The following is issued on behalf of the Air Transport Licensing Authority: In response to the claims against Hong Kong Airlines Limited (HKA) for recovery of arrears in court dated February 22, 2019, the Air… read more
Following is a question by the Hon Luk Chung-hung and a written reply by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Dr Law Chi-kwong, in the Legislative Council today (February 27):
Question:
Given that the eligible age for elderly Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) has been raised, since the 1st of this month, from 60 to 65, able-bodied persons aged between 60 and 64 may no longer apply for elderly CSSA and they may only apply for CSSA for the unemployed (CSSA-U). On the other hand, CSSA-U recipients are required to participate in the Support for Self-reliance (SFS) Scheme, in the hope that they can move towards paid employment and self-reliance as early as possible. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) Of (i) the number of participants in the SFS Scheme, (ii) the employment rate of the participants and (iii) the percentage of participants who left the CSSA net, in each of the past five years, with a breakdown by the age group (i.e. aged 15 to 25, 26 to 35, 36 to 45, 46 to 55, 56 to 59) to which the participants belonged;
(2) Whether it knows, in respect of those persons who successfully secured employment and left the CSSA net as mentioned in (1), (i) the types of the industries which they joined, and (ii) the distribution of their average number of working hours per month and average monthly wage in the past five years; if no such information has been kept, how the Social Welfare Department (SWD) evaluates and follows up the employment situation of the participants, and whether it will compile the relevant statistics in future;
(3) Of the targeted measures, taken by SWD under the SFS Scheme since the 1st of this month, to assist CSSA-U recipients aged between 60 and 64 in finding jobs, and whether prior consultation with various stakeholders has been conducted on such measures; whether it has increased the estimates of expenditure and manpower for the SFS Scheme to cope with the additional workload generated by the increase in the number of participants;
(4) Whether the Labour Department has compiled statistics on the current number of job vacancies in the labour market that are open for application by persons aged between 60 and 64; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
(5) Of the new measures (e.g. provision of financial incentives) taken to encourage employers to hire persons aged between 60 and 64, and whether it will enhance the protection of the labour rights and interests of such persons; and
(6) Whether it will consider expeditiously enacting legislation against age discrimination in the employment field, so as to ensure that the relatively older persons are given fair treatment and protected from exploitation?
Reply:
President,
In view of the improved life expectancy of the population of Hong Kong and the trend of extending the retirement age to 65, the Government announced in the Policy Address in January 2017 that the eligible age for elderly Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) would be adjusted from 60 to 65. The Government has implemented the relevant arrangements on February 1, 2019. Persons aged between 60 and 64 who have received elderly CSSA before February 1, 2019 are “grandfathered” and will not be affected by the new arrangements. The CSSA payments of persons with disabilities or persons in ill health will not be affected either. They will, regardless of age, continue to receive CSSA payments which are higher than those applicable to able-bodied adults. It is also worth noting that around 70 per cent of the existing CSSA recipients aged between 55 and 59 are with disabilities or in ill-health.
As for the able-bodied recipients aged between 60 and 64 under the new arrangements, they will continue to be entitled to CSSA as able-bodied adults, and are eligible for the standard rates and special grants applicable to able-bodied adults. In addition, the Government has, since February 1, 2019, provided the Employment Support Supplement (ESS) to these able-bodied adults under the CSSA Scheme. At present, each eligible CSSA recipient will receive ESS at a fixed rate of $1,060 per month (i.e. the difference between the CSSA standard rates applicable to elderly singleton and able-bodied adult singleton). This supplement seeks to encourage able-bodied adult recipients aged 60 to 64 to join the labour market. It is also applicable to employed able-bodied adult recipients in this age group to support them to remain in employment.
In addition, CSSA recipients may also benefit from the disregarded earnings arrangement with its maximum amount at $2,500 per month. The Social Welfare Department (SWD) also provides employment support that suits the circumstances and needs of able-bodied adult recipients through the Integrated Employment Assistance Programme for Self-reliance (IEAPS).
My reply to the question raised by the Member is as follows:
(1) As individual IEAPS participants may leave or re-join the programme owing to short-term paid employment or change in their personal circumstances (such as their health conditions), SWD does not maintain statistics on the number of IEAPS participants including breakdowns as mentioned in the question.
