LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 13973
OFFICIAL RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
Thursday, 5 July 2018
The Council continued to meet at Nine o'clock
MEMBERS PRESENT:
THE PRESIDENT THE HONOURABLE ANDREW LEUNG KWAN-YUEN, G.B.S., J.P.
THE HONOURABLE LEUNG YIU-CHUNG
THE HONOURABLE ABRAHAM SHEK LAI-HIM, G.B.S., J.P.
THE HONOURABLE TOMMY CHEUNG YU-YAN, G.B.S., J.P.
THE HONOURABLE JEFFREY LAM KIN-FUNG, G.B.S., J.P.
THE HONOURABLE WONG TING-KWONG, G.B.S., J.P.
THE HONOURABLE STARRY LEE WAI-KING, S.B.S., J.P.
THE HONOURABLE CHAN HAK-KAN, B.B.S., J.P.
THE HONOURABLE CHAN KIN-POR, G.B.S., J.P.
DR THE HONOURABLE PRISCILLA LEUNG MEI-FUN, S.B.S., J.P.
THE HONOURABLE WONG KWOK-KIN, S.B.S., J.P.
THE HONOURABLE MRS REGINA IP LAU SUK-YEE, G.B.S., J.P.
THE HONOURABLE PAUL TSE WAI-CHUN, J.P.
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THE HONOURABLE CLAUDIA MO
THE HONOURABLE FRANKIE YICK CHI-MING, S.B.S., J.P.
THE HONOURABLE WU CHI-WAI, M.H.
THE HONOURABLE YIU SI-WING, B.B.S.
THE HONOURABLE MA FUNG-KWOK, S.B.S., J.P.
THE HONOURABLE CHARLES PETER MOK, J.P.
THE HONOURABLE CHAN CHI-CHUEN
THE HONOURABLE CHAN HAN-PAN, B.B.S., J.P.
THE HONOURABLE LEUNG CHE-CHEUNG, S.B.S., M.H., J.P.
THE HONOURABLE KENNETH LEUNG
THE HONOURABLE ALICE MAK MEI-KUEN, B.B.S., J.P.
THE HONOURABLE KWOK WAI-KEUNG, J.P.
THE HONOURABLE DENNIS KWOK WING-HANG
THE HONOURABLE CHRISTOPHER CHEUNG WAH-FUNG, S.B.S., J.P.
DR THE HONOURABLE FERNANDO CHEUNG CHIU-HUNG
DR THE HONOURABLE HELENA WONG PIK-WAN
THE HONOURABLE IP KIN-YUEN
DR THE HONOURABLE ELIZABETH QUAT, B.B.S., J.P.
THE HONOURABLE MARTIN LIAO CHEUNG-KONG, S.B.S., J.P.
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THE HONOURABLE POON SIU-PING, B.B.S., M.H.
DR THE HONOURABLE CHIANG LAI-WAN, S.B.S., J.P.
IR DR THE HONOURABLE LO WAI-KWOK, S.B.S., M.H., J.P.
THE HONOURABLE ALVIN YEUNG
THE HONOURABLE ANDREW WAN SIU-KIN
THE HONOURABLE CHU HOI-DICK
DR THE HONOURABLE JUNIUS HO KWAN-YIU, J.P.
THE HONOURABLE HO KAI-MING
THE HONOURABLE LAM CHEUK-TING
THE HONOURABLE HOLDEN CHOW HO-DING
THE HONOURABLE SHIU KA-FAI
THE HONOURABLE WILSON OR CHONG-SHING, M.H.
THE HONOURABLE YUNG HOI-YAN
THE HONOURABLE CHAN CHUN-YING, J.P.
THE HONOURABLE TANYA CHAN
THE HONOURABLE CHEUNG KWOK-KWAN, J.P.
THE HONOURABLE HUI CHI-FUNG
THE HONOURABLE LUK CHUNG-HUNG, J.P.
THE HONOURABLE LAU KWOK-FAN, M.H.
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DR THE HONOURABLE CHENG CHUNG-TAI
THE HONOURABLE KWONG CHUN-YU
THE HONOURABLE GARY FAN KWOK-WAI
THE HONOURABLE AU NOK-HIN
THE HONOURABLE VINCENT CHENG WING-SHUN, M.H.
THE HONOURABLE TONY TSE WAI-CHUEN, B.B.S.
MEMBERS ABSENT:
THE HONOURABLE JAMES TO KUN-SUN
PROF THE HONOURABLE JOSEPH LEE KOK-LONG, S.B.S., J.P.
THE HONOURABLE MICHAEL TIEN PUK-SUN, B.B.S., J.P.
THE HONOURABLE STEVEN HO CHUN-YIN, B.B.S.
DR THE HONOURABLE KWOK KA-KI
THE HONOURABLE CHUNG KWOK-PAN
THE HONOURABLE JIMMY NG WING-KA, J.P.
THE HONOURABLE SHIU KA-CHUN
DR THE HONOURABLE PIERRE CHAN
THE HONOURABLE KENNETH LAU IP-KEUNG, B.B.S., M.H., J.P.
THE HONOURABLE JEREMY TAM MAN-HO
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PUBLIC OFFICERS ATTENDING:
THE HONOURABLE NICHOLAS W. YANG, G.B.S., J.P. SECRETARY FOR INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
MR CASPAR TSUI YING-WAI, J.P. UNDER SECRETARY FOR LABOUR AND WELFARE, AND SECRETARY FOR LABOUR AND WELFARE
DR RAYMOND SO WAI-MAN, B.B.S., J.P. UNDER SECRETARY FOR TRANSPORT AND HOUSING
CLERKS IN ATTENDANCE:
MS ANITA SIT, ASSISTANT SECRETARY GENERAL
MISS FLORA TAI YIN-PING, ASSISTANT SECRETARY GENERAL
MS DORA WAI, ASSISTANT SECRETARY GENERAL
MR MATTHEW LOO, ASSISTANT SECRETARY GENERAL
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MEMBERS' MOTIONS
PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): Good morning, Members. Debate on motion with no legislative effect.
This Council will now proceed with the motion debate on "Expediting the promotion of smart city development".
Members who wish to speak on the motion will please press the "Request to speak" button.
I call upon Ir Dr LO Wai-kwok to speak and move the motion.
Stand-over item: Member's motion "Expediting the promotion of smart city development" (since the meeting of 27 June 2018)
EXPEDITING THE PROMOTION OF SMART CITY DEVELOPMENT
IR DR LO WAI-KWOK (in Cantonese): Good Morning, President. I move the motion entitled "Expediting the promotion of smart city development" as printed on the Agenda.
President, the SAR Government proposed as early as in 2014 an information technology strategy with the theme "Smarter Hong Kong, Smarter Living", but the implementation progress was very slow. I have long been concerned about the promotion of smart city development in Hong Kong. In March 2017, I already applied to the Secretariat for a debate slot, and the original subject was "Expeditiously formulating comprehensive policies and strategies on the development of a smart city". But given the "serious congestion" of Agenda items in the Council, I can only secure a slot for it to be dealt with today after more than a year of waiting and 13 unsuccessful attempts, during which I urged the authorities to show concern for this issue through various channels. In the recommendations for the 2017-2018 Policy Address submitted to the Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie LAM, I already requested the authorities to, having regard to the various recommendations in the Report of Consultancy Study on Smart City Blueprint for Hong Kong, expeditiously put forward a specific blueprint for the development of a smart city and make proper planning for such aspects as transport, health care, environmental protection and elderly services.
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I welcome the Smart City Blueprint for Hong Kong ("the Blueprint") released by the authorities in December 2017, outlining the policies and measures to be launched in the next five years covering six areas, namely Smart Mobility, Smart Living, Smart Environment, Smart People, Smart Government and Smart Economy. Subsequently on 10 January this year, I further raised an associated oral question to the authorities. Moreover, during the examination of the Budget by the Finance Committee, I again sought an explanation from the authorities as to whether they had determined the priority of and timetable for implementing the relevant major policies and measures, and set out the total estimated expenditure accordingly.
Members from the industrial, commercial and professional sectors and I hold that the Blueprint published by the authorities is just the first step on the right track, and the key lies in how to ensure proper implementation. The main purpose of this motion moved by me is to further urge the Government to proactively allocate resources to perfect various policies and ancillary measures and expedite the promotion of smart city development, with a view to fostering the sustainable development of Hong Kong and facilitating the people in leading a quality life.
Six Honourable colleagues from different political parties and groupings have proposed amendments to this motion, putting forward a lot of valuable views and recommendations, which shows that various sectors in the community not only recognize the importance of this subject to the future development of Hong Kong, but also expect the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region ("SAR") to be more pragmatic and proactive in this regard.
President, building a smart city is generally regarded as the major trend in future city development, that is, focusing on the application of such achievements of green and smart technologies as big data, Internet of Things ("IoT") and intelligent architecture on the basis of artificial intelligence to enhance the overall effectiveness of city management and improve people's quality of living, which covers a wide spectrum of areas.
I would like to highlight some salient points that require attention concerning the major issues raised in the original motion for reference by the parties concerned. First, the Government should endeavour to facilitate the research and development ("R&D") and application of innovation and technology 13980 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 and upgrade the technological infrastructure of Hong Kong because the building of a smart city is closely related to the development of innovation and technology. To give the matter its fair deal, a marked improvement has been noted in the ecosystem of innovation and technology in Hong Kong in recent years. Financial Secretary Paul CHAN announced in this year's Budget that an additional $50 billion will be set aside for the development of innovation and technology, which may be applauded as a generous gesture. Meanwhile, to encourage private enterprises to invest in R&D, eligible enterprises will enjoy a 300% tax deduction for the first HK$2 million of R&D expenditure and a 200% deduction for the remainder, which has addressed the requests made by me and the industrial, commercial and technology sectors over the years. Such initiatives reflect the Government's resolve to break away from the previous stagnation of the development of innovation and technology in Hong Kong given the general climate of pursuing such development around the world. But such policies take time to materialize, and there is no quick fix in sight.
In the international scene, a number of countries and regions are proactively promoting technological development. In the face of competition, Hong Kong is not without hidden risks. As shown by the World Competitiveness Yearbook 2018 recently published by the International Institute for Management Development ("IMD"), Hong Kong's global ranking in "digital competitiveness" fell from 7th last year to 11th. The Yearbook has specified a number of weaknesses of Hong Kong, including expenditure on education, expenditure on R&D, R&D of telecommunications and development of innovative firms, reflecting that the performance of Hong Kong in technology and future readiness pales in comparison with that in other areas.
Compared with some cities in the region, Hong Kong has been a late starter in such areas as mobile electronic payments and smart city development, thereby affecting its competitiveness. While the Innovation and Technology Bureau already briefed the Panel on Information Technology and Broadcasting of this Council on the three key infrastructural projects for smart city development in Hong Kong this March and plans to seek funding approval from the Finance Committee later on, such projects still have room for enhancement. One of them is an electronic identity ("eID"), which allows convenient access to online government and commercial services by members of the public with a single digital identity and authentication. I have pointed out that with the increasingly frequent exchanges among cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area, the eID and electronic payment systems developed by Hong Kong should take LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 13981 into account mutual access to the relevant systems in the Bay Area beforehand, with a view to promoting the flow of people, goods, information, capital and services in the area.
Another one is a pilot Multi-functional Smart Lampposts scheme. In my view, apart from collecting various real-time data to enhance traffic management, they should carry more energy saving features. As to the implementation of the Next Generation Government Cloud and a Big Data Analytics Platform, proper data interoperability among departments must also be ensured.
Nevertheless, one more important key to the smooth implementation of the aforesaid infrastructural projects and successful transformation of Hong Kong into a smart city is expediting the promotion of 5G development. 5G means the fifth generation mobile communications technology. The world is now engaged in a race for R&D of 5G standard, given that such a high-speed and high-capacity telecommunications technology has been seen as the catalyst for a smart city. According to the Communications Authority, 5G spectrum is expected to be assigned in Hong Kong by April next year the earliest, followed by the launch of 5G mobile services in the year after next. I think the Government should enhance its communication with the industries, which will be conducive to promoting the development of other aspects of a smart city while seeking to enable early use of such an advanced technology by members of the public.
The Smart City Consortium of Hong Kong formed by some enthusiastic members of the local industries urge the SAR Government to catch up and step up its efforts to promote innovation and technology, including allocating more resources and encouraging enterprises to invest in R&D, turning Hong Kong into an international innovation and technology hub. I have to make a declaration here, that I am a co-founder of the Smart City Consortium of Hong Kong, but have no pecuniary interest in it.
Next, the authorities should proactively promote the intellectualization of infrastructure and green architecture. The so-called green architecture is about the optimal use of innovation and technology in the service life of a building at such stages as site selection, design, construction, operation and maintenance, seeking to achieve the purposes of environmentally-friendliness and effective use of resources.
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The intellectualization of green infrastructure means that such buildings may achieve the purpose of environmentally-friendliness and effective use of resources with the use of technology and data. Hence, I have made untiring efforts to recommend that apart from further enhancing the scheme to make Kowloon East a pilot smart city, the authorities should, during the future implementation of New Development Areas projects, plan ahead for various infrastructural software and hardware, such as communications, pipe networks, smart homes and green architecture, and make proper planning for transport, health care, environmental protection, elderly services, etc. with the use of innovation and technology and big data, striving to develop a low-carbon green and smart community.
I am glad to see the Financial Secretary announce in this year's Budget the allocation of $1 billion to setting up a Construction Innovation and Technology Fund to support the industry in using local and overseas innovative construction technologies, such as building information modelling ("BIM") technology and Modular Integrated Construction. The Fund will also support students and practitioners of the construction industry in receiving training in innovative construction technologies, which I consider a necessary and timely initiative.
BIM technology enables communication and coordination among various professionals, such as designers, architects and engineers, on the same digital platform, enhancing the management of the whole project life cycle in a virtual environment. From planning and design to construction, operation and maintenance, project costs for various stages can be projected with greater accuracy, thereby allowing effective process adjustment and risk management, which will elevate Hong Kong to a higher level in the areas of project design, project management, construction safety and environmental protection, and facilitate the development of Hong Kong into a competitive smart city.
Furthermore, given the significance of the application of big data to smart city development, I have repeatedly recommended that the authorities should strive to facilitate the opening of data by public and private organizations for development and application, so as to set up a platform for sharing big data. The authorities should expeditiously review the Code on Access to Information and issue guidelines to allow hierarchical management by various departments of the SAR Government according to the nature of different information for faster opening of government information and data, and introduce machine-readable formats into data publication to enhance transparency of the operation of the LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 13983
Government, which is conducive to automatic data analysis, thereby facilitating the participation of micro, small, medium and large enterprises in R&D and application.
For example, the Territorial Population and Employment Data Matrix ("TPEDM") updated by the Planning Department every two to three years may serve as reference for the relevant professional sectors in undertaking planning and design and conducting technical assessments. However, it currently releases the aggregated data of 26 larger districts rather than the data of 454 small districts, rendering the relevant sectors unable to make full use of such data. The authorities should consider afresh the requests of the relevant sectors to publish, except sensitive information, the TPEDM data by small district, so as to facilitate application developers and the relevant sectors in using the data.
President, if the authorities can promote and make optimal use of innovation and technology for improvement of people's daily living, active support will immediately be drawn across the board for Hong Kong to develop into a smart city. For example, in respect of financial technology, a mobile payment system with increased compatibility should expeditiously be introduced to reduce the use of cash in daily transactions for the convenience of people. As regards smart transport, it may provide a diversified information platform in collaboration with transport operators to allow drivers and pedestrians to access useful information real time for making reasonable travelling choices. As for gerontechnology, it may promote the development of a home-based rehabilitation system, so that the elderly and patients with limited mobility may receive rehabilitation training service and basic telediagnosis, etc. at home through computer applications and wearable sensors.
President, from the main points summarized just now, it can readily be seen that the effective promotion of smart city development involves various community areas and policy levels, and requires thorough and comprehensive planning. I hope the authorities may adopt a multi-pronged approach, adding more smart and green elements in the updating exercise of "Hong Kong 2030+: Towards a Planning Vision and Strategy Transcending 2030" with foresight on the one hand, while on the other hand, expeditiously perfecting existing regulations and ancillary measures for supporting enterprises and removing barriers, thereby facilitating R&D and application of technology and promoting the development of innovation and technology industries.
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Certainly, the SAR Government should also enhance inter-departmental coordination and promote the communication and cooperation among the relevant industrial, commercial and professional sectors, progressively implementing the Blueprint starting with the easier part. In addition, the authorities should draw up key performance indicators (i.e. KPI) for various proposed projects for the purpose of regular assessment, which will be updated and enhanced in a timely manner, so as to tie in with the latest trend in innovation and technology and smart city development.
With these remarks, President, I implore Honorable colleagues to support my original motion.
Ir Dr LO Wai-kwok moved the following motion: (Translation)
"That, since smart city is one of the four major areas of focused development of innovation and technology in Hong Kong, the Administration released the Smart City Blueprint for Hong Kong in December 2017, mapping out the policies and measures to be implemented in the next five years in six areas, namely smart mobility, smart living, smart environment, smart people, smart government and smart economy; in this connection, this Council urges the Government to proactively allocate resources to perfect various policies and ancillary measures, so as to expedite the promotion of smart city development; the relevant measures include facilitating the research and development and application of innovation and technology, upgrading the technological infrastructure of Hong Kong, promoting the intellectualization of infrastructure and green architecture, facilitating the opening of data by public and private organizations for development and application, setting up a platform for sharing big data, making optimal use of innovation and technology for improvement of people's daily living, as well as developing a low-carbon green and smart community, with a view to fostering the sustainable development of Hong Kong and facilitating the people in leading a quality life."
PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): I now propose the question to you and that is: That the motion moved by Ir Dr LO Wai-kwok be passed.
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PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): Six Members will move amendments to this motion. This Council will conduct a joint debate on the motion and the amendments.
I will call upon Members who will move the amendments to speak in the following order: Mr Christopher CHEUNG, Mr Tony TSE, Mr Alvin YEUNG, Dr Elizabeth QUAT, Mr HUI Chi-fung and Mr Charles Peter MOK, but they may not move the amendments at this stage.
MR CHRISTOPHER CHEUNG (in Cantonese): President, with the rapid development of technology, a digital society and an era of artificial intelligence are lying ahead of us. I very much support the motion proposed by Ir Dr LO Wai-kwok on expediting the promotion of smart city development, which calls on us to make good use of information technology or innovative ideas for building the future society, is in line with the general trend. My amendment seeks to demand the Government to step up the support for the financial industry while promoting smart city development. It is hoped that the Government can introduce complementary policies for the development of financial business making use of information technology.
As a matter of fact, Hong Kong ranked 68th in the 2017 Smart Cities Index, far behind Singapore, Taiwan, Tokyo and Osaka, Japan and Seoul, South Korea. Earlier this year, in another study on smart city as measured by mobility, health care, public safety and productivity, Hong Kong received no ranking while Mainland cities Wuxi and Hangzhou ranked 17th and 20th respectively. Hence, we must rouse to catch up in respect of smart city development.
The Hong Kong Smart City Blueprint published by the Government last year consists of six aspects, namely smart mobility, smart living, smart environment, smart people, smart government and smart economy, covering all aspects of the city's development in a correct and comprehensive direction conducive to enhancing the overall competitiveness of Hong Kong.
Insofar as financial development is concerned, the Government briefly mentioned the development of credit cards, supervisory sandboxes and Internet banking in the smart economy section, but there was no mention of how to assist the development of the financial industry. It is obvious that the application of 13986 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 financial technology ("Fintech") is essential to smart city development. Big data and other technologies should be fully utilized to promote the development of the financial industry, including the securities industry.
President, the financial industry plays a pivotal role in the development of Hong Kong, accounting for 18% of Gross Domestic Product and employing about 250 000 people. The value of our stock market (including IPO) is constantly among the top three in the world. It also plays an important role in the future development of the Bay Area. However, we must not be complacent about the present situation because outstanding innovation and technology achievements have been made north of the Shenzhen River and Internet finance is developing rapidly there. We really have to catch up and bring the financial industry to a new level with new technology and new engines.
Sometime ago, I joined the delegation visit to the Bay Area with members of four Panels. The development of Internet finance there made us realize that, without government support for e-KYC (know your customer), it would be hard to imagine the prosperous development of Fintech as it is where Mainland people can use e-wallets and perform various loan drawing and financial activities online through Internet banking on their mobile phones.
In all fairness, the Government has begun to realize that Fintech development must be accelerated and announced a plan to develop eID in order to promote verification in the remote account opening process and address the difficulties in opening bank accounts faced by the general public and businesses in recent years. The system, which is expected to be completed in two years the earliest, will be put out for tender later on. If we do not speed up our pace, we will be eliminated by the times.
I would like to stress the importance of the Government's participation in promoting Fintech. The smooth implementation of our work often requires government support at the policy level. Take the financial services sector that I represent as an example. I have urged the Securities and Futures Commission ("SFC") to develop verification service in remote account opening in the previous term. With continuous efforts, SFC issued a circular the year before last at the beginning of the new legislative term clearly indicating that overseas certification authorities can be used to facilitate cross-border account opening.
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In the circular, SFC stated that (I quote) "certification authorities outside Hong Kong whose electronic signature certificates have obtained mutual recognition status accepted by the HKSAR government and the electronic signatures generated by these recognized signing certificates shall have the same legal status as that of handwritten signatures within the applicable scope of the Electronic Transactions Ordinance in Hong Kong." (end of quote), meaning the cooperation between Mainland and Hong Kong Governments would be necessary.
The Hong Kong Smart City Consortium co-founded by Dr Elizabeth QUAT and me, worked with members of the industry to develop a verification system in remote account opening. Driven only by private parties in the industry, its result is yet to be seen after two years. But actually, the system is basically completed, pending approval by Mainland authorities. Hence, we hope the Government will play a role in the discussion with the Central Government and relevant departments at the final stage, so that this long-awaited service can be announced in the upcoming development plan of the Bay Area.
I believe, verification in remote account opening, if achieved, will benefit not only the financial industry but other sectors, such as health care and education. Therefore, I absolutely agree that the Government should take a leading role in building a big data database for use by the public and the industry. The report on digital identity released by the Financial Services Development Council last week set out recommendations regarding appropriate infrastructure for digital identity and KYC (know your customer), so as to facilitate the use of non-face-to-face financial services, such as non-face-to-face account opening, transactions, decision-making in financial product investments. In my opinion, the report is the most realistic one since the establishment of the Financial Services Development Council. I hope the Government will study the report seriously and implement the recommendations as soon as possible.
In short, we must make good use of information technology to improve people's living from clothing, food, accommodation, transport, shopping, payment to financial investment, so that the development of society and government services can better meet public demands and a truly people-oriented smart city can be built.
With these remarks, President, I support Ir Dr LO Wai-kwok's motion.
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MR TONY TSE (in Cantonese): President, first of all, I would like to thank Ir Dr LO Wai-kwok for proposing the motion "Expediting the promotion of smart city development" so that the Legislative Council has the opportunity to discuss this important issue that is closely related to people's daily life, and present views.
"智慧城市" in English is smart city. Smart can mean clever and sharp. Hongkongers are known for being sharp and smart. In terms of integrating various kinds of innovations and technologies into daily life, Hong Kong will absolutely not be outperformed by other metropolises.
Relatively speaking, is the Hong Kong Government sharp and smart enough? The answer differs. Many people have reflected to me that, in recent years, the streets in Hong Kong are getting messier with more litter. In particular, to tie in with the upcoming implementation of domestic waste charging, the Government has earlier introduced new-style rubbish bins, commonly known as "small mouth" bins. The original intention was to encourage people to refrain from littering on the streets. However, it backfired and caused more litter to be disposed of next to the bins, certainly causing cleaners more trouble in the end.
Other big cities, on the contrary, have long applied innovation and technology in this respect. For example, Singapore introduced smart bins in 2016. The smart bins run on solar power and are installed with compactors and sensors to compact the rubbish, giving each bin eight times the capacity of a normal one. A bin, when it is about to reach full capacity, will alert cleaners automatically for emptying. Such a smart bin is also a Wi-Fi hot spot, where advertisements can be placed to earn money for the Government. A city in the United States, Los Angeles, has put innovation and technology to even further application. Locals can directly notify the Government through an official online platform on which street they saw there is litter and which location is full of litter. When many people have pointed out the same location of litter, the contractor will prioritize manpower and despatch garbage trucks there for handling.
This online platform, named GeoHub, set up by the Los Angeles Government, not only maintains street cleanliness, but also uploads almost all imaginable government information and statistical data, including population, geographical features, weather, transport, community facilities, commercial activities, history and even biodiversity―after they are spatialized and relevant LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 13989 geographic locations informatized―onto the Internet for direct and free access by people. I believe it is the Common Spatial Data Infrastructure, abbreviated as CSDI, to which Dr Elizabeth QUAT refers in her amendment.
Let us imagine, if I have a lot number in the New Territories to hand and want to know whether it is Government land, what use it is planned for, who holds the property ownership, whether it is involved in any conflict or lawsuit, whether it is a declared monument, whether there are water mains and caverns underneath, how the pedestrian and traffic flow on adjacent roads is, how the future government planning of the district is or whether there are development proposals, at present, to obtain such information, the general public―let alone the general public, even us professionals from the architectural, surveying, planning and landscape sector―may have to invest a long time, visit many government departments and spend a lot of money before they can gather all of the information and data I have just mentioned.
With a comprehensive CSDI, perhaps we need only spend a little time to access all of the aforementioned information on the same platform. Not only does it give convenience to people and the trade, most importantly, it can greatly enhance the efficiency of urban design and management in Hong Kong, thereby expediting the development and increasing the supply of land and housing, and thus land identification and housing construction can be carried out in a smarter way.
Since 2017, the Development Bureau has joined hands with departments frequently using such kind of spatial data to promote the establishment of CSDI. It is no mean feat because the Government is certainly the organization in possession of the most relevant data in Hong Kong. However, President, each Policy Bureau and department only holds a fraction of such data, and stores and categorizes them in different ways or following different procedures, rendering their compatibility and sharing difficult. Tremendous manpower and resources are required to integrate them and upload them onto a centralized platform. Issues of intellectual property and privacy may even arise, and consideration has to be given to imposing a charge or not. I think it is difficult to solely rely on the Development Bureau to undertake such a task.
At the end of last year, the SAR Government released the Smart City Blueprint for Hong Kong, which is spearheaded by the Innovation and Technology Bureau. But I wish to ask: Does the Innovation and Technology 13990 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018
Bureau have sufficient resources and leverage? Can it effectively solve cross-bureau and cross-departmental problems? Last year, the United Kingdom Government set up a new organization named Geospatial Commission, which is specially tasked with the promotion of CSDI and coordination among different government departments to this end. I hope the SAR Government can draw reference from such an approach.
President, my proposed amendment today urges the Government, in formulating and implementing the Smart City Blueprint, strengthen communication and cooperation with various sectors, especially professionals, and avoid working behind closed doors, otherwise the footbridge project in Yuen Long at a cost of $1.7 billion and its like will arise again. In fact, many professionals from the architectural, surveying, planning and landscape sector have considerable knowledge of and experience in building a smart city, especially in terms of urban design and management, and can offer good proposals to the Government. I also hope that the Government can properly solicit and cherish their views.
My amendment also asks the Government to provide small and medium enterprises ("SMEs") with financial assistance and support to assist them in participating in smart city development. The Government announced in the Policy Address last year that the technology of Building Information Modelling, abbreviated as BMI, would be adopted in the design and construction of major government capital works projects starting from this year, in the hope of increasing construction efficiency and lowering costs. However, as regards such a well-intentioned measure, many members of the trade, especially SMEs, have expressed that BIM software is very costly and staff have to be trained to operate it. The new requirement is tantamount to excluding SMEs from bidding for relevant government works projects.
Subsequently, the Government announced that $1 billion has been earmarked for setting up the Construction Innovation and Technology Fund to facilitate and promote the widespread use of innovative construction methods and new technologies, including the application of BIM, in the trade. It is a good start. I hope the Government can continue to maintain close communication with the trade and jointly devote efforts to making Hong Kong a truly smart city―a genuinely very smart city.
President, I so submit.
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MR ALVIN YEUNG (in Cantonese): President, before all else, I thank Ir Dr LO Wai-kwok for proposing this motion today. Talking about smart city, since Carrie LAM's assumption of office, we have already heard this term dozens of times in the Government's policy objective. Actually, what is a smart city?
Compared with smart city, I believe the community at large in Hong Kong are probably more concerned about the World Cup Finals this month. Despite the exposure of various scandals such as delay in the works of football pitches in Russia, the host country of the World Cup Finals this year, before the kick-off of the matches, the new technology tried out in the World Cup Finals is well worthy of our attention. This year, the World Cup Finals has adopted the "VAR" (i.e. video assistant referee) technology for the very first time. Football fans are certainly most anxious about foul play in the penalty area which the referee may not be able to see. The new VAR technology is indeed a good ancillary tool which enables the referee to watch real-time replay and examine from multiple angles whether players have fouled, thus helping to level the playing field. The VAR technology has undoubtedly become another focus in football fans' discussions on matches.
I have talked so much about VAR. What does it have to do with a smart city? Because an essential cornerstone for laying a smart city is a comprehensive Internet of Things and 5G (i.e. fifth generation) network. The centralized operation room of this VAR system in Russia is located not within or near any football pitch. Instead, it is located in Moscow. Real-time transmission is conducted through a reliable and high-speed 5G mobile network with minimal delay.
Up to this point, 5G is really awesome, is it not? I believe the Government will definitely lose no time in coming forward to say that the 5G network is expected to be launched in the Hong Kong market in April 2019. It sounds it is just around the corner, but is that really the case?
The 5G network which the Office of the Communications Authority ("OFCA") said would be launched in April next year is actually not applicable to mobile phones and Internet of Things. Moreover, this 5G network will not cover the following locations. Please listen carefully: Sha Tin, Ma On Shan, Tai Po and Fanling. It will not even be available in the Science Park. That means it will be unavailable in more than half of New Territories East. I wish to ask 13992 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018
Secretary Nicholas YANG, who is present today, what wrong the residents of New Territories East have done. Why are they unable to use the 5G network? Acting slower than other people, the Government is yet to resolve the problem of spectrum. Regarding the clash of bands used by 5G with the satellites, is this a newly discovered problem? No. It was already reflected to OFCA by some telecommunications service providers a year or so ago. Yet regrettably, OFCA has still not resolved it today. Is OFCA actually ignorant, or is it not mindful of addressing it at all? Can a city not widely covered by 5G be called a smart city? Lacking the relevant complements, the Internet of things is merely a network without a soul.
Meanwhile, President, I suggest that the Government hurry up and expeditiously resolve the problem of spectrum. The problem of mobile base stations is also involved. I believe Members still have a fresh memory of the incident of the "freeze" of telecommunications in Lam Tsuen, Tai Po. What happened was that the base stations in Lam Tsuen were removed, causing the whole Lam Tsuen and its vicinity to be basically cut off from the outside. The residents had no access to the Internet or mobile phone services. The number of mobile transmitting stations for the future 5G network will be 10 times more than the present number. As the community may not have any deep knowledge of the radiation issue, many people hope that such stations will be installed in government buildings. In this connection, Mr Charles Peter MOK once asked a written question on how long it would take a telecommunications service operator to apply to the Government for installing a mobile transmitting station in a government building. President, the answer is 464 working days. After completion, 5G would have developed into 6G by then.
President, when mobile telecommunication has already become part of the people's everyday life, failure to access the Internet is indeed no different from the end of the world. Is it not an appropriate time now to consider granting telecommunications service operators the status of public utilities so that they can set up base stations in government buildings as soon as possible? I hope the Government can consider this point.
Another important component of a smart city is the Internet of Things mentioned just now. I believe many Hong Kong families must have installed cameras to monitor the situation at home so that when the breadwinners work away from home, they can check the situation at home, including children, the LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 13993 elderly and even pets. In the United States, a manufacturer of webcams claimed that users could monitor the situation at home from a remote distance through its product. Unfortunately, there was a security loophole in that product. More than 700 such cameras were hacked, exposing the customers' homes to the hackers completely. After this incident, the United States enacted a set of laws for the Internet of Things, requiring this kind of companies to implement a comprehensive security programme to tackle the hidden threat to security. A similar incident also happened in Hong Kong before. It was the leakage of confidential data of users of an emergency alarm service. Owing to intrusion by hackers, the information of the elderly people using a certain brand of emergency alarm was stolen. Although the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data has already commenced an investigation, Hong Kong should expeditiously enact relevant legislation for the Internet of Things to provide guidelines and minimize the risk of the relevant devices so that, despite rapid smart city development, such matters as personal privacy and security can still enjoy protection in the future.
Speaking of elderly care, President, I hope the Government can expeditiously review the relevant policies, rules and regulations. Earlier on, during the Second Reading of the Appropriation Bill 2018, I mentioned that some Hong Kong companies had jointly researched and developed a medication system called "SafeMed Medication Management System". This system helped residential care homes save time in drug administration, reducing it from 15 hours to 2 hours per day. This research also received the "Smart Ageing" award from the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer. Yet regrettably, when a residential care home intended to introduce this system, the Social Welfare Department accused it of violating the rule in the Operational Manual on Drug Management in Residential Care Homes for the Elderly prohibiting removal of medication packing in advance. For this reason, it had to be stopped.
Speaking up to this point, I hope the Government can genuinely remove restrictions and barriers. When technologies are constantly changing but our rules, regulations and laws may not catch up with the development of the times, the Government should play the role of a mediator, facilitating accommodation of the relevant technologies in our laws. A practical approach is to make legislative amendments. In this respect, I believe the Government has an unshirkable duty.
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President, another important element of a smart city is open data. The Chief Executive mentioned in the Policy Address that now the Government has opened up 3 100 datasets for use by the public. It sounds a lot, but is it really a lot? How many datasets has Taiwan opened up? The answer is 35 000. When will we ever be able to catch up with Taiwan? Regarding information which the public may use in their daily life and which does not involve personal privacy, now the Government has not provided us with any relevant data at all. We cannot even find such simple information as locations of washrooms. The Government should expeditiously draw up a timetable for open data. It should also, drawing reference from the practice in Taiwan, set up a platform for the public to reflect the data and formats they need, and properly serve as a bridge of communication. The departments should not, just for the sake of delivering homework, each casually upload a few irrelevant datasets the format of which is unusable, and consider the job done.
When it comes to open data, there is something we have requested for years, but no progress has been made. It is the real-time traffic data which public transport operators remain unwilling to disclose. I hope the Government will include the requirement of open data in the relevant terms when granting the licence and franchise in the future. Yet regrettably, now the Government would always excuse itself, claiming that the relevant data is the asset of private enterprises. However, public transport is closely related to the people's everyday life. These organizations bear a public responsibility. How can it possibly say at this point that the relevant data is their private asset? In fact, our request is most reasonable. The Government talks about the need to promote smart city development, but if the relevant data is not open, how can the other people use it?
I understand that the Government has an excuse, that the relevant data is available for browsing and downloading by the public through the App (i.e. application) of the transport companies concerned. However, this is not genuine open data.
President, if the Government does not know what is actually meant by open data or how to open up data, it had better draw reference from the practice in New York City. To open up data for everyone, the Open Data Law was enacted in New York, the United States in March 2012 to raise the efficiency of services of government departments, enhance the transparency of their operation and make LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 13995 them accountable to the public. Apart from requiring various government departments to open up their data, the Open Data Law may also require enterprises to submit information relating to public interest to the Government for formulation of policies. The Government will then decide whether to disclose the information or otherwise. Last year, on the grounds of traffic planning, the authorities in New York City requested hire car companies to disclose details and running data of each passenger trip, including the time and place of pickup and drop-off, to analyse which locations were more convenient for pickup and drop-off, which areas needed more bus services, the frequency of refusing hire, etc. Furthermore, the authorities could learn from such data the drivers' working hours, thereby monitoring whether the hire car companies had complied with the legislation on fatigue driving.
President, what I mentioned just now can promote Hong Kong's further development into a smart city. I hope Secretary Nicholas YANG, who is present today, can listen to our speeches carefully and accept our views with an open mind.
I so submit.
DR ELIZABETH QUAT (in Cantonese): President, first of all, I thank Ir Dr LO Wai-kwok for proposing a motion on "Expediting the promotion of smart city development" today, as I believe this is one of the most important issues in Hong Kong.
President, over the years, I have been committed to promoting the development of innovation and technology as well as smart city development in Hong Kong. Two years ago, I, together with some professional members of the industry, including Ir Dr LO Wai-kwok, set up the Smart City Consortium ("SCC"). In a short span of two years, the number of corporate members has exceeded 280. We have set up 18 committees and nine SIGs (Special Interest Groups). We have organized over 270 activities and signed 27 memorandums of understanding with 13 countries and regions. This shows that we are keenly concerned about the promotion of smart city development in Hong Kong both internationally and locally. SCC has also proactively liaised with various government departments in an effort to persuade and encourage various government departments to make the utmost effort to actively play a part in the 13996 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 promotion of smart city development in Hong Kong. Here I have to make a declaration, that I am a founder of SCC but I have no direct pecuniary interest in it.
In these two years, the Innovation and Technology Bureau ("ITB") has to cope with an enormous workload despite its limited manpower, and in this period of time, ITB has undertaken a large amount of work to create a social atmosphere that is more supportive of innovation and technology. It has also published the first Smart City Blueprint for Hong Kong and this, I think, is a very good beginning, and the efforts made by ITB are most worthy of recognition. Having said that, in this period of time, during negotiations with government departments and discussions on smart city development with members of the public, I have encountered a lot of problems and noticed many areas where I think improvement can be made. Due to the time constraint, I have set out in my amendment the tasks that I hope the Government can accomplish expeditiously in various aspects of smart city, so I am not going to repeat them here. However, I wish to highlight some key areas where I think improvement can be made.
First, there is a certain gap between public expectations and the work currently undertaken by the Government. When we discussed smart city development with the public, very often, their first reaction was that Hong Kong is very backward because while much is said about smart mobility, there is not even one mobile App that can provide information about interchange options involving all modes of public transport or places where parking spaces are available. On the contrary, in Shenzhen there are already many Apps providing information about the availability of parking spaces and better still, it needs only one App to obtain information about interchange between different modes of public transport, "lost trips", etc. and people can also find out the cheapest and fastest route to a destination. Why is Hong Kong unable to do it? They think that Hong Kong is very backward. We in the Legislative Council have continuously urged the Government to adopt more active measures, such as enacting legislation to require the sharing of data by private car parks and public transport operators, so that the market can develop more tools for the general public to obtain the relevant information.
Besides, another complaint from the public is about the very slow Wi-Fi speed and inadequate hotspots in Hong Kong. How can we do better and raise the speed? This will be quite a tall challenge for ITB in the coming days. We LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 13997 have also actively promoted eID, but it still has to take some time before the public can be provided with a digital personal identity in Hong Kong. I very much hope that the Government can implement it expeditiously and also promote the development of electronic business registration ("eBR") in tandem with the promotion of eID. In respect of smart health care and smart elderly care, actually there is still a lot of room for development and I think what we have done is also far from adequate.
Another problem is cross-department collaboration. Although we have ITB, the Bureau is in no position to mandate other departments to take forward initiatives in certain aspects for the promotion of smart city development. Mr Tony TSE mentioned the importance of CSDI (Common Spatial Data Infrastructure). It is stated in the Smart City Blueprint for Hong Kong that Common Spatial Data Infrastructure will be made available for public use only in 2023. But as far as I know, the Lands Department already has in place the Geospatial Information Hub, and according to what members of the business sector and experts have told me, the Government can complete CSDI in six months so long as it has the will to do so. Why should we wait until 2023? What problems are there?
