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The following is issued on behalf of LegCo Secretariat:
The Legislative Council will hold a meeting tomorrow (June 8) at 11am in the Chamber of the Legislative Council Building. During the meeting, Members will debate a motion on the inability of the Government's measures to help people acquire their homes.
The motion, to be moved by Hon James To, states: "That, regarding people's problem of acquiring homes, the public and this Council have long since forged the consensus that the Government should resume the construction of Home Ownership Scheme flats and reinstate the Tenants Purchase Scheme, and the relevant motions were passed by this Council, but the Government has turned a deaf ear and disregarded public opinion; after the series of measures launched by the Government, including allocating lands for constructing 'flats with limited floor area', introducing My Home Purchase Plan and the special stamp duty for combating property speculation, as well as putting up more land lots for sale by auction, property prices in Hong Kong have continued to rise, reflecting that these government measures are unable to help people acquire their homes; in this connection, this Council expresses grave dismay at Chief Executive Donald Tsang, and urges the Chief Executive to make serious reflection and respect public opinion."
Hon Chan Kam-lam, Hon Wong Kwok-hing, and Hon Cyd Ho will move separate amendments to Hon James To's motion. Hon Lee Wing-tat will move an amendment to Hon Wong Kwok-hing's amendment.
Hon Tam Yiu-chung will move a motion on setting out a five-year plan for elderly services. The motion, states: "That, given that the trend of the ageing of the society in Hong Kong is accelerating, this Council urges the Government to plan in full speed and formulate as early as possible a more comprehensive elderly policy, and also set out a five-year plan for elderly services, so as to set specific development objectives and pledges for elderly services every five years, with a view to rectifying the serious problems of imbalance between supply of and demand for services, a large number of persons waiting for services and prolonged waiting time, as well as strengthening the care for the needs of elderly persons' living, and vigorously improving people's livelihood; the relevant measures should include:
(a) to establish a five-year plan and service pledges in respect of residential care services for the elderly and community care for the elderly, and strive to increase the number of residential care places for the elderly and community care places for the elderly; to review the Standardised Care Need Assessment Mechanism for Elderly Services; to provide elderly services subsidies for elderly persons by making reference to the mode of the existing education voucher scheme; and to enhance complementary measures for the elderly policy of 'ageing in place';
(b) to abolish the absence limit in respect of application for Old Age Allowance (OAA) to enable elderly persons to spend their twilight years on the Mainland without worries, and allow elderly recipients of Disability Allowance to also receive OAA, so as to improve their living;
(c) to intensify the policy of portable elderly welfare benefits; to provide allowances to elderly persons who return to their hometowns to live, enabling those elderly persons who choose to spend their twilight years in their hometowns to receive a monthly living supplement; to proactively study in conjunction with the relevant Mainland departments the introduction of medical insurance schemes for Hong Kong elderly persons living on the Mainland, and consider collaborating with the Mainland to run hospitals or provide out-patient services, so as to serve the Hong Kong people living on the Mainland;
(d) to propose the introduction of an entirely new 'elderly maintenance grant scheme' in addition to OAA and Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) Scheme, so as to provide financial assistance to elderly persons who are not eligible for applying CSSA to help them improve their living;
(e) to increase the amount of Elderly Healthcare Vouchers to $1,000, lower the age requirement to 65, streamline administrative arrangements, and encourage the participation of more doctors; and to relax the elderly drug subsidisation policy;
(f) to expedite resource allocation from the Community Care Fund for providing tooth filling and restoration allowances to the elderly, and strengthen elderly dental care services, including the establishment of dental clinics in the 18 districts, introduction of elderly dental care services and opening public dental clinics for elderly persons' use, etc.;
(g) to expedite the establishment of public Chinese medicine clinics in the 18 districts, and establish additional elderly health centres and increase their membership;
(h) to devote resources to strengthen occupational training related to the elderly care service industries, so as to increase manpower for elderly services and care and enhance practitioners' professional knowledge and quality;
(i) to formulate a comprehensive and long-term elderly housing policy, examine afresh the current land planning for earmarking sites for elderly housing purposes, proactively study the introduction of the 'mixed use development' concept in private and public housing, and design a residence model which integrates elderly housing and complementary facilities;
(j) to expedite the implementation of a 'mortgage scheme for the elderly' (i.e. 'reverse mortgage'), so as to assist elderly persons with private properties in enhancing their finances and improving living environment and lives in twilight years, and launch a scheme on 'making use of residential properties to provide for the twilight years of the elderly' for elderly property owners who have no means of living and do not have any children;
(k) to implement the elderly-friendly policy in all public places, effectively enforce the requirements of barrier-free facilities, and provide various types of facilities for elderly persons to facilitate their entry and exit; and
(l) to motivate various transport operators to offer comprehensive and permanent fare concessions to elderly persons; to enrich elderly persons' retirement life by introducing 'recreation and sports vouchers for the elderly' and waiving admission fees for elderly persons in all exhibition halls under the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, and set up an 'elderly employment fund', so as to assist healthy elderly persons in sustaining their employment and giving full play to their abilities."
Hon Wong Sing-chi, Hon Cheung Kwok-che, Hon Vincent Fang, Hon Alan Leong and Dr Hon Pan Pey-chyou will move separate amendments to Hon Tam Yiu-chung's motion.
Hon James To will move a proposed resolution under the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance to extend the period for amending the Professional Accountants (Amendment) Bylaw 2011, laid on the table of the Legislative Council on May 18, 2011, to the meeting of July 6, 2011.
Hon Miriam Lau will move a motion under Rule 49E(2) of the Rules of Procedure to take note of Report No. 24/10-11 of the House Committee laid on the Table of the Council of June 8, 2011 in relation to the Tramway Ordinance (Alteration of Fares) (Amendment) Notice 2011 (L.N. 63/2011).
Meanwhile, the Chief Secretary for Administration will move a proposed resolution under the Article 73(7) of the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China and section 7A of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal Ordinance to seek the Council's approval to endorse the appointment of the Right Honourable The Lord Collins of Mapesbury and the Right Honourable The Lord Clarke of Stone-cum-Ebony as judges of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal from other common law jurisdictions pursuant to section 9 of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal Ordinance (Cap. 484).
The Chief Secretary for Administration will also move a proposed resolution under the Article 73(7) of the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China to seek the Council's approval to endorse the appointment of the Honourable Mr Justice Andrew Cheung Kui-nung as the Chief Judge of the High Court of Hong Kong.
On Bills, the Legislative Council (Amendment) Bill 2011 will be introduced into the Council for First and Second Readings. Second Reading debate on the bill will be adjourned.
Members will resume Second Reading debate on the Inland Revenue (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2011. If the Bill is supported by Members and receives its Second Reading, it will then go through the Committee Stage and be read the Third time.
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 LegCo InfoFax Service (Tel: 2869 9568) or the LegCo website (www.legco.gov.hk). Please note that the agenda is subject to change, and the latest information about the agenda could be found in the LegCo website.
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 web broadcast system on the Legislative Council homepage.
Ends/Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Issued at HKT 17:58
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