attention to this and allocate more resources to meet the needs of the underprivileged groups; and (ii) regarding regulation of intermediaries for foreign domestic helpers (FDHs), at present, it was common that FDHs requested the termination of the contracts prematurely. The details of service and the fees of FDHs were unclear. He enquired how LD regulated the intermediaries to protect employers’ benefits. Besides, many suspected cases involved the intermediaries abetting FDHs in breaking contracts. Lastly, as it often took around three months to complete the employment procedures of FDHs, he suggested extending the probation period of FDHs.

12. Mr NG Po-keung stated that, at present, white-collar workers were entitled to 17 days of public holiday (bank holiday) while blue-collar workers only had 12 days of statutory holiday. This was unfair and for many years many labour unions had strived to align general holidays with labour holidays for all workers, i.e. that both the white-collar worker and the blue-collar worker should have 17 statutory holidays. He hoped the Commissioner for Labour would consider the proposal so that workers could have more family time.

13. Ir CHEUNG Yan-hong pointed out that street cleaners in the district were ageing. Some of them even reached 70 to 80 years old and could not stand straight, but they still had to do cleansing every day. Currently, younger elders aged 60 to 70 14 often chose to work as security guards and would not join offensive trades like street cleaning. He felt sad seeing such a scene in an opulent city like Hong Kong, so he put up a banner in the district to call upon the public to “respect elderly cleaners” and move large waste items to rubbish collection points by themselves. He also hoped LD would pay heed to the situation and care about the occupational safety and health of elderly workers.

14. Mr LAI Kwong-wai put forward the following views: (i) in a previous KCDC meeting, he submitted a paper requesting to set up a job centre in Hung Hom or To Kwa Wan District. In these old districts, elders aged 50 to 60 or even higher did not know how to use a computer to find a job, thus a job centre was important to them. However, the existing job centres in Concorde Road or in Cheung Sha Wan District were far away; and (ii) he was of the view that LD failed to intervene adequately in the case of late payment of wages by Asia Television Limited (ATV) earlier, to which the public and the media had paid much concern, as well as the recent case of unreasonable dismissal of bus drivers by Kowloon Motor Bus Co. Limited. LD only maintained that it should remain impartial in these cases and allow the employers and the employees to reach a consensus through negotiations. He asked if LD could involve much more in similar cases or study the possibility of granting additional power to the Commissioner for Labour to settle disputes.

15. Mr Admond YUE recalled that in earlier years, employers were allowed to import a certain number of foreign workers after employing local workers. He agreed with Ir CHEUNG Yan-hong and pointed out that, nowadays, people were unwilling to enter certain trades, resulting in great operational difficulties and salary increase in these trades. The implementation of SMW caused persistent recruitment difficulties in many trades and some trades even had to employ older people. He feared that this would reduce Hong Kong’s competitiveness in the long run, so he suggested that LD should consider importing workers for some offensive trades to boost Hong Kong’s competitiveness.

16. Mr Carlson CHAN, the Commissioner for Labour’s replies were consolidated below:

(i) MPF

16.1.1 Matters in relation to MPF fees fell outside LD’s purview. The Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau and the Mandatory Provident Fund 15

Schemes Authority had endeavoured to lower the management fees of MPF in the past years.

16.1.2 Regarding Members’ concern that they would find it difficult to pay severance payment and long service payment to their staff if the offsetting arrangement under the MPF system was abolished, the Government’s preliminary plan was that the severance payment and long service payment accrued before the abolishment of the arrangement would continue to be offset by employers’ MPF contribution while the severance payment or the long service payment accrued after the abolishment would be covered by employers’ contribution in a designated saving account under the employers’ names. In case the amount in the account was insufficient, the Government would provide a subsidy for a transition period of 12 years. In the long run, employers should contribute to the designated saving account to prepare for paying severance payment or long service payment to employees. The Government was determined to abolish the offsetting arrangement and believed that if the offsetting arrangement was maintained, what remained in employees’ MPF account when the employees retired would only be their own contributions, and this would severely undermine the purpose of MPF, i.e. to provide the employees with retirement protection.

(ii) Sick leaves

16.2.1 Members were requested to provide LD the information about the companies which only accepted medical certificates issued by public hospitals for follow-ups.

(iii) Summer jobs

16.3.1 LD was keen to disseminate a message to job seekers, including young people, reminding them to beware of employment traps. It strengthened publicity during summer holidays and enhanced supervision on intermediaries. It also revised the relevant legislation this year to raise the penalty on employment agencies for unlicensed operations or overcharging of commissions. According to the Code of Practice for Employment Agencies (the Code) published by LD in 2016, if companies were found to advertise job positions incorrectly or positions that did not exist, or even 16

provide misleading information, for example, naming a sales job as a cleaning job, the Commissioner for Labour had the authority to revoke the licences of the companies or reject their applications for renewal of licences. The Code was effective in supervising the intermediaries.

(iv) Employment of ethnic minorities

16.4.1 LD organised four large scale inclusive job fairs in the past two years. One of these job fairs was organised in Macpherson Playground in Mong Kok, which attracted many ethnic minorities and helped them find a job. LD would continue to strengthen the relevant work.