SWD has compiled the cumulative number of IEAPS participants in person-times. From January 2013 to end-November 2018, there were 95 774 person-times participated in the IEAPS. The statistics of participating person-times broken down by age is as follows:
| Age group | Person-times |
| 15 to 19 | 6 853 |
| 20 to 29 | 11 358 |
| 30 to 39 | 15 149 |
| 40 to 49 | 29 798 |
| 50 to 59 | 32 616 |
| Total | 95 774 |
Following is a question by the Hon Kenneth Leung and a written reply by the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Mr Edward Yau, in the Legislative Council today (February 27):
Question:
It has been reported that the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) collectively signed by 11 countries formally took effect in December last year, marking the birth of a new economic circle accounting for 13 per cent of the global gross domestic product and having a population of over 500 million as well as the world’s third largest free trade area. On the other hand, Article 151 of the Basic Law provides that “[t]he Hong Kong Special Administrative Region may on its own, using the name “Hong Kong, China”, maintain and develop relations and conclude and implement agreements with foreign states and regions and relevant international organisations in the appropriate fields, including the economic, trade, financial and monetary, shipping, communications, tourism, cultural and sports fields”. Regarding Hong Kong’s participation in the affairs of international organisations, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the decision-making mechanism concerning Hong Kong’s participation in the affairs of international organisations and entering into agreements on regional co-operation, and whether the Government will discuss the relevant issues with the Central People’s Government or its departments concerned; if so, of the details;
(2) whether it has conducted studies on Hong Kong’s accession to CPTPP; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
(3) as it has been reported that quite a number of countries around the Pacific Rim are going through the procedures for accession to CPTPP, whether it has assessed, under the circumstances that Hong Kong has yet to accede to CPTPP, the impact of those countries’ accession to CPTPP on Hong Kong’s economic and trade competitiveness in the coming three years; if so, of the outcome; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
In accordance with Articles 116 and 151 of the Basic Law, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), as a separate customs territory, may, using the name “Hong Kong, China”, participate in relevant international organisations, and sign and implement free trade agreements (FTAs) with its trading partners.
Making full use of its unique status conferred by the Basic Law and the principle of “one country, two systems”, Hong Kong has all along participated in international organisations such as the World Trade Organization (WTO) and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation as a full and separate member under the name “Hong Kong, China”, and has negotiated and signed FTAs on its own with its trading partners, with a view to pursuing deeper economic integration with different parts of the world. Hong Kong enjoys a high degree of autonomy in the participation in external trade and economic matters. This exemplifies the successful implementation of the “one country, two systems”.
With globalisation of the world economy, it has become a major trend for trading partners to enter into FTAs and regional economic co-operation arrangements. As an ardent advocate of free trade, Hong Kong welcomes any initiatives that promote free trade.
Replies to the three parts of the question are as follows:
(1) In selecting and determining Hong Kong’s target FTA partners and their relative priorities, the Government takes into account the unique characteristics of Hong Kong’s economy and devise a strategy that is in the best interest of Hong Kong, including through the signing of FTAs with economies that have strong economic and trade connections with Hong Kong, markets with development potential or at strategic locations, as well as like-minded trading partners, with a view to expanding Hong Kong’s global economic and trade network. Once the priority targets are identified, the Government will explore with the concerned economies the possibility of an FTA initiative and ascertain whether the two sides would like to strengthen bilateral economic ties through an FTA.
So far, Hong Kong has reached agreement on nine FTAs with 21 economies, i.e. Mainland China, New Zealand, the four member states of the European Free Trade Association (Note 1), Chile, Macao, the ten member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) (Note 2), Georgia, Maldives and Australia.
In the Policy Address announced in October 2018, the Chief Executive set out the Government’s priorities in signing FTAs in future. Hong Kong is exploring an FTA with the Pacific Alliance (Note 3) and plans to seek accession to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) (Note 4) after its negotiations have been completed. The Government is also exploring with the United Kingdom (UK) options for furthering the economic ties, including the possibility of an FTA in future.
The four members of the Pacific Alliance, namely Chile, Columbia, Mexico and Peru, account for nearly 40 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) of Latin America. They are also Hong Kong’s major trading partners in that part of the world. Signing an FTA with the Pacific Alliance will help deepen Hong Kong’s economic and trade co-operation with Latin America and bring new opportunities to Hong Kong businesses.
All the 16 RCEP participating economies are Hong Kong’s important trading partners. Their combined GDP represents nearly one third of the world’s total. In 2018, Hong Kong’s total trade with the RCEP economies was US$836.9 billion, accounting for 74 per cent of Hong Kong’s total trade. Joining RCEP will enable Hong Kong’s entry into the largest FTA in the Pan-Asia region and help strengthen Hong Kong’s role as a trading and investment hub in the region.
