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The following is issued on behalf of the Legislative Council Secretariat:
The Legislative Council will hold a meeting this Wednesday (November 21) at 11am in the Chamber of the Legislative Council Building. During the meeting, Members will debate a motion on consolidating the quality of post-secondary education.
The motion, to be moved by Dr Hon Yeung Sum, states: "That, as the over expansion of sub-degree places in recent years has led to varied programme quality and the qualifications not being given due recognition, which have affected the graduates' further studies and employment, this Council urges the Government to expeditiously implement measures to improve the quality of sub-degree education and increase the articulation opportunities for sub-degree graduates, which include:
(a) establishing a transparent quality assurance mechanism to ensure that the admission criteria of sub-degree programmes and exit performance of the graduates meet the required standards, so as to enhance the recognition of sub-degree qualifications;
(b) increasing the number of subsidized articulation places in local universities to eliminate the worsening bottleneck in further studies; and
(c) improving the Financial Assistance Scheme for Post-secondary Students to enable sub-degree graduates to receive subsidies for enrolment in articulation degree programmes with assured quality and recognized qualifications, so as to increase the articulation opportunities for sub-degree graduates with outstanding performance."
Hon Tam Yiu-chung will move an amendment to Dr Hon Yeung Sum's motion.
Members will also debate a motion on preventing cancer. The motion, to be proposed by Hon Li Kwok-ying, says: "That, as cancer has become the number one cause of death of Hong Kong people, but they generally know very little about cancer and neglect the importance of improving their life style, taking injections of effective vaccines and undergoing regular screening tests to prevent and detect cancer at an early stage, thus causing delay in treating the disease and affecting the efficacy of treatment, this Council urges the Government to:
(a) launch a community-wide cancer screening programme for colorectal and breast cancers, etc, and encourage people to undergo regular screening tests;
(b) introduce a vaccination programme for cervical cancer to reduce its incidence rate;
(c) promote education on different types of cancers, in order to change people's life style and achieve results in prevention; and
(d) expedite the collation of data on cancer to effectively monitor the development trend of this disease, and research on the cancer-causing risk factors so that the Government, the medical sector and the general public can grasp in a timely manner the relevant information, which may serve as reference in the formulation of policies and enhance public awareness of cancer."
Dr Hon Kwok Ka-ki, Hon Andrew Cheng and Hon Choy So-yuk will move separate amendments to Hon Li Kwok-ying's motion.
Meanwhile, Hon Sin Chung-kai will move two seperate resolutions under the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance to extend the period for amending the Securities and Futures (Contracts Limits and Reportable Positions) (Amendment) (No. 2) Rules 2007 and the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Regulation (Commencement) Notice, laid on the table of the Legislative Council on October 31, 2007 to the meeting of December 19, 2007.
On bill, Members will resume Second Reading debate on the Patents (Amendment) Bill 2007. If the Bill is supported by Members and received its Second Reading, it will then go through the Committee Stage and be read the third time.
During the meeting, Members will also ask the Administration 20 questions on various policy areas, six of which require oral replies.
The agenda of the above meeting can be obtained via the Legislative Council InfoFax Service (Tel: 2869 9568) or the Legislative Council web site (http://www.legco.gov.hk).
Members of the public are welcome to observe the proceedings of the meeting from the public galleries of the Legislative Council Chamber. They may reserve seats by calling 2869 9399 during office hours. Seats will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis. Members of the public can also listen to the meeting via the audio webcast system on the Legislative Council homepage.
Ends/Monday, November 19, 2007
Issued at HKT 17:13
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