16.4.2 Besides providing employment service to minority job seekers in job centres, LD also approached the ethnic minorities proactively to introduce to them LD’s employment service at gathering places of these ethnic minorities, such as religious venues, district organisations, stores and restaurants, with the help of ethnic minority ambassadors and employment assistants who were ethnic minorities as well.

(v) Job fairs

16.5.1 LD organised several large scale job fairs in the past to introduce job vacancies in corporations in the Mainland and Hong Kong and information about employment in the Mainland. These job fairs received positive feedback from both the participating organisations and young people. LD would continue to organise similar events in the future.

(vi) Women employment

16.6.1 The Employees Retraining Board had provided women with various employment training courses. Considering that some women could not work full-time as they had to take care of their children or families, LD set up a dedicated webpage on part-time jobs on the Interactive Employment Service and organised district part-time job fairs to help these women find part-time jobs.

(vii) Elderly employment

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16.7.1 Many elders wished to contribute to society even after they retired. As they might not want to work on a full-time basis, LD enhanced its employment support for the elderly by organising large-scale thematic job fairs and district part-time job fairs for the middle-aged and the elderly.

(viii) Working hours arrangements

16.8.1 Nowadays, information technology was well-developed and mobile phones, emails and social communications media were widely used. Thus it would be problematic to regulate the working hours of people who did not work in offices. Nevertheless, LD believed that these employees would be able to negotiate for a proper arrangement with their employers as our society generally accorded great importance to work-life balance.

(ix) Subsidy schemes

16.9.1 Members’ proposal for enhancing publicity of WFA would be relayed to the Labour and Welfare Bureau and the Working Family and Student Financial Assistance Agency. As regards the proposal for allowing applicants for WITS to replace proofs of employment and income by declarations, LD feared that such an arrangement might be abused and so it would not be feasible. Nevertheless, LD would continue to study ways to optimise the application procedures.

(x) Importation of workers

16.10.1 The Chief Executive’s 2017 Policy Address had outlined the problem of labour shortage in Hong Kong. The Government would talk with stakeholders about increasing the number of imported workers at an appropriate and limited scale on the premise that local workers’ priority for employment was safeguarded. In view of population ageing and a labour shortage in elderly service, the Government would consider providing greater flexibility to subsidised units of elderly and rehabilitation services in the importation of care workers. In addition, except for the 26 trades which were generally excluded from SLS developed according to the views of the Labour Advisory Board (LAB), employers in other trades could apply for importing workers at technician level or below if they had genuine difficulties in finding suitable staff locally. At present, trades which faced 18

a labour shortage, including elderly service, agriculture and fishery, had applied for importing workers under SLS.

(xi) Work injuries

16.11.1 LD had been proactively following up and handling cases related to work injuries. It would review and study the relevant information of each case scrupulously and provide professional views to injured workers and employers to help resolve conflicts promptly. Ever since LD had enhanced its supporting measures for handling disputes about work injuries, more than 70% of the cases that LD completed were resolved upon agreement between employers and employees. The disputes which could not be settled with LD’s assistance would be dealt with by the Court.

16.11.2 At present, LD did not have the authority to make adjudication on any dispute about work injuries. Even if LD was empowered to do so, the cases would still have to be taken to Court if either the employers or the employees did not agree with LD’s decision. LD would continue to help employers and employees to settle disputes about work injuries. However, if a settlement could not be reached upon LD’s mediation, the cases would have to be submitted to the Court.

(xii) FDH

16.12.1 FDH might be tempted or misled by employment agencies to change jobs in the hope of earning more money. In fact, they would not benefit from changing jobs apart from getting one-month payment in lieu of notice. LD would maintain close cooperation with the Immigration Department, which would vet FDHs’ applications for work permits strictly and might not grant work permits to those who changed jobs for several times in a short period of time.

16.12.2 Employment agencies which operated illegally might breach the Code and the Commissioner for Labour could revoke their licences. LD welcomed relevant reports from Members.

(xiii) Statutory holiday and public holiday

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16.13.1 The labour sector had been urging actions to eliminate the differences between statutory holidays and public holidays. LAB had thus conducted discussions many times, but employers and employees still held different views about standardising the 17 days of public holiday and the 12 days of statutory holiday. If employees could enjoy more holidays, the employers might not be able to find replacements as the present labour force situation was tight. Hong Kong’s labour welfare policies would affect FDHs and the standardisation of holiday among workers would impact more than 370 000 families which employed FDHs, so due consideration should be made.

(xiv) Mediation service

16.14.1 LD had endeavoured to help settle labour disputes through mediation service. More than 70% of labour disputes and claims mediated by LD were settled. For example, LD helped resolve the case of late payment of wages by ATV and initiated prosecutions to the relevant people.

16.14.2 If employers who went bankrupt failed to provide employees with employee welfare, such as severance payment, the employees could claim compensation from the Protection of Wages on Insolvency Fund Board (the Board). Nevertheless, the employers should not rely on the Board to pay the severance payment.