The UK and Hong Kong have deep and long economic and trade relations. With the launch of the Strategic Dialogue on Trade Partnership, Hong Kong and the UK are exploring the possibility of signing a bilateral FTA after Brexit which will be vital to consolidating and further promoting bilateral trade relations.
The Government is making every effort to follow up on the various new FTA initiatives set out in the Policy Address mentioned above.
(2) As a staunch supporter of free trade, Hong Kong supports the removal of trade barriers and measures that promote free trade. The Government has all along been monitoring the bilateral and plurilateral FTA negotiations of other economies, including the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) (Note 5) and the above-mentioned RCEP.
The Government has all along been actively seeking to forge FTAs with Hong Kong’s trading partners and the Government has an open mind on accession to the CPTPP. The Government notes that, unlike WTO agreements and traditional FTAs, CPTPP has a very extensive coverage, including a number of policy areas beyond core trade issues. The Government will continue to assess the situation.
(3) Broadly speaking, the relaxation of trade restrictions among members of the CPTPP would improve the resources allocation efficiency in member economies, thereby improving their income and production capacity as well. This would in turn lead to strengthening of import demand in those economies and hence boosting worldwide trade flows as well as the global economy.
Such spill-over effect of the CPTPP would benefit both member and non-member economies. Given Hong Kong’s close economic relationships with many of the CPTPP members, and that Hong Kong has reached agreement with many of them on FTAs, Hong Kong could potentially benefit from the more active regional economic and trade activities arising from the CPTPP.
CPTPP entered into force for some of the member economies just end of last year. The impact of CPTPP on the global and regional economy would depend on a complex array of factors, including the flexibility of the global supply chain and how businesses react to the new trade terms. Against the backdrop of today’s dynamic and fast-evolving global trade and investment landscape, it would take time for the impact to surface.
Note 1: The European Free Trade Association comprises Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.
Note 2: The member states of ASEAN are Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Note 3: Pacific Alliance comprises Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru.
Note 4: RCEP participating economies are the ten member states of ASEAN and its six FTA partners, i.e. Australia, Mainland China, India, Japan, Korea and New Zealand.
Note 5: CPTPP participating economies are Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. read more
Following is a question by the Hon Jeremy Tam and a written reply by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Mr Frank Chan Fan, in the Legislative Council today (February 27):
Question:
The Kowloon Motor Bus Company (1933) Limited (KMB) has installed electronic data recording devices (commonly known as “black boxes”) on all its buses to monitor the performance of bus captains. Upon detecting instances of speeding, etc., the black boxes issue real-time alerts to the bus captains concerned and automatically generate exception reports for KMB to take follow-up actions. However, a staff union for bus captains has recently pointed out that as the black boxes are erroneous in measuring vehicle speed and their positioning function is inaccurate, the black boxes have often incorrectly identified buses not exceeding the speed limits as speeding, and therefore have mistakenly issued speeding alerts and recorded instances of speeding. The staff union has claimed that there were over 1 000 cases in the past six months of bus captains being wrongly issued warning letters about speeding. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it knows (i) the number of bus speeding cases recorded by the black boxes of KMB’s bus fleet and (ii) the number of warning letters about speeding issued by KMB to its bus captains, in each of the past three years;
(2) whether it knows when KMB began to use black boxes to monitor bus speed across the board; whether the number of bus speeding cases known to KMB after using the black boxes has increased significantly when compared with the situation before then;
(3) whether it knows the name of the supplier for the black boxes currently used by KMB; the number of suppliers in the market which supply similar devices;
(4) whether the Transport Department (TD) received any reports or complaints last year about errors of black boxes in measuring the vehicular speeds and positions; if so, whether TD conducted any investigation;
(i) if investigations were conducted and the outcome was that the reports or complaints were substantiated, whether TD has requested KMB to review the bus speeding cases stated in the exception reports generated by the black boxes in the past and revoke the punitive actions taken against the bus captains concerned; whether TD has requested KMB to work out the solutions to the aforesaid problems of the black boxes with the supplier or change the black box supplier; and
(ii) if investigations were conducted and the outcome was that the reports or complaints were unsubstantiated, whether TD has requested KMB to adopt measures to reduce bus speeding instances (including retrofitting speed limiting retarders on all buses), adopt a scientific approach to identify road sections prone to speeding and regularly publish statistics on bus speeding; and
(5) whether it knows if errors have been found in the black boxes of the bus fleets of other franchised bus companies in measuring the vehicular speeds and positions?
