Minutes Or Above

Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Finance Committee Report on the examination of the Estimates of Expenditure 2014-2015 July 2014 Finance Committee Report on the examination of the Estimates of Expenditure 2014-2015 July 2014 CONTENTS Chapter Page I Introduction 1 – 2 II Civil Service 3 – 10 III Administration of Justice and Legal Services 11 – 22 IV Financial Services 23 – 32 V Public Finance 33 – 39 VI Constitutional and Mainland Affairs 40 – 49 VII Security 50 – 64 VIII Environment 65 – 75 IX Works 76 – 90 X Planning and Lands 91 – 106 XI Central Administration and Other Services 107 – 118 XII Commerce, Industry and Tourism 119 – 132 XIII Communications and Technology 133 – 141 XIV Home Affairs 142 – 151 XV Housing 152 – 161 XVI Transport 162 – 174 XVII Welfare and Women 175 – 190 XVIII Labour 191 – 207 XIX Food Safety and Environmental Hygiene 208 – 216 XX Health 217 – 236 XXI Education 237 – 254 Appendix Page I Programme of the special meetings of the Finance 255 – 256 Committee II Summary of written and supplementary questions 257 – 259 and requests for additional information III Attendance of members and public officers at the 260 – 290 special meetings of the Finance Committee IV Speaking notes of Directors of Bureaux, Secretary 291 – 395 for Justice, and Judiciary Administrator Chapter I : Introduction 1.1 At the Legislative Council meeting on 26 February 2014, the Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government introduced the Appropriation Bill 2014. Following the adjournment of the Bill at Second Reading and in accordance with Rule 71(11) of the Rules of Procedure, the President of the Legislative Council referred the Estimates of Expenditure to the Finance Committee for detailed examination before the Bill was further proceeded with in the Council. 1.2 The Finance Committee set up under Rule 71(1) of the Rules of Procedure comprises all Members of the Council except the President. The Committee held 20 sessions of special meetings over five days from 31 March to 4 April 2014 to examine the Estimates of Expenditure. The purpose of these special meetings is to ensure that the Administration is seeking a provision no more than is necessary for the execution of the policies of the Government for 2014-2015. 1.3 To facilitate the smooth conduct of business, members of the Committee were invited to submit written questions on the Estimates of Expenditure using a web-based application system. A total of 6 660 written questions were received and forwarded to the Administration for replies. The Administration undertook to provide replies to at least the first 3 300 before the special meetings and to the remaining questions before the third Budget meeting of 16 April 2014. In this connection, a total of 3 300 replies were provided before the special meetings and the remaining 3 360 questions were provided before the third Budget meeting. Members' questions and the Administration's replies have been uploaded onto the Council's website. 1.4 Each session of the special meetings from 31 March to 4 April 2014 was dedicated to a specific policy area and attended by the respective Director of Bureau and his/her key Controlling Officers. The schedule of the 20 sessions is given in Appendix I. At the start of each session, the Director of Bureau/Controlling Officer concerned gave a brief presentation on the spending priorities and provisions sought under his/her programme areas. The Chairman then invited members to put questions to the Administration. A set of the record of the proceedings of the 20 sessions is given in Chapters II to XXI. Questions which were not dealt with and requests for further information were referred to the Administration for written replies after the meetings, while broad policy issues raised during 1 Chapter I : Introduction the meetings were referred to the respective panels for follow up, where necessary. 1.5 A total of 232 supplementary questions and requests for additional information were referred to the Administration for reply after the special meetings. All the written replies to these questions were forwarded to members prior to resumption of the Second Reading debate on the Appropriation Bill 2014 on 9 April 2014. A summary of the number of the questions and additional requests for information is given in Appendix II. 1.6 The attendance of members and public officers at the special meetings is given in Appendix III. The speaking notes of Directors of Bureaux, the Secretary for Justice and the Judiciary Administrator at the special meetings are contained in Appendix IV. 1.7 This report, published in both Chinese and English, would be presented to the Legislative Council on 9 July 2014 in accordance with Paragraph 53 of the Finance Committee Procedure. 