17. The Chairman made a conclusion and thanked Mr Carlson CHAN for sharing LD’s work with Members.

Confirmation of Minutes of the 13th Meeting of KCDC

18. There being no amendments proposed, the Chairman declared that the minutes of the 13th meeting were confirmed unanimously.

Work Plan 2018/2019 of the Kowloon West Regional Office of the Hong Kong Independent Commission Against Corruption (KCDC Paper No. 21/18)

19. Ms Evalina YIM, Regional Officer / Kowloon West of ICAC presented Paper No.21/18. 20

20. Mr YANG Chun-yu commended the increase in the proportion of building management in the work plan of the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) this year, and he pointed out that many old buildings in Kowloon City required repairs but people at grassroots level generally lacked knowledge about the relevant legislation and information about anti-corruption. He suggested ICAC take the initiative to get in touch with the owners of the buildings issued with repair orders at two periods, that is, at the time they first received the orders and when the owners arranged building inspections or conducted a tender exercise six months to one year later. ICAC should send staff to attend the meetings of the Incorporated Owners (IOs) to elaborate the relevant corruption prevention messages.

21. Mr LUK King-kwong recognised the work of ICAC, particularly as ICAC had cracked cases involving some well-known figures in recent years. However, its achievements made the public aware that corruption was always a matter of concern in Hong Kong and hence, the work of ICAC remained significant. He also said that there were a number of these few years and a number of complaints against electoral fraud and illegal conduct arose. He hoped that ICAC would step up publicity in the district-based and territory-wide promotion programmes in 2018/19.

22. Ir Dr CHENG Lee-ming said that ICAC had shown remarkable performance in a wide range of service areas and in the field of education. However, on the issues of building management and bid-rigging, effective measures had yet to be taken to deter illegal acts. He also commented that ICAC's involvement in building maintenance and tendering process could produce a deterrent effect on people who conspired to rig bids. For this reason, he did not accept that ICAC failed to send staff to attend meetings of IOs due to a lack of manpower. In addition, ICAC’s failure to collect sufficient evidence to prosecute people suspected of corruption in an unfinished project involving millions of dollars in a housing estate earlier on also sparked public disappointment.

23. The Hon Starry LEE said that the work of ICAC won recognition from the general public. However, she would like to put forward the following views: (i) in the past, it had happened that complainants held press conferences to make great play of a case to achieve political goals before approaching ICAC to lodge a complaint. As ICAC did not give response, harm was caused to the people under fire. This constituted unfairness and she asked if ICAC had ways to solve the problem; (ii) ICAC only cracked bid-rigging cases occasionally in past years and the total number 21 of these accounted for just a very small proportion of the actual existing cases. Therefore, the Department should strengthen the relevant work; and (iii) ICAC could follow the Hong Kong Police Force to produce a TV programme like the Police Magazine to present different crime cases in order to enhance the public’s understanding of corruption, increase their awareness of corruption prevention and help them avoid breaching the law inadvertently.

24. Ms Evalina YIM of ICAC replied as follows:

24.1 ICAC would always strive to provide corruption prevention education services to IOs and encourage owners to participate actively in building management. The regional offices of ICAC were glad to accept the invitation of IOs to explain the anti-corruption legislation at the meetings held. However, ICAC would not send staff to monitor the bid opening process or act as witnesses since the tasks were not within the purview of ICAC.

24.2 All bid-rigging cases involving corruption would be followed up by ICAC in accordance with the law. However, if the cases did not involve corruption, they would be scrutinised by the Competition Commission (the Commission) which regulated anti-competitive practices. ICAC and the Commission had made arrangements for complaint referrals.

24.3 On law enforcement, ICAC had set up a permanent team to investigate corruption cases concerning building management and maintenance. In addition to the conventional ways of handling cases, law enforcement actions would also be taken in due course in view of the circumstances of individual cases to ensure that potential corruption and bid-rigging activities were put to a stop at the earliest time and the owners' awareness of the risk of corruption when awarding works contracts was raised.

24.4 ICAC had been promoting publicity and education about elections in Hong Kong. And it would progressively prepare and launch a series of publicity and education programmes on various levels of public elections in the coming year to maintain and strengthen Hong Kong's clean election culture. The regional offices of ICAC would also conduct a series of relevant publicity and education work for candidates, election helpers and electors of rural elections to be held in the areas they served in the current year. 22

24.5 As a law enforcement agency, ICAC had been handling all corruption complaints in a fair, just and impartial manner. It also kept the identity of the complainants and the details of the complaints confidential in a bid to guarantee the effectiveness of the investigation and protect the reputation of the persons being investigated. ICAC had been reminding the public that reporting a case in a high-profile manner would not do any good to the investigation and it might even pose hindrance. According to Section 30 of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance, any person who, without lawful authority or reasonable excuses, disclosed any details of investigation to the person who was the subject of investigation or other persons during the process of investigation of ICAC would be regarded as violating the law.

25. In conclusion, the Chairman stressed that the Kowloon City District Council would render full support to the work of ICAC and would continue to co-operate with ICAC in the “All for Integrity Campaign” organised in Kowloon City District.

