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Following is a question by the Hon Chan Yuen-han and a written reply by the Secretary for Home Affairs, Dr Patrick Ho, in the Legislative Council today (December 10):

Question:

Regarding the number of charitable bodies and Leisure and Cultural Services Department's (LCSD) arrangements for granting reduction/waiver of venue hire charges to charitable bodies, will the Government inform this Council:

(a) of the number of cases in which LCSD granted reduction/waiver of venue hire charges to charitable bodies in each of the past three years, and the total amount of venue hire charges foregone;

(b) of the contents of the guidelines issued by LCSD to frontline staff on whether reduction/waiver of venue hire charges should be granted; and whether such guidelines are reviewed on a regular basis;

(c) of the number of charitable bodies currently exempted from tax and, among them, the number of subvented ones; and

(d) whether subvented and non-subvented charitable bodies are subject to the same arrangement for granting reduction/waiver of venue hire charges by LCSD; if not, whether LCSD will consider revising the relevant arrangement with a view to making the concessions available to all charitable bodies; if it will, when the new arrangement will be implemented; if not, of the reasons for that?

Reply:

Madam President,

(a) The Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) has offered concessionary rental at 50 percent of the normal rates for the hire of leisure facilities by subvented non-governmental organisations. Charitable organisations can also apply for waiver/reduction of hire charges on a need basis. The number of cases in which LCSD has granted waiver/reduction of hire charges for use of leisure venues by charitable organisations and the total amount of venue hire charges foregone in the past three years are listed at Annex 1.

The rental subsidy scheme of cultural venues is applicable to all non-profit making organizations and there is no individual categorization for charitable organisations. Therefore, we can only provide the information on the use of cultural venues by non-profit making organisations (including charitable organisations) at Annex 2.

(b) LCSD has an established guideline on waiver/reduction of fees and charges for leisure venues for the reference of venue staff. This guideline sets out the criteria for approving waiver/reduction of charges, the approving authority and financial limits.

For cultural venues, a rental subsidy scheme is in place to provide financial support to non-profit making organisations (including charitable institutions). A set of guidelines listing the standard of the subsidy scheme, qualifications for application and processing procedures has been set out for the reference of staff and applicants.

Organisations should provide full justifications when they apply for waiver/reduction/subsidy of hire charges for use of leisure and cultural venues under the relevant guidelines. LCSD will consider the nature of the organisations, the content and the objective of the activity as well as other related factors in considering the applications.

The current guideline for leisure venues was issued in March 2001 and is due for review in early 2004. The rental subsidy scheme in respect of cultural venues has just been reviewed in November 2003. LCSD will review the scheme at suitable interval in accordance with the operational experience.

(c) As at November 30, 2003, there are 3,940 charitable institutions or trusts of public character which have been granted tax exemption under section 88 of the Inland Revenue Ordinance. As the Inland Revenue Department has no separate classification for subvented and non-subvented bodies under the tax-exempt charitable bodies, there is no available information on the number of subvented tax-exempt charitable bodies.

(d) For cultural venues, the rental subsidy scheme is applicable to all non-profit making organisations including subvented and non-subvented charitable institutions. As for leisure venues, concessionary arrangement at 50 percent of the normal rates is now available for subvented non-governmental organisations. Charitable organizations can apply for waiver/reduction of fees and charges on a need basis. However, in view of the large number of charitable organisations, their extensive and different nature and objectives, as well as the wide spectrum of events organised by these organisations, LCSD considers it not appropriate to automatically apply the concessionary arrangement to all charitable organisations.

Ends/Wednesday, December 10, 2003

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