More often than not, when we have discussions with different government departments, almost every project concerning smart city may require cross-department collaboration but whenever cross-department collaboration is involved, we become powerless; many things will be out of our hands and there will be delays over many issues. In the final analysis, is it because the civil servants do not understand the current development of smart city and do not have a full grasp of the utilization of technologies for the delivery of better public services? If so, how can we step up training for the civil servants and offer incentives or specify these requirements in KPI (Key Performance Indicators) to make them put technologies to good use, thereby providing better conditions for promoting smart city applications?
As for collaboration and mutual access to data among departments, such as COP (Common Operating Platform for Emergency Management) set up jointly by several departments, is it possible for various government departments to enhance collaboration in this respect and work in concert for the development of a smarter government? In this regard, I think there is a lot of room for the Government to make improvement.
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In respect of smart economy, many small and medium enterprises ("SMEs") have asked us why the neighbouring cities of Hong Kong, such as those in the Mainland, are able to do so well in electronic payment. In fact, the convenience brought forth by electronic payment is not only as simple as what the general public have expected, such as making payments simply by tapping a card. More importantly, electronic payment can provide assistance for SMEs in their development and cash flow. In our neighbouring cities, such as Shenzhen, their SMEs or even the very small enterprises, including hawker stands selling vegetables on the street, will only need to connect to online banking through a mobile phone and by pressing a few buttons, they can take out a loan in the morning to place orders and then repay the loan in the afternoon, and after the customers have made payments, the funds can be transferred to their accounts almost instantly.
On the contrary, SMEs in Hong Kong, such as those in the beauty sector, have reflected to us that even though they wanted to become credit card merchants, their applications were rejected by the banks and what is more, the banks will deposit the funds into the merchants' accounts only 180 days after the date of transaction. From this we can see that while SMEs in the Mainland can use their funds on the same day, our SMEs still have to wait for a few months before they can do so, and this will affect the development of society and the business sector at large as well as our competitiveness. We are making very slow progress and suffering a serious lag in this respect.
Mr Christopher CHEUNG mentioned just now that the development of financial technology is very important to the consolidation of Hong Kong's position as an international financial centre. Mr Christopher CHEUNG and I, as well as members of the industry, have made great efforts to promote cross-border account opening, remote trading, and interconnectivity between the Mainland and Hong Kong. In this connection, I think it is difficult to achieve results without the Government's assistance and involvement in taking forward the relevant work. Fintech aside, we should also make an effort to develop Regtech and also financial technology in the insurance industry. In this respect, Hong Kong seems to be making rather slow progress.
Moreover, as we know, in the development of the Bay Area, each and every city in the Bay Area is putting in a lot of efforts to develop into a smart city and absorb talents. What role can Hong Kong play? And, how can we give LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 13999 play to our advantages and in the light of the needs of the country, strengthen the mutual access and flow of people, goods, services, capital and information in the region? This is what we have to do now. However, I have not seen anything being actively done to this end.
I heard some Honourable colleagues say that they would vote against our amendments because the Bay Area was mentioned in them. But I wish to point out that if anything involving the Bay Area were voted down, Hong Kong would have itself shut off and become isolated. Apart from letting opportunities slip by, Hong Kong would also be marginalized. We need to make amendments to many laws, and we also need to work harder to attract talents. Most importantly, smart city is not a kind of packaging or a slogan. We need to be people-oriented, in order that the people can feel the changes and they can feel that their living is of a better quality and hence, they will have more hope for the future. And in this way, the sustainable development of Hong Kong can be better enabled. As for Mr HUI Chi-fung's amendment which proposes to immediately effect the legalization of the transport mode of car-sharing, we have certain reservations about it and therefore, we cannot support it. We in the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong will support the original motion and the amendments proposed by other Members. President, I so submit.
MR HUI CHI-FUNG (in Cantonese): The promotion of smart city development is a general trend. Many well-known cities around the world, such as Amsterdam in the Netherlands, Barcelona in Spain, Copenhagen in Denmark, Helsinki in Finland, Manchester in the United Kingdom and Vienna in Austria, are widely regarded as examples of successful smart cities in the world.
A smart city not only emphasizes extensive application of information and communications technology, it should also be understood from the perspective of a sustainable city model, such as how information and communications technology can be used to address social issues. Smart city stems from the IBM's Smarter Planet concept of applying next generation information technology, such as Internet of Things, cloud computing, and so on, to the public systems of cities, such as electricity, water supply, transport, buildings, gas mains, and so on, with a view to connecting the perception of humans with all equipment and systems. Meanwhile, the extensive application of information 14000 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 and communications technology can enhance public services provided by the Government, upgrade the Government's effectiveness and even promote communication between the Government and the public, lower communication costs and upgrade the public's standard of living. The environment of the city is likely to become sustainable, too.
Hong Kong has yet to publish a White Paper on smart city. In 2016, the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer released the Smart City Blueprint for Hong Kong ("the Blueprint") to map out the vision for development in the next five years. This year, which is the second year since the release of the Blueprint, we can only see the Government earmark in the Budget this year a generous sum of $5 billion for the promotion of innovation and technology without rolling out any initiatives related to the promotion of a "smart city". For instance, the Government has set aside $20 billion for the Lok Ma Chau Loop, $10 billion for the Innovation and Technology Fund, $10 billion for the provision of a technology platform, and $10 billion for the Hong Kong Science Park. Despite the allocation of $10 billion to many domains, to what extent are they relevant to a smart city? How far can the funds allocated achieve the objectives set out in the Blueprint in relation to smart mobility, smart living, smart environment, smart government and smart economy? How much public coffers will really be expended in Hong Kong or will most of it be diverted to outside Hong Kong through the Belt and Road Initiative and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area?
On 12 March this year, the Panel on Information Technology and Broadcasting discussed specifically three "Key infrastructure projects for smart city development". Nevertheless, these initiatives, including eID, multi-functional smart lampposts ("smart lampposts"), Next Generation Government Cloud Services and a Big Data Analytic Platform, are merely trivial initiatives. Secretary, to what extent can the public apply, see and feel these initiatives in their daily life? This explains why I use the word "trivial" to describe these initiatives.
No matter how the Government boasts its proactiveness in promoting smart city, its timetable for implementing the policy is absolutely in a lag. For instance, the Secretary often brags about the launch of a pilot Multi-functional Smart Lampposts Scheme, whereby 400-odd smart lampposts will be installed in Causeway Bay, Wan Chai, Central, Admiralty, Tsim Sha Tsui and Kwun Tong to collect real-time data on the weather, environment, pedestrian and traffic flow, LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 14001 and so on, with a view to enhancing city management and providing information on various districts, Wi-Fi and 5G network services to be launched in the future. However, the first 50 smart lampposts will not be commissioned until the middle of next year. According to my estimate, the entire scheme will take at least three more years before it is completed. Given the rapid advancement in technology, if the technology is not reviewed until three years later, I am afraid it will already be too late. As a result, quite a number of enterprises must think twice rather than expecting the application of their technology in the public domain.
Not only does a smart city symbolize the application of new technologies one after another, the city itself should also have the vision of achieving certain social objectives. Nonetheless, to what extent has an in-depth discussion been held by the community on smart city regarding its vision, objectives and intrinsic values? How much information will the Government make known to the Legislative Council and the public? Is technology merely considered as a tool to achieve these social values? Does the Government really have a good understanding of smart city or has smart city been reduced to a policy slogan in the end?
Let us refer to the cities I mentioned just now, namely Amsterdam in the Netherlands, Barcelona in Spain, Copenhagen in Denmark, and so on. All these cities are known as examples of successful smart cities. The European Commission has even found that these smart cities have three major keys to success. Firstly, the Government determines the vision for development in these cities to prevent polarization between the rich and the poor in different regions, or unfairness in participation in the smart city blueprint by urban elites and low-income earners, and even rejection by the community. Secondly, the leaders are willing to empower the citizens in a proactive manner to incentivize the public to participate in the smart city work, thereby gaining a sense of belonging and satisfaction from taking collective actions.
Thirdly, the Government should play the role of an intermediary to effect coordination among different stakeholders and make the data open to the public so as to enhance the transparency of administration. The failure of certain private companies to make public transport data open to the public, as pointed out by some Members just now, is precisely a case in point. Why can the smart city under discussion not achieve the objectives of adding value, enhancing the public's participation and sense of belonging and truly benefiting the people? 14002 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018
Two decades ago, Hong Kong's Octopus Card was regarded as a well-known innovation and technology invention in Asia. Not only can it be used to substitute coins, it can also facilitate the public in taking different modes of transport, such as buses and the Mass Transit Railway in Hong Kong. However, the Government has been reluctant to offer assistance to the Octopus Cards Limited. Subsequently, some big guns on the Mainland, also dubbed as "fathers of electronic transactions", such as Alipay and WeChat Pay, competed for a share of the Hong Kong market, making it impossible for Hong Kong to improve its ecology for research, development and application of innovation and technology. Meanwhile, some companies monopolized by local retail groups are more inclined to forming an alliance with external payment systems. Nonetheless, these payment systems and communication software have aroused queries from the public about "social surveillance" to facilitate China in completing its construction of a "social credit system", so that the Government will gain a better understanding of the lives and behaviour of the people.
Not only has the significance of these systems been inflated by the Mainland Government, the People's Bank of China even issued a circular in August 2018 requiring all online payment businesses to be dealt with by the Internet platform under the People's Bank of China in future. This will indirectly enable the Government to gain a full understanding of the information related to places of transactions of consumers and the trading of commodities. As such, privacy will become even more unprotected.
This is why my proposed amendment seeks to put the emphases of a smart city back to Hong Kong, including providing support for the development of smart solutions, establishing an industry chain, tying in with the "re-industrialization" policy, promoting the commercialization of technology products, upgrading the information engineering of Hong Kong, enhancing the Internet of Things and cloud computing, and attracting investment funds to strengthen smart city manpower training.
My amendment has devoted even greater lengths to advising the Government to pursue development in the following directions, including using renewable energy, reflecting feed-in tariff, promoting clean energy, establishing a diversion process for solid wastes, promoting the mainstreaming of electric vehicles, improving charging facilities for electric vehicles, and promoting the transport mode of real-time car-sharing and effecting its legalization.
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Speaking of a smart city, we are now facing hurdles after hurdles and great risks in taking Uber. Even for the electric vehicles used by the general public, the Government is reluctant to vigorously promote it as mainstream vehicles. While we are discussing the promotion of feed-in tariff and development of renewable energy, Hong Kong's Buildings Ordinance is still lagging far behind the times and hence lacking public participation. The diversion process for solid wastes being launched by the Government also suffers a most serious lag, and it is still relying on the assistance offered by scavengers. I hope the Government can deal with the aforesaid major areas at greater lengths and bring the emphases of a smart city back to the public services level to, through innovation, creativity and start-ups, truly enable Hong Kong people to lead a better life and make them the focus of the Blueprint (The buzzer sounded) … President, I so submit.
PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): Mr HUI, please stop speaking.
MR CHARLES PETER MOK (in Cantonese): President, I thank Ir Dr LO Wai-kwok for sponsoring the motion debate on "Expediting the promotion of smart city development", and Members who have proposed amendments that make many excellent proposals. They have many great ideas on the directions of promoting smart city development. If I were to discuss them one by one, given that I am so long-winded, I could talk for days on end. However, I can only focus on the proposals in my amendment, particularly on the views related to open data.
Last week, I attended the Smart City Summit hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, where the Chief Executive was also present. Many questions raised by the audience were related to the subject matter today. For example, someone asked how success in the development of smart city could be defined. How can a balance be struck between the use of data and the protection of privacy? How can more stakeholders who possess data be incentivized to share data? In view of this, in the amendment proposed by me today, I particularly wish to put forward proposals on how, in the course of smart city development, the Government can deal with these issues cautiously given the increasing risks associated with large-scale data collection and information security. For this reason, I propose that the Government review and update the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance to strengthen regulation of the 14004 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 collection, processing and use of personal data and draw up effective standards on information security, so that while promoting the application of technology, the personal privacy of the public can still be protected and a balance struck between the two.
After several years of consultation on the Smart City Blueprint ("the Blueprint"), a consultancy study report spanning several hundred pages was finally published last year and many excellent recommendations can be found therein. Be it on open data or the amendment of existing legislation, in respect of the goals to be achieved in the short, medium or long terms, the consultancy made very detailed recommendations on all of them to the Government. At that time, we thought that if the Government could really put all the recommendations into practice, it would really be likened to a windfall. Little did we expect that when the consultation report was published, the Blueprint published by the Government actually does not consist of the recommendations made in the consultancy study report. The recommendations made by the consultancy account for less than 20% of those found in the Blueprint. Take the open data policy as an example, an entire chapter in the consultancy study report is devoted to explaining what kind of framework the Government has to establish and how the value of data should be assessed internally but in the Blueprint, this is reduced to just two points, that is, support the continuation of open data and support the use of open data in innovation. Look, only this kind of bureaucratic rhetoric is left of excellent recommendations filtered by bureaucrats.
The Government would say that we already have
There is no need to talk about some faraway places. Let us take a look at the Digital Government Blueprint announced by the Singaporean Government in June this year. It is also called a blueprint but the definition of success is spelt out very clearly. For example, it is set out clearly that by 2023, 100% of digital LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 14005 services will offer e-payment options, that there will be 30 to 50 transformative digital projects, that there will be 20 000 public officers trained in data analytics and data science, that there will be 10 cross-agency high-impact data analytics projects per year, that over 90% of core data fields will be in machine readable format and transmittable by APIs, and that the time required to fuse data for cross-agency projects will be less than 10 days. Only these are called goals. There is nothing whatsoever in the Blueprint for Hong Kong. Without goals, how can there be any impetus for implementation? How does one know if one should go left or right? There are reasons for Hong Kong's lower ranking.
President, as a representative of the information and technology sector, all along, I have hoped that even as the Government takes forward smart city projects, it can fully enable local enterprises, including start-ups, to participate in these projects to some extent. Many people in Hong Kong also have a lot of excellent ideas and some of these people were even nurtured in the Cyberport or the Science Park but when they make presentations to the Government, the Government would disregard them completely on account of their being local companies or start-ups, or they will surely lose when bidding for tenders. We talk about public-private partnership frequently but we can see that often, the public sector actually does not want to cooperate with the private sector or small independent companies.
Therefore, the Government must carry out the review of procurement arrangements mentioned in the Chief Executive's Policy Address last year. In the past, I also proposed to the Government a number of times that reference be drawn from such overseas countries as European countries, the United Kingdom or Australia. In these countries, digital marketplaces have been developed to enable local developers or companies with new ideas to display their new products, techniques and concepts online. The Government can also carry out invitation exercises for ideas in various policy areas, so that the public can take part in studying these proposals together, rather than letting government officials prescribe all the requirements on their own, then invite tenders, with the result that it will definitely be the lowest bid that wins. It is in this way that people are found to do jobs. I believe that when Honourable colleagues buy mobile phones, they would not simply go for the ones with the lowest prices, would they? Now, we can see what the Government has bought.
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Coming back to the open data policy mentioned in the original motion, we can see that in the eight major areas mentioned in the Chief Executive's Policy Address, opening up more government data is also mentioned but the core of the problem is that the Government lacks high-level and cross-departmental policy guidelines in opening up data and this task has all along been undertaken by the Office of the Chief Government Information Officer ("OGCIO"). Resources and support are lacking and government departments also lack the incentive to provide support. So far, the Government only has the Code on Access to Information, which was promulgated in 1995, but it is only applicable internally to the Government and does not have any legal effect.
In April, the Audit Commission published an audit report on OGCIO and it was found that as of June 2017, as many as 50 government bureaux and departments, accounting for as high as 70% of the total, did not have any plan on the release of Public Sector Information ("PSI"). Apart from the lack of initiatives and indicators within the Government, the Government has also all along failed to solve the problem of a lack of data on public transport. Only two of the four major transport operators released some information to the PSI portal and Apps but the data are only static. Our mouths are dry from requesting the Government to encourage bus companies to open up their data but the Transport and Housing Bureau, and even the Government of the new term, still say that they are private assets. When I had exchanges overseas with experts on smart city, they were so surprised that their jaws dropped, saying that we were still in the stone age.
The Government must comprehensively review its policy on data management and open data. It can follow the example of the Open Data Institute funded by the British Government in allocating resources to supporting public-private partnership and assisting government departments and private companies in opening up more data to the public.
In fact, similarly, the experience of New York in the United States in opening up data was also that of opposition from many government departments and other stakeholders. For example, the Fire Department opposed making public all data on response times and restaurants did not want their grading in hygiene inspections to be made public. However, the public there understood that opening up data would bring transparency and accountability, so they worked towards and demanded the opening up of data together. If we see the public championing such a cause now, will the Government give any response? LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 14007
The core of a smart city is data. Using artificial intelligence and machines that learn, many decisions can be made without involving human beings. However, how should we weigh this against the privacy of these data? The major considerations are such principles as transparency, the consent of users, accountability and security.
In April 2016, the European Union published the General Data Protection Regulation ("GDPR"), which is described as the most stringent and it has now come into force. It has great implications on the Internet economy, cross-border electronic trade, big data, cloud computing services, the application of artificial intelligence, etc. Several weeks ago, at a meeting of a subcommittee of the Legislative Council, I found that the knowledge of some officials of GDPR was almost zero. GDPR extended the scope of the protection of personal data to IP addresses, cookies, location information, biometrics, etc., so no matter if your company is located within the European Union or is directly established in the European Union or not, you may still be subject to the regulation of other places. However, if we make a comparison in this regard, we will find that Hong Kong's Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance is lagging far behind others. I believe the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data also agrees with this but at present, we still cannot see any intention on the part of the Hong Kong Government to review and update this law that has been so much behind the times for the past two decades and was formulated before the advent of the Internet world. Now, we have come to the post-social media age but we are still using such an antiquated law. For this reason, we must update this ordinance to keep abreast of the requirements in respect of privacy in the international community and balance it against the effects of technological development nowadays.
Through this amendment, I wish to remind the Government that in developing a smart city through technology, orientation towards people must still be the most important principle. I hope that the Government can enhance the transparency of smart city public-private partnership projects, review the policy on comprehensively opening up data and update the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance to strengthen the regulation of personal data collection and provision, and it is also hoped that Hong Kong can become a genuinely people-oriented smart city.
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SECRETARY FOR INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY (in Cantonese): President, Ir Dr LO Wai-kwok proposes a motion that the Government should proactively allocate resources to perfect various policies and measures so as to expedite the promotion of smart city development. Ir Dr LO and six other Members, in his motion and their amendments respectively, also advance views and suggestions in respect of various strategies on and proposals for smart city development.
The promotion of smart city development is a key area of work of the Government. Before the publication of the Smart City Blueprint for Hong Kong ("the Blueprint") by the Government in December last year, the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer ("OGCIO") had commissioned a specialist consultant to conduct a nine-month study. In the course of the study, the consultant contacted and met with over 20 Policy Bureaux and departments to understand their work progress and their latest plans for the promotion of smart city development and application of technology. The consultant also liaised with over 20 public sector organizations, professional bodies and private companies in various fields, including public transport service providers, financial service institutions such as banks as well as start-ups.
As soon as the consultancy report was submitted to OGCIO in June 2017, the Innovation and Technology Bureau released the entire report to the public and briefed the Panel on Information Technology and Broadcasting of the Legislative Council in early July about the main contents and recommendations of the report. OGCIO then conducted a two-month public consultation in early August and received some 5 000 written submissions and responses. OGCIO also held two consultation forums for industry stakeholders to exchange views with academics, professionals and members of the business community in attendance on the consultant's recommendations and the opening of data. Hence, the Blueprint, which sets out a total of 76 smart city strategies and measures on 6 major areas, has fully taken into account the views of the consultant, the industries and members of the public. The relevant Policy Bureaux and departments have launched the respective work and resource deployment.
Even though it is only six months since the publication of the Blueprint, a number of initiatives and measures have already been implemented, which include three key digital infrastructure projects, namely, the provision of electronic identity ("eID"), launching a pilot Multi-functional Smart Lampposts scheme and the implementation of the Next Generation GovCloud and a Big Data LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 14009
Analytics Platform. Thanks to Members' support for the relevant funding proposals, all the three projects will be launched by 2020. And I am pleased to announce today that IDC, a consultancy from the United States, has just named the winners of 2018 Smart City Asia Pacific Awards. Hong Kong's eID shares the title of the most outstanding smart city project in the civic engagement category, along with the Intelligence Civil Affairs System of Daegu Metropolitan City, South Korea.
The Government understands the importance of public support and participation. We are most happy to listen to the views of the public and Members in formulating new proposals for smart city development and making adjustments to the content and timetable of individual measures.
President, smart city development is an evolving journey. It takes not just the efforts of the Government but the active collaboration and joint efforts of public and private sector organizations, scientific research agencies as well as academic institutions, by such ways as an appropriate mode of public-private partnership. As the motion of Ir Dr LO Wai-kwok and the amendments proposed by other Members concern various policy areas, including innovation and technology, transportation, finance as well as environmental protection, the Innovation and Technology Bureau has consulted other bureaux and departments. I wish to listen to the speeches and concerns of Members before giving a detailed reply in my concluding remarks later on.
Thank you, President.
PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): Does any other Member wish to speak?
MR CHAN CHUN-YING (in Cantonese): President, the Government released the Hong Kong Smart City Blueprint in December last year, with the vision to build a smart Hong Kong that is world-renowned and economically prosperous with a high quality of living. While this new smart era is still at an initial stage, Hong Kong fell out of top ten in the World Digital Competitiveness Ranking 2018 announced on 20 June by the International Institute for Management Development based in Lausanne, Switzerland. Hong Kong's ranking slipped drastically from 7th last year to 11th this year, throwing a cold blanket on Hong Kong.
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According to Prof WONG Kam-fai, Associate Dean, Faculty of Engineering of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the main reason for the decline of Hong Kong's ranking in global digital competitiveness is that many countries and regions are actively promoting technology development. On the contrary, Hong Kong's progress in various innovation and technology projects, such as electronic payment and smart city development, is relatively slow, which affected the competitiveness of Hong Kong. Hence, my speech today will focus mainly on the development of Fintech and electronic payment in Hong Kong.
According to the Report on Monthly Survey of Retail Sales, the value of total retail sales in May 2018 was provisionally estimated at $40.5 billion. As estimated by the industry, 50% of the total transaction value was made through credit cards, followed by cash (about 40%), while electronic payments and Octopus card payments accounted for 5% of the market respectively. Currently, mobile payment is used mainly in small-value transactions. These statistics fully illustrated that there is a lot of room for turning cash payments into electronic transactions in Hong Kong.
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority ("HKMA") will launch a Faster Payment System ("FPS") in September this year, which provides an inter-bank real-time electronic fund transfer platform, to accelerate Hong Kong's progress towards a cashless society. At present, inter-bank fund transfers are made mainly through cheques or e-cheques, or via transfer instructions issued at branches or online, which generally take two days. With the introduction of FPS, banks and store value facilities can be linked up to form a comprehensive network of mobile payment chain. Users may perform inter-bank real-time transfers and mobile payments through options other than credit cards or Octopus cards. In this way, the financial sector will not fall too far behind other regions in the course of smart city development.
President, in response to questions at the meeting of the Panel on Financial Affairs in May, HKMA stated that the development process has been completed and the system is under testing. I have asked the Government on different occasions whether it will launch a large-scale publicity and education campaign to promote the soon-to-be-launched FPS so that the public will be familiarized and prepared to use the new payment method. However, it seems that the Government has no clear publicity plan so far. I wish to reiterate that without widespread public support and usage, any new measure is merely empty talk.
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FPS will help open up Hong Kong's payment system and lay the foundation for future cross-border electronic payment services. There are currently no provider in the market which covers both overseas and Mainland cross-border mobile payment services. If wallets can be used cross-border and fully linked to the global service network in future, coupled with P2P transfer function, a one-stop integrated electronic payment service platform can be formed and ultimately, an environment can be created where users can make purchases and perform transactions and fund transfers through diversified channels.
HKMA has indicated that some local banks are developing cross-border payment systems, although the technology is still immature. In addition to system development, policy approval is also an issue. I hope a completed cross-border payment system can be launched as soon as possible. As I said at the beginning, the latest World Digital Competitiveness Ranking by the International Institute for Management Development has clearly demonstrated that Hong Kong is lagging behind others. We should seize the opportunities presented in the Bay Area expeditiously through the development of a cross-border payment system and the further development of cross-border cross-regional payment methods.
Financial Secretary Paul CHAN has pointed out earlier that the development of Fintech in Hong is quite prosperous. At Cyberport alone, there are more than 250 Fintech companies, covering such segments as big data, blockchain and mobile payments. The cumulative investment in Hong Kong Fintech companies in the past three year has exceeded US$940 million, way higher than that in Australia and Singapore. Having said that, in the face of the competition for Fintech talents in the Bay Area, the Government should actively ensure talents cultivated in Hong Kong will stay in Hong Kong.
Take the Silicon Valley in the United States as an example. Nearly 40% of the total population of 3 million in the region were born not in the United States. Caucasians and Asians each account for more than 30% of the population in the region. The demographics of the Silicon Valley have made it a world-renowned cradle of innovative talents. To become the Silicon Valley in Asia, Hong Kong must attract talents regardless of their race, nationality or gender.
In addition, as I have repeatedly stressed in the past, competitive edges which do not seem directly relevant, such as a housing plan for talents and sufficient international school places, can actually be key factors in attracting 14012 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018
Fintech professionals. Promoting research and development is also the key to Hong Kong's future success. For the time being, Hong Kong is not capable of inventing an elixir of immortality, but we can develop an immortal and innovative spirit of research and development, so as to maintain the competitiveness of Hong Kong.
I so submit. Thank you, President.
MR YIU SI-WING (in Cantonese): President, the promotion of smart city development in Hong Kong can leverage on innovation and technology to build a city that is good for living, working and travelling. Through the successful application of ever-evolving technologies, Hong Kong can align with international trends in such aspects as transport and commuting, medical care and health, environmental protection and energy conservation, city safety, etc., and build a city of wisdom, with a view to reducing commuting time and energy consumption, preventing diseases and lowering crime rates, thereby creating a highly efficient and smoothly operating modern city system.
As the concept of smart city covers very extensive areas, I will present some views only on the aspect of smart travel. In fact, there is a closely linked and inseparable relationship between smart city and smart travel. Smart travel not only entails catering for the needs of foreign tourists, but also means implementing systematic technological infrastructure throughout the city, as well as providing facilities that benefit both locals and tourists.
President, to develop smart travel in Hong Kong, we should start from transport and commuting. Hong Kong is an international metropolis with limited land and is densely populated. Both locals and tourists need many various kinds of transport to lead their daily life and engage in activities. The transport infrastructure and public transport system in Hong Kong are relatively comprehensive, but there is still much room for improvement in the provision of transport information, including the real-time status of roads, public transport and available parking spaces. Many advanced countries and regions have already set up a unified platform for information dissemination, through which locals and tourists can be informed of real-time traffic conditions and arrival and departure times of public transport in various districts, so as to adjust their travel plans. Drivers can also select suitable car parks via the platform.
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At present, Hong Kong's ideas regarding smart travel still remain at the collection of data such as traffic and pedestrian flow and weather, lacking a scheme that can solve the overall traffic problems through integrating the information collected. The SAR Government is duty-bound to require, through administrative means, various government departments and operators of public transport and car parks (including various types of parking spaces), to offer options to achieve smart travel by way of utilizing various kinds of data obtained. The SAR Government can even consider financing and taking the lead to establish a unified, authoritative and real-time traffic information platform to facilitate locals and tourists in making enquiries.
Secondly, crowd control and expectation management can be implemented by technological means. During peak travel seasons, some tourist attractions and districts may be overcrowded. For example, tourists sometimes have to wait in line for three hours at the peak tram terminus; the Hong Kong Disneyland Resort and the Ocean Park have had to restrict visitor flow; and, at boundary control points, visitors sometimes have to wait for a long time for immigration clearance, greatly disrupting their travel plans. Can the Government solve these problems with the help of technology?
A smart travel platform can disseminate information such as queuing time at popular tourist attractions, traffic conditions and weather, in a timely manner, not only facilitating advance arrangement of itinerary by tourists, but also assisting tourist attractions in diverting visitors. Currently, many attractions on the Mainland are using such kind of information dissemination systems. The technology concerned is already fairly mature and Hong Kong can consider introducing it.
Lastly, guide services can be provided by employing artificial intelligence ("AI") to enrich tourists' experience. Individual travel has become a major trend of tourism. Such travellers have a huge demand for information of attractions, food, shopping, etc. While the traditional way of travellers gathering trip information from guidebooks and travel websites still dominates the market, AI can render information and guide services in a more timely manner and, at the same time, satisfy individual needs, which is the major trend in the future. AI can extract information from a sea of data as per requests. Visitors need only ask audio questions for the backend system to quickly make a response. Recently, Lujiazui in Shanghai has taken the lead to set up an AI tourist service centre to provide tourists with useful information, such as navigation and catering and attraction recommendations.
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Even though such kind of AI technologies is still at an embryonic stage, it has prospects of wide application. Presently, Hong Kong has numerous attractions with cultural, historical and ecological value, such as historical architecture, as well as attractions that showcase the cultural customs, characteristics of different districts and ecological features of Hong Kong. Due to a lack of professional docent narration, information provided on-site may not necessarily meet the needs of tourists, thus affecting their interest in exploring them. I consider that the Government should take the lead to collect and pool information of such valuable attractions and invite professionals to provide detailed, practical and accurate narration, which will be centrally imported to the database through the technologies of AI and automatic docent services for access by tourists. Tourists can obtain the necessary information using QR codes, mobile phone interfaces, on-site smart guide program, etc., which enable them to have a full grasp on the information of tourism, culture, history, heritage, etc. of Hong Kong, while demonstrating the facet of Hong Kong that catches up with international trends.
(THE PRESIDENT'S DEPUTY, MS STARRY LEE, took the Chair)
Deputy President, I so submit.
MR CHAN KIN-POR (in Cantonese): Deputy President, around 20 years ago, riding on the successful development of the electronic payment system Octopus―which went on to become the world's earliest and most successive electronic currency that many a country later emulated―Hong Kong had for a time been regarded as a pioneer of smart city. Regrettably, Hong Kong's advance in smart city development has since stalled, not just being overtaken by Singapore, but now lagging far behind such major Mainland municipalities as Shenzhen and Shanghai. The degree of smart city development in Hong Kong nowadays fails to live up to the city's reputation as a world-class metropolis.
Smart city means utilizing innovation and technology to enhance the effectiveness of city operation and management, with a view to improving people's quality of living and boosting economic competitiveness. Led by the Innovation and Technology Bureau, the Government formulated late last year the Smart City Blueprint for Hong Kong ("the Blueprint"), laying down the policy measures for the next five years in an all-out effort to promote smart city LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 14015 development. Frankly speaking, with neighbouring cities, such as Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Taiwan and Singapore, already making remarkable progress in smart city development, it is hard to escape the impression that Hong Kong―having not even a planning blueprint until now―is too slow in its progress. Certainly, it is never too late to catch up. But while striving to implement all the policy measures set out in the Blueprint, we must learn the reason for our slow progress and avoid making the same mistake again.
As a matter of fact, we were not at all late in taking the initial step. In a bid to lay down the foundation for smart city development, the Government began vigorously promoting the development of Wi-Fi services back in 2007. Unfortunately, public Wi-Fi services nowadays still fall short of the level commensurate with a cosmopolitan city. The Government has injected over $400 million into establishing over 3 000 Wi-Fi hotspots on government premises. However, the Audit Commission noted in a report in April that nearly 40% of the hotspots offered a download speed that fell short of the stated goal; in some of the hotspots, no connection can be established at all; 30% of the venues with Wi-Fi services attracted extremely low usage rates; the entire Government Wi-Fi services lacked publicity with coverage failing to live up to target; and the progress of promoting the provision of Wi-Fi services through private-public collaboration was slow. The provision of public Wi-Fi services is the most basic element of a smart city. Yet, Hong Kong still fails to meet this basic requirement despite a decade of implementation, all because we lack the capabilities of execution.
In the visit to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area conducted by the Legislative Council in April, we had the opportunity to tour some smart city infrastructure, including the Command and Control Centre of the Shenzhen Traffic Police Headquarters. A nerve centre overseeing the dynamic management of the entire municipality's traffic, the Centre commands a prospect of the traffic situation of the whole municipality, from the location of congested routes, the distribution of traffic patrol officers to the real-time parking situation of car parks, all could be seen at a glance, which facilitate the Centre's coordination of the command and deployment work. However, there would be considerable difficulties if a similar traffic command centre were to be established in Hong Kong, due to the likely involvement of numerous departments, such as the Police Force, the Transportation Department, the Innovation and Technology Bureau, the Highways Department, the Housing Authority, the Home Affairs Department and the Environmental Protection Department. How can we coordinate the efforts of so many government departments when they all tend to 14016 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 go their own ways, follow their own operational approaches and adhere to their own powers and responsibilities,. The Government should think about this issue.
Mr Nicholas YANG, Secretary for Innovation and Technology, said in an interview that he was concerned about the issue of coordination among departments, and stressed the importance of data collection in the promotion of smart city development. The Government will install 400 lampposts in such districts as Tsim Sha Tsui and Kwun Tong. Equipped with multi-functional sensors, these lampposts can collect such data as weather, pedestrian and traffic flows. However, Secretary Nicholas YANG pointed out that the biggest problem confronting the project was not money or technology, but the coordination among departments―who should be responsible in case of emergencies? Who is responsible for maintenance? Who should have the power to ultimately approve a policy involving so many government departments? These are all realistic problems.
Covering the six major areas of mobility, living, environment, people, government and economy, the Blueprint indeed calls for the coordination of different government departments. That is why the project is steered by the Chief Executive-led Steering Committee on Innovation and Technology ("the Steering Committee") with a Smart City Office ("the Office), to be set up in the Innovation and Technology Bureau, responsible for coordinating the work of different departments. Yet, even under the watch of the Steering Committee at a high level, it is worrying whether an office under the Innovation and Technology Bureau, which is tasked with the actual coordination, can command and coordinate the overall situation.
As a matter of fact, for all the probity and efficiency the civil service system of Hong Kong boasts, it can hardly be immune to the conventional sectarian views, or bureaucratic culture for that matter, prevalent among organizations of such a size, based on experience. If it is up to the Secretary or the Government Chief Information Officer to hold discussions with the other departments, they may have to waste a lot of time persuading those departments to cooperate, probably to no avail in the end. Instead, the Chief Secretary for Administration should be entrusted with such a responsibility as well as the duty of personal supervision of the Office. With the Innovation and Technology Bureau responsible for work behind-the-scene and the Chief Secretary giving orders, departments of all levels will naturally cooperate.
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As mentioned before, 10 long years of fruitless implementation of public Wi-Fi services in Hong Kong is indeed a valuable lesson. We can ill afford botching the promotion of smart city development this time around. I believe we stand a better chance of success with officials at a higher level personally calling the shots.
I so submit.
DR PRISCILLA LEUNG (in Cantonese): Deputy President, regarding smart city, today many Honourable colleagues have mentioned the global competitiveness rankings published in Lausanne. In September 2015, the Central Policy Unit wrote a research report on smart city. At that time the report focused on making plans according to the local characteristics, industry development and nurturing of talents. In December 2017, the Government also outlined the smart city planning for the next five years, covering six major areas including environmental protection, transformation of the city, care for the elderly, ways of reducing emissions and distribution of resources. Today's motion and amendments cover a wide range of aspects. I wish to use my speaking time to focus on education and nurturing of talents, i.e. whether we are now ready in terms of smart people.
First of all, Hong Kong should never belittle itself. In my view, Hong Kong is absolutely ready to become a super smart city. For example, we can see that with regard to the use of Apps (i.e. applications) by the general public, many people like to download Apps relating to weather or those of the bus companies. They can anticipate in how many minutes a bus will arrive or learn about lost bus trips. Men and women of all ages are using these Apps. We have this kind of quality. Ordinary citizens and even scavengers are using them extensively. Hence, Hong Kong definitely has the potential to become a quality and even top-notch smart city.
However, the first question is, can Hong Kong attract and retain talents? The global competitiveness rankings from Lausanne points out that our greatest weakness is the lack of international students and a low proportion of investment in information technology. Moreover, as reported by the media recently, do our young people aspire to going to the forefront? A typical example is the talents for drones. Mr Frank WANG was actually a "Hong Kong drifter". He graduated from The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, but Hong 14018 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018
Kong failed to retain him. In the end, he returned to Shenzhen. Now he is already the founder of a famous enterprise engaged in the production of drones, possessing a fortune of $42 billion and being the youngest tycoon in the IT (i.e. information technology) profession. Yet Hong Kong failed to retain him. He made his first bucket of gold in Shenzhen.
What about the situation in universities? In Hong Kong, 24 members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering succeeded in securing the "cross-border" arrangement for scientific research funding. Nevertheless, I must point out, as I also do teaching in a university, that initially, especially in the 1980s and 1990s, we were able to attract outstanding international talents, particularly Chinese who returned from overseas. The best talents from the Mainland were willing to stay in Hong Kong after their graduation abroad because Hong Kong is close to China. However, did the Government conduct any survey on such talents? Many people told me that after working in Hong Kong for 20 years, they would not recommend talents from the new generation in China to work or even stay in Hong Kong. Has Hong Kong lost its appeal? Why has Hong Kong developed to such a state? Recently, I loathe to part with the people I know. Many outstanding talents with whom I have worked for some 20 years have left Hong Kong for Beijing, Shanghai, Hunan, Shenzhen, etc. one after another. They are even willing to go to the second- and third-tier cities.
Why? Is there a lack of funding? But the funding can now cross the border. In fact, it is because they hold that Hong Kong lacks empathy and does not respect them. Although they have already stayed in Hong Kong for 20 to 30 years, they still do not feel they are part of Hong Kong. Apart from their own profession, they have no sense of belonging to the entire system in Hong Kong, including the universities. Nor do they have any sense of belonging to Hong Kong. For example, there may be no farewell or send-off party though they have worked for 20 years. The Mainland or other countries and regions have far greater respect for talents than Hong Kong. We are indeed too cold and distant.
Certainly, the Secretary did not grow up in Hong Kong either. He came to work in Hong Kong from overseas. But only a small number of people can land such a good opportunity to give play to their strengths. Many people do not consider Hong Kong as a city where they can settle down for life. In addition, in recent years, there were really cases of treating immigrants with hostility in Hong Kong, which made them feel very sad. So they chose to leave. For example, when they reached the age of 50, they decided to return to the Mainland earlier to LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 14019 pursue development, bringing along their years of experience and research results.
We warmly welcome the cross-border funding arrangement. Everyone has given it a big hand. Given that the proposal of the 24 members of the academies has been accepted by the State, there should be no problem with money. Here I wish to tell the Secretary that I hope cross-border funding is only the first step for innovation and technology. I hope that in future, research in human science, including anthropology, Chinese culture and Chinese history, can also benefit from this great scheme of cross-border funding.
Now two youngsters in my family are studying in the university and will graduate soon. While they were growing up, I watched many foreign education television programmes, including those on the History Channel and Discovery Channel. These programmes presented human science in a three-dimensional way, turning history into an interesting subject. I even found that five years ago, Zengcheng on the Mainland had already adopted a three-dimensional approach to teach Chinese history. Hence, I hope that in respect of smart city and smart culture, high technologies can be applied to human science, particularly since many young people in Hong Kong have little concept of and even no feeling for the country and their culture. Can the Government adopt high technologies to attract young people? Can the cross-border funding arrangement include the application of technologies to human science in order to attract the next generation, tie in with the rapid development of the country and the world, and stay on par with other places in terms of mindset, hardware and software?