Extendable Allocation Arrangement for Public Niches (KCDC Paper No. 22/18)

26. Mr CHIU Yu-chow, Assistant Director of FEHD presented Paper No. 22/18.

27. Ir Dr CHENG LEE-ming stated that, in view of the lack of resources, he supported the Government's proposal for the extendable arrangement for the use of new public niches in the future allocation exercises. However, he was concerned about the ways of renewal and the methods of contacting niche allocatees or their representatives, such as placing notices in the Government Gazette and newspapers, issuing letters or making phone calls. He was worried that if the people concerned could not be reached before the expiry of the interment period, disputes would arise when the Government removed and disposed of the ashes after the grace period.

28. The Hon Starry LEE said that, with the current shortage of niches, the Government’s introduction for a renewable arrangement for public niches was understandable. However, the proposed interment period of 20 years was too short, and she put forward the following points: (i) she enquired about the consultation procedures for the proposal besides the consultation sessions with the District Councils; (ii) the support measures for the proposal were inadequate. Even if the 23

Government removed and disposed of the ashes in accordance with the law and upon failure to contact niche allocatees and their representatives after painstaking efforts, contradictions might still arise in the future. As the descendants might wish to trace the whereabouts of the ashes of their ancestors in later days, she suggested the Government built gardens of remembrance for scattering ashes and erecting memorial stones / pillars.

29. Dr KWONG Po-yin voiced the following views: (i) the number of contact persons for the extension of interment should be increased to three in maximum; (ii) the expiry date of the interment period should be posted on niche walls to notify the descendants; (iii) she enquired about the whole course from the near expiry of the interment, removal of ashes from niches to scattering ashes into the sea. She also proposed to prolong the period for temporary storage of ashes; and (iv) as suggested by the Hon Starry LEE, gardens of remembrance for scattering ashes should be provided and memorial stones / pillars bearing the information of ancestors be erected to facilitate the search by the descendants.

30. Mr SIU Leong-sing remarked that public niches were undersupply currently and he worried that the extendable arrangement for the niches would affect the price of private niches. In addition, he hoped that the Food and Health Bureau (FHB) would launch public consultation and listen to different opinions on the arrangements.

31. Mr LAM Tak-shing put forward the following views: (i) apart from continued efforts to increase the supply of niches, promote green burials and regulate private columbaria, the Government was urged to strengthen the information about burials by, for example, setting up education centres in new columbaria or crematoriums to provide simple educational materials; (ii) he advised the relevant department to get in touch with niche allocatees or their representatives after the ashes were interred for five years, and then notify and remind them to update their contact details in good time; (iii) after the renewal of interment for 10 years, the period of extension allowed should be set at five years so as to speed up the turnover of niches; (iv) before the formal implementation of the arrangements, the Department could take a record of the niches left unattended; and (v) after unsuccessful attempts to contact niche allocatees or their representatives and temporary storage of the ashes, the Department could erect stones / pillars bearing the information of the persons concerned near the spot where green burials were held so that the descendants could locate the ashes of their ancestors. 24

32. Mr LUK King-kwong raised the following opinions: (i) it was necessary to increase the number of contact persons for the issue of renewal, establish a central database clearly stating the expiry day of interment and remind the related persons regularly within the 20-year period of use; (ii) he agreed to lay memorial stones / pillars engraved with the name of the ancestors and other information at designated areas of Hong Kong waters or memorial gardens,.

33. Ir CHENG Yan-hong expressed the following opinions: (i) it took time for the public to accept new burial practices. And it was observed that they gradually accept green burials, that is, scattering cremains at gardens and at sea. He asked why the Department set the storage period for the niche at twenty years and questioned if it could be revised to 30 or 40 years; and (ii) he proposed the use of new contact methods, such as integrating mobile applications with chips in new identity cards and to search for the related persons by the global positioning system.

34. Mr Terence SIU made the following comments: (i) it was believed that the general public would not accept the removal of the ashes of their ancestors and he wondered the number of niches to be recovered after the implementation of the policy; and (ii) if the contact persons held different opinions on the extension of the interment period, disputes would definitely arise. He suggested storing the ashes left unclaimed at warehouses and taking short videos before holding green funerals.

35. Mr NG Fan-kam provided the following opinions: (i) the 20-year period of use for niches was too short and the relevant document did not detail the renewal fees. He was anxious that if the legislation was passed, the price of private niches would rise sharply and the demand for private columbarium facilities increase; (ii) the placing of the ashes of four to six family members in the same niche should be allowed; (iii) the removal of ashes could make the descendants who forgot to process the renewal feel miserable and file litigation or seek judicial review; (iv) in keeping with tradition, the Chinese were unwilling to take over second-hand niches; and (v) he advised that a deposit be paid for a niche. If the descendants decided not to renew the interment right, they could vacate the niche and get back the deposit.

36. Mr LAI Kwong-wai put forward his opinions: (i) at present, many people could not yet accept green funerals. And the relevant measures particularly affected individuals who were single or had no offspring. Therefore, he strongly suggested the Government conduct public consultation; (ii) it was recommended that the Bureau promote the production of ash crystals. Based on the current private market price of 25 about $10,000 or below, the measures might help release more niches; (iii) more than one nominated representative should be allowed for each niche so as to enhance the chance of successful contact; and (iv) he agreed that the ashes should be kept for a period of time after failure to contact the representatives so as to facilitate the descendants to retrieve the ashes of their ancestors.

