Following is a question by the Hon Tanya Chan and a written reply by the Secretary for Home Affairs, Mr Lau Kong-wah, in the Legislative Council today (November 30):

Question:

     It has been reported that the Hong Kong Army Cadets Association (HKACA), established in January last year, was granted, prevailing over two uniformed groups with long histories in the relevant application process, a vacant school premises on June 21 this year by the Government for use as a training venue after renovation. The renovation cost needed stands at $66 million, with $30 million of it to be met by a donation from the Board of Management of the Chinese Permanent Cemeteries (BMCPC). HKACA submitted its application for donation to BMCPC immediately on the same day after it was granted the school premises, and BMCPC approved the application in the form of a special approval at its meeting held on the 27th of the same month.  Some members of the public have queried that the approval of an application for donation not within the category of "annual charity donation" by BMCPC within such a short time has aroused concerns over the role of the Secretary for Home Affairs (SHA) in this matter, given that he is both an Honorary Advisor to HKACA and the Chairman of BMCPC. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
 
(1) of the total amount of donations to charities approved, the number of projects subsidised and the average time taken to vet and approve an application, by BMCPC in each of the past three years;
 
(2) of the number of cases in which a donation not within the category of annual charity donation was approved by BMCPC in the form of a special approval in the past 10 years, as well as the details (including the nature of the project subsidised, the date of receipt of the application, the date of approval of the donation, and the amount of the donation approved) of each case; and
 
(3) whether SHA, in view of his role as an Honorary Advisor to HKACA, withdrew from the meeting at which the application for donation from HKACA was considered by BMCPC so as to avoid any conflict of roles; if he did not, of the reasons for that?

Reply:

President,
 
     Our reply to Hon Chan's question is set out below:
 
     The Board of Management of the Chinese Permanent Cemeteries (BMCPC), established under the Chinese Permanent Cemeteries Ordinance (Cap 1112) (the Ordinance) and operating on a non-profit-making basis, provides burial lots, niches and ash scattering services for Chinese people in Hong Kong. 
 
     All along operating on a self-financing basis, BMCPC does not receive any government subsidy. According to the Ordinance, BMCPC may donate to any charity operating for the benefit of the community of Hong Kong or any sector of that community any moneys vested in it which are or may become surplus. Upholding the principle of promoting public good, BMCPC has been donating to local non-profit-making organisations for implementation of meaningful initiatives to benefit the community.
 
     Apart from subsidising non-profit-making organisations to carry out improvement works and procure equipment via the Annual Donation Scheme and to launch activities under the theme of "community building" or "life education" through the Annual Thematic Donation Scheme every year, BMCPC also gives considerations to individual donation applications submitted by non-profit-making organisations outside the two annual exercises. In general, BMCPC would take into consideration such factors as feasibility and benefits of the project, as well as the applicant's competence in implementing the proposed project in deciding whether the annual or special donation application should be supported.
 
     Our response to the three parts of the questions raised by the Member is as follows:
 
(1) Generally, BMCPC accepts applications under the Annual Donation Scheme and the Annual Thematic Donation Scheme in around March or April every year. In the past three years, over 200 applications were received annually. After considering each and every application, BMCPC would usually notify the applicants of the results of the two schemes in the third quarter of the same year. In the previous three years, about $54 million were granted to non-profit-making organisations under the Annual Donation Scheme and the Annual Thematic Donation Scheme to subsidise 205 projects.

(2) As mentioned above, BMCPC gives considerations to individual donation applications from non-profit-making organisations submitted outside the two annual Schemes. Donations made to individual organisations outside the two annual exercises in the past are set out in the table below:
 

Year	Recipient Organisations	Project	Approved Donation ($ ’000)
1996	Hong Kong Girl Guides Association	Redevelopment of camp site	1,000
1997	Home Affairs Bureau	Development of Youth Square	200,000
1999	Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups	Hong Kong Leadership Institute	10,000
2002	Kwong Wah Hospital, Tung Wah Group of Hospitals (TWGHs)	Setting up of dental clinic	2,660
	Ruttonjee Hospital	Setting up of hospice centre	32,500
2003	Our Lady of Maryknoll Hospital	Setting up of hospice centre	6,200
	Haven of Hope Holistic Care Centre	Setting up of hospice centre	30,000
	TWGHs Wong Tai Sin Hospital	Setting up of hospice centre	30,000
2006	The University of Hong Kong	Design on Cemetery and Memorial Park	100
	Summer Youth Programme Committee	Summer Youth Exchange Programme	2,000
	Ruttonjee & Tang Shiu Kin Hospitals	Setting up of Hospice Centre	4,430
	Celebration Fund for the 10th Anniversary of Establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region	Celebrating activities for the 10th Anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region	20,000
2009	Society for the Promotion of Hospice Care	Special life and death education programme	1,570
	Hong Kong Association of Youth Development	Youth Training Centre	8,200
	2009 East Asian Games (Hong Kong) Limited	East Asian Games related activities	10,000
2010	Society for the Promotion of Hospice Care	Special life and death education programme	1,780
2011	Society for the Promotion of Hospice Care	Publications on life and death education	230
2012	Asian Youth Orchestra	Concert to celebrate the 15th Anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region	350
	Hong Kong United Youth Association	Parade and singing contest to celebrate the 15th Anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region	1,700
2013	St. James' Settlement	Special life and death education programme	2,450
	Po Leung Kuk	Elderly support centre	4,760
2015	Society for the Promotion of Hospice Care	Special life and death education programme	800
	Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui Welfare Council	Special life and death education programme	1,100
	Po Leung Kuk	Special life and death education programme	1,610
2016	Po Leung Kuk	Special life education programme	1,060
	Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui Welfare Council	Special life education programme	1,550
	Hong Kong Army Cadets Association (HKACA)	Youth training and activity centres	30,000

 
Note 1: The projects set out in the table were applications directly made to BMCPC by the recipient organisations.  They do not include projects that were sponsored by BMCPC, but directly handled and approved by government departments or advisory bodies.
 
Note 2: The donation projects before 2006 are major development projects according to available records.
 
(3) The Secretary for Home Affairs (SHA) is the Chairman of BMCPC. He chairs meetings of BMCPC to deliberate on various proposals (including the donation application submitted by HKACA) put up by the Board's secretariat for members' consideration. Despite SHA's capacity as the Honorary Advisor to HKACA, the title is honorary in nature without any concrete function and SHA has never participated in any actual operation of HKACA. Hence there was no conflict of interests in BMCPC's consideration of the donation application from HKACA and would not warrant SHA's withdrawal from the meeting. In fact, to support youth initiatives and encourage the development of uniformed groups, SHA has been, upon invitation by various uniformed groups, assuming honorary titles, including the Honorary President of the Hong Kong Road Safety Association, the Honorary Vice President of the Hong Kong Girl Guides Association and a Member of the Advisory Board of the Hong Kong Red Cross.

Ends/Wednesday, November 30, 2016
Issued at HKT 14:37

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