Deputy President, I so submit.
DR JUNIUS HO (in Cantonese): Deputy President, I thank Ir Dr LO Wai-kwok for proposing this motion on "Expediting the promotion of smart city development", urging the Government to proactively allocate additional resources to perfect various policies and ancillary measures, so that Hong Kong can really become a modernized smart city in the world.
Particularly, in respect of how carbon emission can be reduced for the development of a low-carbon green and smart community, and so on, vigorous promotional efforts by the Government will be required. Other Honourable colleagues have also expressed views on how big data, etc., can be utilized to 14020 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 make improvements in various aspects, and they have my 100% support. Having said that, while we have talked about so many ambitious plans and strategies, how can they be implemented? It is most important that after we have made the proposals, actions should be taken to produce immediate effects and achieve results.
I very much wish to share with Members my views on four specific areas. I hope that Secretary Nicholas YANG and his Innovation and Technology Bureau as well as the relevant departments can take forward initiatives that are more practical, visionary and fruitful. The first area is solar energy. The Environment Bureau has recently introduced policies and proposed feed-in tariff, but words can never be used to substitute actions. We have seen that Macao already introduced feed-in tariff in 2015 and encouraged members of the community to promote and participate in the scheme for the installation of solar photovoltaic systems. Three years have passed and only 10 households have, so far, participated in the scheme. This is an instance of using words to substitute actions. This is absolutely undesirable.
What should we do? After the "big door" is opened, how can we open the small ones? It is because at present, many ordinances relating to buildings and safety impose a lot of limitations, and even if it is said that the two power companies will provide support in terms of the power grid, the supporting infrastructure facilities, such as transformers, power distribution devices, and so on, are often costly.
Yesterday, we saw that the two power companies would raise their tariffs by 2% and 6.7% respectively and this has certainly aroused a public outcry. I also noticed that the Hongkong Electric Company Limited had said that $9.1 billion of the increased capital would be expended on improvement of the transmission facilities but it fell short of saying what it would do to absorb to the fullest extent the power generated by solar photovoltaic systems. In this connection, how can the bureaux, departments, and officials in charge of the relevant work promote and implement this initiative to enable the public to enjoy these economic benefits while fulfilling our international obligation of reducing carbon emission? Otherwise, how can we achieve reduction of the per capita carbon emission from 6.3 tonnes in 2005 to 3.2 tonnes in 2030? This is a major undertaking that requires universal participation by the people.
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In respect of solar technologies, I propose to start from the small houses in the New Territories. The relevant requirements for rooftops can be relaxed to allow structures measuring no more than 350 sq ft and with a height below 2.5 m. As long as they are compatible with the safety and environmental policies and will enable the solar photovoltaic systems to perform their functions, the Government should remove various restrictions and regulations and give them the green light.
The second area concerns legislation, which is of the utmost importance to Hong Kong. It is precisely because we have in place comprehensive and sound laws that we can successfully support the provision of a myriad of services, including financial services, real estate services, etc. But back in 2005 to 2008, we said that we would improve the court system, set up an electronic filing system, and so on. All of these had been thunder but no rain. They were eventually given up a few years later, and now, the important documents are still delivered to the Courts by man as if we are still in the Stone Age. This is such a simple task, but why are we unable to do it? Because we do not have the determination to do it. Everyone has so many grand plans and ideals, but they are all just sitting inside an ivory tower. Never have they come out of it to take actions.
I have no wish to talk about so many grandiose plans. I only wish to set out in a target-specific manner several areas of work that have to be carried out, and if work can be undertaken in these several areas, that would be an indication of true wisdom. Wisdom is not only about the words said, for it is necessary to put the words into actions, in order to show people that you can. This is what wisdom means. Otherwise, if we only say all the time that there is this and that blueprint or wisdom but it turns out to be all thunder but no rain, that would be most undesirable. Therefore, in respect of the filing system of the courts, we really must drum up the resolve and overcome all the difficulties. If Singapore can do it, why can we not in Hong Kong?
The third area is our banking system. We always say that Hong Kong is a financial centre and we need to have a safe environment. That is fine. This is also why we have enacted legislation against terrorism, legislation against money laundering, etc., but in many cases, it turns out that we have put a noose around our own necks, for we know only to follow the trend or fashion, not caring to make flexible adjustments. Why does it always have to take three to four months to open an account now? Because the banks are worried that if they do 14022 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 not take adequate measures to prevent money laundering … For instance, the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited was fined billions of dollars for its alleged involvement in a money-laundering case in the United States and suffered a huge loss. However, the actual misconduct or breach of the anti-money laundering legislation takes place not at the moment of account opening. So what do we think should be done? Due diligence should be performed when opening an account and for the purposes of quality certification of customers, banks may rely on professionals to do the relevant work. Similar to the registration of marriage, nowadays, the ceremony does not necessarily have to be officiated by an official responsible for marriage registration, for this role can be performed by a lawyer as a civil celebrant. In future, so long as due diligence is properly performed, a professional, who can be an accountant or a lawyer, can be engaged in the opening of an account for bank customers. This can eliminate many administrative procedures which will, in turn, benefit the entire banking system while expediting the process of account opening and enhancing effectiveness in this respect.
The fourth area is bike sharing. These share bicycles can be seen everywhere now. Recently I have been to Tsim Bei Tsui and Nim Wan where those bicycles are discarded like scrop iron. I first thought that they would be shipped to landfills but then I found out that they were randomly cast aside by users who had cycled there. Given that such a system is in place, it is necessary to come up with ways to deal with these piles of bicycles. Who should do it? Who should be made responsible for the clearance work? Members can put forward views in this respect.
Deputy President, I so submit. Thank you.
MR VINCENT CHENG (in Cantonese): Before all else, Deputy President, I would like to thank Ir Dr LO Wai-kwok for proposing the motion on "Expediting the promotion of smart city development" to give Members the opportunity to express their views on developing Hong Kong into a smart city.
Smart city is actually not a novelty. Over the years, Members have had many discussions on ways to enhance the functions of a city and promote its sustainable development through innovation and technology and information communications technology, in order to resolve problems encountered by the city. If you ask me, I consider it more important to explore ways to put LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 14023 technology into practice to really help the public overcome the difficulties in their daily life. Last year, the Government released the Smart City Blueprint for Hong Kong ("the Blueprint"), mapping out the policies and measures to be implemented in the next five years in six areas, namely smart mobility, smart living, smart environment, smart people, smart government and smart economy. Taking the Blueprint very seriously, I hope that there will be a timetable for the actions to be taken. An overview of different places around the world shows that many places have already made clear smart city planning, and there are numerous examples of success, too. Through small smart ideas, means of daily living and high technology, these places have succeeded in making their cities greener, more livable and more competitive, thereby creating a better living environment. Therefore, the scope of smart city development can be very broad.
Today, Deputy President, I would like to focus on discussing smart mobility, or transport. Our usual discussions on transport are invariably confined to ways to ameliorate traffic congestion and inadequate parking spaces, as well as ways to deal with traffic accidents. Actually, many problems can actually be resolved through smart city development. Deputy President, I recall our study visit to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area a couple of months ago. I believe the Secretary must have also noticed and still recall the transport authorities in Shenzhen, which is considered by me very interesting. Through a central system, the police can receive instant information and identify the locations where traffic congestion or accidents occur. Moreover, wide-angle lens have been installed for shooting road conditions. Through instant reporting, the transport authorities can deploy police officers or change the modes of, for instance, the traffic light system to deal with traffic congestion or accidents. Looking around Hong Kong, I have no idea how far the Police in Hong Kong have gone. However, I often go to the Traffic Kowloon West Operational Base to attend meetings. Whenever I went there to attend meetings, I often felt like visiting a police station back in the 1980s when new technologies were completely lacking. How much effort has been made by the Traffic Wing of the Hong Kong Police Force? Actually, improvement can be made on many fronts.
The second problem I would like to discuss concerns parking spaces. Some Honourable colleagues, such as Dr Elizabeth QUAT, who is also called "EQ", have repeatedly mentioned how a smart information system can be introduced to provide one-stop real-time parking space information. I have already examined a government App called "Hong Kong eRouting" and found it quite disappointing. When I used this App to search, for instance, the Rumsey 14024 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018
Street Car Park, the App merely showed "parking spaces available" without any additional information provided. Although the Government has spent lots of money on producing this App, no information is shown on, for instance, the number of parking spaces available and how to go there. Actually, there are still lots of such car parks. I know that the Government has made many parking Apps to provide information on parking spaces in Kowloon East, but very few people use them because they are inconvenient. Having spent so much money, can the Government really make it more convenient for motorists to find parking spaces?
This is the case with indoor car parks, yet even outdoor car parks also face serious problems, in my opinion. The temporary parking spaces available on the streets in old districts have already been "privatized". In other words, vehicles can park there and stay for a couple of days. I was deeply impressed when the Government indicated earlier that a new system would be introduced to deal with the relevant situation. In 2017-2018, the Government said a machine would be designed so that credit cards could be used for payment of parking fees. I already pointed out at that time that credit cards were not a novelty as they already existed decades ago. Nevertheless, some efforts were subsequently made by the Government. When I checked out a couple of machines installed on the streets a couple of days ago, I found that they had already disappeared. I wonder if it was because I missed them or what, but when I looked up the information, I found that the Government had spent $4 million on the provision of these 20 or so new meters. I have no idea if they are no longer used because they are ineffective. However, an overview of various parts of the world shows that there are many new ways to deal with roadside parking spaces, including issuing penalty tickets immediately, and so on. Anyhow, there must be ways to facilitate the turnover of parking spaces, but the Government is apparently out of touch with the reality.
The last point I would like to raise concerns modes of transport. The District Councils often dispute with bus companies over bus route rationalization. The bus companies often argue that many bus routes have to be abolished because of unprofitable business and this and that problem. Nathan Road, for instance, is often paralysed by serious congestion. Actually, bus companies have already had some Apps, whereas buses have already been installed with the Global Positioning System for providing real-time data. Such being the case, I wonder if the bus companies can actually find out, with the assistance of big data or the annual provided by buses for the whole year, the time slots on Saturday and LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 14025
Sunday when more vehicles are found, so that additional buses can be arranged to go to the identified places to provide services. Moreover, the relevant data can be made open to the public and Legislative Council Members. In that case, we need not hold fast to our own opinions, thereby resulting in frequent abolition of bus routes by the bus companies. Can the bus companies properly address the relevant problem through the introduction of technology?
When it comes to transport, pedestrians also play a very important role besides vehicles. I note that one of the smart city slogans reads "Walk in HK", though I have not seen any specific details about the initiative. Earlier I joined an activity, "Healthy Street Lab", which was organized by a community organization. A group of young people came up with many new ideas, including whether we can consider demarcating pedestrian passages, so that the right side is reserved for people in need, such as wheelchair-bound persons, the elderly or elderly people pushing refuse carts, whereas the left side is reserved for the general public. Although this is just a preliminary idea, we can see the zeal of the organization. I know that the relevant proposal might fall through in the end as the Transport Department or various government departments will definitely make things difficult for the organization.
In my opinion, it is most important for a smart city to be practical rather than making empty promises. In a recent television programme about the living of retired elderly people, a comparison of Taiwan, Japan and many cities was made. We can see that Taiwanese and Japanese adopt a "people-based" attitude and really look after the interests of the elderly by using many new methods and small technology in providing facilities they need, with a view to improving their living and enabling them to live with dignity. In contrast, the ancillary facilities of the private residential care homes for the elderly in Hong Kong really make life very difficult for the elderly. Actually, Hong Kong really needs to make a lot of efforts in smart city development. I hope the Secretary can adopt a "people-based" attitude and pay attention to practicality so as to enable smart city to truly help the public.
Deputy President, I so submit.
MR FRANKIE YICK (in Cantonese): Deputy President, smart city development can not only improve the quality of life of the public and upgrade their living standard through the application of technology, it is also an important link in 14026 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 promoting the sustainable development of a city. As such, various cities are now pursuing development in the direction of smart city development. Nevertheless, Hong Kong is, relatively speaking, lagging behind others in its pace of smart city development. According to a "2017 Smart Cities Index" study, among 100 cities, Hong Kong was ranked 68th behind a number of Asian cities, such as Singapore, Taipei, Tokyo, Osaka, Seoul, and so on.
In December last year, the Government released the Smart City Blueprint for Hong Kong to map out our smart city development plans in the next five years, and beyond. Meanwhile, the Chief Executive has mentioned in her maiden Policy Address that additional resources will be allocated to expediting smart city development. This shows that the current-term Government is committed to building Hong Kong into a smart city.
Regarding the promotion of smart city development, the Labour Party considers smart mobility a key component. Traffic and transport is the lifeline of a city. If roads are congested and traffic is not smooth, the flow of people and goods will be stifled. Moreover, it is not conducive to economic activities and the development of society as a whole. Despite the launch by the Transport Department ("TD") years ago of a few applications, namely Hong Kong eTransport, Hong Kong eRouting and eTraffic News, to provide the public with information on transportation to make it easier, more convenient and faster, these applications remain unpopular as they are operate independently. It has been learnt that TD will consolidate them into an integrated application, which is welcomed by the Labour Party.
Not only does Hong Kong lack land, it is also densely populated with many vehicles and heavily used roads. Since members of the public often complain of road congestion, the Administration should expeditiously put in place a smart transport system for providing real-time road and transport information, directory signs and real-time road conditions information through the system to enable the public to select modes of transport having regard to road conditions. On the other hand, motorists can also select smoother driving routes to avoid congestion. In times of traffic accidents, rescue teams can also arrive at the scene to carry out rescue work in a more accurate manner and within the shortest time with the support of the Global Positioning System.
(THE PRESIDENT resumed the Chair)
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Furthermore, it is not easy to take enforcement action against road traffic offences. In order to overcome such difficulties, the Administration may introduce the installation of closed-circuit television systems, particularly at road junctions with yellow box markings, to prevent motorists parking on yellow box markings from blocking roads while saving the Police's prosecution manpower and efforts.
President, opening up data is an important link in promoting smart city development. The constant rise in the number of vehicles in recent years has made it difficult for motorists to find parking spaces. Although mobile Apps for providing real-time information on vacant parking spaces in car parks are available on the market, the information is not comprehensive as the availability of relevant information depends on whether or not individual private car parks are willing to disclose it. In order to enhance real-time information on vacant parking spaces, the Government should, besides opening up information on car parks, vigorously encourage more private car parks to share the relevant data to make it easier for motorists to find parking spaces, so as to prevent them from circling on roads in search of parking spaces, which will exacerbate traffic congestion and roadside air pollution. Insofar as the environment is concerned, the Labour Party considers that the Government should enhance the promotion of green and intelligent transport modes. At present, the number of electric vehicles with zero emission, comprising mostly private vehicles and 36 buses, accounts for less than 2% of the registered vehicles in Hong Kong. Let me now turn from land transport to sea transport. Currently, only one green ferry, which commenced operation in late 2016, is sailing in Hong Kong. In order to ameliorate air pollution, the authorities should continue to enhance the ancillary facilities for electric vehicles, strengthen cooperation with public transport operators and vigorously promote green transport.
President, with the number of registered vehicles in Hong Kong approaching 850 000, tens of thousands of waste tyres are produced per annum and some of them are disposed of at landfills, thereby exacerbating the burden on these landfills. In view of low economic benefits, the import of waste tyres is no longer allowed in the Mainland and many countries. As such, the Government should proactively study ways to recycle waste tyres in order to reduce the quantity of abandoned waste tyres. During an earlier visit to an organization handling waste typres on the Mainland, we noted that waste tyres can be crushed into powder and turned into a variety of products. In particular, they can be used as materials for road resurfacing. It is absolutely worthwhile for us to learn from it.
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In order to complement the future development of further digitization and automation, I propose that the Government should actively implement a system of territory-wide postcode because postcodes can not only minimize delivery errors, but also expedite automation and reduce writing, entry mistakes and computing time. It is even more conducive to the rapidly-developing smart city development plans, such as autonomous vehicles and unmanned delivery of small parcels.
Lastly, I would like say a few words on the proposal put forward by Mr HUI Chi-fung in his amendment to "promote the transport mode of real-time car-sharing and effect its legalization". Certainly, there are no problems so long as car-sharing is free. If car-sharing passengers are charged for reward, the vehicles must operate according to the requirements for commercial vehicles. The precipitate legalization of the transport mode of car-sharing will be unfair to the existing commercial vehicles. For this reason, the Labour Party will not support the relevant amendment.
President, I so submit.
MR CHAN HAN-PAN (in Cantonese): President, I thank Ir Dr LO Wai-kwok for proposing this motion on expediting the promotion of smart city development. Certainly, promoting smart city development is a major direction, but in order to expedite such development, the Government must make complementary efforts on several fronts. First, the Government must make complementary efforts in policy formulation. As pointed out just now by Dr Junius HO, although we have technology products, they are not supported by policy. Bike-sharing is precisely a case in point. Since share bicycles were found everywhere with no management at all, I proposed earlier to the Government to introduce a licensing system to limit the operation of bike-sharing business by overseas operators and require them to recruit adequate manpower to deal with the bicycles on streets, or even set up an online government server to monitor the parking locations of bicycles by making use of e-fences. Nevertheless, none of these suggestions were accepted by the Government. Without a proper system, new technology and innovation might bring various problems rather than convenience to the public.
The second point I wish to make is that government departments have to make complementary efforts, too. In a recent visit to several companies in the Science Park, I was told that whenever the companies attempted to seek LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 14029 assistance from the Government, the relevant government departments invariably found it difficult to make complementary efforts because different departments had their own policies and the established policies could hardly change. For instance, developers might wish to launch their innovation and technology ("I&T") products on the market or placed them in venues managed by the Government for use by the public. However, they were often rejected after overcoming a number of hurdles. Let me cite an electric wheelchair technology developer, whom I have visited, as an example. Given their idea of bringing convenience to the elderly people, they hoped to place some electric wheelchairs in parks or places frequented by the elderly people for their use (particularly mobility-handicapped elderly people who have no automatic wheelchair). They could then use the wheelchairs should they feel tired after doing their morning exercise. The service conceived was similar to wheelchair sharing. However, the relevant governments department they approached for discussions on their plan immediately said "no". For instance, when they asked the Housing Department for permission to place several electric wheelchairs near housing estates for use by the elderly people to make it easier for them to get around or go out to buy groceries, various government departments immediately said "no". It shows that technologies and inventions, no matter how good they are, require complementary support from government departments before new technologies can see application in the market. By the same token, actual application must be taken into account even with smart city development and good technology products. As such, I hope government departments can complement the efforts.
Third, in recent years, the Government has made vigorous investments in I&T in the hope of making use of more resources to promote the growth of I&T. However, various subventions are plagued with problems. The Innovation and Technology Fund for Better Living ("FBL") is precisely a case in point. How can applications be lodged with FBL? The applicant must be a specified organization or academic institution. If a technological product is suitable for use by an organization, whereas the latter, such as a specified non-governmental organization ("NGO"), is on the Government's list, an application can then be made. So, if a company considers a product developed by itself quite good and seeks to cooperate with an organization specified by the Government to perfect the product and apply for FBL, it will eventually lose the relevant intellectual property right. It is because FBL requires that "any intellectual property rights created in the projects will be vested with the successful applicant". In other words, in the event of a company with a pretty good invention cooperating with another specified organization to improve it and enable its application, the 14030 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 eventual intellectual property right will be vested with the applicant. Although the intellectual property right was originally vested with the company, it must surrender the right to the applicant for the sake of the application for FBL. Insofar as an NGO is concerned, what is the point of being vested with the intellectual property right? It will not turn an invention into a commercial product or make profit from it. On the contrary, a private organization has to make an income before it has the incentive to invent products that make people's living easier. This explains why, after the launch of FBL, many people are deterred after reading the terms. The Government will definitely be able to find some organizations to lodge applications, but the point is: Why are the applicants of such funds invariably confined to certain academic institutions or NGOs? I hope the Government can examine whether the relevant threshold is reasonable, essential and too fossilized.
Should the Government wish to expedite the promotion of smart city development and enable the application of various products to actual living, so that various funds can really promote I&T in Hong Kong, it should examine the application thresholds and remove barriers and restrictions, in addition to changing its own mindset. The mindset I am referring to is that I&T is confined to academic institutions but not the market. I find such a concept problematic. In the past, only academic institutions and specified organizations could apply for government subventions. What is more, an organization responsible for screening would decide which projects would receive the subsidy. Why can our target of subvention not be decided by the market? The only purpose of some people in inventing new products without government subvention is to bring convenience to society. Why does the Government turn them away? Hence, I hope the Government can change its mindset about I&T to enable Hong Kong to really pursue I&T and smart city development. Thank you, President.
MR KENNETH LEUNG (in Cantonese): The "smart city" concept was actually first proposed by IBM of the United States in 2008. Simply put, the smart city concept is about exploring how to enhance city functions with the use of big data and information and communication technology. Later on in 2012, scholar Boyd COHEN gave a more detailed explanation of a "smart city", outlining the six major areas of a smart city, the same as those in the Smart City Blueprint for Hong Kong released by the SAR Government. Regarding these six major areas, there is actually much to talk about, but I wish to focus my discussion on two points, which are "Smart Environment" and "Smart Government". LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 14031
In respect of Smart Environment, there are many different issues to discuss, but I will focus my discussion on such aspects as energy conservation and emission reduction and renewable energy. People have a humble request of being able to know how much electricity has been used and how energy can be saved. We have been discussing smart meters for years. I hope all households, be they users of the CLP Power Hong Kong Limited or the Hongkong Electric Company Limited, will have smart meters installed, so that they may know how much electricity has been used even when they are not at home and how energy can be saved, thereby drawing their attention to the total carbon emission, and these are just humble requests.
Speaking of energy conservation and emission reduction, we will naturally think of energy conservation and emission reduction in commercial buildings or structures, which certainly cover air conditioning and lighting. In fact, air conditioning accounts for a large percentage, about 60%, of the electricity consumption in a building, and this certainly includes the lifts inside.
A few years ago when I visited Frankfurt in Germany, I already noticed the adoption of intelligent energy-efficient features by several major bank towers there, which included computer-controlled lifts, lighting and air conditioning. Hong Kong certainly suffers a serious lag in this regard. But the point that I wish to get across to the Secretary is that the smart city concept is actually not about copying the established models of other places. Given the unique geographical and cultural characteristics as well as the different demographic structures of every city, every so-called smart city has its own distinct features.
Having talked about energy conservation and emission reduction, I now turn to renewable energy. People are now saying that by 2030, natural gas will account for 70% of the electricity output, thereby reducing carbon emission or intensity. But in fact, our existing measures have absolutely fallen short of the standard laid down by the Paris Agreement, under which the global temperature rise should be contained at 1.5°C to 2°C. Our current discussion on renewable energy is just confined to waste-to-energy or 1% to 2% of electricity output generated by solar energy. But has it ever occurred to us that solar photovoltaic panels with innovative design may actually be installed at such places as the roadside and bridges? Such products are now available in the Netherlands and Denmark. Can the Government expedite the study on ways to increase the percentage of renewable energy―solar energy, specifically―in Hong Kong's electricity output?
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In fact, our request for smart government is most humble. I hope Wi-Fi service will be made available at all public space for high-speed Internet access, and our 5G network will not lag behind other countries or regions, with territory-wide coverage. Furthermore, we hope to see the establishment of a one-stop service window, so that we may be spared the trouble of having to go to different government departments to attend to various matters, such as applying for the issue of identity cards and making tax payments, as all of them can be processed on the same service platform.
In addition to supporting hardware, supporting software is actually very important, by this I mean the existing Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance which is rather outdated. While the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance has been in effect for 20 years, it has not undergone any significant changes. At present, different commercial and government organizations will collect our personal data under various circumstances, which often involves rather sensitive personal data. The category of sensitive personal data is not covered by local legislation, and the so-called sensitive personal data refers to our biological characteristics, medical records, etc. On 25 May this year, the European Union ("EU") already implemented the General Data Protection Regulation, which actually has an extraterritorial effect. In addition to all institutions within EU, any institutions outside EU, including the commercial ones, also need to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation if they have to process the data of EU residents, or else they will be liable to a severe penalty. Nevertheless, I currently do not see any initiative introduced by the SAR Government to assist Hong Kong enterprises, particularly financial institutions and banks, etc., in handling the sensitive data of EU citizens or residents. I urge the Government not to overlook matters in this regard and expeditiously propose measures or guidelines for compliance by commercial organizations.
I so submit.
MR WILSON OR (in Cantonese): Before all else, President, I thank Ir Dr LO Wai-kwok for his motion. I agree that being one of the four major areas of focused development of innovation and technology in Hong Kong, smart city can improve people's daily living, foster the sustainable development of Hong Kong and facilitate the people in leading a more quality life. As such, the Government should proactively allocate resources to perfecting various policies and ancillary measures, so as to expedite the promotion of smart city development.
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I would like to tell the Secretary that I have been requested by a member of the public to take this opportunity to convey his message to the Secretary and advise him against being "all powerful in words, but powerless in action". However, the Secretary is not listening to me as he is now chatting with a colleague.
President, the Smart City Blueprint for Hong Kong ("the Blueprint") was released by the Government in December 2017 to map out the policies and measures to be implemented in the next five years in six areas, namely smart mobility, smart living, smart environment, smart people, smart government and smart economy, in the hope of making use of information technology ("IT") to implement city management policies and measures, improve people's livelihood, and enhance Hong Kong's attractiveness. Honestly, the Blueprint unveiled by the Government should not be regarded as a feat. It is just taking steps to catch up because Hong Kong's IT development has actually lagged far behind other countries. Even Shenzhen, our neighbour, has already caught up with us.
President, I would like to let the Government know in this debate my views on smart city. In particular, I hope Secretary Nicholas YANG can listen to all this clearly. When we talk about smart city, members of the public will definitely remember that the Government proposed in the 2015 Policy Address making Kowloon East, including Kwun Tong, Kowloon Bay and the Kai Tak Development Area, a pilot area to explore the feasibility of developing a smart city. At that time, I raised my hand to show support for the Government's proposal of making Kowloon East a pilot smart city. But honestly, according to my observation as a Legislative Council Member directly elected in Kowloon East and through consulting the public and conducting studies and surveys, there are indeed too many areas that require improvement in the Government's proposal of making Kowloon East a pilot smart city. A member of the public has also given the Secretary this piece of advice: There is no such thing as the best, just better.
Regarding the promotion of a smart city in the entire Kowloon East, I would like to cite the "Smart Parking Mobile App" scheme as an example. Originally, the scheme sought to ameliorate the traffic congestion problem of Kowloon East through IT whereby vehicle owners could acquire information on the number of vacant parking spaces and find out the locations of the parking spaces through "My Kowloon East" mobile App. However, the result was far from satisfactory. Although the Government had vigorously bragged about the 14034 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 scheme being able to achieve this and that, it was exposed by the media that, of the 73 car parks in Kowloon East, only 16 had participated in the "Smart Parking Mobile App" scheme―Secretary, can you guess the percentage?―only 20% or so. The Government has made a lot of explanations without thinking that it might make mistakes. It would simply put all the blame on the dilapidated facilities of car parks and their reliance on their staff to manually record the number of vacant parking spaces, and so on.
President, the Government is absolutely detached from the reality if it is really committed to promoting smart city with such an attitude and mindset. After listening to this debate today, I hope the Secretary can seriously study and consider this matter.
Meanwhile, little has been done in the installation of additional smart lamp posts project. President, should these problems remain unresolved, the Government will only waste its energy despite its wish to promote whatever policies and initiatives or study ways to allocate resources.
When I pressed the "Request to speak" button just now, a member of the public contacted me by WhatsApp and requested me to ask a question about Wi-Fi for him. A consultant was commissioned to carry out a study immediately after the Government was criticized by the public and Members for bragging about the excellent and strong Wi-Fi services provided through the territory. I would now like to tell the Secretary that the existing public Wi-Fi services are actually extremely weak and poor. Actually, the Government's effort in carrying out system maintenance, promoting services and providing support and advice is far from satisfactory, not to mention that the public cannot assess Wi-Fi networks easily. I do not mean to take this opportunity to criticize the Government. I merely hope to convey the feelings of the ordinary public. Can the Secretary and his team make more consideration and do more?
President, I hope the Secretary can really make up his mind after hearing our speeches today. Regardless of the amount of additional resources provided, I hope the Secretary can note that it is most important for the Steering Committee on Innovation and Technology to be really capable of coordinating smart city development and performing the function of inter-departmental collaboration. What is incurable at the moment? After all, the problem lies in inter-departmental collaboration and divided views. The "Smart Parking Mobile App" scheme mentioned just now involves not only the Hong Kong Police Force, LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 14035 but also the Development Bureau. Since the Secretary is not specifically responsible for taking charge of the Energizing Kowloon East Office, the scheme can hardly be put into practice. To a certain extent, I hope the Secretary can consider ways to adopt a one-stop approach to accomplish these tasks or make it easier for the policy to be implemented on solid ground, rather than giving the public an impression that government departments work on their own without coordination and collaboration. In that case, smart city will only become empty talk on paper.
President, smart city can not only address the public's needs in daily life, but also enhance city management and upgrade people's standard of living at various levels. But more importantly, the sustainable development of the entire city can thus be promoted, so that we can set our eyes on the world.
Before concluding my speech, I hope to earnestly tell the Secretary and remind the Government to bear in mind that they are no longer on the clouds and should start to put their feet on solid ground. Please remember not to behave in a slow and unresponsive manner or, as described by the public and what we have seen, in an unconscious manner.
President, I so submit.
MR HOLDEN CHOW (in Cantonese): I thank Ir Dr LO Wai-kwok for proposing this motion today. Smart city development is certainly very important, and to develop a smart city, the simplest step, as suggested earlier by Mr Wilson OR whose views I very much support, is to provide effective public Wi-Fi service in the first place. With regard to the remarks made by Mr Wilson OR just now, I really have to carry on with what he said like running a relay race. Let me cite a report in the Oriental Daily News of 29 June this year. In the report it is pointed out that Wi-Fi coverage in public hospitals is less than 30%. Most importantly, these so-called free Wi-Fi services, which are said to offer fast connection speed, actually operate at tortoise speed. According to the newspaper report, Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kowloon is the public hospital with the slowest Wi-Fi speed.
What I wish to point out is that while the Government has said repeatedly that various arrangements will be implemented for smart city development, that Wi-Fi service will even be used as a starting point, that various support facilities 14036 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 will be provided, and so on, it is often the case that the Government will encounter many difficulties in the course of implementation. With regard to these difficulties, I believe the Government is definitely capable of tackling them as long as it has the resolve to do so. For example, clear signage can be provided at some places to tell the public that Wi-Fi service is provided. This is a very simple thing that the Government should be able to do easily. Therefore, all that the Government needs to do is to listen to the voices of the people or follow up the relevant reports and then make suitable arrangements. Actually this should not be difficult at all.
President, speaking of Wi-Fi, I would like to say a few words on the broadband services enjoyed by the public. In some rural districts, such as the Lantau, Lamma Island and Cheung Chau, the residents there have all along been unable to enjoy high-speed broadband services. As a result, residents on the outlying islands have long been forced to endure services at tortoise speed. In 2016, we kept on reflecting the situation to the Office of the Communications Authority. Recently, the Government has eventually given a response. The Commerce and Economic Development Bureau has finally undertaken to provide funding for extending fibre-based networks to Lamma Island and Cheung Chau and through this arrangement, it is hoped that the residents can be provided with broadband services. But anyway, they still have to wait some time because according to the Government's paper, these services can be provided only in 2021 the earliest. In this connection, I hope that the Government will step up efforts to ensure that these actions can catch up with the pace of the times, in order to respond to the aspirations of soceity. I think this is what the Government should do.
Let me cite an example. Last year, the United Kingdom formulated a policy measure which formally made it a legal right for citizens of the United Kingdom to enjoy broadband services from 2020 onwards. It also ensures that the speed of the broadband services used by each household should be up to the standard set by the Government. Simply put, if the speed is below the Government's standard, that would be tantamount to deprivation of a legal right, for which legal actions can be taken immediately. Therefore, from this example we can see that other countries are also putting in a lot of efforts to make these arrangements to catch up with the pace of the times and to tie in with smart city development. I think this is worthy reference for Hong Kong.
Another point is that sometimes it does not need great wisdom to make arrangements for smart city development, for this can be done easily. Let me cite an example. As we know, traffic is always congested at the North Lantau LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 14037
Highway and the Lantau Link. A way to alleviate traffic congestion is that when a traffic accident occurred at a certain part of the highway and if the drivers can learn of the accident when they are some distance away from the scene, they can make changes to their journeys, and it is just this simple.
However, we found that the Government all along has not installed any electronic display and so, there is no way to tell the public the location of a traffic accident in a timely manner. For instance, when a traffic accident took place on the Lantau Link, there is actually no electronic display on the various road links to show the relevant information. Let me cite a simple example. At the Western Harbour Crossing, for instance, if a driver is already aware of the situation before he enters the tunnel, there will still be time for him to immediately change his route. But the Government all along has not done so. It is only after we have repeatedly raised this issue in the District Council recently that the Government ultimately gave a response and undertook to install electronic displays. But President, do not be happy so soon, because you would be mad when you found out what kind of a display it is. It turns out that the electronic display will not tell drivers where an accident or a situation has happened. It only tells you how long it will take for you to go from this place to another place. That is all, and there is not any text message displayed.
President, as you can imagine, there are many reasons for an accident or traffic congestion to happen at a place. Take the North Lantau Link as an example. It could be due to a situation or an accident at the airport; or it could be due to the high wind traffic management. It is necessary for the Government to inform the public of these various reasons. This is why I have told the Government that if funds are ploughed in for installing a system that only tells people the time it takes to go from place A to place B and if that would be taken as having alerted the public of the situation, I would consider it far from adequate. I hope that the Government can consider our views and install electronic displays showing text messages.
Lastly, President, earlier on many Honourable colleagues have put forward a lot of effective suggestions on, among others, real-time parking space information systems. Given that big data has not yet been opened, I hope that the Government, after listening to our views here, will truly implement measures to address these issues, with a view to developing a smart city for us.
President, I so submit.
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MR JEFFREY LAM (in Cantonese): President, the Smart City Blueprint for Hong Kong ("the Blueprint") released by the Government in December last year seeks to enhance the effectiveness of management of the city through innovation and technology, with a view to expeditiously developing Hong Kong into a livable city.
Meanwhile, the Government has endorsed a 300% tax deduction for research and development ("R&D") expenditure, as advocated by the Business and Professionals Alliance for Hong Kong over the years, to encourage start-ups and small and medium enterprises to pursue innovation and technology development, as well as setting the objective of raising total expenditure on R&D as a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product from the current 0.73% to 1.5%, though this objective is still low compared to other economies.
Let us look at the progress of local scientific research facilities. Although the Public Works Subcommittee of the Legislative Council has endorsed the funding provision of $780 million for the Advance Engineering Works of the Lok Ma Chau Loop, we do not yet have a clear understanding of the planning of the entire Loop. Should Hong Kong fail to catch up on this front, it will lose even more business opportunities. We note the extremely rapid progress of our neighbours on various fronts, ranging from planning, construction works to the introduction of technology and talent.
Furthermore, a fast and effective communications network is crucially important to innovation and technology development. Given that many countries around the world have begun promoting 5G for all, the Special Administrative Region Government must give holistic consideration to the price, supply and management of the spectrum and introduce talent to push 5G technology forward, thereby creating the prerequisite conducive to smart city development.
Just now, an Honourable colleague proposed that the Government should enhance public WiFi service in Hong Kong as such service is still lacking in many places. Moreover, the communications network should be strengthened. We have recently seen some young people lose their way when visiting the countryside. Did they lose contact with the outside world because the faulty network was unable to pick up the signal? In my opinion, these problems must be addressed squarely. Moreover, we often find that the information provided LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 14039 by some traffic and weather Apps is far from comprehensive. Just now, an Honourable colleague also pointed out that a smart city should also enhance itself on other fronts and called on the Government to redouble its effort.
While pursuing smart city development, the Government must have holistic planning, remove barriers and restrictions, improve the laws and regulations and recruit a wide pool of talents, otherwise smart city development will only be reduced to empty talk. Moreover, all ideas, including those to enhance the infrastructure and financial technology of a smart city, will eventually be all thunder but no rain.
President, the laws and regulations must be perfected to prevent the pace of developing Hong Kong into a smart city from being slowed down by obsolete legislation, thus making the creation of a favourable business environment impossible. For instance, we should take the initiative to gain an understanding of the business models of emerging markets. Meanwhile, we should deal with the problem when it pops up and expeditiously clarify the legal issues involved.
Furthermore, the financial industry is one of the pillar industries of Hong Kong. In the face of smart city development, the Government should expeditiously clarify the legitimacy of the Internet and the financial industry and oversee the operation of the Internet and financial businesses in a comprehensive manner.
Meanwhile, a smart city requires labour force to sustain its development on various fronts. In recent years, the labour market in Hong Kong has nearly reached full employment, with the unemployment rate even falling to 2.8%. Many businessmen from various trades and industries have told me that it is really very difficult to recruit employees. Moreover, many types of jobs can simply not recruit manpower. On the premise of ensuring priority employment of local people or workers, the Government should import foreign labour on all fronts in a flexible manner.
In order to import talent specializing in cutting-edge technologies, the Government has resorted to importing scientific research talent from overseas and the Mainland through the Technology Talent Admission Scheme. The vetting, approval and visa issuance formalities can be completed within three months at the earliest, though the Scheme is opened merely to the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation and Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company 14040 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018
Limited for the time being. We hope the Government can expeditiously open up the Scheme to all eligible or joint-venture companies across the territory to facilitate their recruitment of talent from overseas. In my opinion, doing so can help train local talent and provide young people with a bigger stage.
Certainly, a city must have the support of various trades and industries in order to become smarter. Without adequate manpower and labour force, how can a smart city support the ancillary facilities required? Given that the existing Supplementary Labour Scheme is criticized for being ineffective, the Government may streamline the application procedure and extend the scope to cover all industries affected by manpower shortages on the premise of not affecting the employment of the local labour force.
President, it is a major trend for advanced cities around the world to pursue smart city development. We can see that Singapore and Barcelona have already drawn up respective blueprints and strategies to enhance their competitive edge in the long-to-medium term. In contrast, Hong Kong has failed to catch up with smart city development in terms of policy and legislation. In my opinion, inter-departmental communication must be enhanced since government departments are often found working on their own.
Smart city development is not an isolated issue. Regarding this evolving subject, I hope the Government can formulate a holistic plan and complementary measures with a new mindset to enable innovation and technology activities to thrive in the territory and develop Hong Kong into a truly smart city.
President, I so submit.
MS YUNG HOI-YAN (in Cantonese): President, Members are no strangers to the concept of a smart city. Besides releasing the Smart City Blueprint for Hong Kong ("the Blueprint") last year to present its views on such areas as transport, health care, environment, education, government and economy, and map out development plans in the next five years, the Government has attempted to regard Kai Tak in Kowloon East as a pilot smart city for introducing "Smart Parking Mobile App" and intelligent traffic signal systems, and rely on "sky eyes" (CCTV systems) to manage activities and pedestrian flows. Nevertheless, quite many people criticize the scheme for being unsatisfactory. Moreover, different government departments lack coordination and work on their own. Not only do LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 14041 the proposals put forward in the Blueprint contain no surprises, but they are also vague and uninspiring. I am worried that Hong Kong will lag far behind other neighbouring countries and cities in smart city development, thereby greatly undermining its competitive edge.