37. Mr HO Hin-ming opined that: (i) the register of additional family members would increase the administrative work; (ii) the 20-year period of use was short and it should be extended to 30 years or more; (iii) as contact persons might not be accessed, beautiful areas such as outlying islands should be designated so that paying respect in public was possible; and (iv) the removal of the cap of the set of ashes in a niche might lead to illegal practices. Some "feng shui niches" at better locations might be divided into small portions and put up for auction.

38. Mr LO Chiu-kit criticised that the arrangement was extremely disturbing and he delivered his opinons: (i) the Bureau did not consider discreetly the Chinese taboo of "death without burial" when formulating the policy; (ii) the Bureau made such an arrangement to cover its failure in providing adequate niches. Therefore, it was necessary to explore places for developing more columbaria or pursue more feasible methods, such as working together with all District Councils to identify suitable spaces for providing more niches. The size of columbaria and niches could be reduced moderately; and (iii) the unclaimed ashes should not be disposed of by green burials. Instead, discussions should be coordinated with religious organisations such as the Yuen Yuen Institute for placing memorial stones / pillars.

39. Mr CHIU Yu-chow, Assistant Director of FEHD gave a reply, with the main points as follows:

39.1 The period of use of niches for the first time was set at 20 years and renewal was then required every 10 years. The Department was aware that members of the public and DC Members held different views on the period of use. And the period currently proposed was determined with reference to the arrangements of the Hong Kong Chinese Christian Churches Union.

39.2 It was the responsibility of the persons who were allocated niches to notify the Department of the change of contact details. However, the Department would also contact the representatives nominated to remind niche allocatees to update their information every five years and the number of 26

representatives nominated might be more than one.

39.3 Upon the expiry of the period of use, the Department would try its best to contact all the representatives nominated by niche allocatees, including posting notices on niche walls. The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) would only follow the appropriate procedures to handle the ashes by way of, say, green burial when it failed to contact all related persons after repeated attempts.

39.4 The Department noted Members’ proposals to lay memorial stones / pillars at gardens of remembrance. . 39.5 The Department would record properly the disposal method and the whereabouts of the ashes upon removal. And the plan for allowing the public to open a memorial page for their ancestors on the website m.memorial.gov.hk was initiated and the information about the ancestors would be saved in digital form.

39.6 As regards the allegation of the renewable arrangement affecting the price of private columbaria, the Director replied that the prices of private niches adjusted according to the market mechanism. However, when the Private Columbaria Ordinance came into effect, the period of use for the niches to be sold in the future was limited. In addition, the renewal arrangement for public niches and the policy of encouraging the placement of additional sets of ashes in the same niche would hopefully reduce the demand for private niches.

39.7 Regarding green burials, the number of cases handled by FEHD in 2017 accounted for about 12.9% of the total number of deaths in Hong Kong, as compared to 4.6% in 2010. This reflected a continuous increase in the demand for green burials. On promoting green funerals, the Government not only stepped up publicity on television, radio stations, MTR stations and buses, but also promoted through government departments, schools and various agencies.

39.8 The Department had reserved a corner for promoting green burials in the Health Education Exhibition and Resource Centre at Hankow Road in Tsim Sha Tsui. It also maintained contact with various homes for the aged and 27

local organisations and arranged them to visit the Centre or attend talks on the subject.

39.9 At present, the charges for a standard niche and a large niche were $2,800 and $3,600 respectively. The Department inclined to maintain the charges for the first 20 years at $2,800 and the renewal fees every ten years would be lowered proportionately.

39.10 The Department was consulting all District Councils or their committees on the arrangements and would take full consideration of Members' views.

40. In conclusion, the Chairman said that he hoped the Director would take into account the above views of Members when he drew up the details for implementation later on and he stressed that the traditional views of the Chinese people should be factored in.

Request for Enhancing Scrutiny of TSA to Ease the Worries of Parents about Its Relaunch (KCDC Paper No. 23/18)

41. Mr LAM Tak-shing introduced Paper No. 23/18.

42. Mr CHING Yiu-yuen, Chief School Development Officer of the Education Bureau thanked Members for their positive response towards the Primary 3 Territory-wide System Assessment (TSA) resumed in 2018 and the ensuing years, including adopting an approach of no student names, no school names, no collection of reports and being conducted on random sampling basis. The Education Bureau (EDB) would continue to monitor closely the implementation of the assessment with new arrangements and to ensure that the data of TSA could be used to improve teaching and learning. It would also examine and look closely into the school assessment work and homework policy through different channels. If the complaints received were found substantiated, the Bureau would offer advice to the schools concerned and request them to carry out improvements. In addition, based on the recommendations of the Coordinating Committee on Basic Competency Assessment and Assessment Literacy, the Bureau designed two leaflets on TSA, which were distributed to schools through their districts, to promote public education and enhance the assessment literacy of citizens. The schools were advised to dish out the leaflets to primary 3 students and their parents in Hong Kong. In addition, the Bureau had 28 also produced a series of short films centred on the questions frequently asked by the public in an effort to explain to them the matters in a relatively simple way.

