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Following is a question by the Hon Abraham Shek Lai-him and a written reply by the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Mrs Rita Lau, in the Legislative Council today (June 17):
Question:
Regarding the Government's provision of computers in public libraries, community centres and community halls for Internet browsing by the public, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the current number of computers provided for such use;
(b) of the utilisation of such computers in the past three years and the annual utilisation rates of these facilities in each of the venues (broken down by the District Council district in which they are situated); and
(c) given that quite a number of low-income families, which are financially deprived but are not receiving Comprehensive Social Security Assistance, do not have Internet services at home, whether the Government will consider introducing new administrative measures (e.g. increasing the number of the aforesaid facilities, extending the operating hours of these facilities and according priority to the use of such facilities by members of the families concerned) to assist them in this regard; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
Regarding the questions raised by the Hon Abraham Shek, my reply is as follows:
(a) Over 1,600 computers with Internet access are provided for public use in the 66 public libraries under the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD). The Home Affairs Department (HAD) has also installed a total of 33 e-Stations at 18 District Offices' Public Enquiry Service Centres (PESCs), which members of the public can use. Through the e-Stations, they may browse information on Government or other websites, send or receive e-mails and use other on-line electronic public services. At present, we do not have any computer facility installed at community halls/centres for public use.
(b) The number of computers provided in individual libraries and their usage over the past three years are given in Annex I. HAD's project of installing e-Stations in PESCs was completed in mid-December 2008. From January to May 2009, the e-Stations have been used by over 30,000 persons.
(c) Computer facilities are made available in public libraries mainly to allow the general public and students to search and browse the Internet, to use multimedia materials, or to access e-books and online databases provided by the libraries. Over the past three years, the public libraries have installed more than 300 additional computers with Internet access for public use. Since April 1, 2009, the opening hours of 33 major and district libraries have been extended to 71 hours a week, allowing the public more time to use the computer facilities and resources in the libraries.
In addition to providing computer facilities in public libraries, we have implemented other measures that provide low-income families and other needy groups with access to computers and/or Internet connections. Major initiatives include:
* The Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO) has been progressively installing Wi-Fi facilities starting from early 2008 at various government premises in different districts. These premises include public libraries, PESCs, sports centres, cultural and recreational centres, cooked food markets and cooked food centres, job centres, community halls, large parks and Government joint-user buildings. As at June of 2009, we have already completed the provision of free Wi-Fi services at 350 government premises, marking the achievement of the planned implementation target. We will progressively roll out the services to additional premises, making a total of around 380 by March 2010.
* The Housing Authority (HA) has made available facilities in public rental housing estates for service providers to provide free Wi-Fi services in public area of the estates to HA tenants in around 150 public rental housing estates;
* The Education Bureau (EDB) in partnership with the Environmental Protection Department launched in February 2009 a "Computer Recycling Programme" for needy students of primary and secondary schools. Students in receipt of financial assistance from the School Textbook Assistance Scheme or whose families are receiving Comprehensive Social Security Assistance may apply during the period of the Programme. Under the Programme, recycled computer together with one-year free Internet access service would be provided to successful applicants;
* The EDB has also granted recurrent subsidy to all primary and secondary schools to facilitate them to open computer rooms and facilities for the use of needy students after school; and
* The OGCIO has provided a sponsorship of $14.4 million to implement a pilot scheme of District Cyber Centres (DCCs), which aims at providing computer hardware, software, Internet connections, training and content to children from low income families and other needy local residents. Under the scheme, computers with free Internet access will be made available for use in district centres. Also, a library of laptop computers equipped with free wireless Internet access will be made available for loan to the needy groups in districts. We expect the relevant service will roll out to 14 centres in mid 2009 and the scheme will be expanded to cover more centres.
We will regularly review the effectiveness of the initiatives and consult the Digital Inclusion Task Force on the need of other new measures as and when required.
Ends/Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Issued at HKT 15:06
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