President, innovation and technology will actually bring dynastic changes to our lives. How can we make use of innovation and technology to render our living more convenient? In recent years, the Government has introduced quite many technologies into such areas as transport, health care and data networks, with a view to upgrading the relevant services and facilities. However, it seems that the Government has the will to promote innovation, technology and smart city development but lacks the strength, for no substantial progress has been seen so far.
First of all, I would like to say a few words on smart mobility. I heard many Members express great concern about smart mobility and traffic congestion problems in the hope that the Government can pay more attention to traffic in the smart city. We can now see that the mobile Apps developed by the Government are inadequate, and the information provided is superficial. Motorists have to check their own mobile phones for real-time information on the actual situation and circumstances of roads. In fact, other cities are more advanced than Hong Kong. Quite many regions have begun using such technologies as artificial intelligence, Internet of Things and Global Positioning Systems ("GPS") to develop highly efficient and faster integrated transport management systems to enable their citizens to have an idea of the road conditions in advance so that they can decide on the best route of travel. A study has even indicated that a smart transportation system can raise the utilization rate of highways from 15% to 30%.
Being the first-tier smart mobility city in Europe, Stockholm, the capital city of Sweden, has installed roadside control stations at the entrances and exits of main carriageways in urban areas through a smart charging system. Moreover, it adopts radio frequency identification and image recognition technologies, as well as free-flow roadside systems, to control traffic flow and hence reduce traffic congestion by 20% to 25%. Meanwhile, the country has also adopted a traffic forecast and analysis system and made use of GPS to collect the real-time positions of approximately 1 500 taxis in the entire city and, through integration with peripheral information, provide traffic analyses and forecast for reference by the public.
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Nowadays, quite many vehicles have networking functions to perform more than detection and positioning functions. We can also make use of V2X (Vehicle-to-Everything) technology to perform mobile positioning functions. Through interaction of vehicles with external data and integration with all the data collected on roads, a close to real-time interactive map can be developed to realize smart traffic management and traffic flow control. Since traffic congestion problems are found everywhere in Hong Kong, they cannot possibly be resolved effectively by the sole reliance on expanding roads or imposing heavier penalties. The Government may consider making use of existing technologies to divert traffic so as to ease the sufferings of the public as a result of round-the-clock traffic congestions.
President, in addition to smart city development, promoting health care technology is also a top priority. Hong Kong now faces the problem whereby the ageing population and the public health care system are on the brink of explosion. As such, the Government should make better use of more innovation and technology to enhance the efficiency of the health care system. For instance, Singapore has, in recent years, launched a telemedicine services scheme to enable homebound patients to receive health care services and, at the same time, undergo rehabilitation training through tablet computers. Moreover, data of the movement of patients can be transmitted to doctors through remote transmission by means of sensors and cameras. The aforesaid initiatives can not only provide convenience to patients and their family members, but also alleviate the shortage of hospital services. It is worthy reference for Hong Kong.
On the artificial intelligence front, the Faculty of Engineering of The Chinese University of Hong Kong has acquired a brand new artificial intelligence technology for diagnosing lung cancer and breast cancer with an accuracy rate of between 91% and 99%, thereby greatly curtailing the time of diagnosis. Although we know that artificial intelligence can never replace experienced doctors, it can be used as a supporting tool. In particular, in times of keen demand for health care services, improving community health and health care systems can share the burden of public hospitals and help them save manpower and resources.
President, just now, many Honourable colleagues expressed concern about the application of the 5G mobile network. Nonetheless, I will not make any repetition about the speed of 5G again. Although the Government collected views from the industry in early December last year on the use of three frequency LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 14043 bands to provide 5G services, public consultation will not be conducted until the middle of this year. We hope the 5G development can be expedited in Hong Kong.
President, we hope the Government can rectify timely its previous inadequacies. I have heard quite many people working in the Judiciary say that they are still using the Window 95 system. This is why we hope the Government can stop paying lip service. A smart government should take the lead to replace its internal software and hardware and leave the era of Windows 95 behind. Meanwhile, the Government should formulate a clear development direction and fully take on board the opinions expressed by different sectors of society, with a view to implementing various policy initiatives expeditiously and preventing smart city development from being reduced to empty talk. Only in doing so can the general public really see that Hong Kong has the boldness and determination to forge itself into a smart city.
President, I so submit.
MRS REGINA IP (in Cantonese): President, first of all, I thank Ir Dr LO Wai-kwok for moving this motion debate today and calling our attention to smart city development. From the amendments proposed by various Members which cover a wide range of issues, it is clear that building a truly smart city involves getting "smart" in nearly every aspects of our lives. There could be, for instance, "smart" mobility, "smart" eating, "smart" education, "smart" health care, "smart" elderly care, "smart" environment―everything can carry the word "smart". But what do we mean by "smart"? Getting "smart" means utilizing the latest information technology to improve each and every aspect of our lives. That, however, is contingent upon the availability of the fifth-generation mobile network ("5G"). People often complain to me about the insufficient coverage of our Wi-Fi network. Yet, once 5G is rolled out, we will not need Wi-Fi at all. According to government information, 5G will be launched as early as 2020, which could be considered as quite early. But I think the Government should quicken its pace further still, since in no way can we implement Internet of Things ("IoT"), or improve our lives with information technology for that matter, without 5G.
President, I wish to illustrate my point with an example. In the long weekend just past, I visited Shanghai and saw its development. Unlike an old city in transformation or a developed city like Hong Kong, Shanghai developed 14044 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 itself from scratch, and thus managed to leapfrog its way in smart city development. The place certainly feels like a smart city. If you need a ride, there is the smart mobility option of Didi Chuxing. If you want a meal, it can be ordered through ele.me, a meal delivery platform, with the whole process being completed on a phone. For shopping, there is smart payment. Ant Financial is virtually digital banking in a hand phone, an observation made by the West in respect of the digital payment company. By making use of information technology, financial technology on the Mainland managed to incorporate the entire digital banking service into a mobile phone. They have really achieved smartness, while we do not even have 5G.
Despite the publication of a blueprint by the authorities last year, the pace of progress is still too slow. To build Hong Kong into a truly smart city, it is indeed necessary to coordinate the efforts of various Policy Bureau and departments. I understand that this colossal responsibility now rests on the shoulders of Secretary Nicholas YANG. However, the Policy Bureau under Secretary YANG's charge is relatively small with no addition of new directorate posts until recently. With such a small Policy Bureau under his command and being a relatively new face in the Government himself, I do not see how he can assume leadership over the various Policy Bureau, changing their established approach to one that relies heavily on data and information technology. I know Mrs Carrie LAM, the Chief Executive, has promised to spearhead the endeavour, assuming personal leadership over smart city development. Much that I admire her commitment and boldness, there are ultimately limits to one's energy and time. Even if the Chief Executive possesses superhuman abilities and can be multitasking like no other, it still beats me how she can journey around the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area, address the issues of land and housing, drive the Belt and Road Initiative while taking up the reins of smart city development. Hence, I am concerned that the idea of building Hong Kong into a smart city will become nothing but empty talk with timing of its take-off uncertain.
Hence, I reiterate that we should prioritize the expeditious roll-out of 5G. Second, to build a smart city, the Government must adopt a smart mentality, meaning to act quickly rather than merely following red tape. In respect of finance, Hong Kong's greatest potential in smart industry development lies in financial technology ("Fintech"). I am aware that the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau along with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority―galvanized by different sectors of the community―are working hard to catch up but the arena is full of competitors. London, being a mature financial centre as well, still LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 14045 maintains its lead in Fintech. Singapore too is enjoying a Fintech boom. I was told by industry sources that Singapore drives Fintech by means of Fintech week, spending an entire week discussing the issue. Hong Kong, by contrast, can manage no more than a Fintech day. Yet, I am not disheartened by that, for I know many youngsters and professionals are trying their hands at entrepreneurship, creating a steady stream of financial start-ups.
President, I wish to cite an example that deserves much reflection by the Government. One place where smart infrastructure was built on government investments is India. The Indian Government rolled out an electronic identity ("eID") infrastructure named Aadhaar in 2009. Since Indian residents have no identity cards, their Government makes use of technology by taking 10 fingerprints and 2 iris scans of each person to create individual digital identities ("digital ID"), and the biometric and demographic features of each person are stored in the relevant database. So far, 1.2 billion people in India have been issued with a digital ID. It can thus be seen that a government can accomplish much as long as it has the will to do so, that is why India is far more advanced than Hong Kong in this respect. Following the establishment of digital ID, India continued to make legislative amendments, allowing banks to verify the identity of a customer by tapping the Aadhaar database direct, in other words, achieving electronic Know Your Customer ("eKYC"). Hong Kong is really backward. The second-generation smart identity cards we are processing at the moment are still very limited in its use, confined to the purpose of domestic identification―permanent resident status, of course, is bounded by all manners of restrictions in law.
I think the Government should build 5G infrastructure properly, change the mindset of officials, instil in them a "smart" mentality and expedite the utilization of big data. Besides, I agree with what Mr Charles Peter MOK said. Following the implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation by the European Union on 25 May this year, California of the United States has just passed a similar law. Even though the latter is not as stringent as that of the European Union, it nonetheless sets a high standard on personal privacy protection and will probably be a model which other States in the United States will follow. Hong Kong must really close the gap fast in the digital age (The buzzer sounded) … and protect personal privacy. Thank you, President.
PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): Mrs Regina IP, please stop speaking.
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MS CLAUDIA MO (in Cantonese): The promotion of smart city is indisputably a global trend. Of course, some people criticize the idea for turning the social life into a convenience store. It is a fact that convenience is everything. I was literally on pins and needles yesterday when I forgot to bring my mobile phone when I went to work. I did not feel at ease until I immediately rushed back home to get it. In fact, we will enjoy more convenience in our daily life when we have e-health care, e-transport or e-education. Nevertheless, I would like to express some views, though I cannot describe them as alternative views as similar views are heard in Western society, too. I hope Members can consider these views carefully.
In fact, Hong Kong is not only a special city but also a special society. On the one hand, the "one country, two systems" is described as unprecedented but on the other, the "two systems" appear to be close to extinction. Hong Kong is disappearing in no time because people are now talking about the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area ("the Bay Area"). We have to reconsider if we are talking about the Bay Area. Although I have faith in the Secretary today, I still lack confidence in the relevant system. What can we do since no one can stay in the same post all his life but the system can be kept intact?
I learnt from a news report this morning that telecommunications service operators hope to change Hong Kong people's habit as the rate of Hong Kong people using mobile payment is a mere 20%. It is difficult to do so because trust is the issue. Our greatest concern is that smart city will become a "Big Brother" city. We are now advised to look northward, but the way of life in the North is monitored by the "Big Brother". After all, not only every movement of ours, but also every word and sentence we utter will eventually come to his knowledge. It is really quite troublesome.
In fact, a long time ago, Dan BROWN made this thought-provoking remark in his novel Digital Fortress, "How the hell do civilians defend themselves against a police state when the guy at the top has access to all their lines of communication? How do they plan a revolt?" Members may say that it was just a remark made by a novelist, but they should still remember George ORWELL's 1984. It is not impossible. I do not oppose this motion today, but I hope Members can consider these arguments carefully. Thank you.
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DR CHIANG LAI-WAN (in Cantonese): President, for the definition of "smart city", a number of Honourable colleagues have already mentioned it just now. If we have to give a detailed explanation of the relevant definition, it will be lengthy and academic. In fact, I think the interest of the people should be the bedrock of everything we do. I believe many people have no clear knowledge of how the Government will develop Hong Kong into a smart city. In gist, the public consider it most important that the Government should enhance the convenience in accessing different places and in their everyday life. In setting the development direction and positioning of a smart city, I think the authorities should consider this from the perspective of benefiting the public.
Last year, the authorities introduced the Smart City Blueprint for Hong Kong ("the Blueprint"). I feel so excited after reading the content. Over the years, Hong Kong has been talking about the various models of "smartness", re-industralization, four pillar industries and six industries where Hong Kong enjoys clear advantages, yet specific proposals have never been put forth. The Blueprint has basically covered the concerns and demands of various sectors. At issue is when the proposals will be implemented, which is a very important point. I believe the authorities have put an enormous effort into drafting the Blueprint and they have gathered the views of the public and the wisdom of the community in the course. Now that the entire plan is in the hands of the Secretary, when will the Secretary implement the proposals in the Blueprint?
Some of the proposals in the Blueprint are good. Secretary, do not always say that I criticize you. Today, I will not criticize you, and I will encourage and praise you instead. We can note from the Blueprint that drivers no longer have to stop at toll booths to tap their cards for payment in future, for they can simply drive through the booths and pay by autotoll. It seems to be very convenient. The arrangement will also enhance traffic flow and alleviate the frequent problem of long queues of traffic.
Moreover, the Secretary has pointed out that details relating to electronic road pricing will be rolled out in 2019. President, I recall learning about electronic road pricing when we were young, which was at least 20 to 30 years ago. Back then, the authorities had used Central as a pilot point for implementing electronic road pricing, yet after such a long period of time, the plan has not been implemented and the reasons remain unknown. Perhaps the Government has backed down and hesitated due to the divergent views and opposition expressed some time ago. Yet, every policy introduced by the 14048 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018
Government will meet opposition. I cannot but ask which of the policies has gained unanimous support. This can hardly be achieved. Take land development as an example. The development in North East New Territories and the use of farmland for housing construction have aroused discontent among the local residents. As for reclamation, green groups have some views. Even on the distribution of cash handouts by the Government, some people have expressed opposition and discontent. Should the Government do nothing merely because there is opposition? Should the Government sit idly "counting fingers", expecting it will make no mistake if it does nothing―this is indeed a "great tactic"? No, it should not do so. I trust Secretary Nicholas YANG is not an official of such mentality. He is bold and he definitely knows what should be done has to be done. Hence, I hold high hopes for Secretary Nicholas YANG.
The Blueprint is truly worth reading. My gladness grows as I read it. The Blueprint mentions the real-time information on franchised buses and proposes that such information be provided through mobile applications in 2018. And by 2020, the public will have access to such information at public transport interchanges and 1 300 covered bus stops. These proposals are very good. I often want to know when the bus will arrive at bus stops and whether I will have the time to buy some more drinks. With the provision of real-time information, I will have reference. Such information is not available at present. I know that one of the bus companies has introduced this service but other bus companies have not yet offered such service. In my view, such information should be provided on a consolidated platform. I know that this will be part of the plan of the authorities, and it is such a good proposal.
(THE PRESIDENT'S DEPUTY, MS STARRY LEE, took the Chair)
As for road crossing facilities, since traffic light countdown devices have been in use for a long time, all main roads in the territory should be installed with traffic light countdown devices. The device will let pedestrians know the remaining time for crossing the road. They may decide not to cross the road if it is indicated that only five seconds are left, and if there are 50 seconds left, they may cross the road unhurriedly. The time indicated will provide reference for pedestrians. Yet, at present, such devices have been installed only at a few major roads. I think the various proposals on the development of a smart city in the Blueprint merit implementation accordingly.
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Moreover, Secretary, I would like to talk about another issue, that is, Wi-Fi service. Currently, Wi-Fi service is provided in many places, including some major shopping malls, yet network congestion is a problem that arises frequently. As I mentioned earlier, for a number of major hospitals like the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, frequent complaints of failure to access the Internet are made by the public.
Furthermore, regarding the solar-powered street lamps, the Government started the trial of 17 street lamps in 2006. In 2016, the trial of another 22 street lamps commenced. However, those 22 solar-powered street lamps are installed at Tai Mo Shan, a place which is foggy with little sunlight. I really cannot understand why the Government would make this arrangement. After all, it has spent $5 million on the 22 solar-powered street lamps. Secretary, I have to tell you that the solar-powered facilities and technology of the Mainland are now one of the best in the world, and they are extremely advanced. I have bought a solar-powered light in the Mainland to be placed in my garden, which only cost me RMB 300-odd. It has been more than a year since I bought it and it is working every day. It lights up for at least eight hours every evening, and even on a cloudy day, it can produce light for two hours (The buzzer sounded) … I hope the Secretary will follow up all the said issues. I so submit. Thank you.
DEPUTY PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): Dr CHIANG Lai-wan, your speaking time is up. Please stop speaking.
MR HO KAI-MING (in Cantonese): Deputy President, having heard such impassioned speeches made by Ms Claudia MO and Dr CHIANG Lai-wan just now, I really have a deep feeling because I realize that the Secretary has indeed got a hard job. Today I finally noted that the Secretary and I share a common point. Since I studied philosophy, I found doing innovation and technology work quite similar to dealing with philosophy. If we say that the practical business handled by certain Policy Bureaux is like physics, then what is handled by the Innovation and Technology Bureau is metaphysics. For example, the Transport and Housing Bureau, responsible for the construction of housing, can present numbers of housing units constructed, but the Innovation and Technology Bureau can hardly present any numbers. At most, it can only enhance certain matters. Hence, in my view, the Secretary's promotion of innovation and technology is like the promotion of philosophy. It is a very difficult job.
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Why is it so difficult to promote innovation and technology? First of all, some members of the public, Honourable colleagues and Members are still confused about this matter in their minds. For example, just now Ms Claudia MO mentioned her grave concern about privacy after the promotion of innovation and technology. She was worried that Hong Kong would become like the "Big Brother", monitoring the public. However, I would like to tell Ms MO that the "Big Brother" has actually lived with her for years. Every day when she uses her credit card, Octopus card and mobile phone, her digital footprint leaves information on the Internet. As long as she uses electronic payment instead of cash, her information will possibly be collected. That will be the case unless she only pays in cash even when she travels by bus or taxi. But I believe no Hongkonger will adopt such a way of living. If anyone attempts to collect other people's information, there will always be a way to do so. That is why I said the "Big Brother" has already lived with her for years. This is the reality. I think she needs not scare the people of Hong Kong in this way because this is technology which most people have accepted.
However, I would like to point out that technological development definitely seeks to resolve problems. There will be advancement in technology only when it can address the people's pain points. For example, with a huge population, China faces many problems of counterfeit money. This is the main reason why China has directly skipped the age of credit cards to adopt mobile payment. Because it can resolve their application problem. Frankly, as we can see, what problem has arisen in Hong Kong? I think we saw quite clearly during the Chief Executive's Question Time yesterday that the problem faced by Hongkongers is not about their quality of living. Perhaps the main problem is just the lack of living areas for Hongkongers and the "explosion" in health care. But these two issues, I believe, cannot be resolved by innovation and technology alone. They are not specialties of innovation and technology either. Hence, I think the Government needs to further work out how innovation and technology can be promoted in Hong Kong.
After all, innovation and technology is not something complicated. It is simply about resolving problems instantly through reception of information by the Internet of Things, sensors and computers. Let me cite a simple example. I have installed a sensor at the doorway of my home. When I reach the door, the light at the door will be turned on through the processor at home. I have also installed a sensor by the window. If the window at my home is opened, such information will be sent to my mobile phone. If it rains, I can call back home to ask my family members to close the window. It is that simple. In fact, that is LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 14051 the case with smart city. Just now Mr Alvin YEUNG mentioned "VAR" (i.e. video assistant referee). It actually means the same thing. Through technology, we address the pain point faced by us. When a referee fails to see what has happened during a football match, he can watch from various angles through VAR clearly whether any player has broken the offside rule. It is that simple.
However, is there actually any incentive in Hong Kong for promoting innovation and technology? I did not see any great incentive. Why? Because Hong Kong is already a rather sophisticated city. Compared with the technologically advanced places, its living standard is in fact not far different―there is a lag, but not a big one―therefore, various departments and the public in Hong Kong doubt whether it is worthwhile to inject such a large amount of resources, time and effort for a slight upgrade of Hong Kong's level. This is the main problem faced by Hong Kong. For example, during our meetings and discussions with different Policy Bureaux, we mentioned that the Mainland had put in place centralized platforms for government services, such as the platform set up by the Shenzhen Traffic Police Bureau neighbouring Hong Kong. All the work ranging from booking by vehicle owners for licence renewal, recording of demerit points, payment of fines to registration for driving tests can be handled on the same WeChat platform. We have asked the Transport Department why we cannot make an appointment online when we apply for an international driving permit, and the driving permit cannot be couriered to us upon completion of all the procedures. Why do we still have to queue up in Admiralty to make an application instead of paying the renewal fee online? They said this is purely a question of privacy.
Back then, when the Government formulated the policy on handling collected data, it did not incorporate the principle of data sharing. Consequently, the information cannot be circulated even within government departments. For example, after I have opened an account with the Leisure and Cultural Services Department ("LCSD") to book a venue, why can LCSD not recommend to me the table tennis classes organized by it though it has learnt through the system that I love playing table tennis? They even refrain from doing these things. The reason is not that the technology in Hong Kong is not up to standard. Rather, it is because the government departments overemphasize privacy and stick to the old rut. Why do we say that technology can resolve problems after our visit to the Mainland? Because we did see that technology can resolve problems. There are always more solutions than difficulties.
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The problem faced by Hong Kong is not that its technology is not good enough. The fact is, as we have seen, methods are always outnumbered by problems. Every time we propose a method, we would encounter a lot of difficulties. Secretary Nicholas YANG would be told that such an approach is infeasible and in breach of the regulations. He would be questioned by Members in the Legislative Council. Subsequently, we stop promoting innovation and technology. In this connection, just now an Honourable colleague said that it requires cross-bureau efforts. Mrs Regina IP even said that it should be handled by the Chief Executive. I think this really needs to be addressed at the high level. Without smooth coordination, there will be no way to resolve the problem. Hong Kong lacks no technologies. It lacks a policy which facilitates the sharing of all kinds of information.
I wish to conclude my speech with what LIU Bei said to LIU Chan: "Do not fail to commit a good deed just because it looks minor; do not engage in an evil deed just because it looks trivial." Frankly, under such circumstances in Hong Kong, perhaps each move in innovation and technology can save the public just a few seconds in their everyday life, but when it adds up, it is still convenience to them. If we refrain from doing these "minor" good deeds and allow the problems to accumulate, I guess, as in the race between the tortoise and the hare, the living standard in Hong Kong will just be surpassed by the peripheral cities one after another, and Hong Kong will never comprehend why it suffers such a lag so badly.
Deputy President, I so submit.
DR CHENG CHUNG-TAI (in Cantonese): Deputy President, talking about smart city, I think people tend to think of high-tech or high-end products. In fact, when it comes to technology, I think it is more appropriate to start by looking at it with common sense.
Let me first tell a story before I come to my speech proper. Last week I went to a restaurant in Admiralty. That restaurant has introduced the application of some high technologies as customers can use QR code to place orders. In other words, orders are no longer taken by the waiters, and when the customers are seated, they are given a piece of paper on which there is a QR code. Customers have to download the App of the restaurant and then use the QR code to place orders by themselves. I saw that the customers had many problems placing their orders. Honestly, not many people know how to use QR LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 14053 codes―Deputy President, you know what I mean by QR code, right?―Customers have to download an App first and then they have to take a snap shot of the code. They need to download the App of the restaurant first in order to place orders by choosing from the menu what they would like to eat, whether they would like to add a drink, and so on. In order to assist customers in placing orders, the waiters provide "tailor-made" services to teach customers one by one how to place orders with the QR code. In the meantime, customers who placed orders using the QR code could enjoy a $3 discount as a concessionary benefit.
Imagine: When a bowl of noodles costs around $40 or $50 in Admiralty, a $3 discount is not bad to the wage earners and therefore, many customers could have $3 deducted from their bills. However, it is usually very crowded during the lunch hours in Admiralty. Originally, four or five colleagues who had noodles for lunch together might plan to finish their lunch quickly and then go back to work. No one would have expected that as a result of this $3 discount, four or five people who had lunch together were given a bill each. I bet Members will understand what it means. Originally, four or five people who have lunch together can chip in to pay just one bill. But given this promotional offer that does not make sense from the management viewpoint, four or five people who have lunch at the same table have to pay four or five individual bills instead of just one bill originally. As a result, there was a long queue of customers at the cashier of the restaurant because while a table of customers could pay just one bill originally, each customer was then given one bill to pay at the cashier. Of course, the waiters and the staff concerned got a little bit worked up, thinking that high technologies have led to low wisdom in management. Why is it so?
Therefore, in my speech I wish to point out that the promotion of smart city development in Hong Kong cannot be achieved purely by thinking that it would do by providing a map for people to follow. Rather, it actually requires a lot of matching support culturally or in people's living, and our oblivion of these factors will result in laughable situations as in the case described just now.
Besides, when we talk about smart city development, actually the purpose is to improve our living and Members certainly will not dispute this point. In the example that I cited just now, the purpose is also to improve people's living, but no one would have expected that a $3 savings can cause such inconvenience. Therefore, a more important point is whether the ways and means to improve living will lead to more problems that warrant our attention. 14054 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018
Next, I wish to focus not on personal safety but the question of surveillance mentioned by Ms Claudia MO earlier. Let me tell a story first. Last year, the Canadian Government collaborated with Google's sister company, Sidewalk Labs, to develop a smart city in the dock area in eastern Toronto, Canada. This place used to be an old dock area, and this idea is actually a bit similar to the development of Kowloon East in Hong Kong. This place in Canada is called Quayside. In this old dock area there is a technology system which is quite interesting, for a large-scale sensor system is put in place there. Devices are installed in the entire dock area to detect the movements or flows of all the people as well as changes in everything ranging from air pollution, noises or water quality (which are basically big data) to a bench in a park, a door of an apartment or an object falling down from a height or onto the ground. All these can be detected by this large-scale sensor system. In other words, everything in motion within the entire dock area can basically be captured through data. I bet Members will understand what I mean. That is, when I move here, you will know the range which I have moved.
Therefore, from a positive perspective, in case some elderly people stop to move or suddenly fall down at home, through these sensors, actions can be taken immediately for their rescue. However, a huge controversy has been aroused in Canada because a levy on waste disposal is imposed through this sensor system. This system is used to monitor littering on the street by young people and then charge a levy from them to truly uphold the "user pays" principle. I bet Members can understand it. That is, when you dropped something onto the ground while walking on the street, the Government would accuse you for littering and give you a penalty ticket.
This design has aroused a rather great controversy particularly in the academic sector in Toronto, Canada. A point of contention is that if these sensors are installed for collecting a lot of big data, concerning these data collected, the Government certainly has the final say over them, but the problem is that in the course of data collection, it seems to be necessary to rely on some private corporations to collect the data and in this process, how will these data be handled? Who will have the authority to analyse these data? Who will have the authority to access these data? Does anyone have the authority to destroy these data? There has been no final decision on all these issues. As a result, given these concerns, there have been controversies in Canada because while they seem to believe in the Government, they do not believe in these private corporations.
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Coming back to Hong Kong, on the question of smart city, currently we do rely on many large enterprises to collect data and as Mr HO Kai-ming has said, behind these enterprises there are actually the big bosses, but at least we know that it is LI Ka-shing and that the big brother is Mr LI. As for the Hong Kong Electric Company Limited, comparatively speaking, I still trust it. But the problem is that now we do not know who the big boss is, and the worst is that the big boss may be everywhere in future. Will Hong Kong become a place like the Mainland one day where a citizen can be barred from boarding a plane for littering, Deputy President? We all understand that such a thing can happen in the Mainland. So, this is why when we develop high technologies, our society and culture may not necessarily be able to adapt to these developments. The problem lies not in our wisdom, but purely the question of whether, culturally speaking, we have confidence in society and the Government in pursuing such development in the future. (The buzzer sounded) …
DEPUTY PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): Dr CHENG Chung-tai, your speaking time is up.
MR MARTIN LIAO (in Cantonese): Deputy President, innovation has continued without pause throughout human history and is an important element on which the progress of human society relies. Technology boosts productivity and brings convenience to our life. In recent years, blockchain technology improved the security of banking transactions; medical imaging with greater precision helped medical personnel make timely diagnoses; and artificial intelligence technology, which shows great promises in identification, computation, analysis and services, has become an area of active research inputs and competition among countries and enterprises. It is indeed the aspirations of the people to see the construction of a smart city, higher rates of resource utilization, enhancement in urban management and improvement of people's livelihood. The key to success lies in whether Hong Kong can develop and possess advanced technologies as well as in the application of such technologies.
In respect of technology, scientific research requires vigorous investments from governments and enterprises. Despite boasting a robust regime for intellectual property rights and a strong research base including universities with world-class scientific research capabilities and quality talent in scientific research, Hong Kong is still caught in a lag in terms of investments in scientific research. 14056 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018
The Chief Executive proclaimed in her Policy Address to set aside $50 billion to support innovation and technology and the plan to double investments in innovation and technology―to 1.5% as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product ("GDP")―in 5 years. However, that target is still far too low in comparison with Singapore's over 3% or the over 4% as a share of GDP committed by Shenzhen, South Korea (4.3%) and Israel (4.2%).
Meanwhile, enterprises' inputs in scientific research (particularly those of small and medium enterprises) are relatively low as well. Like other forms of investment, investments in scientific research incur risks. Yet, if we get intimidated by those risks, making little or no investment in scientific research, we will exhaust all our advantages and drive ourselves to a dead end. At this very important juncture, the State issued policies in support of Hong Kong's bid to become an international centre of innovation and technology by introducing such measures as cross-border remittance of project funding with a view to giving a fresh impetus to scientific research in Hong Kong, helping nurture and retain talent, enhancing the ecology of innovation and technology as well as building a smart city
On the premise of having acquired technologies through scientific research, whether such fruits of research can complete its mid-stream/downstream transformation and meet the application demands of the public hinges on our drive to and capabilities in implementing the Smart City Blueprint for Hong Kong. According to the Global Smart City Index 2017 announced by Juniper Research, a research outfit, Singapore ranked first among global smart cities, outshining London, New York, San Francisco and Seoul with outstanding performance in each of the four areas of mobility, health care, public safety and productivity. On mobility, Singapore applies smart solutions and integrates desktop and mobile services for the smooth arrangements of transport modes and routes. In the area of health care, Singapore provides elderly citizens with health care service through digital platforms and remote rehabilitation systems, setting up a warning system on the movements of the elderly which will call for help upon detection of abnormal movements of users. As models of application of technologies, these measures have great reference value for Hong Kong, which is becoming an ageing society with an over-stretched public health care system.
Lastly, in terms of regulation, if technologies applied to smart city development truly work, it is incumbent upon the Government to scientifically and appropriately remove all restrictions and regulations and clarify the relevant LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 14057 legal requirements. Regulators should keep an open mind and strive to strike an appropriate balance among the established market ecology, consumer rights and room for innovation.
Deputy President, a smart city brings tangible benefits to the public, as interconnected social groups and communities in a convenient and green society can have a huge impact on the quality of people's life. Smart city development in Hong Kong requires the concerted efforts of all to forge together a digital ecosystem for the development and application of technologies. Such is the single most important prerequisite for speeding up the pace of promoting smart city development.
Thank you, Deputy President.
DR FERNANDO CHEUNG (in Cantonese): Deputy President, when we talk about smart city, we seem to equate it with technology. Hong Kong is a developed community, and our technology has never fallen behind others. We lag behind others for the lack of smartness in our people, not in our technology. Why do our people lack smartness? Because the technology that we have developed is available only to those who have powers, clout and resources.
I thank Ir Dr LO Wai-kwok for proposing the motion on "Expediting the promotion of smart city development". Yesterday, we debated the fakery incident, shoddy works and the concealment of mistakes in respect of the Shatin to Central Link. No matter how advanced our technology is, it cannot stop these man-made problems from happening.
I also thank the several Members who mentioned gerontechnology in their amendments. Gerontechnology refers to the use of advanced technological devices or software to help meet elderly care needs in the face of an ageing population. The automatic bathing device and nursing care bidet introduced from Japan exhibited at the Gerontech and Innovation Expo cum Summit which has been organized for a year or two, are some examples. In Hong Kong, the Innovation and Technology Fund has also funded the invention of a number of gerontechnological devices. For instance, I recall that more than 10 years ago some local experts invented a device to be used on the beds in elderly care homes. The device will notify carers to help elderly people change diaper and clean up upon detection of moisture. However, among the some 700 elderly care homes 14058 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 in Hong Kong, how many are using this Hong Kong-funded invention which has been developed for more than 10 years? Talking about gerontechnology, many people will mention robots, life-sustaining instruments, breathing machines, oxygen generators and suction units which are all helpful, but how many elderly care homes nowadays can actually accommodate these technological devices?
Deputy President, I am a member of the Working Group on the Review of Ordinances and Codes of Practice for Residential Care Homes. The working group is currently in discussions on whether the statutory requirement on the minimum area of residential care homes should be raised. Currently, elderly care homes are divided into cubicles. Two elderly people share a cubicle with two nightstands in the middle and two beds on each side. It is difficult for wheelchairs to get in and out of cubicles, let alone all these technological devices. How do residential care homes find space to place them? How many people can actually use them?
I remember that during XI Jinping's visit to Hong Kong, Mrs XI visited an elderly care home equipped with a device to help elderly who had suffered from a stroke to walk. The device looked like a crane and elderly people looked like they were boxing when using the device. Mrs XI was very pleased at the time. She thought this device invented by Hong Kong physiotherapists was a great technology. But how many elderly care homes are actually equipped with it? I recall having chatted with a physiotherapist of that elderly care home who vented that the real issue was not technology but distribution. Deputy President, our technology is not insufficient. There are sufficient technology and resources. In fact, there are abundant land and space, too. The question boils down to distribution.
Our population has been growing. It has increased by more than 9%, nearly 10% since 2001. However, the number of beds in hospitals has dropped nearly 4%. The economic pie is becoming larger, so is the gap between the rich and the poor. We talk about gerontechnology and smart city now, but can we talk about smart city with the old ladies who scavenge cardboards on the street or those who are desperately stuck in elderly care homes enjoying no basic dignity? These people and us seem to live in two parallel universes. On the one hand, our technology seems so advanced, yet on the other, most people simply cannot enjoy it. For instance, we talk about computers and learning opportunities for children, but the truth is many families in poverty cannot afford a computer, or even the expenses for extra-curricular activities of their children.
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I remember having attended a seminar―I have actually attended many―at which the speaker mentioned assistive technology, that is, technology developed to help people with disabilities. In fact, assistive technology has made great progress and Hong Kong does possess the conditions to pursue further development in this regard, but we have not put it into application. A disabled person was transferred from a special school to an adult service organization. He relied on computer aids to express himself as he could not speak. After his computer had broken down, no one came to repair it for five years. As a result, he had not talked for five years. Once the computer was repaired, he could immediately say something with the aid of the computer. This is our technology. We have the technology but lack the smartness, transparency and justice. We did not let the public enjoy technology equally, therefore, technology and smart city are merely empty talk and a waste of effort.
MR IP KIN-YUEN (in Cantonese): Deputy President, I would like to thank Ir Dr LO Wai-kwok for proposing this motion so that we have the opportunity to discuss the subject of smart city. On the subject of smart city, we will naturally think about technology. Rightly as a number of Members have mentioned, technology is really developing at an exponential speed. The application of technology to urban development naturally brings forth consequential changes. I think such changes emerge as a natural outcome because people certainly make use of technology to improve their living. So long as we apply technology to our daily life, changes will naturally occur so I am not worried about smart city development in Hong Kong. Of course, in this respect, we can do better and act faster to achieve more excellent results.
Meanwhile, in my view, the issue that warrants our attention is more about how a city can make contribution to humanity and the world. To achieve this, a humanistic environment is necessary and a good natural environment must be preserved. Questions such as how we live together with Mother nature, how we get along with each other, what relations we have with technology, etc., indeed have to be properly dealt with.
As regards the question of how to distinguish between a technological city and a smart city, "smart" means that we can properly make good use of technology. To truly make mankind happier, I believe, in addition to technology, we need many other things, including the good humanistic qualities possessed by individuals or societies as a whole, as well as the importance 14060 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 attached to the natural environment. Whether our society will become a so-called smart city or technological city, and become fairer and more caring, or the opposite, is, in fact, the question we truly have to consider.
When we talk about "smart city", often we think of the use of big data. Indeed, it is common knowledge that two different viewpoints on big data prevail. The first one is that big data lead to the automation of many things, where results can be produced instantly or faster. Procedures that took a long time to complete in the past can now be done in just one second or even less. However, does it mean that we are joyful and happy? Many people are worried that big data subject people to frequent monitoring. It is the second viewpoint. In this connection, the key lies in how we use technology. I think the question that the decision makers, who manage the entire city, must carefully consider is: How to use technology to promote social development, instead of bringing problems to society.
Over the past few decades, some technologies may not have developed too quickly but have made great improvements to our life. For example, with the help of technology, people with disabilities can live their life almost like a normal person and exploit their strengths. However, at the same time, some technologies make people lazier and more unhealthy and pollution worse. Whether technology is good or bad hinges on how we use it.
Moreover, smart city development very much needs the support of talent, which is closely related to education. Hence, I wish to especially talk about the problems of education in this speech. Nowadays, we usually tie technological development and smart city development to STEM, i.e. science, technology, engineering and mathematics. As a matter of fact, in the past we described this aspect in some other words, i.e. mathematics, science and technology, and so STEM is not a new concept. However, as it has emerged as a neologism, we then feel something new must be done, especially in the realm of education. For example, when we discuss how schools can promote STEM education, what do we expect? Robots, programming, etc. Nevertheless, do the technological development and mathematics and science, as we refer to, only entail such things?
Among the traditional subjects, mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology are basically very important as other subjects also involve these areas. Now, the Government often grants short-term funding to promote STEM LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 14061 education. Schools then have to consider how to make use of such short-term funding. Short-term funding cannot be used to recruit additional manpower, otherwise the schools will have to contemplate how to dismiss the additionally recruited manpower within a short period of time, and it is not feasible. Therefore, schools consider procuring services or products, and robots most easily attract people's attention. Though I do not think that robots cannot be purchased, it is not the most important or only way to develop a smart city.
Actually, what students need to develop is their disposition to experiment, their abilities to experiment and the spirit to seek the truth. Short-term funding will not make students have basic knowledge and capable of integrating and connecting knowledge across different areas. To truly nurture talent, that is, to nurture the so-called STEM talent, we must first accomplish the proper instruction of various subjects in formal education and examine if these subjects require adjustments. Such efforts, in combination with informal education, must be persistently made before results can be achieved.
Therefore, in terms of talent development, I hope the education authority will have brand new and comprehensive ideas so as to truly support smart city development in Hong Kong.
I so submit.
DEPUTY PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): Does any other Member wish to speak?
MR ABRAHAM SHEK (in Cantonese): Deputy President, let me first point out that I am not quite intelligent about "smart city", but I thank Ir Dr LO Wai-kwok for proposing this motion. After listening to Members' speeches the whole morning, I have found that with a little bit of intelligence, I am still able to catch the ideas of our intelligent Members about the development of Hong Kong. Nevertheless, a smart city or an intelligent man actually has everything to do with the mind and brain. No matter how many computers or technology aids are available in a city, they are not going to boost our intelligence. Where does intelligence come from? For individuals, intelligence comes from themselves and their own experience. People who lack experience will just follow programmed commands even if they are given several computers.