43. Mr SIU Leong-sing worried EDB did not take any measure to ensure that all schools would consult parents and teachers and other stakeholders before deciding to implement TSA at all levels. In actual circumstances, the competition among schools always existed and many schools or their sponsoring organisations sought to arrange TSA for all levels to lift the reputation of schools. The relevant decision-making process was not documented. Therefore, he requested EDB to strengthen supervision and conceive more measures to prevent school children from having excessive drilling.

44. Mr LAI Kwong-wai claimed that the Hong Kong Professional Teachers’ Union conducted a survey on the resumption of TSA and the results indicated that near 40% of schools did not consult teachers if TSA should be conducted and 60% of teachers revealed that all-level assessment would pose pressure on students due to drilling. He was anxious that sponsoring organisations still held the thought of boosting the reputation of schools through the revised Primary 3 TSA. He was of the view that EDB was rash in deciding to implement TSA this time. Invitation letters were sent to schools at the end of March but the schools were required to reply if they would join the assessment in early April. Consequently, there was not enough time to consult parents and teachers. He opined that, on the issue of whether children should take TSA, parents had the rights to express, and yet teachers and school management committees should also be fully consulted by schools.

45. Mr LO Chiu-kit queried if TSA was conducted on random basis with no need to record student names and school names as revised, EDB's aim of assessing the performance of students through tests could still be achieved. The schools which were more prestigious would volunteer to arrange primary three students to join the assessment and then release the results to demonstrate their strength. This indirectly fuelled the competition among schools. Though TSA was meant to be an objective assessment, the schools concerned often demanded students to practice, hence adding tremendous pressure to students. He pointed out that students from affluent families might pursue studies abroad in the United Kingdom or the United States before they finished primary education. EBD should study this phenomenon and refer to the arrangements in places with well-developed education system in deciding if it was too early for students to undergo tests like TSA at primary three.

29

46. Mr HO Hin-ming said that similar assessments were devised for primary one to six students in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia to assess their academic standard. And in fact, the assessments enabled schools to measure the academic proficiency of students and hence facilitate assistance to them. He stated some organisations alleged that TSA introduced by EDB would create additional pressure to school children and the problem was somewhat politicised. However, he believed that the root of the problem stemmed from the efforts of parents and schools in forcing students to study hard. Schools inclined to drill students to elevate their level so as to attract students with higher ability while parents tended to complain when they found their children unable to achieve good results.

47. Mr CHING Yiu-yuen of EDB gave a reply, with main points as follows:

47.1 Assessing the ability of students by TSA was part of the curriculum. The assessment reflected the basic competency of students upon their completion of study at a certain level and thus, no special drilling for them was required. EDB and different stakeholders shared the same belief and disapproved meaningless, monotonous and repetitive exercises.

47.2 EDB did not permit the schools joining Primary 3 TSA to publicise the assessment information obtained. It stated explicitly to the schools that the scores of students could not be uploaded onto the school website or printed in leaflets for distribution.

47.3 Providing evaluation materials to all schools participating in Primary 3 TSA was simply a return for the schools’ efforts in the learning and teaching work. It would let the schools know what difficulties the students faced in mastering basic competency so that adjustments could be made in teaching to help them foster competence. The participation in TSA did not necessarily bring about drills. The Bureau would gain insight into the policies of the schools on learning and teaching and homework through inspections, visits and daily communication.

47.4 Based on the experience in 2016 and 2017, the sponsoring bodies, principals and teachers at meetings and focus group gatherings expressed support for the four enhanced measures recommended by the review committee. The factors inducing intensive drilling in the assessment were eliminated and the public concern about the risks of the assessment was eased. 30

47.5 EDB issued a notice in 2015 to encourage schools to maintain good communication with parents and let them have better understanding of homework assigned and assessment policies administered. It was believed that misunderstandings would be reduced if parents learnt more about the state of things in the school. Doing meaningful exercises was different from repeating mechanical drills. Homework could help strengthen the knowledge that students learnt in classes. The notice also reminded schools not to assign repetitive copy-type homework as far as possible. Instead, elements helped consolidating what was learnt and fostering the creativity, power of thinking and ability to tell right from wrong should be incorporated into assignments. Currently, a lot of schools had introduced project learning activities requiring students to search for information on the Internet and then team up with classmates to make reports in class. And the remedial classes arranged were aimed to help students with relatively lower ability of learning.

48. Mr LO Chiu-kit was doubtful of the saying about the United Kingdom and the United States requiring junior students to sit in tests similar to TSA. He pointed out that his daughter was attending primary three in a school which arranged two tests and two examinations every year as well as dictations every week. The schools conducting TSA would certainly let students do different kinds of exercises and this would eventually impose burdens on students. Actually, EDB could achieve the goal of assessing students according to the scores of tests and examinations submitted by schools. As such, he disagreed that objecting to the implementation of TSA was an act of politicising the issue. He urged EDB to review the current workload of school children and listen to their thoughts.

49. The Chairman hoped that EDB could properly discharge its monitoring work effectively so that students would not be overloaded with pressure and drilling.