2 Chapter II : Civil Service 2.1 At the invitation of the Chairman, Mr Paul TANG, Secretary for the Civil Service ("SCS") briefed members on the civil service establishment and the financial provisions related to the policy area of central management of the civil service (Appendix IV-1). Training and development of civil servants 2.2 Mr SIN Chung-kai noted that 28, 33 and 30 civil servants participated in the civil service exchange programme with the Mainland in 2011, 2012 and 2013, respectively, and the expenditure incurred for the programme for the respective years were $440,000, $450,000 and $360,000. Mr SIN sought clarification on whether the average expenditure incurred for each participant was about $12,000 to $15,000. He opined that work experience in the Mainland civil service might not be of much practical value for Hong Kong civil servants, and suggested the Administration conduct exchange programmes with other overseas countries. 2.3 Permanent Secretary for the Civil Service ("PSCS") replied that the civil service exchange programme with the Mainland formed part of the national studies programmes organized by the Civil Service Training and Development Institute ("CSTDI") for civil servants to understand the latest development of the Mainland and to foster networking and communication between Mainland and Hong Kong civil servants. In addition to the programmes organized by CSTDI, individual bureaux and departments ("B/Ds") also organized job-related training programmes for their own staff, including exchange programmes with government departments/institutions of overseas countries. With regard to the expenditure incurred for the civil service exchange programme with the Mainland, Deputy Secretary for the Civil Service (3) ("DSCS(3)") said that the number of participants quoted by Mr SIN included both Hong Kong and Mainland civil servants, while the expenditure figures referred to by Mr SIN covered expenditure incurred by the Hong Kong Government for participating Hong Kong civil servants. 2.4 Noting that around 12 700 civil servants participated in the national studies programmes annually in 2011, 2012 and 2013, Mr Gary FAN asked how many of these civil servants were directorate staff. He also asked if topics relating to constitutional development were covered in the civil service exchange programme with the Mainland. Ms Claudia MO enquired about the contents of the exchange programme participated by the 3 Chapter II : Civil Service city government of Hangzhou and the Hong Kong Police Force during the same period. 2.5 SCS said that participants of the exchange programme would attach to the government departments of the other side to learn about the host organization's operations and practices. PSCS added that the exchange programme did not cover topics related to constitutional development. The contents of the exchange programme were agreed between the participating government departments of both sides according to their business operations and training needs. Hence, the exchange programme between the Hangzhou city government and the Hong Kong Police Force mainly focused on police matters. DSCS(3) undertook to provide the number of directorate civil servants who had attended the national studies programmes in 2011, 2012 and 2013. Implementation of five-day week system in government departments 2.6 Noting that about 70.5% of civil servants were working on a five-day week work pattern, Mr TANG Ka-piu and Ms CHIANG Lai-wan asked if the Government had any plan for full implementation of the five-day week system in all B/Ds. Mr TANG Ka-piu sought information on the percentage of civil servants in the Model Scale 1 grade and the disciplined services departments working on a five-day week work pattern. 2.7 SCS replied that as a family-friendly employment practice, the Government had implemented the five-day week initiative in phases to improve the quality of family life of civil servants without affecting the provision of public services or incurring additional costs to the taxpayer. The Administration would continue to encourage more B/Ds to implement the five-day week initiative for their staff, subject to the conditions of incurring no additional staffing resources, no reduction in the conditioned hours of work of individual staff, no reduction in emergency services and continued provision of some essential counter services on Saturdays. The Civil Service Bureau ("CSB") would conduct a biennial review on the implementation of the five-day week initiative in the civil service; the findings of the next review would be available by end 2014. SCS agreed to provide the information requested by Mr TANG Ka-piu after the meeting. 4 Chapter II : Civil Service Records management in the Civil Service Bureau and the departments under its purview 2.8 Ms Emily LAU and Ms Claudia MO noted with concern that nearly 20 000 records of CSB and the departments under its purview had been approved for destruction by Government Records Service ("GRS") over the past three years, and about 3 000 such records were confidential in nature.

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