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Secretary Nicholas YANG, how should we take forward smart city development? The question as to how a smart city should be integrated with Hong Kong society proposed by Dr Fernando CHEUNG just now has struck a chord with me. How will Hong Kong people be assisted in a smart city when they go through birth, ageing, sickness and death, things that no one can escape from in life? My feelings have been somewhat stirred after listening to Dr Fernando CHEUNG's speech. While we see that every year, 5 000 to 6 000 elderly people who have made contribution to Hong Kong economy on the waiting list for elderly care home places are not allocated a place even by the time they passed away, can it be called a smart Government? It is only because of their efforts that our smart city can evolve to the present state. But when they wish to go through the final days of life on their own strength, the Government lacks the wisdom to offer them help. I particularly notice the Secretary's remark that money is not the answer. In fact, money is the answer to all problems, but there is no guarantee as to whether people will be motivated to get things done. Hence, among "birth, ageing, sickness and death", we are backtracking to discuss smart city from the perspective of "death". Many people were born at well-chosen times. Is that a kind of wisdom? It certainly is. The 6 000-year history of China has taught us two things, i.e. how to increase people's intelligence through the teaching of "Yin" and "Yang", and how to walk on the righteous path on Planet Earth. Confucius also said, "Morality must be upheld no matter how clever a man is, or how competent a government is." Competence without morality is nothing.
Coming back to the economy, is there any wisdom displayed in this regard? Ms Carrie LAM is really something, seeking to tackle the housing problem with a vacant property tax, which is totally unwise as she is fighting with the market. As of last year, there were 9 000 first-hand vacant completed units on the market, among which 6 000 were recently completed, meaning that there were only 3 000 first-hand vacant units before that. She has invested much time and intelligence, personally taking the lead in doing it in the hope of offering 3 000 more units. With 24 hours a day, she should devote her time to helping the elderly and building more well-equipped schools. Do Members know how many students are currently in need of special education? There are 42 000 such students who still attend government schools. How will the Government take forward smart city development? What measures will be launched on the education front?
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Many patients hope for referral to specialists. How long do they have to wait? Some of them have to wait for five to six years, while some cannot secure any referral even by the time they died. Is such a Government intelligent? It barely is. Hence, for a smart city to work well, its leader must have some wisdom. What does it mean by a smart city? First, a smart city is marked by social fairness, and second, it is free from social division. We may take a look at how divided our society has become now, in which people would not even let go of a golf course―sorry, I am now speaking to the empty seat, not the Secretary. Those Secretaries should sit here to learn about the meaning of intelligence, and that is what I have learnt this whole morning―sorry, Deputy President, I have just said that in order to build a smart city, we should have a caring heart to help each other and every neighbour, and that is what we call big wisdom. The key to smart city development is, instead of the provision of a large number of technological infrastructure or input of enormous efforts, a mindset to come up with ways to improve people's quality of life with the use of technology. Quality of life is not just about having a refrigerator or a car, but being thankful for having people with a caring heart around, so that those in need will get the help they need, and students in need of a good school need not worry about being left out. This is precisely what an ideal smart city should be. A smart city is earned, not given, and technology only serves to assist us in making Hong Kong the best city of China, with love, filial piety and respect for family values, all of which require wisdom. Thank you, Deputy President.
DEPUTY PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): Does any other intelligent Member wish to speak? Mr KWOK Wai-keung, please speak.
MR KWOK WAI-KEUNG (in Cantonese): If it is asked if any man of wisdom wants to speak, I believe each and every Member would want to speak. In fact, I only wish to raise several simple points. First, the goal of a smart city is very clear, that is, to give the public better quality of life; in other words, to keep advancing forward. In addition, it is hoped that a civilized, healthy, environmentally-friendly, sustainable and competitive society can be created. In fact, all these are set down in the blueprint but the question is how they can be put into practice. I found that the points raised by a number of Members are related to public living, that is, health care, transport, travel, daily life, government administration, etc. In fact, all of these points are correct because they are actually the achievements we have seen made in other places, ones which we also 14064 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 want very much to do as soon as possible. However, I think there should not be any limit to a smart city. A smart city is in itself an infinity, that is, it keeps advancing forward and it is not the case that we can consider ourselves to have fulfilled the conditions of being a smart city just because we have done certain things.
Of course, many problems will be encountered in this process. What are these problems? Firstly, problems with the mindset. Frankly, we can see that for the time being, such things as big data, technology or information are often still not widely available in Hong Kong and at present, they are still concentrated in the hands of some people. They have become a kind of commodity rather than a kind of culture or habit. This is the first point. Such a situation is highly restrictive. The Smart City Blueprint for Hong Kong points out that 99% of people in Hong Kong possess an Octopus card but the problem is, the Octopus card was something new eight or 10 years ago but nowadays, it is by no means a novelty. The problem is that we have remained at a certain level or in the situation of the Octopus card monopolizing the market. Since there is monopolization by the Octopus card, the progress in its advancement has been extremely slow because there is no competition.
The second thing is related to our thinking, some thinking about hardware depreciation. For example, generally speaking, identity cards are replaced once in a decade because we believe that there should be a time limit for identity cards, so they are replaced once every 10 years. In this way, at least, they will not be worn and damaged and any new information can also be added to them. The question is: At the level of dealing with technologies, is it also necessary to wait for a certain period of time? Since we have put the infrastructure in place, that is, cards and equipment were bought and costs incurred, we say that the costs can be offset only after everything has been used for a full 10 years, so no change will be made within 10 years. Have the present "smart" development projects in Hong Kong all encountered such a problem? That is, since the infrastructure on which we have made investments has not been fully utilized or depreciated completely, we will not make upgrades actively―if there is such thinking, that means actually, we are always trying to catch up and can never take the lead.
The third point is how to turn smart city into a kind of culture and habit. Often, we say that in order to succeed, it is necessary to have good habits. In fact, the same is true of smart cities. How can we turn this kind of thinking into habit, rather than finding that there are problems, then say that we have to solve LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 14065 them and that is the reason why we want to promote the development of smart city? It is necessary to sort this out clearly. This is because if the development of smart city is taken forward only because problems have arisen, we have still imposed limits on ourselves rather than forming a habit, that is, to continuously make everyone's life more convenient and better in quality or provide people with more information, so that they can make smarter and more rational choices. I believe this is also what is missing in Hong Kong presently.
Of course, talents can be nurtured because I think talents are also part of the infrastructure. At present, the SAR Government focuses on infrastructural development on housing, transport or facilities, that is, on hardware but in fact, smart city is also about infrastructure, or how to allocate resources to new technology as part of the Government's infrastructural development. This can perhaps be called "soft infrastructure", that is, intangible things, but this is what the Government needs to do. Since the Government is not short of money, it should allocate resources to this aspect. Certainly, in allocating resources, it is necessary to ensure value for money. Just like technological research, the criterion is whether or not the results can benefit the public. Of course, the allocation of resources must be continuous. One view is that since new inventions are involved, success cannot be achieved with a single attempt or within one or five years; rather, it may be necessary to conduct various tests, make various attempts or compare, compete and contest with other places continuously, then launch something of even better quality. How much resources are we willing to allocate to this area? On talents, are we going to just allocate resources to promoting STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), to promoting technology in schools or enhancing the public's knowledge, as is the case at present, and think that this would do the job? I think there is still some way to go.
Deputy President, the foregoing are my views in general. Lastly, of course, I believe that there is some way to go before this kind of atmosphere or habit can be fostered but the short-, medium- and long-term goals are to deal with some aspects in the development of smart city in which we have to catch up, as pointed out by some Honourable colleagues just now. I hope that the Administration can first take bold and drastic measures to catch up the lag we have suffered, then foster the sustainable development of smart city with even greater vision.
Thank you, Deputy President.
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DEPUTY PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): Does any other Member wish to speak?
(No Member indicated a wish to speak)
DEPUTY PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): Ir Dr LO Wai-kwok, you can now speak on the amendments. The time limit is five minutes.
IR DR LO WAI-KWOK (in Cantonese): Deputy President, first of all, I thank the 6 Members who have proposed amendments to my motion and the other 23 Members who have spoken on the question. Despite their differences in political affiliation, they all recognize the importance of this motion, putting forward valuable views and suggestions that I find most inspiring and which will serve as important reference for the authorities in the implementation of smart city development.
Mr Christopher CHEUNG's amendment emphasizes the need for stepping up the promotion of innovation in financial technology, which is undoubtedly true. As I have mentioned in my introductory remarks, the relevant parties should expeditiously roll out mobile payment systems of higher compatibility for the convenience of the public in reducing the use of cash in daily transactions.
Mr Tony TSE in his amendment urges the Special Administrative Region ("SAR") Government to strengthen communication and cooperation with various sectors, especially professionals, and provide small and medium enterprises with financial assistance and support. In my introductory remarks, I pointed out that given the different socio-economic areas and policy aspects involved in smart city development, the authorities should remove cumbersome regulations and restrictions with a view to facilitating cooperation among the relevant industrial, commercial and professional sectors―including that between the technology and the engineering and construction sectors―and promoting the development of those industries.
Mr Alvin YEUNG in his amendment calls for wider application of gerontechnology and better quality of elderly care services in tackling the future trend of population ageing. He also requests the authorities to expeditiously enact legislation on the Internet of Things to deal with problems associated with privacy, data security, etc. Moreover, he urges the relevant authorities to LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 14067 provide innovation and technology start-ups with support in terms of policies while improving government procurement policies to give priority to using products and services researched and developed by local innovation and technology companies. These suggestions are in line with my aspirations as well as those of the technology industry voiced over the years.
Dr Elizabeth QUAT not only sets out in her amendment specific suggestions in such respects as smart mobility, smart living, smart environment, smart people, smart government and smart economy, she also calls for the proactive promotion of the development of a smart city cluster in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area ("the Bay Area"), speeding up of the ground breaking and application of new-generation information technologies such as artificial intelligence, mobile communications, Internet of Things and blockchain in the region as well as the expeditious establishment of a sharing platform for big data. I agree and support her suggestions, not only because we are both founding members of the Smart City Consortium. More importantly, as I have stressed in my introductory remarks, as municipalities in the Bay Area progressively intensify their exchange and interactions, Hong Kong should consider in advance the issue of mutual connectivity and compatibility with the corresponding systems in the Bay Area in the development of such systems as electronic identity ("eID") and electronic payment so as to facilitate the unhindered flows of people, goods and capital.
Mr Charles Peter MOK urges the authorities in his amendment to formulate a comprehensive policy on data management and open data as well as devise information security standards so as to strike a balance between promotion of technology and protection of people's personal privacy. I consider these suggestions a reflection of the aspirations of the relevant industry.
As for Mr HUI Chi-fung's amendment comprising 17 items, there are quite a few specific suggestions worthy of our consideration, including upgrading the technological infrastructure and information engineering of Hong Kong, facilitating the integration of technology into urban planning, promoting the intellectualization of infrastructure and green architecture, strengthening smart city manpower training, establishing a diversion process for solid wastes and assisting waste recyclers in introducing high-technology systems. However, the one proposal I found questionable in his amendment is the one in item 15 pertaining to the promotion of real-time car-sharing as a transport mode and its legalization. Real-time car-sharing generally refers to the act of carpooling or 14068 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018
"taxi pooling" through mobile applications. While some passengers may find such an arrangement convenient, it has aroused mush controversy in and outside of Hong Kong, given its impacts on the livelihood of commercial vehicle operators doing business in accordance with the law and such unresolved issues as public liability insurance. Hence, Hong Kong should not hastily legalize real-time car-sharing before a consensus is forged among the different parties in the community. Both my colleagues in the Business and Professionals Alliance for Hong Kong and I have reservations about such a proposal.
With these remarks, Deputy President, I implore Members to support my original motion.
SECRETARY FOR INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY (in Cantonese): Deputy President, first of all, I must thank Ir Dr LO Wai-kwok for sponsoring a debate on a motion of such importance as the promotion of smart city development. The remarks made by Ir Dr LO and other Members today not only concern smart city, but also covers the development of innovation and technology as well as that in other aspects of Hong Kong.
The development of innovation and technology is a priority of the current-term Government. Apart from promoting the development of biotechnology, financial technology and artificial intelligence ("AI"), we strive to build Hong Kong into a world-class smart city. Published in December 2017, the Hong Kong Smart City Blueprint ("the Blueprint") seeks to make use of innovation and technology to address urban challenges, enhance the effectiveness of city management and improve people's quality of living as well as Hong Kong's sustainability, efficiency and safety.
Before the release of the Blueprint, the Chief Executive set up a high-level and inter-departmental Steering Committee on Innovation and Technology ("the Steering Committee") with the purpose of steering, under her personal leadership, innovation and technology development and smart city projects and making timely allocation of resources in the light of progress. An important element of smart city―as well as innovation and technology―development is the coordination of operation and collaboration between Policy Bureaux and departments. Hence, to coordinate the relevant work effectively, the Steering Committee comprises two Secretaries and ten Bureau Directors. By joining the forces of various Policy Bureaux and departments, the Steering Committee can LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 14069 steer, coordinate and take forward innovation and technology development in a more expeditious and efficient manner, and build Hong Kong into a more advanced and livable smart city for the benefit of the public and businesses alike. The Steering Committee has held three meetings so far with the examination of work progress pertinent to the Blueprint being a standing item on the agenda.
After consulting other relevant bureaux, I will respond to issues raised by Members as follows:
In respect of Ir Dr LO Wai-kwok's views on the promotion of innovation and technology development, the Government attaches great importance to such development and is proactively offering assistance and convenience in all aspects, from talent, funding, system, to infrastructure and regulations. In terms of overall resource backing, the Government devoted $10 Billion in 2017-2018 and another $50 billion in 2018-2019 to supporting innovation and technology development. The first $10 Billion has been set aside to support the work of the Steering Committee in promoting innovation and technology policies and new measures (including those on smart city), such as providing all residents with a free electronic identity ("eID"), implementing the pilot Multi-functional Smart Lampposts scheme and establishing the Next Generation Government Cloud Infrastructure ("Next Generation GovCloud") and a Big Data Analytics Platform.
Talent is an invaluable asset. We will shortly launch a $500 million Technology Talent Scheme which comprises a Postdoctoral Hub programme to subsidize organizations in recruiting postdoctoral researchers to perform such tasks as research and development ("R&D") and product development. Meanwhile, to incentivize more students to undertake research work, the Education Bureau will, through an injection of $3 billion into the Research Endowment Fund, provide studentships for local students enrolled in postgraduate programmes funded by the University Grants Committee.
The local science and technology sector has long expressed serious concern about the shortage of home-grown talent in some specific areas. In response to such concerns, the Government, apart from continuing to adopt measures that attract overseas talent, announced in mid-May a Technology Talent Admission Scheme to be rolled out on a pilot basis for three years to provide a fast-track arrangement for the admission of overseas technological talent to work in Hong Kong.
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As regards STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education mentioned by some Members, our objectives are to develop among students a solid knowledge foundation in science, technology and mathematics, to strengthen their ability to integrate and apply knowledge and skills in different areas and to bring their creativity into full play. In an effort to so-called "train the trainer", we will, from 2017-2018 to 2019-2020 school years, arrange in phases a series of intensive training programmes for the leadership tier and middle managers of all primary and secondary schools to enhance their capacity in planning and implementing school-based STEM-related activities.
On such aspects as resource allocation and provision of financial support, we have set aside no less than $10 billion as funding for university research, which will be disbursed upon the completion of the review on research funding by the Task Force on Review of Research Policy and Funding led by Prof TSUI Lap-chee. Moreover, the announcement in May this year that Mainland research funding can be made available across border to Hong Kong on the basis of merit and competition means there will be more resources for scientific research.
To encourage R&D investments by enterprises, we will provide enterprises with super-tax deduction for R&D expenditure. The deduction will be 300% for the first $2 million of qualifying expenditure incurred and 200% for the remaining amount, without any cap. We hope Members can support the early passage of the relevant bill. In addition, we also emphasize promoting application of technologies in the market through optimizing the Technology Voucher Programme to assist local enterprises (including small and medium enterprises) in using technological services to improve productivity or upgrade or transform their business processes.
On the public sector front, the $500 million TechConnect (block vote) and the $500 million Innovation and Technology Fund for Better Living were rolled out in succession to subsidize government departments and non-governmental organizations ("NGO") in implementing technological projects. Moreover, we are providing additional subsidies under the Public Sector Trial Scheme for R&D projects backed by the Innovation and Technology Fund and incubatees of the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation ("HKSTP") and Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company Limited for production of prototypes/samples and conducting of trial schemes in the public sector to facilitate the commercialization of local R&D results.
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Some Members mentioned just now that the Innovation and Technology Fund for Better Living is open for application by education institutions and NGO only. It is mainly because we wish to encourage application of technologies by non-commercial organizations to improve services and enhance the people's quality of living.
Apart from talent and funding, the Government also strives to enhance the technological infrastructure in Hong Kong.
The Government is working on the establishment of research clusters on health care technologies and on AI and robotics technologies in the Hong Kong Science Park ("the Science Park"). We have set aside $10 billion to provide financial support for non-profit-making research centres or laboratories operating at the two clusters. HKSTP, meanwhile, is building a Data Technology Hub and an Advanced Manufacturing Centre in the Tseung Kwan O Industrial Estate, expected to be completed in 2020 and 2022 respectively. Furthermore, the five R&D centres of the Government are conducting "re-industrialization"-related research in their selected areas of focus. And the Hong Kong Productivity Council has been assisting the manufacturing sector in moving towards high value-added production and gradually into "Industry 4.0".
In addition, the Government will allocate $10 billion to HKSTP for constructing research-related infrastructure and facilities for common use, for enhancing support for HKSTP's tenants and incubatees as well as for attracting international technology enterprises to set up bases in the Science Park through the provision of incentives. In respect of new sites, Hong Kong is working with the Shenzhen Municipal People's Government to develop the Lok Ma Chau Loop into the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park, with a view to providing more room for the sustainable development of innovation and technology and "re-industrialization" in Hong Kong. The development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area ("the Bay Area") and collaboration between Hong Kong and Shenzhen will connect the upstream, midstream and downstream sectors of innovation and technology industries, thereby developing an international innovation and technology hub in the Bay Area.
Apart from civil infrastructure, digital infrastructure that supports smart city development is equally indispensable. I thank the Finance Committee for approving in May over $700 million of funding in support of the relevant work of the Innovation and Technology Bureau. The government departments concerned are now taking forward three measures at full speed:
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(a) providing an eID for all Hong Kong citizens by mid-2020, which allows them to use a single digital identity and authentication to conduct government and commercial transactions online and promotes the provision of one-stop innovative online services across departments or organizations;
(b) gradually implementing a pilot Multi-functional Smart Lampposts scheme from mid-2019 by installing about 400 new lampposts with smart devices to collect various real-time city data, enhance city and traffic management and complement the infrastructure development for fifth generation (5G) mobile communications services; and
(c) launching in 2020 the Next Generation GovCloud and a Big Data Analytics Platform to facilitate government departments in expediting development of e-government services.
Wi-Fi is another integral infrastructure of a smart city. We are now conducting a sweeping upgrade to the latest standard and adopting fibre links where feasible to improve the data transmission speed and stability. It is expected that fibre networks will be available at over 80% of the Wi-Fi venues and hotspots within this year.
The Chief Executive set out in her 2017 Policy Address eight major areas of work in promoting innovation and technology development, one of which is reviewing existing legislation and regulations, so as to remove outdated provisions that impede the development of innovation and technology. Apart from being a regulator, the Government should take up the role of a facilitator, removing obstacles for our industries. Since its establishment in April this year, the Policy Innovation and Co-ordination Office ("PICO") has actively engaged in in-depth communication with the stakeholders and relevant departments of such new economic activities as innovation and technology and share economy, so as to listen to their views. PICO is conducting a study on the regulatory regimes adopted by different cities in respect of certain new economic activities, drawing reference from the impacts brought about by those regimes, with a view to providing evidence-based data for the relevant departments to consider how best to respond to developments in Hong Kong and elsewhere. Based on the study, PICO will also update the provisions of existing laws, or even introduce new legislative control frameworks to cater to changes in technology application, thereby ensuring that the relevant regulations will keep abreast of the times and complement development in the area of innovation and technology.
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On the issue of privacy protection, the Office of Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data ("PCPD") has always paid close attention to issues of personal data protection arising from information and technology development, making timely updates to the relevant guidelines. PCPD published, for instance, the infographic "Protect, Respect Personal Data―Smart Use of Internet of Things" and the information leaflet "Physical Tracking and Monitoring Through Electronic Devices" to explain the possible personal data privacy risks associated with the use of Internet-of-things technology, and to put forth recommendations on the different privacy protection measures to be taken. We will draw reference from views expressed by Mr Charles Peter MOK and other Members to further enhance our work on privacy protection.
A number of Members also mentioned the issue of opening up data. The Government has been promoting the opening up of data with the data.gov.hk website currently carrying over 3 200 datasets provided by 49 bureaux and departments and 9 public/private organizations that cover various policy areas, including medical and health, transport, education, commerce and economy, environment, recreation and culture as well as housing. The website is also providing over 1 200 application programming interfaces for different R&D and industry development use. We hope to further implement our policy objectives regarding open data this year so that government departments can take forward their work on open data in a more systematic and transparent manner. Besides, the relevant Policy Bureaux and departments will continue to encourage public and private organizations to open up data, letting them understand how doing so can add value to their organizations and businesses.
Big data and AI are important aspects of innovation and technology at the moment. In developing the Next Generation GovCloud and Big Data Analytics Platform, we aim to enhance―through resources sharing and adoption of big data analytics and AI technologies―government operation efficiency and provide more efficient and reliable public services. The Platform will support the big data/AI projects to be launched shortly by various government departments, for example:
(a) a Cargo Big Data System for cargo clearance management by the Customs and Excise Department;
(b) the mobile App and chatbot services on social media platforms by the Hong Kong Observatory; and
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(c) a trial on using video analytic techniques to monitor illegal parking activities by the Energizing Kowloon East Office of the Development Bureau.
Besides, the Hospital Authority will also establish its own Big Data Analytics Platform to identify useful information that will support the formulation of health care policies, facilitate biotechnological research and improve clinical services.
A smart city should be people-oriented. It is thus a major objective for us to improve people's everyday life by such means as electronic payment systems and other online financial services.
An average person makes hundreds, even thousands, of retail payments each year. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority ("HKMA") is gearing up for the launch of a Faster Payment System in September this year, which enables banks and stored value facility operators to provide users with real-time inter-bank payment and fund transfer services around-the-clock through a mobile phone number or an email address. Moreover, to promote the wider adoption of mobile payment methods in the retail sector, the Government is working with the industry on a common QR code standard. And the Banking Made Easy initiative, slated to be launched in 2019 by HKMA, will simplify regulatory requirements for digital banks, facilitating such services as opening of bank accounts online, making loans and wealth management.
Apart from retail consumption, transportation is another area highly relevant to people's life. Real-time arrival time information of all regular routes operated by the Kowloon Motor Bus Company (1933) Limited ("KMB"), Long Win Bus Company Limited and Citybus Limited, along with those of some 80 routes operated by the New World First Bus Services Limited, is now available through mobile applications and websites, enabling passengers to access real-time information on bus schedules and better plan their journeys. Real-time arrival time information of other franchised bus routes will be available within this year. As at June 2018, KMB has provided information on seat vacancy of the upper deck on about 1 400 buses for passengers' information. It is also conducting a trial on a sensor system on some 900 buses with a plan to provide real-time patronage information through smart phone applications. In addition, the franchised bus companies will release real-time bus information through mobile devices within this year, or through information displays at government-owned public transport interchanges and 1 300 covered bus stops by 2020. The Transport Department ("TD"), meanwhile, will complete by this year the LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 14075 integration of its three mobile applications, namely, HKeTransport, HKeRouting and eTraffic News, to facilitate the public in conducting one-stop searches for information such as routes, journey time, fares, etc. of different transport modes and selecting the most appropriate arrangements.
There is also a plan by TD to begin installing from 2019-2020 the new generation of parking meters which will support different payment systems, including remote payment through mobile applications, and provide real-time information on vacant parking spaces. Meanwhile, the Government is actively encouraging the provision of such information by public car parks.
Furthermore, TD has begun taking forward a number of mid- to long-term transport initiatives, examples of which include formulating a plan to install "in-vehicle units" which allow motorists to receive real-time traffic information; engaging the public in 2019 in developing a detailed Electronic Road Pricing Pilot Scheme and its implementation strategy, introducing pilot intelligent traffic signal systems at road junctions starting from 2021, and adopting an automatic tolling system without toll booths for the new Tseung Kwan O―Lam Tin Tunnel by 2021.
In face of the challenges posed by an ageing population, the Government, and society at large for that matter, must adopt all possible measures, including the application of innovation and technology, to improve the supply and quality of health care and elderly services. HA has launched the first phase of the smart hospital approach by installing, for instance, a queue management system at four general outpatient clinics and four specialist outpatient clinics as at the end of March. Other specific measures include indoor navigation, electronic control panels for hospital beds and electronic tracking. Moreover, HA has begun studying the provision of telemedicine consultation services, increasing the use of physiological monitoring and sensory devices on stay-home patients and piloting the use of AI and machine learning for the improvement of health care services.
Mr Alvin YEUNG put forward the idea of using gerontechnology to address population ageing. The Government has established a $1-billion Innovation and Technology Fund for Application in Elderly and Rehabilitation Care to subsidize elderly and rehabilitation service units to try out and procure technology products, so as to improve the quality of life of service users as well as reduce the burden and pressure on care staff and carers. The initiative will be rolled out in the fourth quarter of 2018.
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Ir Dr LO Wai-kwok mentioned the intellectualization of infrastructure and green architecture. Since the beginning of this year, the Government has adopted Building Information Modelling ("BIM"), a process where buildings and their surroundings are recorded and represented in multi-dimensional data, for the design and construction of major government projects, allowing construction professionals to carry out design and planning in a virtual environment. Such a technique can improve the productivity and quality of the local construction industry.
The Development Bureau is studying the development of a Common Spatial Data Infrastructure ("CSDI"), a platform for exchanging geographic spatial data, to align and integrate the 3-dimensional (3D) spatial data of various government departments and even the whole territory, with a view to promoting the sharing of spatial data and facilitating the development and application of information technology. However, given the variety of spatial data involved, the platform will only be developed in a gradual manner. The relevant Policy Bureaux and departments are exploring the use of existing data development and systematic infrastructure to speed up the development of CSDI while actively examining the release of more spatial data and information through such online mapping services as GeoInfo Map. Meanwhile, the Lands Department and the Planning Department have each commissioned their own consultancy studies on setting a spatial data standard and the application of spatial data in urban planning, infrastructure development and the environment.
In addition, we will continue to include requirements, such as green building design, provision of smart water meter system, electronic vehicle charging facility and real-time parking vacancy information for new land sale sites in Kowloon East, with a view to developing a smarter community.
Establishing a low-carbon green community has been one of the directions for smart city development around the world in recent years. The Environment Bureau has set a target to reduce our carbon intensity by 65%-70% by 2030 compared with the 2005 level. Moreover, we are taking forward new railway projects under the Railway Development Strategy 2014 in an orderly manner so as to reduce roadside air pollutants and greenhouse gases.
In developing New Development Areas projects, the Government will explore introducing elements of a smart and green community during the planning and design stages. The Environment Bureau, meanwhile, maintains close contact with the recycling sector in the hope of supporting the latter in introducing smart recycling techniques and operational systems through the Recycling Fund.
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Furthermore, as Members are all aware of the announcement made by the two power companies to install smart meters throughout the territory between 2018 and 2025, which will facilitate the promotion of energy conservation and give the green, environmentally-friendly and low-carbon development a boost.
Deputy President, I wish to stress again that the Government is sparing no effort in promoting smart city development. Various Policy Bureaux and departments have expedited the implementation of the relevant measures, many of which―such as eID―will be rolled out within the next couple of years. I appreciate Members' eagerness to see quick results, but some of the measures can bear fruit only with the joint efforts of the Government, private organizations and academic/research institutions. The Innovation and Technology Bureau will consolidate the various views expressed by Members in today's meeting and refer them to the relevant Policy Bureaux for consideration and follow-up.
I so submit, Deputy President.
DEPUTY PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): I now call upon Mr Christopher CHEUNG to move his amendment.
MR CHRISTOPHER CHEUNG (in Cantonese): Deputy President, I move that Ir Dr LO Wai-kwok's motion be amended.
The amendment moved by Mr Christopher CHEUNG (See the marked-up version at Annex 1)
DEPUTY PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): I now propose the question to you and that is: That the amendment, moved by Mr Christopher CHEUNG to Ir Dr LO Wai-kwok's motion, be passed.
DEPUTY PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): I now put the question to you as stated. Will those in favour please raise their hands?
(Members raised their hands)
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DEPUTY PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): Those against please raise their hands.
(No hands raised)
DEPUTY PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): I think the question is agreed by a majority respectively of each of the two groups of Members, that is, those returned by functional constituencies and those returned by geographical constituencies through direct elections, who are present. I declare the amendment passed.
DEPUTY PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): Mr Tony TSE, as the amendment of Mr Christopher CHEUNG has been passed, you may now move your revised amendment.
MR TONY TSE (in Cantonese): Deputy President, I move that Ir Dr LO Wai-kwok's motion as amended by Mr Christopher CHEUNG be further amended by my revised amendment.
Deputy President, the only part of my original amendment retained in the revised amendment is as follows: "strengthen communication and cooperation with various sectors, especially professionals, to avoid working behind closed doors, and provide small and medium enterprises with financial assistance and support". I hope Members will support my proposal.
The further amendment moved by Mr Tony TSE to the motion as amended by Mr Christopher CHEUNG (See the marked-up version at Annex 2)
DEPUTY PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): I now propose the question to you and that is: That Mr Tony TSE's amendment to Ir Dr LO Wai-kwok's motion as amended by Mr Christopher CHEUNG be passed.
DEPUTY PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): I now put the question to you as stated. Will those in favour please raise their hands?
(Members raised their hands)
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 14079
DEPUTY PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): Those against please raise their hands.
(No hands raised)
DEPUTY PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): I think the question is agreed by a majority respectively of each of the two groups of Members, that is, those returned by functional constituencies and those returned by geographical constituencies through direct elections, who are present. I declare the amendment passed.
DEPUTY PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): Mr Alvin YEUNG, as the amendments of Mr Christopher CHEUNG and Mr Tony TSE have been passed, you may move your revised amendment.
MR ALVIN YEUNG (in Cantonese): Deputy President, I move that Ir Dr LO Wai-kwok's motion as amended by Mr Christopher CHEUNG and Mr Tony TSE be further amended by my revised amendment.
The further amendment moved by Mr Alvin YEUNG to the motion as amended by Mr Christopher CHEUNG and Mr Tony TSE (See the marked-up version at Annex 3)
DEPUTY PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): I now propose the question to you and that is: That Mr Alvin YEUNG's amendment to Ir Dr LO Wai-kwok's motion as amended by Mr Christopher CHEUNG and Mr Tony TSE be passed.
DEPUTY PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): I now put the question to you as stated. Will those in favour please raise their hands?
(Members raised their hands)
DEPUTY PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): Those against please raise their hands.
(No hands raised)
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DEPUTY PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): I think the question is agreed by a majority respectively of each of the two groups of Members, that is, those returned by functional constituencies and those returned by geographical constituencies through direct elections, who are present. I declare the amendment passed.
DEPUTY PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): Dr Elizabeth QUAT, as the amendments of Mr Christopher CHEUNG, Mr Tony TSE and Mr Alvin YEUNG have been passed, you may move your revised amendment.
DR ELIZABETH QUAT (in Cantonese): Deputy President, I move that Ir Dr LO Wai-kwok's motion as amended by Mr Christopher CHEUNG, Mr Tony TSE and Mr Alvin YEUNG be further amended by my revised amendment.
The further amendment moved by Dr Elizabeth QUAT to the motion as amended by Mr Christopher CHEUNG, Mr Tony TSE and Mr Alvin YEUNG (See the marked-up version at Annex 4)
DEPUTY PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): I now propose the question to you and that is: That Dr Elizabeth QUAT's amendment to Ir Dr LO Wai-kwok's motion as amended by Mr Christopher CHEUNG, Mr Tony TSE and Mr Alvin YEUNG be passed.
DEPUTY PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): I now put the question to you as stated. Will those in favour please raise their hands?
(Members raised their hands)
DEPUTY PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): Those against please raise their hands.
(Members raised their hands)
Mr CHAN Chi-chuen rose to claim a division.
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DEPUTY PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): Mr CHAN Chi-chuen has claimed a division. The division bell will ring for five minutes.
(While the division bell was ringing, THE PRESIDENT resumed the Chair)
PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): Will Members please proceed to vote.
PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): Will Members please check their votes. If there are no queries, voting shall now stop and the result will be displayed.
Functional Constituencies:
Mr Tommy CHEUNG, Mr WONG Ting-kwong, Ms Starry LEE, Mr CHAN Kin-por, Mr Frankie YICK, Mr YIU Si-wing, Mr MA Fung-kwok, Mr Charles Peter MOK, Mr Kenneth LEUNG, Mr Christopher CHEUNG, Ir Dr LO Wai-kwok, Mr HO Kai-ming, Mr Holden CHOW, Mr SHIU Ka-fai, Mr CHAN Chun-ying, Mr LUK Chung-hung, Mr LAU Kwok-fan and Mr Tony TSE voted for the amendment.
Mr LEUNG Yiu-chung voted against the amendment.
Mr IP Kin-yuen and Mr KWONG Chun-yu abstained.
THE PRESIDENT, Mr Andrew LEUNG, did not cast any vote.
Geographical Constituencies:
Mr CHAN Hak-kan, Dr Priscilla LEUNG, Mr WONG Kwok-kin, Mrs Regina IP, Mr CHAN Han-pan, Mr LEUNG Che-cheung, Mr KWOK Wai-keung, Dr Elizabeth QUAT, Dr CHIANG Lai-wan, Mr Alvin YEUNG, Mr Wilson OR, Ms YUNG Hoi-yan, Ms Tanya CHAN and Mr Vincent CHENG voted for the amendment.
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Ms Claudia MO, Mr CHAN Chi-chuen, Mr CHU Hoi-dick, Dr CHENG Chung-tai, Mr Gary FAN and Mr AU Nok-hin voted against the amendment.
Mr WU Chi-wai, Dr Fernando CHEUNG, Dr Helena WONG, Mr Andrew WAN, Mr LAM Cheuk-ting and Mr HUI Chi-fung abstained.
THE PRESIDENT announced that among the Members returned by functional constituencies, 22 were present, 18 were in favour of the amendment, 1 against it and 2 abstained; while among the Members returned by geographical constituencies through direct elections, 26 were present, 14 were in favour of the amendment, 6 against it and 6 abstained. Since the question was agreed by a majority of each of the two groups of Members present, he therefore declared that the amendment was passed.
MS STARRY LEE (in Cantonese): President, I move that in the event of further divisions being claimed in respect of the motion on "Expediting the promotion of smart city development" or any amendments thereto, this Council do proceed to each of such divisions immediately after the division bell has been rung for one minute.
PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): I now propose the question to you and that is: That the motion moved by Ms Starry LEE be passed.
PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): I now put the question to you as stated. Will those in favour please raise their hands?
(Members raised their hands)
PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): Those against please raise their hands.
(No hands raised)
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PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): I think the question is agreed by a majority respectively of each of the two groups of Members, that is, those returned by functional constituencies and those returned by geographical constituencies through direct elections, who are present. I declare the motion passed.
I order that in the event of further divisions being claimed in respect of the motion on "Expediting the promotion of smart city development" or any amendments thereto, this Council do proceed to each of such divisions immediately after the division bell has been rung for one minute.
PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): Mr HUI Chi-fung, as the amendments of Mr Christopher CHEUNG, Mr Tony TSE, Mr Alvin YEUNG and Dr Elizabeth QUAT have been passed, you may move your revised amendment.
MR HUI CHI-FUNG (in Cantonese): Mr LEUNG, I moved that Ir Dr LO Wai-kwok's motion as amended by Mr Christopher CHEUNG, Mr Tony TSE, Mr Alvin YEUNG and Dr Elizabeth QUAT be further amended by my revised amendment.
My amendment retains the following key points, including strengthening the promotion of renewable energy and recycling technology for solid wastes; in respect of smart mobility, promoting the mainstreaming of electric vehicles, pressing ahead with bicycle-friendly measures and implementing real-time car-sharing, i.e. effecting the legalization of such transport systems as Uber.
The further amendment moved by Mr HUI Chi-fung to the motion as amended by Mr Christopher CHEUNG, Mr Tony TSE, Mr Alvin YEUNG and Dr Elizabeth QUAT (See the marked-up version at Annex 5)
PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): I now propose the question to you and that is: That Mr HUI Chi-fung's amendment to Ir Dr LO Wai-kwok's motion as amended by Mr Christopher CHEUNG, Mr Tony TSE, Mr Alvin YEUNG and Dr Elizabeth QUAT be passed.
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PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): I now put the question to you as stated. Will those in favour please raise their hands?
(Members raised their hands)
PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): Those against please raise their hands.
(Members raised their hands)
Mr Frankie YICK rose to claim a division.
PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): Mr Frankie YICK has claimed a division. The division bell will ring for one minute.
PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): Will Members please proceed to vote.
PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): Will Members please check their votes. If there are no queries, voting shall now stop and the result will be displayed.
Functional Constituencies:
Mr LEUNG Yiu-chung, Mr Charles Peter MOK, Mr Kenneth LEUNG, Mr IP Kin-yuen, Mr HO Kai-ming, Mr LUK Chung-hung and Mr KWONG Chun-yu voted for the amendment.
Mr Tommy CHEUNG, Mr Frankie YICK, Mr YIU Si-wing and Mr SHIU Ka-fai voted against the amendment.
Mr Abraham SHEK, Mr Jeffrey LAM, Mr WONG Ting-kwong, Ms Starry LEE, Mr CHAN Kin-por, Mr MA Fung-kwok, Mr Christopher CHEUNG, Mr Martin LIAO, Ir Dr LO Wai-kwok, Mr Holden CHOW, Mr CHAN Chun-ying, Mr LAU Kwok-fan and Mr Tony TSE abstained.
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THE PRESIDENT, Mr Andrew LEUNG, did not cast any vote.
Geographical Constituencies:
Dr Priscilla LEUNG, Mr WONG Kwok-kin, Mrs Regina IP, Mr WU Chi-wai, Mr KWOK Wai-keung, Dr Fernando CHEUNG, Dr Helena WONG, Mr Alvin YEUNG, Mr Andrew WAN, Mr CHU Hoi-dick, Mr LAM Cheuk-ting, Ms YUNG Hoi-yan, Ms Tanya CHAN, Mr HUI Chi-fung, Dr CHENG Chung-tai and Mr AU Nok-hin voted for the amendment.
Ms Claudia MO voted against the amendment.
Mr CHAN Hak-kan, Mr CHAN Han-pan, Mr LEUNG Che-cheung, Dr Elizabeth QUAT, Dr CHIANG Lai-wan, Mr Wilson OR and Mr Vincent CHENG abstained.
THE PRESIDENT announced that among the Members returned by functional constituencies, 25 were present, 7 were in favour of the amendment, 4 against it and 13 abstained; while among the Members returned by geographical constituencies through direct elections, 24 were present, 16 were in favour of the amendment, 1 against it and 7 abstained. Since the question was not agreed by a majority of each of the two groups of Members present, he therefore declared that the amendment was negatived.
PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): Mr Charles Peter MOK, as the amendments of Mr Christopher CHEUNG, Mr Tony TSE, Mr Alvin YEUNG and Dr Elizabeth QUAT have been passed, you may move your revised amendment.