Request for Implementing Additional Budget Initiatives Soon (KCDC Paper No. 24/18) Response to the Budget – Proposal for Upgrading Elderly Health Care Voucher to Elderly Living Voucher (KCDC Paper No. 25/18)

50. The Chairman stated that the sixth and seventh items of the agenda were both related to the budget. After consulting Members, he announced the combined 31 discussion of the two items. In addition, he stated that the Financial Secretary’s Office did not send staff to attend the meeting. However, the Secretariat had sent the Financial Secretary’s Office's written reply, i.e, Document No. 2 tabled, to Members for perusal before the meeting.

51. Mr NG Fan-kam presented the Document No. 24/18 and said that given the massive fiscal surplus achieved in the first year of the new-term Government, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong made four recommendations: (i) the Community Care Fund should be introduced as relief measures as soon as possible and the threshold for application be lowered while coverage extended so as to aid low-income earners who could not be benefitted from the budget this year; (ii) the Government to pay rent for public housing tenants; (iii) electricity subsidies were proposed; and (iv) the loan to post-secondary students via the Tertiary Student Finance Scheme and mean-tested loan schemes should be waived.

52. Ir Dr CHENG Lee-ming introduced Paper No. 25/18 and stated that the Kowloon West New Dynamic believed that the Government's one-off cash handout to the public could not solve the problem effectively. He suggested that the Government should adopt innovative concepts to enhance the use of the Health Care Voucher, including (i) expanding its scope and renaming it as Old Age Living Voucher; (ii) increasing the amount of the voucher to $2,500 and lifting its cumulative limit to $5,000. Measures should be proposed to improve the quality of life of elders. As Hong Kong lacked long term retirement protection, the $2,500 plus the “fruit grant” could be barely considered as retirement protection. The voucher could be used on services provided by medical institutions, food services at centres for the elderly or items for sale at shops operated by non-profit-making organisations or social enterprises. The extended use of the Health Care Voucher could better the life of the elderly.

53. The Chairman asked the Secretariat to convey the views of Members to the Financial Secretary’s Office after the meeting.

(Post-meeting notes: After the meeting, the Secretariat had reflected the views of Members to the Financial Secretary’s Office.)

Representatives of Government Departments Should Be Required to Attend KCDC Meetings to Respond to the Papers Submitted by KCDC Members 32

(KCDC Paper No. 26/18)

54. Mr YEUNG Chun-yu introduced Paper No. 26/18 and commented that Members longed for making direct dialogue and exchanges with the representatives of the relevant departments on issues of public concern at the meetings of the District Council and its Committees. However, in recent days, many departments did not send representatives to the meetings of the District Council and its Committees. It was hoped that the Kowloon City District Office would relay Members’ views to various departments and demanded them to assign representatives to attend all meetings in the future.

55. Mr LUK King-kwong observed that it had become a trend that the departments tended to respond by sending written replies instead of by assigning officers to attend meetings of the District Council and its committees. He pointed out that Members wished to exchanges views with departmental representatives and stakeholders within the framework of the District Council. He hoped that the relevant departments would make good use of the District Council meetings as a platform for two-way communication with Members.

56. Ir Dr CHENG Li-ming stated that the Government should consult the District Council on issues of public concern and work out solutions through discussions with Members in formal meetings. The exchange of views should be conducted on a face-to-face basis with Members instead of by serving replies bureaucratically. He believed that government officials were bound to attend the District Council meetings to communicate directly with Members. Therefore, he censured the departments which did not send officers to meetings.

57. Ir CHEUNG Yan-hong understood that the secretaries of policy bureaux and heads of departments were busy with their official duties. However, as the District Council served as an advisory body, it was hoped that they would try their best to attend the meetings of the District Council to have exchanges with Members. Despite the fact that five directors had visited KCDC since July 2017 as indicated by the written reply of the (HAD), the number of members attended the meeting was less than expected because the meetings were hastily arranged. Therefore, he hoped that the District Officer could ask HAD, the relevant Secretaries of Bureaux and Directors of Departments if they would consider having discussions with Members before the meeting if the relevant departments failed to arrange officers to attend the meetings of the District Council and its committees. 33

58. Mr Admond YUE agreed with the views of Mr YANG and Mr LUK and he remarked that the departments increasingly failed to send representatives to attend the meetings of the District Council. He said that it was important to maintain good communication and he further stressed that direct meetings and discussions could often solve problems effectively. Thus, he hoped that the District Officer could request the relevant departments to respect Members and attend the meetings and would inform Members of the meeting arrangements with the secretaries /directors in advance.

59. Mr Ho Hin-ming said that it was more important to resolve problems than to attend meetings. He shared his experience that some departments took the initiative to contact Members when they received the documents or inquiries in an effort to identify ways to follow up or fix the problems. Hence, the key point was whether the departments could help Members settle the problems faced by the public.

60. Mr Roger KWAN was disappointed with the written reply from HAD. He pointed out that the departments’ absence from the District Council meetings was an act of disrespect for the District Council. When touching on issues involving government policies, the rate of absence was particularly high. This showed that they did not respect the District Council as an advisory body and they attached least importance to the views of Members on policy issues. The District Council provided a good platform for the Government and members to interchange views. It was therefore hoped that policy bureaux would send officers to attend the meeting and listen to the views of Members.

61. Dr KWONG Po-yin said that the Government would try to contact Members to seek advice on policies when necessary. And yet, they disregarded the invitation of the District Council to attend meetings. She said that Members of the District Council always had direct contact with the public in the district. She suggested that the 18 District Councils be divided into three groups, namely Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories, and every time when the Government planned to launch new policies affecting people’s livelihood, a definite number of District Council members should assemble to hold exchange sessions so that the policy bureau concerned could make direct exchanges with Members to track the attitudes of the public.

62. Mr LAI Kwong-wai opined that the failure of government departments in arranging representatives to attend DC meetings was a sign of disrespect for the 34

District Council. It also revealed that they did not have the determination to address the regional issues. He hoped that the District Officer would reflect this to the Secretaries of Bureaux and Directors of Departments. Besides, he deemed it necessary to draw up guidelines for requiring representatives to attend the District Council meetings.

63. Mr CHO Wui-hung said that he had served as a DC Member for three terms and he found that the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, the Highways Department, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, HD and HKPF did attach importance to the documents submitted by Members and send staff to attend meetings. They also conducted site visits and exchanged views with Members prior to meetings. However, policy bureaux seldom designated staff to attend meetings. If bureaux were unable to send staff to join meetings due to other official engagements, they should communicate with the relevant members before the meeting. He pinpointed that the performance of the was unsatisfactory.

64. Mr Franco KWOK, District Officer (Kowloon City), responded as below:

64.1 He was thankful to Members for submitting documents and comments. The District Council was an important partner of the Government in district administration. The Government valued the opinions of District Council and Councillors high. The policy bureaux and departments consulted District Councils and their committees on major policies from time to time. For instance, the Food and Health Bureau sent representatives to attend today’s meeting to talk on the issue of niches and listen to the opinions of Members.

64.2 The core departments assigned staff to attend the District Council meetings to listen to Members' opinions and respond to issues under discussion. If the District Council or its committees wished to request policy bureaux or departments to arrange staff to attend meetings, the Secretariat would send invitation letters to the relevant policy bureaux and departments. Many policy bureaux and departments were willing to send representatives to join meetings and have direct communication with Members under the coordination of the District Office. If the relevant bureaux or departments could not assign staff to attend meetings, they would provide written replies and the Secretariat would forward the minutes of the meetings to the 35

relevant policy bureaux for appropriate follow-up after the meeting.

64.3 Since the current term of the District Council had commenced, the number of agendas of district councils discussed without the presence of government representatives accounted for 5.5% of the total, which was lower than the 7.6% recorded in the same period of the previous term. The District Office would continue to convey to bureaux and departments the opinions of Members.

64.4 The Chief Executive stated in the 2017 Policy Agenda that in order to better understand regional affairs and public sentiments, each Secretary had to visit the 18 to meet local people and understand the need in the district within two years after taking office. The District Office would request the relevant secretary or director to allocate more time for meetings to have in-depth exchanges with Members. Earlier on, when the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development visited KCDC, he promised to arrange the Deputy Secretary or other accountable officers or representatives to visit KCDC to follow up with the problems generated by tourist buses or passengers in Kowloon City District in the future. This manifested the willingness of the Government to listen to the opinions of the District Council.

64.5 Besides the secretaries of bureaux, the Government also arranged Directors of 22 departments to meet regularly with DC Members at meetings or gather in other ways, such as visiting the facilities of their respective departments in person to listen to the advices of DC Members and have direct communication. For instance, the District Council would visit the Centre for Health Protection under the Department of Health and meet with the Director of Health next month.

65. The Chairman hoped that the District Officer would reflect the views of Members to policy bureaux and departments so that Members and government departments could effectively share views on issues in the district and resolve the problems.

KCDC Allocation for Organising Community Involvement Activities in the Financial Year of 2018-2019 (KCDC Paper No. 27/18) 36

66. The Secretary, in response to the request of the Chairman, presented Paper No. 27/18.

67. Upon consultation of all Members, the Chairman announced the approval of the Kowloon City District Council's 2018-19 KCDC allocation for organising community involvement activities in the financial year of 2018-2019.

Any Other Business

Producing the New Edition of Tracing the Transformation of Kowloon City and Working Group on Kowloon City District Festival 2018-19

68. Upon soliciting the opinions of all Members, the Chairman announced the endorsement of forming two non-permanent working groups according to Order 41 of the Standing Orders, namely Non-standing Working Group on the Compilation of the New edition of “Tracing the Transformation of Kowloon City” and Non-standing Working Group on Kowloon City District Festival for a term of eight months.

Date of Next Meeting

69. The Chairman said that the next meeting of the KCDC would be held on 24 May 2018, and the closing date for submission of papers would be 8 May 2018. There being no other business, the Chairman adjourned the meeting at 6:52 p.m.

The minutes of this meeting were confirmed on 25 May 2018.

The Chairman

The Secretary

Kowloon City District Council Secretariat May 2018