MR CHARLES PETER MOK (in Cantonese): I moved that Ir Dr LO Wai-kwok's motion as amended by Mr Christopher CHEUNG, Mr Tony TSE, Mr Alvin YEUNG and Dr Elizabeth QUAT be further amended by my revised amendment.
The further amendment moved by Mr Charles Peter MOK to the motion as amended by Mr Christopher CHEUNG, Mr Tony TSE, Mr Alvin YEUNG and Dr Elizabeth QUAT (See the marked-up version at Annex 6)
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PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): I now propose the question to you and that is: That Mr Charles Peter MOK's amendment to Ir Dr LO Wai-kwok's motion as amended by Mr Christopher CHEUNG, Mr Tony TSE, Mr Alvin YEUNG and Dr Elizabeth QUAT be passed.
PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): I now put the question to you as stated. Will those in favour please raise their hands?
(Members raised their hands)
PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): Those against please raise their hands.
(No hands raised)
PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): I think the question is agreed by a majority respectively of each of the two groups of Members, that is, those returned by functional constituencies and those returned by geographical constituencies through direct elections, who are present. I declare the amendment passed.
PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): Ir Dr LO Wai-kwok, you still have 26 seconds to reply. Then, the debate will come to a close.
IR DR LO WAI-KWOK (in Cantonese): President, I am very grateful to those Honourable colleagues who have proposed amendments and participated in the discussion. I am convinced that with our views as a catalyst, the Government will expedite the promotion of smart city development and provide the public with a green and smart community superior in quality and livability.
I implore Honourable colleagues to support my motion. Thank you.
PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): I now put the question to you and that is: That the motion move by Ir Dr LO Wai-kwok, as amended by Mr Christopher CHEUNG, Mr Tony TSE, Mr Alvin YEUNG, Dr Elizabeth QUAT and Mr Charles Peter MOK, be passed. Will those in favour please raise their hands?
(Members raised their hands)
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PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): Those against please raise their hands.
(No hands raised)
PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): I think the question is agreed by a majority respectively of each of the two groups of Members, that is, those returned by functional constituencies and those returned by geographical constituencies through direct elections, who are present. I declared the motion as amended passed.
PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): Debate on motion with no legislative effect. The motion debate on the "Report of the Subcommittee on Children's Rights".
Members who wish to speak on the motion will please press the "Request to speak" button.
I call upon Dr Fernando CHEUNG to speak and move the motion.
REPORT OF THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON CHILDREN'S RIGHTS
DR FERNANDO CHEUNG (in Cantonese): President, I move that the motion, as printed on the Agenda, be passed.
President, first, I will speak in my capacity as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Children's Rights ("the Subcommittee"). The Subcommittee has held 17 meetings in total and invited the participation of the public (including children) in the discussion on each of the topics in order to collect views from various aspects. The number of times of participation of individuals and deputations exceed 400. The deliberation of the Subcommittee is detailed in the report, so I will merely mention several salient points now.
Through the examination of situations concerning child abuse, inadequacies of the child protection system and the support for children with different disadvantages, the Subcommittee has explored ways to promote and protect children's rights. During the course of study, the Subcommittee has discovered that there is still a lot of room for improvement on the part of the Government in promoting and protecting children's rights. Members consider that the early identification of suspected child abuse cases and the support for the 14088 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 abused child are of equal importance. The authorities should increase the manpower of frontline staff and enhance their training, reinforce child care services, increase the welfare services provided to needy families, implement widespread public education, promote correct ways to raise children and encourage the persons concerned to seek help, and so on.
In respect of child protection, Members consider that the current system is riddled with deficiencies. The laws to protect children from abuse are scattered in a number of ordinances and some of them are even outdated. The welfare plans formulated by the multi-disciplinary case conference for abused child are not legally binding, whereas residential child care services are in acute shortage. Members are also concerned about the rights of children with disadvantages. They have urged the Government to establish a central database for children, formulate comprehensive child policies, take care of the needs of different children and protect the rights of children to grow up in an environment of care and love.
In fact, Members and deputations have made repeated criticisms that in the implementation of relevant child policies, the authorities have failed to assign any of the bureaux or departments to assume the steering role, and in the lack of coordination, bureaux and departments are each doing their own ways, causing children to lose their due rights. All along, the Subcommittee has been urging the Administration to set up an independent statutory children's commission or appoint a commissioner for children as soon as possible to listen to the views of children and focus on handling issues relating to children's rights.
Recently, the Government has eventually set up the Commission on Children. However, Members are disappointed that the Commission is merely an advisory committee with no clear legal mandate. Despite that, the Subcommittee still hopes that the Commission on Children will ensure the best interest of children and actively implement the 62 recommendations in the Report.
President, I will then express my own views.
In the past year or so, as the Chairman of the Subcommittee, we have listened to the personal experiences recounted by many children or persons concerned about children covering a wide range of inadequacies. We are extremely shocked to learn about those experiences. Some of the scenarios are really dreadful. Cases we are referring to include the experiences of certain young offenders. Certain young offenders have pointed out in person at the LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 14089 legislature how they have suffered physical or mental abuse in prisons for the youth. They mentioned being subjected to physical punishment like elbow strikes on their backs and bumps at their thighs by knees, which are very serious allegations. In view of these situations, we have requested the Administration to conduct thorough investigations into the allegations.
We have also found out that there is an acute shortage of residential child care services, which have rendered tens of dozens of children overstaying in acute hospitals. In fact, at one of the meetings, the Subcommittee discussed issues concerning children who have no medical needs but have to overstay at hospitals. The Administration, including the Social Welfare Department and the Hospital Authority, pointed out clearly that in June 2016, there were 61 children who had no medical needs but were overstaying in acute hospitals, and 62% of those children were mainly waiting for residential child care services. As at December 2016, the number of children overstaying in hospital dropped slightly to 43 but the percentage of children waiting for residential child care services increased to 84%, which was a vast majority.
Another reason for children overstaying at hospitals is the wait for the assessment by the multi-disciplinary case conference or welfare plans. The length of overstay of these children was 94 days on average in June and 65 days in December. These children may have been abused or they may have experienced sudden changes in family which have caused their families unable to take care of them continuously. Their medical needs have been addressed yet they still have to stay in hospitals for two to three months on average. During the stay, they may be open to attack of other infections, and due to the shortage of manpower, some children may be put under partial restraint. We are shocked by these situations.
We have examined a case involving a five-year-old child YEUNG Chi-wai suffering from methamphetamine poisoning. His case had passed through the multi-disciplinary case conference, which found that his mother had neglected him and his mother and her boyfriend were drug abusers with methamphetamine addiction. However, due to the shortage of residential child care places, the child was eventually sent back to live with his mother, and the child died of methamphetamine poisoning not long after this return. According to the post-mortem report, his methamphetamine poisoning level is seven times of the lethal amount of methamphetamine in general cases. In other words, he might have eaten some drugs direct at home and died.
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President, the said case occurred in 2013. As for the horrifying child abuse case which court proceedings have just completed, it occurred in 2015, and the victim "Lam Lam (林林)" is left in a persistent vegetative state. In fact, early this year, another "Lam Lam (臨臨)" was abused to death. In view of these cases, we need to make deep reflections. What is happening in the society of Hong Kong? Why can our system not protect this group of children?
In fact, within the speaking time of 15 minutes, I can hardly point out each of the issues we have raised at the Subcommittee, not to mention the examination we have conducted with the Government and various persons concerned about children's rights about how best to these problems. At the Subcommittee, it is mentioned that residential care arrangement of this kind lacks long-term planning. An 18-year-old young man called "Ah Fung (阿峰)" told us, in the past 17 years, he had to drift around 12 residential care homes. During those 17 years, he had resided in three residential child care centres, two small group homes and seven foster homes. This life of drifting around has prevented him from establishing relationships of trust.
President, I notice that we have provided the services, yet they are all in acute shortage. The Small Group Homes for Mildly Mentally Handicapped Children in Hong Kong are now handling applications submitted in March 2015 under the "normal queue", which means a waiting time of 3.5 years; as for the "priority queue", applicants still have to wait for more than six months. These children are the most disadvantaged group and their families cannot take care of them. In fact, according to a survey conducted by the sector, over 40% of the children in these small group homes have special education needs. On the other hand, the manpower establishment of these small group homes and residential child care centres still adopts the standard laid down in 1989, and no amendment has been made so far. Furthermore, the air-conditioning charges of the residential areas of these small group homes and child care centres are not yet included in the scope of regular assistance.
President, the child protection system in Hong Kong is extremely outdated. Some lawyers have pointed out to us that the laws for child protection in Hong Kong are lagging behind other countries by more than a century. No review of the system and laws for the care of disadvantaged children has been conducted for a long time. In the course of deliberation, we have also examined the existing schoolwork and examination stress faced by children in general. Our children do not have enough time to sleep and play, yet we are still trying to LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 14091 squeeze activities into their schedules. They do not want to take TSA. They have school for eight hours every day and they just want to have genuine recesses and lunch time. Yet, these time slots are also filled up by schoolwork, make-up classes and other extra-curricular activities. On Friday, the amount of homework will be particularly heavy. As for long holidays, they will have even more homework to do. It seems we are thinking that the schoolwork stress faced by our children is not heavy enough.
There are other children, children in poverty, children plagued by sickness, children who are refugees, children of ethnic minorities and children with disabilities, and we are facing many different kinds of needs. The difficulties these children are facing can hardly be explained one by one. President, lastly, I would like to read out a message from a deaf child quickly. At one of the public hearings, we heard the letter of a primary student KWOK Chi-ching (郭芷晴). She is in a family of four who are all deaf. Yet, she is sign-bilingual. She serves as the bridge between her deaf family members and the world of the hearing. In her letter, she says she senses that there is a wall between the two worlds, and she thinks the hearing and the deaf can learn the culture of the other, just like the exchanges among people from different countries, and this will bring peace and harmony. She hopes that the Government will sponsor two or three more schools in adopting the sign bilingualism and co-enrolment approach.
President, there are such schools in Hong Kong now, yet due to the shortage of funds, they may have to close. She hopes that these schools will continue to help those families, so that people with difficulties in communication and the public will have a choice. She also says that sound is for the hearing to listen, whereas sign language is for the deaf to see, and they are equally important. Some deaf people may hear sounds by wearing hearing aids, yet the hearing of sounds does not equal to full hearing capacity. As in her case, she needs sign language to complement her understanding. Sign language is a language as important as the Chinese language and the English language.
President, this message brings to the fore the barrier between us and those with special needs, that is, the hearing and those not hearing. The hearing always consider the needs of those not hearing from the perspective of the hearing, just like the adults always consider the needs of the children from the angle of adults. In fact, we have not really listened to the voices of the hearts of children.
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As for the Commission on Children, we pin high hopes on the Commission. We hope that the Commission on Children will remain independent as far as possible and become a statutory body, as in the case of their counterparts in some 70 advanced cities and countries. We need a platform to really listen to the voices of children and facilitate children in expressing their opinions so that we will base on the best interest of children in considering all public policies, laws and resource allocations, instead of the existing Commission on Children which is merely an advisory framework following the will of the Government. Thank you, President.
Dr Fernando CHEUNG moved the following motion: (Translation)
"That this Council notes the Report of the Subcommittee on Children's Rights."
PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): I now propose the question to you and that is: That the motion moved by Dr Fernando CHEUNG be passed.
SECRETARY FOR LABOUR AND WELFARE (in Cantonese): President, I thank Dr Fernando CHEUNG for moving this motion today. The Subcommittee on Children's Rights of the Legislative Council has convened 16 meetings with the Administration over the past two years, arranging for child concern groups and members of the public to express their views on children's rights and well-being and conduct in-depth discussions and exploration on the issue before setting out various concrete recommendations in its report.
We understand that the Subcommittee on Children's Rights has made these recommendations in the hope that the Government will take an interest in children's well-being and ensure that their viewpoints, rights and interests will figure prominently in policy formulation and resource allocation.
I must stress that the Government has been striving for the promotion of children's interests and rights while catering to their needs, with the work on children's growth and development being one of the priorities of administration of the current-term Government. In this connection, the Special Administration Region ("SAR") Government formally established the Commission on Children LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 14093
("the Commission") in June this year with a vision of ensuring that Hong Kong is a place where the rights, interests and well-being of all children are respected and safeguarded and their voices are heard, and where all children enjoy healthy and happy growth and optimal development so as to achieve their fullest potential. Amalgamating the efforts made by the relevant bureaux/departments as well as those of experts and stakeholders involved in matters concerning children's growth and development, the Commission focuses on addressing children's issues as they grow. Chaired by the Chief Secretary for Administration, the Commission held its first meeting on 28 June, examining its future priorities of work. The Commission will commence work as soon as practicable.
As a matter of fact, the SAR Government has all along attached great importance to children's well-being. Catering to the development needs of children of different ages and backgrounds, the relevant Policy Bureaux and departments facilitate the holistic development of children under clearly-defined policies on aspects as varied as child protection, child care services, education, health care and welfare, and set aside resources necessary for the provision of such services.
Effective protection of children and promotion of their healthy growth and holistic development hinge on the sincere cooperation and collaboration among different Policy Bureaux and departments as well as various professional sectors. The SAR Government welcomes the various sectors of the community to keep voicing their views on ways to promote children's well-being. The relevant Policy Bureaux and departments will consider the feasibility of their proposals in light of the actual circumstances.
President, I will listen carefully to Members' remarks and give a consolidated response in respect of their views and recommendations. Thank you.
PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): Does any Member wish to speak?
DR CHIANG LAI-WAN (in Cantonese): President, Hong Kong has already implemented the Convention on the Rights of the Child since 1994. The rights stipulated therein mainly include protection of children against discrimination, 14094 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 abuse and neglect and the rights to education and health care services, etc. In Hong Kong which is such a civilized and wealthy society, these are all achievable. However, it is miserable that the number of child abuse cases has been on the rise in recent years, causing us to doubt whether the laws of Hong Kong and the Government are capable of protecting children.
The recent "Lam Lam" incident has infuriated many Hongkongers. When I saw the photos in the newspaper of "Lam Lam" huddling up on the bed like a kitten, with tubes connecting to her body, and when I saw the heart-shaped picture "Lam Lam" drew in kindergarten, on which it read "Mommy and Daddy, I love you", I could not help feeling furious and sad. I could not hold my tears when reading the news reports at home. I wondered, "What kind of parents are they?" They are simply animals―not animals but beasts; they are worse than beasts! However, the maximum penalty for offences of child abuse in Hong Kong has been increased from imprisonment for about 2 years 20 years ago to only 10 years now. As regards the abuse case of "Lam Lam", the imprisonment terms of a few offences combined―because the Judge was also very furious and thus ruled that the sentences would not be executed concurrently―could sentence the mother of "Lam Lam" to 15 years of imprisonment only. Nevertheless, that is a life. Now "Lam Lam" has become vegetative. How could a child who was powerless to resist and who loved her daddy and mommy very much be assaulted abusively to such an extent?
I hope that the authorities will, in addition to conducting a study on increasing the penalty for child abuse offences, proactively explore at the same time how to strengthen protection of children and how to, starting from education, enable parents to become versed in parenting. They are capable of giving birth but what about educating children and helping them? It is very important because children are pillars of society. Therefore, we hope that the Panel on Education will discuss issues relating to parent education.
President, what exactly do children in Hong Kong need? Children who had attended meetings of the Subcommittee on Children's Rights mentioned they considered that their living needs improvement and hoped that the Government would pay attention to their living conditions. What does their living entail? In fact, it entails more than three meals a day, the free education provided by the Government in the past many years and the living assistance provided to poor children. Actually, many children feel uncertain about their future, especially in terms of employment and housing. They feel they have no future and no hope LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 14095 of home ownership. In this respect, what can we do? I hope the Secretary can include the establishment of a "Baby Fund" in the scope of work of the soon-to-be set up Commission on Children.
Why did I say so? President, nowadays, when there is a fiscal surplus in Hong Kong, the Government has to consider how to allocate and use such a surplus. However, I often say that even a family, having earned some extra money, has to consider whether or not to save part of the money for the children's schooling or future use, for the sake of keeping money for a rainy day. Then, as today the Government has a surplus, should it not allocate part of it to children development? Previously, the former Financial Secretary had earmarked $200 billion to set up the Future Fund, which was welcomed by all of us at the time. However, the former Financial Secretary said the Future Fund was only for investment in infrastructure and housing, etc., but not for other uses. I said, "Never mind and do invest in infrastructure but, at the same time, the fund can still be regarded as a 'Baby Fund' to be used for children, that is, accounting the profits from investment in infrastructure to the Fund". In this way, the Government can make savings for children and also earn profits from infrastructure. What is better than this? There are a whole host of ubiquitous examples of saving money for a rainy day for the next generation; many places overseas have similar funds. Therefore, I hope the Commission on Children that is soon to be set up can actively consider the establishment of a "Baby Fund".
I so submit. Thank you.
MR AU NOK-HIN (in Cantonese): President, under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child ("the Convention"), a child means every human being below the age of 18 years. Children are entitled to the rights to survival, development, protection and participation. As an international city and a developed economy, Hong Kong is not in constant famine or war, children's right to survival is naturally not under threat. However, as for the rights to protection, development and participation, there has been few review of relevant laws and policies. With limited resource and room, it is difficult to take forward the implementation and review of children's rights. Come to think about this. The Convention was adopted by the United Nations in 1989. It has been more than 20 years since Hong Kong became a contracting party to the Convention in 1994, but only now do we have a Subcommittee on Children's Rights ("the Subcommittee") to conduct a most hard earned review. 14096 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018
Although I was unable to join the Subcommittee as I am new to the Council, I can see in the minutes of meetings that many Members have put forward valuable views and recommendations to promote children's rights. For example, insofar as the right to protection is concerned, society and Members have actively put forward technical recommendations to address the problem of child abuse, such as strengthening the identification of drug or alcohol abuse families for early intervention, and enacting a law on penalty for child abuse, etc.
With regard to children's right to development, I notice that the Subcommittee has also made a number of targeted recommendations, covering grass-roots students, disabled students, children with special education needs and ethnic minority children. Specific policy proposals include increasing the low-income family allowance and examining the effectiveness of the "Chinese Language Curriculum Second Language Learning Framework".
Apart from addressing the constraints on children's right to development due to resources and policies, I noticed that the report has also proposed fundamental reforms to the system, such as limiting class hours and the amount of homework as well as reviewing the education system. I am convinced that these measures were proposed in the light of the suicide wave among students in the past year or two.
I would also like to take this opportunity to mention the Government's attitude towards children's rights and youth policy. The Subcommittee has held several public hearings at which more than a hundred children and young people expressed their aspirations for the Administration here in the Council. Their stories, struggles and demands are all recorded in black and white. They might not be articulate, but they have expressed the voice and concerns of children and young people. They should not only be protected, but more importantly, be considered as the main subject of concern, instead of troublemakers and troubles awaiting control and solution.
I hope the Government can be amenable to advice in this regard. In addition to paying attention to children's rights issues under specific categories, such as drug abuse, domestic violence, disability and SEN (special education needs), it should also have the courage and determination to implement institutional reform. Otherwise, there will only be more victims under the system.
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Given the situation faced by children and young people, the Government's response and proposal for improving children's right to participation were indeed disappointing. The establishment of the Commission on Children by the Government is an obvious example. Society and international organizations have always urged the Government to establish the Commission on Children as a statutory body for monitoring and supervising the implementation of the rights as set out in the Convention, in order to ensure that society listens and attaches significance to children's voices, so as to build a children-friendly city.
In the Concluding Observations on the reports of Hong Kong on children's rights under the Convention in 2005 and 2013, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child urged Hong Kong to establish a Commission on Children on both occasions to ensure that policy review and formulation will be made in the best interests of children. Moreover, the Legislative Council passed unanimously non-binding motions moved by Dr Fernando CHEUNG in 2007 and 2013 respectively on urging the Government to establish a Commission on Children to honour the obligations under the Convention and safeguard the well-being of children.
But what is the outcome? After more than 10 years of effort, the Government established the Commission on Children on 31 May this year. However, the Commission is so far away from public expectation that many community groups call it a "grade A replica". For one thing, the Commission enjoys no statutory status; and for another, it does not consist of grass-roots and children representatives. It thus runs opposite to the demand of society and the United Nations that the Commission should be an independent statutory body which can influence policy formulation, monitor the Government, assist children and young people in participation, and follow up on cases of violation of children's rights. We need a genuine Commission on Children.
Upon assumption of office, Carrie LAM established the so-called Commission on Children and Youth Development Commission. But they often operate behind closed doors. The membership, papers and agenda of meetings often did not take children and young people's participation into account. It is also difficult for the general public to get to know the details therein. Policy consultation, participation and formulation in this manner is no different from making the commissions cheering teams of the Government, instead of true power delegation and public discussions, which once again shows that the claim of the Carrie LAM Administration to encourage young people to participate in, comment on and discuss politics was actually a most hypocritical act. 14098 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018
In short, the Subcommittee did provide a precious opportunity for issues relating to children's rights to regain public attention. I hope the recommendations made by the Subcommittee can be included in the Government's work agenda. In addition to policy improvements, I also hope the Government can change its paternalistic and arrogant mindset of governance and really listen to the views of children and young people in the policy formulation, consultation and decision-making process.
I so submit.
MR MARTIN LIAO (in Cantonese): President, children are the future of every society and protection of children is an unshirkable moral duty of every adult. In all fairness, the Hong Kong Government has devoted a lot of efforts to this respect and has been making regular reports to the United Nations on the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in Hong Kong. Nonetheless, as the general public knows clearly, there is still much room for improvement in the protection of children's rights in Hong Kong. The bottom line is that the recurrence of tragedies of child abuse cannot be tolerated. The Report of the Subcommittee on Children's Rights makes many improvement recommendations in eight aspects relating to children's rights, including abuse, disabilities, poverty, examination and schoolwork stress, which all merit reference drawn by the Government. However, such recommendations are indeed no novelty. The crux is whether the Government is bold enough to introduce effective measures and allocate sufficient resources to solve such long-standing problems.
For example, as regards protection of children against abuse, relevant organizations must stay vigilant and frontline workers need to undergo appropriate training to ensure "early identification and intervention" of such cases. These have long since been the goals of the authorities over the years. However, the report still recommends the authorities to "explore measures to ensure that families at risk can receive early identification and intervention", "encourage schools" "to take prompt action for tackling and following up those cases" and "provid[e] more training for frontline staff". The reasons are evident, i.e. the existing mechanism is still not adequate and the consequences can readily render the last defence of preventing family tragedies virtually non-existent. Much to our regret, two infuriating cases of fatal child abuse that happened recently are the readily available examples.
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At the beginning of this year, a five-year-old girl was suspected to have been abused to death. It is reported that the girl had attended school with visible injuries, and the social worker of the school which the brother of the girl being abused attended had even reported suspicious visible injuries of the boy to the Social Welfare Department ("SWD"). However, SWD explained that, as a case "enquiry", not a case "referral", was received, the outcome was that the case was not given appropriate follow-up at the critical time. It gives people the impression that SWD just played with words and evaded responsibility. The trial of the other case was concluded just last week. The Judge described it as "one of the worst child abuse cases" and pointed out that the maximum penalty of 10 years' imprisonment for the relevant charges could not adequately reflect the severity of the case, urging the authorities to conduct a review. The girl concerned was only seven years old when she was discovered a victim and is now literally in a vegetative state. Before the case was uncovered, the kindergarten attended by the girl had discovered her wounds and arranged for a social worker to follow up. Yet a series of lies by the abuser somehow managed to conceal for a long time the truth of the girl being abused.
Suffice to say, it is most imperative to mend the fold now to prevent the recurrence of tragedies. The reaction given by the authorities so far is to tighten the notification mechanism of students' absence by requiring kindergartens to report to relevant departments students who have been absent from class for seven days―but with no mention of any follow-up measures―and provide in phases social work services for subvented child care centres and kindergartens in the next three years, with the ratio of social workers to students lowered from the originally conceived 1:600 to 1:400. President, it is certainly important to make persistent enhancements to specific measures. However, the authorities should also bear in mind that the public is most eager to know, not the details, but whether the new measures of the Government can afford children adequate and timely protection. For example, as regards the problems relating to case follow-up procedures and relevant powers and responsibilities which have been exposed by the tragedy, do the authorities have in place targeted measures that can effectively ensure appropriate follow-up of all alleged child abuse cases? We wish to receive clear and positive responses from the authorities.
Moreover, the report strongly calls for the establishment of a central database for children, which has also been a request in society over the years, for the reason that currently government departments and public organizations each hold fragmentary and incomplete data of children, rendering in-depth understanding of children issues difficult. For example, a study found that, in 14100 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 respect of child abuse cases, in the 10 years beginning in 2001, the Hospital Authority recorded a total of 7 000-odd abused children, 2 700 more than the number recorded by SWD in the same period. Scholars conducting the study pointed out that the discrepancy may reflect loopholes in the case referral and handling procedures, urging the authorities to conduct a review and merge the data. Another example is that we all want to help children suffering from rare genetic diseases, but the Government is yet to give a definition of rare diseases, let alone detailed information on sick children.
President, children's well-being is a broad and complicated issue, which involves family conditions, statutory protection, education system, disparity between the rich and the poor, social security, etc. Owing to the time limit, I can only briefly discuss the aforementioned few points, but it should have adequately illustrated to us that, to ensure that our children can grow up happily, Hong Kong must put in place a comprehensive, practical and specific children policy, and, at the same time, rectify the defect of responsibility fragmentation and allocate sufficient resources, while various government departments also have to properly coordinate the implementation of measures.
In recent months, to honour the pledge made in the election manifesto, the Chief Executive has set up the Commission on Children, which pools efforts from all relevant Policy Bureaux, departments and organizations for children's rights for the purpose of improving the well-being of children. Protection of children against violence or neglect is one of the prime tasks of the Commission. I believe the general public, like me, hopes the Commission can address such pressing problems and achieve results promptly, and expects the expeditious formulation of a comprehensive and well thought-out policy on protection of children in Hong Kong.
President, I so submit.
MR TOMMY CHEUNG (in Cantonese): President, the United Nations officially adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child as early as in 1989. The subject of children's rights has been under discussion in Hong Kong for years. A number of cases of violation of children's rights have happened in the interim. The establishment of the Commission on Children ("the Commission") by the Government in May this year is indeed long overdue, although the Liberal Party is still glad to see that it is finally done.
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However, the newly formed Commission is only an advisory body under the Administration with no substantive powers to review existing policies or address issues relating to children's rights. The Liberal Party is worried that the Commission will be reduced to a "toothless tiger", unable to serve its purpose of protecting children's rights. Hence, the Liberal Party suggests the Administration to expeditiously make the Commission an independently operating statutory body, so that it can have substantive powers to conduct independent investigations into children's rights and assist children in making their voices heard by virtue of statutory powers.
The right to protection is an important element of children's rights. However, there have been repeated cases of child abuse in Hong Kong. Some cases were unknown to the Social Welfare Department ("SWD") until tragedies had happened. This shows that the existing voluntary reporting mechanism is ineffective.
Under the existing mechanism, and according to the Procedural Guide For Handling Child Abuse Cases, social workers will first assess a suspected child abuse case and consult SWD before referring the case to SWD upon confirmation. However, under what circumstances should the case be reported to SWD? The guidelines are not clear and there are grey areas as to when social workers should make the report. It was due to this unclear boundary that frontline staff failed to detect potential child abuse cases which led to tragedies eventually.
In this connection, the Liberal Party proposes to set up a "Mandatory Reporting Protocol on Child Abuse" under which frontline professionals, including teachers, social workers and doctors, must report to SWD suspected child abuse cases which will be followed up and verified by a dedicated team of SWD. Mandatory reporting can alleviate the concerns of frontline staff and prevent deterioration of the incident as soon as possible, protecting children from abuse. In fact, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child recommended the Government to establish a Mandatory Reporting Protocol on Child Abuse back in 2013. For the well-being of children, the Government should study its feasibility expeditiously.
The Liberal Party also holds that the current penalty for child abuse in Hong Kong is too lenient to reflect the severity of the offence. Hence, it is necessary to increase the penalty in order to ensure a deterrent effect. Under section 27 of the Offences against the Person Ordinance, abuse or neglect of any 14102 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 child or young person by those in charge is liable to imprisonment for 10 years. In the judgment of the case of seven-year-old girl "Lam Lam" abused by her mother to the point of vegetative state, the Judge clearly pointed out that the Administration should examine the maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years imposable for child abuse. We also believe that the Administration should amend the legislation expeditiously to increase the penalty.
To conclude, the Liberal Party supports Dr Fernando CHEUNG's motion. Children are the future pillars of society. Even one child abuse case is too many. The Liberal Party believes that the Administration must address the situation seriously and take a multi-pronged approach to solving the problem, so as to ensure that children can grow up healthily and happily.
President, I so submit.
MR ALVIN YEUNG (in Cantonese): President, I rise to speak in support of the Report of the Subcommittee on Children's Rights presented by Dr Fernando CHEUNG.
The press reports that have moved all of us recently must be about "Lam Lam"(林林), a seven-year-old child who has been in a vegetative state due to abuse. In the family of "Lam Lam", apart from her parents, she has twin sisters and a younger brother who is a year her junior. These several children lived together. Though not yet grown up, they all have the ability to speak and express themselves. But no one spoke out about how "Lam Lam" was injured and abused. The Court could only mete out a harsh sentence to respond to the rage society has held against the cruelty committed by such parents. In fact, early in January this year, another "Lam Lam"(臨臨)―a different Chinese word of the same pronunciation―a five-year-old girl, was abused to death by her biological father. Also in the family of this "Lam Lam", a few siblings who are minors live together. Her parents were not inexperienced in parenting, but for reasons unknown why was "Lam Lam" unable to escape the fate of abuse? A series of examples demonstrate that children are absolutely powerless in the face of abuse by adults.
According to the 2016-2017 Annual Report of Against Child Abuse, in that year, 198 cases of suspected child abuse were received, involving 225 children, with half of them being aged between three and eight years and over 60% of the suspected abusers were family members, including parents and grandparents. LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 14103
However, as shown in the cases of the two "Lam Lam", had they not been sent to the hospital for emergency treatment due to their serious conditions, children falling victim to abuse would probably be moved outside Hong Kong by their parents, and their abuse may not be exposed eventually. As a study indicated, the problem of hidden family violence is far more serious than imagined and the number of requests for assistance may account for only 1% of actual cases. The information released by the Social Welfare Department ("SWD") also indicates that there has been a rising trend of child abuse cases in Hong Kong. Appalling cases happened over and over again. The problem is definitely not as simple as the cruelty committed by individual parents, but the evident inadequacies in the work of prevention of child abuse by the authorities and adults around students. As regards the two aforementioned students, their teachers had all discovered traces of them being abused but were unable and did not have the opportunity to conduct further investigations, leading to repeated tragedies.
In response to the calls in society for non-recurrence of tragedies, the Bureau proposes stepping up the measure of "one school one social worker" in kindergartens. Regrettably, the proposal has aroused grievances in the social welfare sector owing to difficulties in enforcement, even before introduction. The "one school social worker for each school" programme for primary schools renders counselling teachers without a social work degree unable to also perform counselling work, causing such counselling work to suddenly stop. Under the pilot scheme to provide social work services for kindergartens, a social worker has to work among two to three kindergartens. All along, social welfare organizations have insisted that social workers have to be stationed in the schools instead of travelling among schools, because in the one or two days stationed in one school, only remedial work, but not counselling and case follow-up, can be performed. More importantly, given the lump-sum grant, some organizations have already recruited new social workers with pay below the market rate. In fact, such counselling work is a difficult task. It is difficult to imagine how inexperienced social workers who only have limited time to get in touch with students can identify abuse of students in a timely manner. Now we are worried that three years later when the programme is reviewed, the conclusion will likely be: "problems are identified; public opinions are fading; subsidies have been exhausted; the programme will not go ahead".
It reminds me of my initial period as a Member which was met with ceaseless student suicides, leaving the entire society grief-stricken. I had also received letters from students who told me they were under tremendous pressure and had suicidal thoughts. The Government's remedial measure was the 14104 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 proposal to channel positive energy throughout the entire community. However, President, in hindsight, back then the Government said it would proactively increase resources for mental support, remind schools and society to pay attention to students' emotional problems, etc. Nevertheless, when the health care and social welfare sectors both pointed out the insufficiencies of manpower and resources, social concern seemed to have lessened given that the problem had been alleviated, the Government's attitude towards the problem seemed to just want it to be left unsettled. Fortunately, the number of student suicides has been not too great to date, but does it mean the problem has been fundamentally solved? It is the very point that worries us the most. As public attention wanes, is the Government as determined as before?
As a side note, I wish to mention the problems in foster care services. To me, children or teenagers in need of foster care services are the more disadvantaged among the disadvantaged. Some of them may be orphans. Some need foster care services possibly because their parents cannot take care of them. For some others, because of the Comprehensive Social Security Allowance, they may not be abandoned but their parents cannot truly take care of them.
Data of SWD show that as at December 2017, there were 867 places of foster care homes and 881 teenagers and children in need of foster care services. Therefore, some children or teenagers in need of foster care services may not be placed in a foster care home. In 2014, there were 944 places of foster care homes, which were more than today. Over the past few years, has the Government not increased the relevant resources? No, the Government has raised the allowance for various foster care services and introduced an additional bonus for caring children under three years of age, so as to encourage foster care homes to take care of young children. However, why has the number dropped but not risen and there are fewer places of foster care homes instead? I wonder if the Bureau has studied the causes. Is it related to money, the social atmosphere, the families concerned or other reasons? I hope the Bureau can give us answers.
Organizations concerned about children welfare and rights strongly advocate that the Government establishes a Commission on Children dedicated to children's rights. In the past, the Government refused to do so on the grounds that there was already the Family Commission. However, evidently problems of children and teenagers remained unsolved. Finally, the Government announced in the Policy Address 2017 that the Commission on Children would be LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 14105 established this year to answer calls in society. However, some groups have expressed disappointment that the Chairperson of the Commission is Chief Secretary for Administration Matthew CHEUNG, casting doubts about effective monitoring on the Commission. Moreover, we initially hoped that the Commission would be established according to international standards so that, similar to the Equal Opportunities Commission, it has a statutory status and is independent of the Government, while also being vested investigative powers, the authority to access information and the ability to summon witnesses to testify so as to find out the truth, etc. We consider that it will afford the most effective protection to children.
President, I will not oppose the Commission on Children because of its possible ineffectiveness. As Members of the Legislative Council, apart from monitoring the functioning of committees, we ought to address aspirations of the community so that we can complement each other. Dr Fernando CHEUNG, capitalizing on his professional knowledge of the social welfare sector, has presented the report on children's rights. I hope the Government can truly listen to relevant views and make joint efforts with the community. Only in this way can help be genuinely rendered to children.
President, the Civic Party will support the report presented by Dr Fernando CHEUNG. I so submit.
MR LUK CHUNG-HUNG (in Cantonese): President, I support the motion on the Report of the Subcommittee on Children's Rights ("the Report") proposed by Dr Fernando CHEUNG. The scope of the Report is very extensive. I am the father of a nine-year-old child. I really identify with Part IV of the Report in relation to "Children amid examination and schoolwork stress".
According to Article 29 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the education of the child shall be directed to the development of the child's personality, talents and mental and physical abilities to their fullest potential. Can Hong Kong's education system really serve this purpose? We often say that Hong Kong people are hardworking. According to a survey conducted by the World Bank, the number of working hours of Hong Kong wage earners is up to 2 600 per annum, or approximately 50 hours a week. But, unexpectedly, the time spent by primary school children on doing homework and learning is even longer than the working hours of wage earners. According to a survey conducted in 2014, primary students could spend up to 66.5 hours a week 14106 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 on learning. Insofar as the number of hours is concerned, children work even harder than wage earners. Thanks to this system, children will "die of exhaustion rather than winning at the starting line".
Have our education system, parents and educators taken stock of this problem properly? Since primary students have to spend so many hours on learning in schools, tuition centres and joining all sorts of supplementary learning activities, can they really fully enjoy diverse development and develop a well-rounded personality? Do they have free time to play? Playing is also one the rights of children. However, children of this generation appear to have been deprived of an innocent childhood.
I recall we studied in bi-sessional primary schools when we were small. At that time, quite many people considered whole-day schooling better than bi-sessional primary schools for they thought that whole-day primary schools could give their children more comprehensive care. No one could have imagined that after all primary schools had switched to whole-day schooling, children were not given adequate play time, not even time for sleep. A recent survey shows that children nowadays have only 7 hours or so of sleep time, though they are supposed to sleep 9 to 10 hours daily. Sleep deprivation will have an adverse impact on the physical and mental health of children.
Grown-ups emphasize work-life balance. This is why the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions has been promoting standard working hours in the labour sector over the years. Should standard learning hours be set for children as well? Regarding the concept of standard learning hours, the Government should conduct a policy study and, before doing so, I hope the Government can carry out a holistic scientific study to examine the time spent by primary students weekly―I am referring to learning in a general sense, including the study of various arts subjects, such as French, Spanish, phonetics, abacus calculation, and so on. Regarding the present state of learning of schoolchildren, the Government should conduct a scientific survey, with a view to regulating school homework load in the formulation of a standard learning hours policy in the future.
Although the Education Bureau has repeatedly stated that school homework should emphasize quality rather than quantity, the maximum daily homework load (i.e. lower primary students' daily writing homework should not exceed 30 minutes and upper primary students' daily writing homework should not exceed 60 minutes) has recently been removed from the Basic Education LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 14107
Curriculum Guide. Actually, this is retrogression. In my opinion, a reasonable cap on the number of hours spent should be imposed on written assignments as well as others. If the homework load is excessive, a mechanism should be put in place to enable parents to lodge complaints with the Education Bureau. Schools should not keep increasing students' homework load for the sake of catching up with others. It is inadvisable to spoil things out of excessive enthusiasm.
My second concern is students with special educational needs ("SEN"). Though these students have no intellectual problems, most of them have congenital defects such as Hyperactivity Disorder and Attention Deficit, Dyslexia or Asperger's Disorder. As a result, they cannot fully exploit their academic ability. Under most circumstances, however, they can rectify their defects through drug and behavioural therapies to exploit their unique strength. The problem is that the existing policy has failed to do a good job in identification, care and homework adjustment.
I shall now say a few words about identification and care. Pre-school children are often referred by general outpatient clinics to Child Assessment Centres for assessment before receiving a series of training, including speech and drug therapies, in institutions set up under the Department of Health ("DH"). When these schoolchildren are promoted to primary school, the Education Bureau will take the place of the Hospital Authority or DH in providing services except medical consultation. However, the Bureau has only very little resources to provide services for these children. The severe shortage of Special Educational Needs Coordinators has also had an impact on the provision of support for students and parents.
Worse still, besides inadequate support, the authorities originally had an adjustment policy for students with SEN, including providing them with the assistive conditions having regard to their special needs, such as using readers, extending the time allowed for completing examination papers, curriculum tailoring, reducing homework load, and so on. However, the Education Bureau has recently issued a guideline to substantially abolish or curtail the adjustment arrangements in upper primary schools due to internal assessments for secondary school places allocation purposes. The Government ought to understand that exerting pressure on these schoolchildren cannot make them catch up with others. The more pressure they face, the greater the sense of failure they will develop. They will also gradually lose interest in studying. I do not understand why the Education Bureau can be so heartless as to make these schoolchildren face such a cruel elimination test under such an unfair system. 14108 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018
I hope the Government can take the needs of children with SEN seriously. Meanwhile, we have to reflect on the purpose of education and measures to be taken to enable these children to pursue holistic development and grow up happily with appropriate support. In doing so, they will be able to make contribution to society when they become adults, that is, the real starting line. Otherwise, they will become very unhappy because of extreme fatigue during their learning and development stages. Their failure to develop a well-rounded personality will also lead to even more problems in future. I hope the Government can address squarely (The buzzer sounded) … the stress faced by these children. I so submit.
PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): Mr LUK Chung-hung, please stop speaking.
DR HELENA WONG (in Cantonese): President, I speak in support of the report submitted by the Subcommittee on Children's Right. I am also a member of the Subcommittee. Here, I wish to particularly thank Dr Fernando CHEUNG for chairing the Subcommittee and for his dedication and efforts in leading the work of the Subcommittee and holding a number of public hearings to listen to views on the rights of different groups of children, their problems and the relevant support services required by them.
The Democratic Party has consistently striven for the establishment of a high-level Commission on Children with substantive powers and resources for operation. We understand that the Government has stated in the Policy Address that preparations will be made this year for setting up a Commission on Children ("the Commission") but we hope that the Commission will not only be an advisory committee as referred to by the Government. We hope that the Commission will truly have substantive powers to draw up comprehensive policies on children for the protection of children's rights, or else it would become nothing but a venue for empty chats. The situation would probably be like the Women's Commission which has been degenerated into a forum for chit-chat and is actually of little use. We have all along demanded that the Women's Commission be upgraded to become a high-level cross-departmental organization led by the Chief Executive or the Chief Secretary for Administration, rather than being made subordinate to the Labour and Welfare Bureau. The proposed Commission seems to be a bit better for it is really led by high-level officials and yet, it is still a chit-chat venue because the Government said that it will be advisory in nature. So, is it not meant for chit-chat, too? But from the LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 14109 perspective of the protection of children, if our society truly cherishes children, cherishes their future and cherishes these very important assets of ours, I believe a chit-chat Commission cannot achieve a lot of results. Therefore, the Democratic Party has expectations for the Commission. We hope that it is more than an advisory body and even though it will be set up as a high-level committee, we hope that it will really have substantive powers, so that in the course of policy formulation, it will make contribution to children and families in Hong Kong.
President, insofar as this report is concerned, I am particularly concerned about several aspects. To us Hong Kong people, it is very saddening to learn of cases of child abuse, and we do not hope to see the recurrence of such cases. During the discussion of the Subcommittee, we had repeatedly taken note of the relevant situation. We hope that the Government will explore various ways to ensure early identification of and intervention into cases of high-risk families and also look into whether assistance can be provided by schools for children who are often absent from class as well as whether social workers can find out as early as possible incidence of child abuse or violence in which families, with a view to providing support early.
We consider it necessary to impose harsh punishment on child abusers. We understand that recently there have been some precedents in which the child abusers were punished severely. We hope that the Government will understand that there is more to do apart from imposing heavy punishment, and actually we should also think about why there are parents who do not love their children and why parents would abuse their children. Conversely, in order to address the problem of child abuse, we should not think that we can stop child abuse cases simply by punishing the parents heavily and putting them behind bars. I believe there is a lot more to do. In the final analysis, perhaps it has to do with whether sex education was implemented effectively at an early stage. Did parents give birth to their children willingly? Did they have knowledge of contraception? Did we do enough to prepare them to become responsible parents? Therefore, the kernel of the problem may lie in sex education in secondary schools. I think we must tackle the problem at root by enabling young people in Hong Kong to acquire the basic knowledge in this respect, so that they will give birth only when they are prepared to, and only when they are well-prepared that they will bring their children into the world and take care of them properly.
Of course, there is another problem. Sometimes it is not the case that the parents do not wish to look after their children properly. But since they have to work, especially as there are many dual-income families in Hong Kong, the 14110 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 biggest difficulty faced by them is that if they have to work, who will take care of their children? Will they be entrusted to the care of their senior family members? Some senior family members cannot even take care of themselves, so how can they take care of children? Some parents will choose to hire foreign domestic helpers and while some foreign domestic helpers are very caring in minding children, some others may not necessarily be so.
Therefore, child care services in Hong Kong require a major revamp. We have seen a huge demand for child care services in Hong Kong but for several decades in the past, the Government has treated it as a problem that can be addressed by the private sector. With regard to the provision of child care services, we can see from some cross-national comparative studies that Hong Kong has done a very bad job. In the developed countries, more and more children are being taken care of by carers who are not their mothers and in particular, by formal child care centres. For example, in Denmark, over 80% of the children under three years of age use full-time child care services, compared to 70% in Iceland, close to 60% in Portugal, and 55% in France. But the percentage is only 13% in Hong Kong. By whom the remaining 87% of our children are taken care of? As I said just now, either their mothers have no choice but are forced to look after their children at home after giving birth and therefore cannot work in society, or they have to entrust their children to the care of other people.
Hong Kong has a surplus of $150 billion annually. I hope that the Government will seriously plough in resources to take care of children properly by increasing the provision of child care services substantially to provide children with suitable, professional and compassionate care, so that incidents of child abuse will not happen again. But in many full-time child care centres of the Government, all the places have already been taken up and their occupancy rates have reached 100%. The number of places has seen no increase over the years and even with the provision of additional places, they still cannot meet the demand of the market. Therefore, I hope that through the recent consultancy study on child care services, the Government can extensively take forward the work of child care services.
With these remarks, President, I support this report.
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MR IP KIN-YUEN (in Cantonese): President, I rise to speak to welcome the report tabled to the Legislative Council by the Subcommittee on Children's Rights ("the Subcommittee"). I am a member of the Subcommittee. At the past 10-odd meetings, people from various sectors of society presented their views on different issues before Legislative Council Members and government officials, many of which stemmed from their personal experience. There were also criticisms of the systems and policies. A lot of the salient points are recorded in the report. I hope the authorities will realize the importance of children's rights and draw reference from the views of various members of the public in their overall policies and schemes.
We often say that children are the future masters of society. There is also the saying that "the child is the father of the man". The meaning behind these words illustrates that how we treat children today will directly affect their lives and the future of society as a whole. In short, how children are doing today definitely presages how society will be doing in the future.
To comprehensively examine children's rights, it is necessary for us to review whether Hong Kong, in implementing the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child ("the Convention"), has met the requirements set out in the Convention in respect of children's rights, including the rights to survival, development, protection and participation.
When the Subcommittee was in operation, the incident of the death of a little girl called "Lam Lam" unfortunately occurred. The tragedy has aroused our concern for children's lives. This is related to children's rights to survival and protection. I further hold that to comprehensively protect children's rights, it is imperative to start with their living. We should care for not only their lives and survival but also their living. We need a sound family-friendly policy to ensure that parents can maintain their living and livelihood.
This is no exaggeration. At the public hearings of the Subcommittee, some parents criticized the serious lack of child care services provided by the authorities. They also pointed out such problems as no provision of parental leave in the existing employment system, which is tantamount to obliging parents to choose between looking after their children and going to work. That is why I advocate that the Government should thoroughly consider the impact on children and fully take family needs into account in the proposition, vision, making and implementation of its policies.
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Children live in families. If it is said that families have a bearing on the well-being of children, in the absence of a family-friendly policy, there will be no point in talking about children's rights. This report has set out family-friendly measures which the authorities need to adopt in the light of such problems as families in poverty and parents working excessively long hours. The measures, including after-school care services and standard working hours, seek to resolve the livelihood issues of parents and families and ensure that children will be provided with services and care in their living, thereby protecting their lives. These several aspects are closely connected with each other.
President, what I said just now are some general principles. Next, I would like to expound on what the authorities should do to promote children's rights in respect of specific concerns.
I remember very well that at the meeting of the Subcommittee on 25 November last year, a Primary 2 girl said that she had been to the Legislative Council in the previous year, that means when she was studying in Primary 1. At that time she said that school life was busy and hard with loads of homework. How was she a year later? She said there was still too much homework which could hardly be finished. After completing all the homework, she already had no time for play. Being a representative of the education sector, I have repeatedly expressed my concern at the meetings. In my view, given that school education is an important component of childhood, we should start from the source, that means the education system, to reduce students' pressure because enjoyment of leisure is manifestation of children's right to development. Moreover, leisure does not merely mean spare time. Leisure is actually related to children's overall development, including their learning in the long term.
Regrettably, the Government has decided to resume the Primary 3 TSA (i.e. Territory-wide System Assessment). After the so-called enhancement, this baton which distorts education has left a big loose end of letting all students in the grade to sit for the assessment. It did not change its original nature of bringing pressure to bear on teachers and students. As indicated in a survey released by the Hong Kong Professional Teachers' Union last month, 40% of the frontline primary school teachers interviewed considered that the Primary 3 TSA had brought great or slightly greater pressure to teachers and students in their schools this year. In those schools sending all the students in the grade to take the assessment, nearly half of the teachers shared this feeling.
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Moreover, the allocation of time in whole-day schools has changed for the worse, increasing the school hours of students. A measure which originally intended to enable students to grow up more healthily has resulted in a morbid change. No matter how we improve the hardware and build more recreational facilities for children, the problem of children having no time for play is yet to be resolved. Games include physical activities. According to a survey conducted by The Chinese University of Hong Kong last year, the overall performance of Hong Kong children and teenagers in physical activities was poor. Less than half of the children and teenagers reached the international standard of doing moderate to vigorous physical activities for an hour every day. Such being the case, how can we talk about the health of the future masters of our society?
Certainly, we are most concerned about death caused by child abuse. In this regard, the Government must strengthen the existing reporting mechanism, and we have also proposed the approach of "one school social worker for each school". Yet regrettably, while the measure of "one school social worker for each school" has still not been formally implemented, we have seen it turning out to be a "shrunk" scheme. The Government does not lack financial resources to launch this approach. Why do the schools have to choose between a guidance teacher and a social worker? We absolutely do not understand it.
President, children's rights are a very important issue. Hence, I hope the Government can affirm the statutory status of the Commission on Children, and vest it with powers of investigation, monitoring the Government, etc. I also hope that children's voices (The buzzer sounded) … can be heard.
PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): Mr IP Kin-yuen, please stop speaking.
DR ELIZABETH QUAT (in Cantonese): President, I rise to speak in support of the Report of the Subcommittee on Children's Rights. The Subcommittee stated at the outset in the first paragraph of the report: "Every child has rights, whatever their ethnicity, gender, religion, language, abilities or any other status … These rights include the right to be protected against discrimination, abuse and gross neglect, the right to have access to services such as education and health care, the right to develop their personalities, abilities and talents to the fullest potential, the right to grow up in an environment of happiness, love and understanding, etc."
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The Subcommittee on Children's Rights has held a number of meetings, and each meeting was personally attended by different stakeholders, including children, who told us their personal feelings and the problems faced by them. President, these issues cover a very wide scope, including child abuse, child protection, children amid examination and schoolwork stress, children under poverty, ailing children, children with hearing impairment, children in correctional home, refugee children and recommendations on the way forward. During this period, I have contacted various voluntary organizations engaged in services for children and listened to a lot of views. Meanwhile, the Government has announced the establishment of the Commission on Children ("the Commission"). Regrettably, the Commission remains an advisory body. We in the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong hope to and extend our support for the Government to expeditiously upgrade the Commission to a statutory organization, vesting it with genuine powers and responsibilities to keep the gate for children's affairs and rights in Hong Kong.
President, the various areas of discussion mentioned by us just now are actually very complicated, and the scope involved is extensive. The report has covered most of the matters noted by us. Owing to the time constraint, I am not going to speak on them in detail. One particular point I wish to make is an issue we consider the most urgent, i.e. child abuse and protection of children. I have heard various participants in the meetings raise the following question which we think the Government must review: Has the Government accorded priority consideration to children's rights and welfare in all of its policies? Because now we can see that many policies may be perceived from the angle of bringing convenience to adults or facilitating the Government's administration or implementation of policies. They are not really based on the interests and well-being of children.
During this period, we have seen incidents of child abuse happen in society one after another. A little girl aged five died of abuse by her family members. Tragically, another girl, abused by her biological mother and stepfather, became vegetative. In the end, her mother was sentenced heavily to 15 years of imprisonment. We have also seen some incomprehensible cases which we do not wish to see. For example, a girl aged under 16 had obviously suffered sexual assault and performed oral sex for a man, but surprisingly, it was not filed as a case of a child being assaulted or raped. Seeing such problems, we would question whether our policies, systems and laws have gone wrong.
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We have also observed the number of child abuse cases released by the Social Welfare Department in January this month. A total of 704 cases were recorded last year. Among the abuse cases, 45% were physical abuse, and 25%, sexual assault. The abusers were mainly parents. Such figures were shocking.
The number of divorced single-parent families also keeps rising. As shown by the figures released the year before last, the number of separated/divorced persons reached 300 000, up by more than 40% over the number recorded 10 years ago, which was 200 000. Families nowadays have become increasingly complicated. Situations of children having the same father but different mothers and siblings of different surnames in the same family are not uncommon. Against such a complicated family background, there are many underlying familial problems, but is the Government and the whole society ready to deal with these problems and take care of children who grow up in such complicated families? Or do we only think about how to take remedial actions every time after a tragedy has happened? Hence, although now the Commission has not been upgraded to a statutory body, we still expect it to genuinely do more work with greater efforts in protecting children from harm, especially in such aspects as prevention of abuse in, identification of and support for high-risk families, as well as support for abuse cases and prevention of further abuse.
Various participants in the meetings have also pointed out that sex education in Hong Kong is rather outdated. This may be one of the reasons for young or unwed women becoming pregnant, or young people becoming parents when they are not yet ready. For this reason, it is also an important task in sex education to expeditiously conduct a comprehensive review of and update the sex education programmes in Hong Kong so that while learning how to protect themselves, children of different ages will understand their responsibilities as parents in the future.
President, the laws relating to sexual offences in Hong Kong are seriously outdated. In fact, the Government and the Law Reform Commission have reported to the Legislative Council a number of times that the relevant amendments are ready. But to date, the legislative amendments are still not made. Consequently, boys and girls under the age of 16 as mentioned by me just now cannot receive sufficient protection. For this reason, I hope the Government will amend the laws relating to sexual offences in Hong Kong as soon as possible.
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To support the families concerned, it is actually important to make families the service target. I have studied marriage and family therapy myself. Hong Kong really needs family therapy services. All the existing services are based on individuals. In the future, can the Government develop family-based services and train more family therapists so that parents in more families will be capable of playing their roles properly? Such support is in fact most important.
President, every child is a treasure with capabilities. They are the future pillars of society. Hence, the Government has the responsibility and mission to strive to protect and nurture children. Here I thank all the individuals and deputations who have attended the meetings of the Subcommittee on Children's Rights. I also thank the colleagues in the Secretariat for preparing this exhaustive report for us.
President, I so submit.
MR LEUNG YIU-CHUNG (in Cantonese): President, I wish to express my gratitude and support to Dr Fernando CHEUNG for presenting the Report of the Subcommittee on Children's Rights ("the Subcommittee") to the Council. In fact, I am also a member of the Subcommittee and regarding the 62 recommendations made by the Subcommittee, I support and agree with all of them.
In fact, the biggest problem with the existing policy on children in Hong Kong lies in the fact that there is no independent department or statutory agency responsible for analysing and formulating policies on children. As a result, various government departments all do things in their own ways and work on their own. In this connection, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child made the recommendation long ago that Hong Kong should establish a "commission on children" or appoint a "commissioner for children" to collect children's views and advocate children's rights, ensure implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, review the existing laws on child protection, etc. Unfortunately, although this issue has been discussed for many years and after respected urging, the Government was finally willing to establish the Commission on Children ("the Commission") this year to follow up issues related to children, it is disappointing that it is only an advisory body with no well defined statutory powers, so its purview is limited. In view of this, I hope that greater improvements can be made to this Commission in the future.
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In spite of this, I still hope that the Commission can perform its duties conscientiously because children's rights should receive greater attention and concern. I also hope that the Commission can actively implement the 62 recommendations made by the Subcommittee. In the long run, we hope that the Commission can be designated a statutory body as soon as possible, so that it can perform the duties prescribed by the United Nations and allow representatives from various social sectors, in particular, organizations working for grass-roots children and representatives of grass-roots children, to take part in the relevant work because it is through their positions and voices that the actual situation can be reflected.
In fact, the coverage of the Report of the Subcommittee discussed today is very extensive, so I cannot express my views on each of them. However, I wish to focus my discussion on several issues, and one area that I consider important is related to the education system in Hong Kong. At present, a very poor job is done of the integrated education mode adopted in Hong Kong, in particular, for children with special education needs ("SEN"), this kind of care is inadequate, nor can it solve their problems. All along, the Government only provides additional resources and manpower for this group of SEN children according to the existing policy but it has failed to reform the education system in a radical manner. It lacks far-sightedness, nor are the actual needs of these children addressed. If we draw reference from other Southeast Asia regions, take Taiwan as an example, we can see that comprehensive legislation was enacted to provide completely barrier-free access to SEN students. All schools and stakeholders have to assume the legal responsibility of eliminating the barriers in learning encountered by SEN students and even the qualifications of teachers and funding for special education are stipulated clearly. In addition, a most desirable policy is also adopted in Taiwan, that is, the education system was actively reformed, so that SEN children can adapt and integrate, rather than thinking that the problems can be solved just by providing resources and manpower, as is the case in Hong Kong.
In the meanwhile, I wish to talk about the problem of deaf children. The support provided by the Government to deaf children is also rather inadequate. The public have proposed the provision of bilingual education in sign language and spoken language for many years; unfortunately, so far, this has not been put into practice. Apart from one school for the deaf, most deaf students can only study in mainstream schools as they do not have any choice. Unfortunately, mainstream schools attach greater importance to education in spoken language, so often, deaf students cannot keep up with the pace of learning. At present, less than 10% of the deaf children in Hong Kong can go to university, so does this 14118 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 mean that they have poorer abilities? Of course not. It only reflects the inability of the present education system to address their actual needs, thus making it impossible for them to pursue further education.
In addition, I also wish to talk about child care services. At present, the support provided by the Government to single parents and grass-roots families is also inadequate. For example, the number of places for child care services has fallen far short of demand, so many working parents have no idea how they can cope with the needs of their children in learning and daily life. On the one hand, they lead a hectic life in order to make a living, while on the other, they have to devote themselves to the care of their children, so it is indeed very difficult for them to practise the parental education encouraged by the Government. Since these families have to cope with family finance and take care of children, often, instances of domestic violence occur. In fact, these families do not want to see these problems occur but more often than not, it is under the pressure of making a living that they occur. For this reason, the Government cannot possibly make light of the work in this regard. In addition, in 2011, the Government introduced the Neighbourhood Support Child Care Project in which services are provided by what is commonly referred to as "home-based child carers" and apparently, the needs of some families are addressed but in reality, this is not the case. It cannot meet the needs of local communities at all. In view of this, I hope the Government can make greater efforts in this area and do a better job.
Lastly, although the Subcommittee has completed its work for this year, the work of improving children's rights is not yet finished. I hope the Government can examine and implement in earnest the 62 recommendations made by the Subcommittee, accord statutory status to the Commission in the future and accept the recommendations of the United Nations by establishing a "centralized database for children" as soon as possible, so as to regularly update and analyse the situations faced by different children. With this, the Government and service providers can then understand the needs of children, with a view to truly and effectively performing their due duties under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. (The buzzer sounded)
PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): Mr LEUNG Yiu-chung, please stop speaking.
Does any other Member wish to speak? Dr CHENG Chung-tai, please speak.
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DR CHENG CHUNG-TAI (in Cantonese): President, I am a member of the Subcommittee on Children's Rights. Over the past year, we have organized a number of public hearings of different scales, visits or tours. However, I wish to point out clearly in my speech that in discussing children's rights, it should also be noted that our policy and positioning today have neglected a most important issue behind the entire family policy.
For example, over the past six months, when we talk about children's rights, the focus is often put on child abuse, student suicides or children's rights and benefits at schools. I am sure we all remember the incident of the little girl "Lam Lam", which happened in Tuen Mun in the beginning of this year. It was about a kindergartener "Lam Lam", who was found to have bruises on surfaces of her body by her teachers, but as her teachers or the kindergarten she attended were not required to report the case to the Police or the relevant authorities under the notification mechanism, the incident has become an irreversible tragedy when "Lam Lam" unfortunately died of abuse by her family.
After the incident, we have been focusing our discussions on the notification mechanism for schools, with a view to finding out the inadequacies of the mechanism in addressing child abuse cases or cases involving psychological damage and bodily harm caused to children, and making up for the inadequacies. We have convened quite a number of meetings, discussed how notifications should be made, and examined how we should handle the arrangements for providing counselling to children and students. The Education Bureau later came up with a direction of implementing the policy of "one school social worker for each school" or allocating additional resources to tackle the problem.
Nevertheless, this focus of discussions is in fact completely wrong, because the problem does not merely lie in the inadequacies of the notification mechanism for schools or the insufficiency of counselling resources, but is also attributed to some really puzzling changes in the role played by teachers nowadays, which is completely different from that of educators we knew in the past. For example, teachers are now required to handle excessive administrative or paper work. In this connection, the school management or the Education Bureau would argue that the problem could be addressed under school-based management, while school principals have to closely monitor the school accounts and make plan for school development. As a result, teachers can simply find no time to make 14120 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 home visits, in order to know more about the family background of their students, and even their personality and family life.
On the other hand, as parents have to struggle to make ends meet, they have habitually left all problems to schools, but there is also a lack of resources in schools. When parents are busy making a living every day, they will have no alternative but to let their elderly family members take care of their children, and grandparents are thus made to bear the responsibility. As time passed, schools have become unable to perform their function to educate students, while the daily life of students is also not comprehensively taken care of by their family, and the Government has thus come up with the idea of letting social workers take up the job and implementing the policy of "one school social worker for each school". The Education Bureau or the Government has mistakenly thought that the problem can be resolved when additional resources are provided to recruit more social workers, but this is not a problem to be resolved purely with the injection of money, because there are conceptual mistakes in each link. This is not a problem with an individual person or family, but after all a problem caused by the fact that life in Hong Kong is indeed too difficult.
The term "children's rights" actually refers to the question of whether we can provide children with a better life. Everyone should enjoy a good life, but we consider that children should be provided with a better life, and this is our basic stance. Therefore, after the incident of "Lam Lam", a lot of views have been expressed about plugging the loopholes in our policy and improving the notification mechanism, but these are not the major causes. The ultimate cause is the extreme difficulty that the family was facing, which has led to certain disorders among its members, and the urge to beat up a child out of unknown reason. We can say that some people must have gone out of their mind, but is it also a hard fact that there are far too many maniacs in our society recently? Yet, people tend to focus their discussions on the notification mechanism, and so on and so forth.
There is also a lousy result caused by the incident of "Lam Lam", and that is: The principal of the kindergarten in question can disappear for more than half a year after the incident, and has been off duty from January this year up till August and even September. Why can the kindergarten be managed in this way? It is because the Education Bureau considers it more appropriate to let it implement the school-based management. However, in the absence of its principal for more than half a year, who should be responsible for the LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 14121 management of the kindergarten? The Education Bureau replied that its supervisor would take care of the matter, but how can the supervisor do so when he is required to supervise several kindergartens at the same time?
The whole thing is really baffling to parents. For such a serious incident, should an account be given to the public? How about school development? When we kept discussing the relevant policy and mechanism, nothing has been done to face up to and deal with the post-disaster trauma of the school and parents. As a result, five among the nine teachers serving in the kindergarten will leave their job at the end of the current academic year. However, the Education Bureau is still looking on with folded arms. How can a kindergarten continue to operate when half of its teaching staff have left their job?
Hence, when discussing children's rights, we are after all only required to do a little bit more, and view the problem by putting ourselves more in somebody else's shoes (The buzzer sounded) … I so submit.
PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): Dr CHENG Chung-tai, please stop speaking.
MR KWOK WAI-KEUNG (in Cantonese): The Subcommittee on Children's Rights has held a total of 16 meetings and a number of public hearings, and has invited 320 deputations to express their views. We are most delighted to see that some children expressed their opinions from the first-person angle. Since this Report of the Subcommittee contains 62 recommendations, it is impossible for me to voice my views on them at one sitting. But generally speaking, I think this is a report of collective wisdom which I hope the Administration can attach importance and respond seriously. As the scope of this Report is really wide, I will only highlight a few points, including support to single-parent families and split families, as well as child abuse.
President, the topic of children's rights under discussion today covers too many different aspects indeed. Children are innocent. When they are born to this world, they are so pure as to have done anything wrong. However, if they grow up in split families or single-parent families, they may have to face relatively more difficulties. Of course, we expect that their difficulties can be reduced if our support to single-parent families and split families is stepped up.
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President, in regard to split families, I would first talk about the situation of single mothers, as the custody of children is usually awarded to the mother. What are the major difficulties a single mother awarded with custody of children has to face? First, it is the financial problem; and second, it is the caring problem. In terms of the financial problem, I think there are two aspects. First, does the mother need to work? Although under the CSSA system, single parents do not necessarily go to work, especially when their children are still young, many parents would rather go to work to improve the living conditions of their children as the CSSA allowance level is too low. However, when they go to work, another problem will arise and that is, their children will be in lack of care. Therefore, single-parent families are facing poverty in terms of financial situation and children's development. These are the two rather prominent problems.
According to a survey conducted in the United Kingdom, over 80% of the children from single-parent families have experienced problems with drug and alcohol abuse. This may be attributed to their families being incomplete, as that makes it easier for these children to have low self-esteem and feel neglected and then act rebelliously.
There is also such a scene in movies and television dramas: Some children are chatting in schools. When they talk about the occupations of their parents, the child coming from a single-parent family feels embarrassed. When his classmates ask about his father, he does not know how to respond. He may have or may never have met his father. He may have contact or may not have any contact with his father. In fact, this will somehow have some psychological impact on him.
There is a situation when he will hide himself from others as he does not want to compare with others or answer their questions about his family. Children from single-parent families may be unsociable or may want to avoid these embarrassing scenarios with some other means. Hence, in my view, no matter there is any problem in these single-parent families and split families or not, we need to provide support to them.
At present, our many services will be provided only when people seek help. In other words, you can ask for help when you are in need. But the problem is that some people do not feel the existence of the problems. In the case when a single parent needs to go to work, he may not know what problems his children LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 14123 are facing, as he does not have much time to talk to them. Of course, it is impossible for the Government to provide full assistance, but I hope that the Government can be more proactive in doing some more work, in communicating with these families and in identifying the problems, with a view to preventing the occurrence of any issues. I think the stance of the Government has to be clear.
Besides, let us look at the figures of divorce cases. In 2016, the number of cases in which divorce decrees were granted by the court was about 17 000, and compared with the figure in 1991, i.e. 25 years ago, it has increased almost two times. In these cases, the number of children and youths involved was 90 000. In fact, our supporting services to single-parent families have not undergone major changes or fundamental changes for many years, especially in terms of the system, and I am not referring to one or two measures but to the overall picture. Hence, I think the Government has to be determined in making improvement.
Child abuse is another issue mentioned by many colleagues earlier. In fact, some cases stemmed from family disputes or split families. In my view, both the education sector and the Social Welfare Department need to be more sensitive to such cases. If there are any drop-out students, especially younger students, they have to be proactive in looking into the cases instead of waiting for people to seek help. Otherwise, if any accident happens, they will suffer pangs of conscience.
Finally, some parents have recently told us about the insufficient services of the centres responsible for access arrangements. Although the services will be enhanced in the future, I hope that in the process, the authorities can pay attention to the supporting services and service integration, in order to avoid aggravating the problem instead of resolving the problem of the split family concerned, thus affecting the development of the children.
I so submit. Thank you, President.
PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): Does any other Member wish to speak?
(No Member indicated a wish to speak)
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SECRETARY FOR LABOUR AND WELFARE (in Cantonese): President, I thank the Subcommittee on Children's Rights ("the Subcommittee") once again for proposing this motion debate. Just now, a total of 13 Members put forth their recommendations and views. I now give a reply on the main points.
First, as I already emphasized in my keynote speech, the SAR Government has attached huge importance to children's welfare all along, and children's growth and development is even an important policy area in the present-term Government's administration. All along, various Policy Bureaux and departments have maintained close cooperation and formulated clear policies in various areas such as health care, education and welfare benefits with the objective of comprehensively meeting children's physical and mental development needs, while also promoting respect for children's rights in welfare benefits, health care, education, and so on, with the flexible use of existing mechanisms.
Just now, many Members talked about the Commission on Children ("the Commission"). As I have said, the Commission held its first meeting just on 28 June. At the meeting, its members held initial discussion on the issues that might be considered by the Commission in the future while also putting forth views on the Government's efforts for fostering the growth and development of local children. The Commission agreed that the initial work plan would include the following issues: Children with special education needs ("SENs"), ethnic minority children, children's health, children at risk (such as domestic violence and child neglect), the mechanism for dealing with absentee students, and other systemic issues such as exploring the feasibility of setting up a central databank on children. The Commission also offered views on the direction of the recommendations in the Consultancy Study on the Long-term Development of Child Care Services, and also on the regularization and possible enhancement of the Pilot Scheme on On-site Pre-school Rehabilitation Services.
The Working Groups under the Commission will commence their work in the policy direction laid down by the Commission. The Working Group on Research will initiate research studies on children-related issues and help review children-related policies and services as appropriate. As for the Working Group on Public Engagement, Education and Publicity, it will promote the importance of children's rights and interests, manage funding schemes for organizing publicity or community projects, and keep in touch with children through different channels and means to enable the Government and the Commission to LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 14125 listen to their voices, understand their views and take into account their suggestions.
The Commission will be an ongoing, action-oriented, responsive and high-level body that will drive the work for the benefits of children and perform the coordinating role to enhance cross-Bureau and cross-departmental collaboration. The Commission will also strive to listen to children's views and address children's issues to promote children's growth and development in Hong Kong.
Some Members think that a statutory commission should be set up right at the beginning. First, setting up a statutory commission will involve law drafting and a legislative process. This may require a long time as it can take years of time. Therefore, various departments now handle investigations, complaints or law enforcement concerning children-related cases under various mechanisms or the law. We hope to respond to social demands as soon as possible. The Chief Executive thinks that we must lose no time in setting up a regular, high-level and non-statutory commission vested with the function and duty of formulating policies and implementing coordinating and follow-up measures on children-related issues of social concern at different times, so as to take forward those tasks that are beneficial to children, achieve fruitful outcomes as soon as possible and in turn benefit children much earlier. After the Commission has operated for some time, we will consider the idea of reviewing the feasibility of setting up a statutory commission based on the Commission's operational experience and actual circumstances.
Article 4 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child provides, "States Parties shall undertake all appropriate legislative, administrative, and other measures for the implementation of the rights recognized in the present Convention." As I mentioned just now, the Government formally set up the Commission last month to deal with the formulation and coordination of a children's policy. At the same time, in the course of policy formulation, various Policy Bureaux will continue to gauge children's views, strengthen their communication with non-governmental organizations ("NGOs") and children, and draw reference from their views. For instance, the Government set up the Children's Rights Forum ("the Forum") in 2005 as a further platform for exchanges of views on children's affairs between the Government, NGOs and children. Since 2014, the SAR Government has enhanced collaboration between the Forum and the Family Council. It has not only relayed the Forum's views to 14126 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018
Policy Bureaux but also forwarded to the Family Council the views expressed by children at the Forum on various policy measures, so as to assist the Family Council in assessing policy impacts on families. In the future, we will continue to pay heed to children's views, in a bid to improve the Forum's operation and further enhance its functions.
Regarding the areas discussed by the Subcommittee, I will give a reply on the main points as follows.
Almost all Members have talked about child abuse and protection, including Dr CHIANG Lai-wan, Mr Martin LIAO, Mr Tommy CHEUNG, Mr Alvin YEUNG, Dr Helena WONG, Mr IP Kin-yuen and Dr Elizabeth QUAT. Many Members have emphasized the importance of child protection, and the Government likewise attaches a great deal of importance to children's well-being and strongly believes that every child should be protected from harm or abuse. Therefore, we have allocated additional resources in 2018-2019 for increasing the manpower of the Family and Child Protective Services Units under the Social Welfare Department ("SWD"), so as to enhance children protection and family support services, including outreaching services, counselling and group activities.
In order to facilitate the early identification of those children and their families with welfare needs and provide assistance to them, the Government will launch a three-year pilot project through funding allocation from the Lotteries Fund to provide social work services in phases for around 150 000 children and their families in the 700 or so aided standalone child care centres, kindergartens and kindergarten-cum-child care centres in Hong Kong. Besides, SWD will enhance the Educational Programme on Stopping Domestic Violence to support children witnessing or exposed to domestic violence and victims of domestic violence, and to help perpetrators and individuals with the possibility of using violence stop their violence, with a view to protecting children from harm.
We believe that it is honestly necessary to pool the wisdom and knowledge of various professions and strike up sincere cooperation in order to protect our children. At the same time, we will endeavour to complete the review of the whole Procedural Guide for Handling Child Abuse Cases as soon as possible. And SWD will hold thorough discussions with people and stakeholders in various disciplines on ways to handle high-risk cases more effectively, such as cases involving carers with drug abuse problems, so as to enhance our child protection efforts.
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Besides, the Education Bureau has taken measures to ensure the safety of absentee students. In dealing with cases involving students whom cannot be reached, the authorities will instruct school personnel to take a more stringent step of increasing the frequency of home visit from at least once in the past to at least three times in following up non-attendance cases. If the authorities still fail to get into contact with the student or parents concerned after repeated home visits and enquiries with other departments, they will refer the case to other departments for follow-up.
Just now, many Members (such as Dr Helena WONG, Mr IP Kin-yuen and Mr LEUNG Yiu-chung) discussed the views on child care services put forth in the Subcommittee's report. In this regard, the Government is actually conducting a study now. In December 2016, we commissioned the University of Hong Kong to commence a study on child care services. On 9 July, we will brief the Legislative Council Panel on Welfare Services on the progress of the study on child care services and consult members on the recommendations. The study on child care services is expected to complete within this year. Upon completion, we will determine the way forward for the long-term development of child care services based on the recommendations and announce it at a suitable juncture. On strengthening child care services, we will increase the number of places in aided standalone child care centres in the North District, Kwun Tong District, Kwai Tsing District and Sha Tin District by a total of around 300 from 2018-2019 in phases. We will continue to step up the manpower and services in this respect.
Earlier on, many Members also mentioned examination and schoolwork stress, including Mr LUK Chung-hung and Mr IP Kin-yuen. While children face examination and schoolwork stress, every student actually has their distinctive development and learning needs. The Education Bureau has all along emphasized that assessment should be student-centred and explicitly stipulated that schools should formulate their school-based assessment strategies flexibly and in the best interest of students to cater for learner diversity and create space for students to achieve the learning goal of having a balanced development in both physical and psychological aspects.
Besides, the Education Bureau will organize schoolwork-related professional development programmes every year for school principals, curriculum leaders and teachers through various channels, such as stressing the need for schools to consider the balance between schoolwork quantity and quality 14128 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 in determining the types and quantity of schoolwork, to conduct timely review, to communicate with parents on schoolwork arrangements, and to improve its school-based homework policy based on students' abilities, interests and needs.
Some Members are very concerned about SEN support. As a means of assisting public sector ordinary schools in taking care of SEN students, the Education Bureau has actually provided such schools with additional resources, professional support and teacher training all along, in addition to the disbursement of regular subsidies. The Education Bureau will continue to enhance its work in this respect.
Many Members are concerned about the support for children from grass-roots families. All along, the SAR Government has provided appropriate financial assistance and support services for grass-roots families with children through various welfare measures. One example is the Working Family Allowance Scheme. One of its main objectives is to alleviate cross-generational poverty through focused support for eligible families with children and young people. Actually, when we launched the scheme on 1 April this year, we had already made some enhancements and improvements, such as relaxing the income and work hour requirements, comprehensively increasing the amounts of various subsidies, such as the Child Allowance.
At the same time, the Education Bureau will continue to offer subsidies to schools and NGOs for providing a diversified range of activities for poor students through the School-based After-school Learning and Support Programme. It will also provide financial assistance to students with financial needs through the student's financial assistance schemes under the Student Finance Office. The Leisure and Cultural Services Department will also organize different types of recreational activities for children and offer fee concessions as a means of encouraging them to actively participate in activities.
As I said in my keynote speech, we welcome the views put forth by various social sectors on further improving children's well-being. The SAR Government will seriously consider the specific views expressed by Members on the relevant respects while also continuing to actively and flexibly foster children's development on all fronts and safeguard their welfare.
President, I so submit.
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PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): Dr Fernando CHEUNG has used up his speaking time.
PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): I now put the question to you and that is: That the motion moved by Dr Fernando CHEUNG be passed. Will those in favour please raise their hands?
(Members raised their hands)
PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): Those against please raise their hands.
(No hands raised)
PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): I think the question is agreed by a majority respectively of each of the two groups of Members, that is, those returned by functional constituencies and those returned by geographical constituencies through direct elections, who are present. I declare the motion passed.
PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): Motion for the adjournment of the Council under Rule 16(4) of the Rules of Procedure.
In accordance with Rule 16(6) and (7) of the Rules of Procedure, the total speaking time for this debate is one and a half hours, of which not more than 75 minutes are for speeches by Members. In accordance with rule 18(b) of the House Rules, each Member (including the motion mover) may only speak once and speak for up to 5 minutes. After Members have spoken, the public officer will reply.
I wish to remind Members that if the total speaking time of Members reaches 75 minutes, irrespective of whether a Member is speaking, I am obliged to direct the Member to stop speaking immediately.
PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): It is now 3:32 pm. The debate now begins. Members who wish to speak on the motion will please press the "Request to speak" button. I call upon Mr KWONG Chun-yu to speak and move the motion.
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MOTION FOR THE ADJOURNMENT OF THE COUNCIL UNDER RULE 16(4) OF THE RULES OF PROCEDURE
MR KWONG CHUN-YU (in Cantonese): President, I move that this Council do now adjourn for the purpose of debating the following issue: subsidence of viaduct piers of Yuen Long section of MTR West Rail Line.
President, it is indeed very rare because adjournment motions or motions moved under Legislative Council (Powers and Privileges) Ordinance by the democratic camp have been rejected by the pro-establishment camp for reasons of no urgency of the matter or wasting Council meeting time. However, even the pro-establishment camp is aware of the severity of this matter and the necessity of bring the matter to debate in the Legislative Council.
President, the incident was discovered in September 2013. Two viaduct piers of the Yuen Long Station showed subsidence. The piling works nearby were immediately stopped, but strong remedial measures were not taken until last years. What is astonishing is that the MTR Corporation Limited ("MTRCL") has not proactively announced the subsidence to the public for five full years.
President, there is something in common in the series of incidents concerning the Hung Hom Station, To Kwa Wan Station and Exhibition Centre Station of the Shatin to Central Link in recent years, as well as the subsidence incident of the Yuen Long Station. The need to account for the incidents only came to MTRCL after the incidents have been revealed by the media with details and photographs. In relation to the Yuen Long Station incident, MTRCL says that it has already reported the incident to the Buildings Department pursuant to the Buildings Ordinance. But this subsidence is not any ordinary subsidence. President, it is a grave public safety issue. On the two viaduct piers we will find the West Rail tracks, on which 410 000 people are commuting on it every day. It will affect almost 1 million people living in Yuen Long, Tin Shui Wai and Tuen Mun. If anything goes wrong with the two viaduct piers, who will have the confidence to take full responsibility?
President, the series of scandals all involve one thing, and that is the notification mechanism. Was the Transport and Housing Bureau, which takes charge of transport affairs, informed of the incidents? When was it informed? After it was informed, why did it not notify the public? These are queries of many Members.
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President, underpinning works on the two viaduct piers in the Yuen Long Station was only carried out in 2017, but MTRCL maintained normal railway service during the four years in the interim. Will minor variations and settlement of the viaduct pier tracks pose any risk to the passengers? Will that give rise to any public safety concern? Is it 100% safe to take the train running on the tracks? We do not know the answer to any of the questions. Worse still, the Yuen Long District Council, which handles affairs in the district, was not informed of the incident, not until much later in the papers MTRCL and the Government submitted to it. Only at that time did the Yuen Long District Council know that MTRCL had reported the incident to the Buildings Department pursuant to the Buildings Ordinance and the matter had been monitored by the Buildings Department.
President, we are very concerned about the way the incident has been handled. As I just said, the subsidence is not any ordinary subsidence. It affects the tracks located on the viaduct piers. Although Dr CHIANG Lai-wan says in the House Committee meeting last week where she performed her perfect demonstration that 2 cm is even smaller than her eyes, trying to tone down the severity of the matter, we are not professionals after all. Besides, according to some civil engineers, a settlement of 10 mm is a warning sign and 20 mm is the limit laid down by the Buildings Department and nearby piling works must be stopped. Some even say that when the settlement reaches 45 mm, the operation of the West Rail has to stop. We are indignant because the situation is grave and the matter involves the daily railway safety of the people but they and the District Council are ignorant of it. In fact, the public will not be so worried if there is a sound notification system.
Anyway, how should we deal with this incident now? Just like the way the Government and MTRCL dealt with the scandals involving the various stations on the Shatin to Central Link, if they have been candid and clear about the incident, I believe the public would not have been so worried. But proposing this hard-won adjournment motion on the incident concerning the Yuen Long Station is but our first step. We hope that through this motion debate today, we can call on the Bureau representative to disclose more information to us. If the information cannot ease the worries of the public, we do not rule out the option of taking more aggressive actions outside this Council. Transport safety is of prime importance, especially considering that there are almost 1 million people living in Yuen Long, Tin Shui Wai and Tuen Mun. They travel pass these 14132 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 stations every day but they are ignorant of the matter. We are indignant about this indeed. (The buzzer sounded)
Thank you, President.
PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): Please stop.
Mr KWONG Chun-yu moved the following motion: (Translation)
"That this Council do now adjourn for the purpose of debating the following issue: subsidence of viaduct piers of Yuen Long section of MTR West Rail Line."
PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): I now propose the question to you and that is: That this Council do now adjourn.
Does any Member wish to speak? Mr LEUNG Yiu-chung, please speak.
MR LEUNG YIU-CHUNG (in Cantonese): President, I support the adjournment motion proposed by Mr KWONG Chun-yu to debate on the subsidence of viaduct piers of Yuen Long section of MTR West Rail Line.
President, the MTR Corporation Limited ("MTRCL") discovered the subsidence problem and suspended the construction works at the Sun Hung Kai Properties ("SHKP") site nearby in as early as 2013. However, the railway operator failed to take the initiative to make public the incident. Neither the Yuen Long District Council ("YLDC") nor the public was informed of the incident. The West Rail Line has operated as usual to carry thousands of passengers every day. Is this a disregard for the safety of the public? The underpinning works for the viaduct piers were not carried out until four years later. Yet, instead of facing directly to the allegation of covering up the incident, MTRCL only stresses that it has followed the established practice and informed government departments of the incident. If government departments had been informed of it, why the incident was uncovered only in recent days? I am full of doubts of what has really happened.
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It is most absurd that the Government has kept the incident secret over years, turning a blind eye to the public and the DC concerned. This is despite the fact that the Government already has a grasp of the incident and there is sufficient time for it to collate the information and to give an account of the incident to the public. As some YLDC members have pointed out earlier, the underpinning works should have kicked off much earlier than the said implementation date because residents nearby said there was noise generated in the construction site in the small hours beforehand. MTRCL, however, simply explained that the noise was produced by the construction of noise barriers. Is the explanation a deliberate cover-up? If this is the case, MTRCL has put its integrity seriously at stake, which may also have a bearing on other MTRCL projects.
Although MTRCL assumes us that following the suspension of the construction works at the SHKP site, the structure of the viaduct piers is stable and risk-free, the public has just a little grasp or is totally ignorant of the incident, so to speak. Could it be said that we have to believe whatever MTRCL tells us? Some engineers have pointed out that pier settlement might affect the structure of the tracks. Yet, despite the recovery of the 20 mm subsidence, it was not until four years later that MTRCL commenced the underpinning works. We have no idea of whether the works can help improve the subsidence problem. Even though the subsidence does not pose any immediate danger, it is incumbent upon MTRCL, as a public service provider, to provide us with more details about the pier subsidence so as to remove the worry of the public. Yet, it is regrettable that neither MTRCL nor the Government has done so. Hence, I think the Government and MTRCL should make public all the information as soon as possible.
As we all know, the exposure of more and more scandals surrounding the projects of MTRCL has brought the public's confidence in the railway operator down to the freezing point. In two consecutive weeks, Members from the democratic camp have proposed to invoke the powers under the Legislative Council (Powers and Privileges) Ordinance for the appointment of a select committee to inquire into the projects as well as the suspected concealment of information. Regrettably, the two motions were voted down by pro-establishment Members. Some of the pro-establishment Members said the Legislative Council's following the footsteps of the Government to set up a select committee might lead to an overlap of powers. Some others thought it was unwise to use the imperial sword of the Council to deal with these problems. Eventually, the pro-establishment Members have disarmed the Legislative 14134 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018
Council, ignoring the interest and safety of the public. All right, I know pro-establishment Members are reluctant to set up a select committee. But how about only proposing an adjournment debate? Could this still be intolerable? Is a mere debate still unacceptable? Since when does the Legislative Council become dumb, allowing MTRCL to act arbitrarily and treat the safety of Hong Kong people in a contemptuous sneer?
This Council serves as the representative of public opinions. In the face of a spate of incidents associated with the safety of MTRCL projects, the Council is absolutely duty-bound to put this into the agenda to let the public know the true story, and to request and urge the Government, MTRCL, and relevant institutions to make public the relevant reports. With the current legislative session drawing to a close, there is almost no chance for us to follow up the issue in the Council. It will also be difficult for us to follow the relevant issues up in the next few months. Hence, I support the adjournment motion proposed by Mr KWONG Chun-yu.
PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): Does any other Member wish to speak?
(No Member indicated a wish to speak)
PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): If no other Member wishes to speak, I now call upon the Under Secretary for Transport and Housing to reply.
UNDER SECRETARY FOR TRANSPORT AND HOUSING (in Cantonese): President, just now, a number of Members spoke on the incident involving the subsidence of two viaduct piers near Yuen Long Station of the West Rail Line. I have heard Members' concern about the incident. Like Members and the general public, the Government is also very concerned about the incident. As far as I know, the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department ("EMSD") and the Buildings Department ("BD") joined the MTR Corporation Limited ("MTRCL") to attend an urgent meeting at the Yuen Long District Council on 26 June to give a detailed account of the circumstances surrounding the incident to the local District Council members. To allay the concern of the public, they also explained the Government's monitoring role in relation to the incident and also the follow-up work being undertaken now.
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Railway service is closely related to the daily living of the public. So, railway safety is certainly the top priority of the Government and a stringent regulatory system has been in place. EMSD, the statutory regulator on railway safety, regulates and oversees the safe operation of the railway system in accordance with the Mass Transit Railway Ordinance (Cap. 556) and the Mass Transit Railway Regulations (Cap. 556A). Its major functions include ensuring the adoption of appropriate safety measures by MTRCL; assessing and vetting new railway projects and major modifications of existing railway facilities; assessing and following up with MTRCL on improvement measures in respect of railway safety; and investigating safety-related railway incidents. EMSD has always had a regular monitoring mechanism for the inspection and supervisory audits of MTRCL's repair and maintenance works relating to railway safety.
Having learnt the present incident involving the subsidence of the viaduct piers of the West Rail Link, EMSD took the initiative to make inquiries to MTRCL and examined the past inspection records of the relevant section of track (i.e. the records since 2011 when the construction works of the adjacent development project commenced). It has been confirmed that the condition of the track remains within the safety limit and meets the requirements for safe operation. Also, it is confirmed that railway safety is not affected by the subsidence of those two viaduct piers. However, the Government will never let up and EMSD will also closely monitor the situation as always, including examining the track inspection records, and strengthening the inspection and supervisory audits of MTRCL's asset management system and repair and maintenance regime, so as to ensure the safety of railway operation.
In this present discussion, I wish to inform Members of the course of this incident, the current situation and the follow-up actions of various departments and MTRCL again.
Just as BD stated in the urgent meeting of the Yuen Long District Council, according to established procedures, the personnel responsible for the building works should ensure that the building works will not affect adjacent buildings, structures and services, and bring about adverse effects on, or cause damage to them. The private residential development project involved is in close proximity to the viaduct piers of the West Rail Link, so the registered structural engineer appointed by the project developer submitted a piling plan to BD in January 2008. Upon receipt of the plan, BD immediately consulted the Geotechnical Engineer 14136 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018
Office under the Civil Engineering and Development Department and MTRCL. And during the approval process, BD required the registered structural engineer, registered geotechnical engineer and registered contractor responsible for the building works to comply with the regular requirements under the Buildings Ordinance and its subsidiary regulations. Apart from that, they also had to set out the technicalities of the monitoring requirements for the nearby buildings and services in relation to the piling works. Such technicalities include setting up two additional monitoring checkpoints at each relevant location of the two viaduct piers; keeping watch of the subsidence record of the monitoring checkpoints; setting down the tolerable limit for the monitoring checkpoints and the corresponding measures to be adopted. As the piling works of that development project were to be carried out within a railway protection area listed under Schedule 5 to the Buildings Ordinance, BD also required the personnel responsible for the piling works to comply with MTRCL's request for instant notification before the commencement of the piling works. This is to facilitate the formulation of an appropriate monitoring plan which includes setting up additional monitoring checkpoints at that section of the viaduct and other locations to enable MTRCL to closely monitor the extent of subsidence and the degree of inclination. Moreover, to ensure structural safety and stability of railway facilities, piling works to be carried out within a railway protection area must comply with a set of more stringent standards. For instance, it is stipulated that when the subsidence at the above monitoring checkpoint exceeds the maximum tolerable limit of 20 mm (25 mm for buildings in general), the piling works concerned should be suspended and a remedial proposal should be submitted to BD, so as to minimize the adverse impact on the adjacent railway facilities. Piling works may resume only when approval is given by BD. The piling plan of the development project concerned was approved by BD in March 2008 and the piling works was allowed to commence in July of the same year.
Between 2012 and 2013, MTRCL noted the slight subsidence of the two viaduct piers. As confirmed by BD, during the said period, the subsidence of the two viaduct piers did not exceed the maximum tolerable limit of 20 mm and also, the subsidence had not caused any structural safety problem to the two pillars. Nonetheless, in the light of the subsidence and the request by MTRCL, the registered structural engineer of the development project informed BD in September 2013 that the piling works at the construction site would be suspended. After the suspension of the piling works at the construction site, BD still kept a close watch on the changes of subsidence level. Also, the registered contractor was asked to continue to take measurement at the monitoring LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 14137 checkpoints and to submit to BD the subsidence records of the monitoring checkpoints. Thereafter, as the information of BD shows, the subsidence of the two viaduct piers has not exceeded the maximum tolerable limit of 20 mm.
As far as I understand, a proposal for preventive underpinning works for the two concrete pillars was submitted to BD by MTRCL in October 2014 and it was accepted by BD in June 2015. Afterwards, MTRCL engaged an independent consultant to assist in examining the method and technicalities of the underpinning works. The underpinning works have been undertaken since September 2017, and are still in progress. Moreover, the personnel responsible for the piling works of the development project already submitted a revised piling plan to BD in May 2018. The revised plan includes an enhanced remedial proposal to lessen the impact on the facilities of the West Rail Link. The contractor concerned has also undertaken to complete the preventive underpinning works for the two affected viaduct piers before resuming the piling works. BD, EMSD and MTRCL will continue to closely monitor the subsidence condition of those two viaduct piers so as to ensure public safety.
We appreciate that the public are deeply concerned as to whether the subsidence of the viaduct piers of the West Rail Link will affect railway safety. And it is also a cause for concern that BD failed to notify EMSD of the subsidence condition and MTRCL did not notify relevant stakeholders of the incident. In response to public concern, BD and EMSD are examining the present incident, including how inter-departmental communication should be strengthened when relevant building works cause subsidence of the adjacent railway facilities, even if the extent does not exceed the default tolerable limit. BD and EMSD are also conducting a review on the arrangements for information dissemination, with a view to make incident notification more transparent for members of the public and relevant stakeholders to learn about whether railway safety is affected in a timely manner. At the same time, EMSD will keep monitoring MTRCL's work in relation to railway safety constantly. Through regular meetings, EMSD will review various issues concerning railway service and safety with MTRCL.
If necessary, MTRCL will also report relevant issues to the Legislative Council Subcommittee on Matters Relating to Railways.
Thank you.
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PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): I now put the question to you and that is: That this Council do now adjourn. Will those in favour please raise their hands?
(Members raised their hands)
PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): Those against please raise their hands.
(No hands raised)
Mr KWONG Chun-yu rose to claim a division.
PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): Mr KWONG Chun-yu has claimed a division. The division bell will ring for five minutes.
PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): Will Members please proceed to vote.
PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): Will Members please check their votes. If there are no queries, voting shall now stop and the result will be displayed.
Functional Constituencies:
Mr LEUNG Yiu-chung, Mr Frankie YICK, Mr YIU Si-wing, Mr MA Fung-kwok, Mr Charles Peter MOK, Mr Kenneth LEUNG, Mr Dennis KWOK, Mr Christopher CHEUNG, Mr IP Kin-yuen, Mr POON Siu-ping, Ir Dr LO Wai-kwok, Mr HO Kai-ming, Mr Holden CHOW, Mr SHIU Ka-fai, Mr CHAN Chun-ying, Mr LUK Chung-hung, Mr LAU Kwok-fan, Mr KWONG Chun-yu and Mr Tony TSE voted for the motion.
THE PRESIDENT, Mr Andrew LEUNG, did not cast any vote.
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Geographical Constituencies:
Mr CHAN Hak-kan, Mr WONG Kwok-kin, Mr WU Chi-wai, Mr LEUNG Che-cheung, Ms Alice MAK, Mr KWOK Wai-keung, Dr Helena WONG, Mr Alvin YEUNG, Mr Andrew WAN, Mr CHU Hoi-dick, Mr LAM Cheuk-ting, Mr Wilson OR, Ms YUNG Hoi-yan, Ms Tanya CHAN, Dr CHENG Chung-tai, Mr Gary FAN and Mr Vincent CHENG voted for the motion.
THE PRESIDENT announced that among the Members returned by functional constituencies, 20 were present and 19 were in favour of the motion; while among the Members returned by geographical constituencies through direct elections, 17 were present and 17 were in favour of the motion. Since the question was agreed by a majority of each of the two groups of Members present, he therefore declared that the motion was passed.
NEXT MEETING
PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): I now adjourn the meeting until 11:00 am on Wednesday, 11 July 2018.
Adjourned accordingly at 3:56 pm.
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Annex 1
The marked-up version of the amendment moved by Mr Christopher CHEUNG (Translation)
That, since smart city is to catch up with the development of the era of intelligence, the Administration has made smart city as one of the four major areas of focused development of innovation and technology in Hong Kong, the Administration and released the Smart City Blueprint for Hong Kong in December 2017, mapping out the policies and measures to be implemented in the next five years in six areas, namely smart mobility, smart living, smart environment, smart people, smart government and smart economy; in this connection, this Council urges the Government to proactively allocate resources to perfect various policies and ancillary measures, so as to expedite the promotion of smart city development; the relevant measures include facilitating the research and development and application of innovation and technology, upgrading the technological infrastructure of Hong Kong, promoting the intellectualization of infrastructure and green architecture, stepping up the promotion of innovation in financial technology, facilitating the opening of data by public and private organizations for development and application, setting up a platform for sharing big data, making optimal use of innovation and technology for improvement of people's daily living, as well as developing a low-carbon green and smart community, with a view to fostering the sustainable development of Hong Kong and facilitating the people in leading a quality life.
Note: Mr Christopher CHEUNG's amendment is marked in bold and italic type or with deletion line.
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Annex 2
The marked-up version of the further amendment moved by Mr Tony TSE to the motion as amended by Mr Christopher CHEUNG (Translation)
That, to catch up with the development of the era of intelligence, the Administration has made smart city as one of the four major areas of focused development of innovation and technology in Hong Kong and released the Smart City Blueprint for Hong Kong in December 2017, mapping out the policies and measures to be implemented in the next five years in six areas, namely smart mobility, smart living, smart environment, smart people, smart government and smart economy; in this connection, this Council urges the Government to proactively allocate resources to perfect various policies and ancillary measures, so as to expedite the promotion of smart city development; the relevant measures include facilitating the research and development and application of innovation and technology, upgrading the technological infrastructure of Hong Kong, promoting the intellectualization of infrastructure and green architecture, stepping up the promotion of innovation in financial technology, facilitating the opening of data by public and private organizations for development and application, setting up a platform for sharing big data, making optimal use of innovation and technology for improvement of people's daily living, as well as developing a low-carbon green and smart community, with a view to fostering the sustainable development of Hong Kong and facilitating the people in leading a quality life; this Council also urges the Government to strengthen communication and cooperation with various sectors, especially professionals, to avoid working behind closed doors, and provide small and medium enterprises with financial assistance and support.
Note: Mr Tony TSE's amendment is marked in bold and italic type.
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Annex 3
The marked-up version of the further amendment moved by Mr Alvin YEUNG to the motion as amended by Mr Christopher CHEUNG and Mr Tony TSE (Translation)
That, to catch up with the development of the era of intelligence, the Administration has made smart city as one of the four major areas of focused development of innovation and technology in Hong Kong and released the Smart City Blueprint for Hong Kong in December 2017, mapping out the policies and measures to be implemented in the next five years in six areas, namely smart mobility, smart living, smart environment, smart people, smart government and smart economy; in this connection, this Council urges the Government to proactively allocate resources to perfect various policies and ancillary measures, so as to expedite the promotion of smart city development; the relevant measures include facilitating the research and development and application of innovation and technology, upgrading the technological infrastructure of Hong Kong, promoting the intellectualization of infrastructure and green architecture, stepping up the promotion of innovation in financial technology, facilitating the opening of data by public and private organizations for development and application, setting up a platform for sharing big data, making optimal use of innovation and technology for improvement of people's daily living, as well as developing a low-carbon green and smart community, with a view to fostering the sustainable development of Hong Kong and facilitating the people in leading a quality life; this Council also urges the Government to strengthen communication and cooperation with various sectors, especially professionals, to avoid working behind closed doors, and provide small and medium enterprises with financial assistance and support; to expedite the promotion of smart city development, the Government should also:
(1) conduct a comprehensive review of policies and regulations on elderly care and promote the application of gerontechnology, so as to upgrade the quality of elderly care services and cope with the trend of population ageing in the future;
(2) expeditiously enact legislation on the Internet of Things to deal with problems associated with privacy, data security, etc., so as to protect public interest;
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(3) make use of big data to promote demand-led transport planning, including regular collection of information on vehicular journeys by the Government for analysis of the distribution of traffic demands and travelling patterns of commuters in Hong Kong, so as to make planning of more accurate public transport services that meet long-term demands;
(4) enhance the amount and types of data provided on the data.gov.hk website, draw up a timetable for opening of data, and establish an open and transparent platform for industries and the public to reflect their needs for information and data, so as to expand the database;
(5) provide innovation and technology start-ups with policy support and review the existing legislation and regulations to remove barriers for such enterprises; and
(6) improve government procurement policies to give priority to using products and services researched and developed by local innovation and technology companies.
Note: Mr Alvin YEUNG's amendment is marked in bold and italic type.
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Annex 4
The marked-up version of the further amendment moved by Dr Elizabeth QUAT to the motion as amended by Mr Christopher CHEUNG, Mr Tony TSE and Mr Alvin YEUNG (Translation)
That, to catch up with the development of the era of intelligence, the Administration has made smart city as one of the four major areas of focused development of innovation and technology in Hong Kong and released the Smart City Blueprint for Hong Kong in December 2017, mapping out the policies and measures to be implemented in the next five years in six areas, namely smart mobility, smart living, smart environment, smart people, smart government and smart economy; in this connection, this Council urges the Government to proactively allocate resources to perfect various policies and ancillary measures, so as to expedite the promotion of smart city development; the relevant measures include facilitating the research and development and application of innovation and technology, upgrading the technological infrastructure of Hong Kong, promoting the intellectualization of infrastructure and green architecture, stepping up the promotion of innovation in financial technology, facilitating the opening of data by public and private organizations for development and application, setting up a platform for sharing big data, making optimal use of innovation and technology for improvement of people's daily living, as well as developing a low-carbon green and smart community, with a view to fostering the sustainable development of Hong Kong and facilitating the people in leading a quality life; this Council also urges the Government to strengthen communication and cooperation with various sectors, especially professionals, to avoid working behind closed doors, and provide small and medium enterprises with financial assistance and support; to expedite the promotion of smart city development, the Government should also:
(1) conduct a comprehensive review of policies and regulations on elderly care and promote the application of gerontechnology, so as to upgrade the quality of elderly care services and cope with the trend of population ageing in the future;
(2) expeditiously enact legislation on the Internet of Things to deal with problems associated with privacy, data security, etc., so as to protect public interest;
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 14145
(3) make use of big data to promote demand-led transport planning, including regular collection of information on vehicular journeys by the Government for analysis of the distribution of traffic demands and travelling patterns of commuters in Hong Kong, so as to make planning of more accurate public transport services that meet long-term demands;
(4) enhance the amount and types of data provided on the data.gov.hk website, draw up a timetable for opening of data, and establish an open and transparent platform for industries and the public to reflect their needs for information and data, so as to expand the database;
(5) provide innovation and technology start-ups with policy support and review the existing legislation and regulations to remove barriers for such enterprises; and
(6) improve government procurement policies to give priority to using products and services researched and developed by local innovation and technology companies; moreover, this Council urges the Government:
(7) in respect of smart mobility, practically ameliorating such problems as traffic congestion, shortage of parking spaces, delayed and lost trips of public transport, etc.; encouraging the industry to introduce an intelligent information system to provide real-time parking vacancy information of private car parks, and conducting a study on using concessions or legislative measures to incentivize private car parks to share data on vacant parking spaces, so that drivers can access the relevant information;
(8) in respect of smart living, expeditiously perfecting various infrastructural facilities of a smart city, including further raising the speed of WiFi services in public places and enhancing the security in using such services; conducting a study on the introduction of electronic business registration ('eBR') apart from electronic identity ('eID'); and stepping up the development of smart healthcare and smart elderly care to perfect the healthcare and elderly care services in Hong Kong;
14146 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018
(9) in respect of smart environment, promoting optimal use of green smart technologies to practise a low-carbon and energy-efficient life and perfect waste disposal, and proactively conducting a study on more effective use of recovered resources to effect waste-to-energy and waste-to-treasure proposals, including integrating innovation and technology with development of green industries or 'light recycling industry', so as to promote the development of the whole green industrial chain as well as the application, research and development of relevant technologies;
(10) in respect of smart people, to tie in with the global trend of education, further adding elements of arts to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics ('STEM') education, turning it into Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics ('STEAM') education, and allocating additional resources to training STEAM teachers and supporting the promotion of STEAM education in schools; stepping up efforts in promoting the teaching of programming and coding, and making programming and coding a compulsory subject in primary and secondary schools, so as to nurture talents of innovation and technology at their early age; enhancing on-the-job training and retraining of employees to support Hong Kong employees in learning, grasping and applying innovation and technology; streamlining the application and administrative procedures relating to the Postdoctoral Hub and Internship Programme, and shortening the time of processing funding, so as to encourage the industry to hire more professionals; and strengthening digital support for children from families with financial needs, the elderly and the disadvantaged, so as to eliminate the 'digital divide' and foster digital inclusion;
(11) in respect of smart government, completing the establishment of Common Spatial Data Infrastructure ('CSDI') by 2020, including expediting the development and implementation of various applications and services of a smart city as well as enhancing city management, so as to achieve various great visions of a smart city; strengthening, improving and promoting digital government services, including online tax return filing, payment, licence renewal, etc.; and stepping up training to enhance the understanding and application of technology by the civil service, LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 14147
such as making better use of the Common Operating Platform for Emergency Management by government departments;
(12) on smart economy, in line with the development strategy of the Outline of the 13th Five-Year Plan for the National Economic and Social Development of the People's Republic of China, the Belt and Road Initiative and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area ('the Bay Area'), promoting industrialization and re-industrialization of Hong Kong's achievements in scientific research; strengthening global support to assist industries in developing businesses in the Mainland and world markets; fostering the development of the innovation and technology industry through tax concessions and other measures; promoting more venture capital and technological service industries; fostering incubation of start-ups of patented technologies; and applying, transforming and perfecting the intellectual property rights regime, so as to establish a market with demand for and supply of innovative technologies and products; and
(13) proactively promoting the development of a smart city cluster in the Bay Area, including enhancing promotion of the development of sandboxes for financial technology, medical science and technology, and educational technology in the region; speeding up the ground breaking and application of new-generation information technologies such as artificial intelligence, quantum information, mobile communications, Internet of Things, blockchain, etc. in the region; expediting the establishment of a sharing platform for big data, as well as strengthening the mutual access and flow of people, goods, services, capital and information in the region;
this Council also urges the Government to, in the course of implementing the above measures, extensively collect views from stakeholders straddling different sectors, make optimal use of the existing technologies, enhance public-private partnership, encourage local research and development of advanced smart city technologies, and be genuinely people-oriented.
Note: Dr Elizabeth QUAT's amendment is marked in bold and italic type.
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Annex 5
The marked-up version of the further amendment moved by Mr HUI Chi-fung to the motion as amended by Mr Christopher CHEUNG, Mr Tony TSE, Mr Alvin YEUNG and Dr Elizabeth QUAT (Translation)
That, to catch up with the development of the era of intelligence, the Administration has made smart city as one of the four major areas of focused development of innovation and technology in Hong Kong and released the Smart City Blueprint for Hong Kong in December 2017, mapping out the policies and measures to be implemented in the next five years in six areas, namely smart mobility, smart living, smart environment, smart people, smart government and smart economy; in this connection, this Council urges the Government to proactively allocate resources to perfect various policies and ancillary measures, so as to expedite the promotion of smart city development; the relevant measures include facilitating the research and development and application of innovation and technology, upgrading the technological infrastructure of Hong Kong, promoting the intellectualization of infrastructure and green architecture, stepping up the promotion of innovation in financial technology, facilitating the opening of data by public and private organizations for development and application, setting up a platform for sharing big data, making optimal use of innovation and technology for improvement of people's daily living, as well as developing a low-carbon green and smart community, with a view to fostering the sustainable development of Hong Kong and facilitating the people in leading a quality life; this Council also urges the Government to strengthen communication and cooperation with various sectors, especially professionals, to avoid working behind closed doors, and provide small and medium enterprises with financial assistance and support; to expedite the promotion of smart city development, the Government should also:
(1) conduct a comprehensive review of policies and regulations on elderly care and promote the application of gerontechnology, so as to upgrade the quality of elderly care services and cope with the trend of population ageing in the future;
(2) expeditiously enact legislation on the Internet of Things to deal with problems associated with privacy, data security, etc., so as to protect public interest;
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 5 July 2018 14149
(3) make use of big data to promote demand-led transport planning, including regular collection of information on vehicular journeys by the Government for analysis of the distribution of traffic demands and travelling patterns of commuters in Hong Kong, so as to make planning of more accurate public transport services that meet long-term demands;
(4) enhance the amount and types of data provided on the data.gov.hk website, draw up a timetable for opening of data, and establish an open and transparent platform for industries and the public to reflect their needs for information and data, so as to expand the database;
(5) provide innovation and technology start-ups with policy support and review the existing legislation and regulations to remove barriers for such enterprises; and
(6) improve government procurement policies to give priority to using products and services researched and developed by local innovation and technology companies; moreover, this Council urges the Government:
(7) in respect of smart mobility, practically ameliorating such problems as traffic congestion, shortage of parking spaces, delayed and lost trips of public transport, etc.; encouraging the industry to introduce an intelligent information system to provide real-time parking vacancy information of private car parks, and conducting a study on using concessions or legislative measures to incentivize private car parks to share data on vacant parking spaces, so that drivers can access the relevant information;
(8) in respect of smart living, expeditiously perfecting various infrastructural facilities of a smart city, including further raising the speed of WiFi services in public places and enhancing the security in using such services; conducting a study on the introduction of electronic business registration ('eBR') apart from electronic identity ('eID'); and stepping up the development of smart healthcare and smart elderly care to perfect the healthcare and elderly care services in Hong Kong;
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(9) in respect of smart environment, promoting optimal use of green smart technologies to practise a low-carbon and energy-efficient life and perfect waste disposal, and proactively conducting a study on more effective use of recovered resources to effect waste-to-energy and waste-to-treasure proposals, including integrating innovation and technology with development of green industries or 'light recycling industry', so as to promote the development of the whole green industrial chain as well as the application, research and development of relevant technologies;
(10) in respect of smart people, to tie in with the global trend of education, further adding elements of arts to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics ('STEM') education, turning it into Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics ('STEAM') education, and allocating additional resources to training STEAM teachers and supporting the promotion of STEAM education in schools; stepping up efforts in promoting the teaching of programming and coding, and making programming and coding a compulsory subject in primary and secondary schools, so as to nurture talents of innovation and technology at their early age; enhancing on-the-job training and retraining of employees to support Hong Kong employees in learning, grasping and applying innovation and technology; streamlining the application and administrative procedures relating to the Postdoctoral Hub and Internship Programme, and shortening the time of processing funding, so as to encourage the industry to hire more professionals; and strengthening digital support for children from families with financial needs, the elderly and the disadvantaged, so as to eliminate the 'digital divide' and foster digital inclusion;
(11) in respect of smart government, completing the establishment of Common Spatial Data Infrastructure ('CSDI') by 2020, including expediting the development and implementation of various applications and services of a smart city as well as enhancing city management, so as to achieve various great visions of a smart city; strengthening, improving and promoting digital government services, including online tax return filing, payment, licence renewal, etc.; and stepping up training to enhance the understanding and application of technology by the civil service, such as making better use of the Common Operating Platform for Emergency Management by government departments;
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(12) on smart economy, in line with the development strategy of the Outline of the 13th Five-Year Plan for the National Economic and Social Development of the People's Republic of China, the Belt and Road Initiative and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area ('the Bay Area'), promoting industrialization and re-industrialization of Hong Kong's achievements in scientific research; strengthening global support to assist industries in developing businesses in the Mainland and world markets; fostering the development of the innovation and technology industry through tax concessions and other measures; promoting more venture capital and technological service industries; fostering incubation of start-ups of patented technologies; and applying, transforming and perfecting the intellectual property rights regime, so as to establish a market with demand for and supply of innovative technologies and products; and
(13) proactively promoting the development of a smart city cluster in the Bay Area, including enhancing promotion of the development of sandboxes for financial technology, medical science and technology, and educational technology in the region; speeding up the ground breaking and application of new-generation information technologies such as artificial intelligence, quantum information, mobile communications, Internet of Things, blockchain, etc. in the region; expediting the establishment of a sharing platform for big data, as well as strengthening the mutual access and flow of people, goods, services, capital and information in the region; this Council also urges the Government to, in the course of implementing the above measures, extensively collect views from stakeholders straddling different sectors, make optimal use of the existing technologies, enhance public-private partnership, encourage local research and development of advanced smart city technologies, and be genuinely people-oriented; moreover, this Council urges the Government:
(14) providing support for the development of smart solutions, establishing an industry chain and, to tie in with the 're-industrialization' policy, promoting the commercialization of technology products;
(15) upgrading the information engineering of Hong Kong, including enhancing the Internet of Things, cloud computing and the mobile network system;
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(16) attracting investment funds to strengthen smart city manpower training;
(17) facilitating the integration of technology into urban planning to enhance the accuracy of financial analyses of infrastructure expenditure;
(18) optimizing personalized and self-service systems and developing artificial intelligence;
(19) establishing a sensor system of the Internet of Things for application in the search for parking spaces in car parks, traffic control, waiting for accident and emergency services at public hospitals, etc.;
(20) optimizing the effectiveness of resource management and promoting renewable energy feed-in tariff and the wider use of clean energy to achieve energy conservation;
(21) establishing a diversion process for solid wastes and assisting waste recyclers in introducing high-technology systems, such as electronic/optical plastic sorters, to increase the efficiency of recycling;
(22) promoting smart mobility, including promoting the mainstreaming of electric vehicles and improving charging facilities for electric vehicles;
(23) making use of technology to improve the accessibility of roads and pavements to create a bicycle-friendly environment;
(24) promoting the transport mode of real-time car-sharing and effecting its legalization; and
(25) stepping up network security to protect personal privacy and data.
Note: Mr HUI Chi-fung's amendment is marked in bold and italic type.
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Annex 6
The marked-up version of the further amendment moved by Mr Charles Peter MOK to the motion as amended by Mr Christopher CHEUNG, Mr Tony TSE, Mr Alvin YEUNG and Dr Elizabeth QUAT (Translation)
That, to catch up with the development of the era of intelligence, the Administration has made smart city as one of the four major areas of focused development of innovation and technology in Hong Kong and released the Smart City Blueprint for Hong Kong in December 2017, mapping out the policies and measures to be implemented in the next five years in six areas, namely smart mobility, smart living, smart environment, smart people, smart government and smart economy; in this connection, this Council urges the Government to proactively allocate resources to perfect various policies and ancillary measures, so as to expedite the promotion of smart city development; the relevant measures include facilitating the research and development and application of innovation and technology, upgrading the technological infrastructure of Hong Kong, promoting the intellectualization of infrastructure and green architecture, stepping up the promotion of innovation in financial technology, facilitating the opening of data by public and private organizations for development and application, setting up a platform for sharing big data, making optimal use of innovation and technology for improvement of people's daily living, as well as developing a low-carbon green and smart community, with a view to fostering the sustainable development of Hong Kong and facilitating the people in leading a quality life; this Council also urges the Government to strengthen communication and cooperation with various sectors, especially professionals, to avoid working behind closed doors, and provide small and medium enterprises with financial assistance and support; to expedite the promotion of smart city development, the Government should also:
(1) conduct a comprehensive review of policies and regulations on elderly care and promote the application of gerontechnology, so as to upgrade the quality of elderly care services and cope with the trend of population ageing in the future;
(2) expeditiously enact legislation on the Internet of Things to deal with problems associated with privacy, data security, etc., so as to protect public interest;
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(3) make use of big data to promote demand-led transport planning, including regular collection of information on vehicular journeys by the Government for analysis of the distribution of traffic demands and travelling patterns of commuters in Hong Kong, so as to make planning of more accurate public transport services that meet long-term demands;
(4) enhance the amount and types of data provided on the data.gov.hk website, draw up a timetable for opening of data, and establish an open and transparent platform for industries and the public to reflect their needs for information and data, so as to expand the database;
(5) provide innovation and technology start-ups with policy support and review the existing legislation and regulations to remove barriers for such enterprises; and
(6) improve government procurement policies to give priority to using products and services researched and developed by local innovation and technology companies;
moreover, this Council urges the Government:
(7) in respect of smart mobility, practically ameliorating such problems as traffic congestion, shortage of parking spaces, delayed and lost trips of public transport, etc.; encouraging the industry to introduce an intelligent information system to provide real-time parking vacancy information of private car parks, and conducting a study on using concessions or legislative measures to incentivize private car parks to share data on vacant parking spaces, so that drivers can access the relevant information;
(8) in respect of smart living, expeditiously perfecting various infrastructural facilities of a smart city, including further raising the speed of WiFi services in public places and enhancing the security in using such services; conducting a study on the introduction of electronic business registration ('eBR') apart from electronic identity ('eID'); and stepping up the development of smart healthcare and smart elderly care to perfect the healthcare and elderly care services in Hong Kong;
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(9) in respect of smart environment, promoting optimal use of green smart technologies to practise a low-carbon and energy-efficient life and perfect waste disposal, and proactively conducting a study on more effective use of recovered resources to effect waste-to-energy and waste-to-treasure proposals, including integrating innovation and technology with development of green industries or 'light recycling industry', so as to promote the development of the whole green industrial chain as well as the application, research and development of relevant technologies;
(10) in respect of smart people, to tie in with the global trend of education, further adding elements of arts to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics ('STEM') education, turning it into Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics ('STEAM') education, and allocating additional resources to training STEAM teachers and supporting the promotion of STEAM education in schools; stepping up efforts in promoting the teaching of programming and coding, and making programming and coding a compulsory subject in primary and secondary schools, so as to nurture talents of innovation and technology at their early age; enhancing on-the-job training and retraining of employees to support Hong Kong employees in learning, grasping and applying innovation and technology; streamlining the application and administrative procedures relating to the Postdoctoral Hub and Internship Programme, and shortening the time of processing funding, so as to encourage the industry to hire more professionals; and strengthening digital support for children from families with financial needs, the elderly and the disadvantaged, so as to eliminate the 'digital divide' and foster digital inclusion;
(11) in respect of smart government, completing the establishment of Common Spatial Data Infrastructure ('CSDI') by 2020, including expediting the development and implementation of various applications and services of a smart city as well as enhancing city management, so as to achieve various great visions of a smart city; strengthening, improving and promoting digital government services, including online tax return filing, payment, licence renewal, etc.; and stepping up training to enhance the understanding and application of technology by the civil service, such as making better use of the Common Operating Platform for Emergency Management by government departments;
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(12) on smart economy, in line with the development strategy of the Outline of the 13th Five-Year Plan for the National Economic and Social Development of the People's Republic of China, the Belt and Road Initiative and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area ('the Bay Area'), promoting industrialization and re-industrialization of Hong Kong's achievements in scientific research; strengthening global support to assist industries in developing businesses in the Mainland and world markets; fostering the development of the innovation and technology industry through tax concessions and other measures; promoting more venture capital and technological service industries; fostering incubation of start-ups of patented technologies; and applying, transforming and perfecting the intellectual property rights regime, so as to establish a market with demand for and supply of innovative technologies and products; and
(13) proactively promoting the development of a smart city cluster in the Bay Area, including enhancing promotion of the development of sandboxes for financial technology, medical science and technology, and educational technology in the region; speeding up the ground breaking and application of new-generation information technologies such as artificial intelligence, quantum information, mobile communications, Internet of Things, blockchain, etc. in the region; expediting the establishment of a sharing platform for big data, as well as strengthening the mutual access and flow of people, goods, services, capital and information in the region;
this Council also urges the Government to, in the course of implementing the above measures, extensively collect views from stakeholders straddling different sectors, make optimal use of the existing technologies, enhance public-private partnership, encourage local research and development of advanced smart city technologies, and be genuinely people-oriented; at the same time, as the development of a smart city involves large-scale data collection, this Council urges the Government to increase the transparency of smart city public-private partnership projects, formulate a comprehensive policy on data management and open data to enhance civic participation and accountability of governance, and review and update the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance to strengthen the regulation of the collection, processing as well as use of personal data and devise information security standards, so as to strike a balance between promotion of technology and protection of people's personal privacy.
Note: Mr Charles Peter MOK's amendment is marked in bold and italic type.