Reply:
President,
Under the requirements of the franchise terms, all franchised buses are required to be installed with electronic data recording devices (commonly known as “black boxes”). At present, all franchised bus operators make use of the black boxes to generate real-time alerts to bus captains as well as exception reports automatically when the speed of the vehicle exceeds a pre-set threshold. The franchised bus operators will review the exception reports, investigate improper driving behaviour and take appropriate follow-up actions, such as issuance of verbal advice, verbal warning, written warning; and step up the remedial trainings for the bus captains concerned. The bus captains concerned may be dismissed should circumstances warrant.
On the other hand, the Transport Department (TD) set up in March 2018 the Working Group on the Enhancement of Safety of Franchised Bus (Working Group), which comprises representatives from all franchise bus operators, to consider and study possible measures to further enhance bus safety. Among others, the TD has, through the Working Group, requested the franchised bus operators to liaise with the suppliers of black boxes for their bus fleets to develop a bus monitoring and control system (BMCS) with positioning function, operational information monitoring function and geo-fencing technology. One of the functions of the BMCS is, by making use of the black boxes and Global Positioning System or other positioning technologies, to conduct real-time monitoring of the bus speed on roads with different speed limits. This will facilitate a more comprehensive monitoring of speeding and enable the generation of real-time alerts to bus captains. All franchised bus operators have commenced a trial of the geo-fencing technology since the third quarter of 2018, and they are fine-tuning their BMCS by using the data collected from the trial, so as to further enhance the system. When rolling out the various safety enhancement measures, including the real-time monitoring of the bus captains, the franchised bus operators will keep good communication with their frontline staff, listen to their views carefully and refine the various measures as appropriate with a view to further enhancing the operational safety of franchised buses.
Our reply to the various parts of the Hon Jeremy Tam’s question is as follows:
(1) According to the information submitted to the TD by the Kowloon Motor Bus Company (1933) Limited (KMB), the number of suspected speeding cases recorded by the black boxes in 2016, 2017 and 2018 is 3 223, 2 093 and 6 255 respectively. It should be noted that the figure in 2018 increased noticeably when compared with that in the past two years because KMB enhanced the function of the black boxes and the monitoring standard in 2018. In the past, the system was not able to detect speeding cases not exceeding 70 km/hour on road sections with speed limit of 50 km/hour, and it has now been enhanced to be able to monitor speeding in accordance with the various speed limits of different road sections in conjunction with the electronic map data. The figure in 2018 also includes the bus trips not in service.
When following up suspected speeding cases, KMB will verify the data recorded in the black boxes and the speed limits of the road sections concerned vigorously, and conduct stringent analysis and prudent assessment, before mapping out the appropriate follow-up actions. The number of warning letters issued to KMB bus captains in respect of verified speeding cases is 84, 102 and 790 in 2016, 2017 and 2018 respectively. The figure in 2018 is higher than that in the past two years because of the change in KMB’s arrangements on handling speeding cases since mid-2018. The company has cancelled the practice of deducting the bonus of the speeding bus captains as penalty (the related bonus has been incorporated into the basic salary of bus captains to improve the remuneration packages of bus captains) but increased the use of warning letters in order to further improve the situation of bus captains speeding. The abovementioned monitoring in conjunction with the electronic map data is also a reason for the higher number in 2018 when compared with that in the past two years.
(2) The use of black boxes could effectively monitor the speeding situations of bus captains. KMB has been using black boxes to monitor speeding by bus captains since 2008. In 2014, KMB started to make use of black boxes to provide real-time alerts for speeding, and installed at driver cabins driving indicators which will give out light signals and emit sounds to alert the captains when the bus speed exceeds 70 km/hour. In 2018, KMB enhanced the function of black boxes by using electronic map data so as to allow the black boxes to monitor speeding on road sections with different speed limits automatically and further enhance the monitoring of speeding by bus captains.
(3) At present, the black boxes used by the franchised bus operators in Hong Kong mainly come from two suppliers, namely NEC Hong Kong Limited and ZF Friedrichshafen AG. The current supplier of KMB’s black boxes is Openmatics s.r.o, a subsidiary of ZF Friedrichshafen AG.
(4) The TD has not received report or complaint about errors of black boxes in measuring the vehicular speeds and positions. Nonetheless, as mentioned above, KMB made it clear that in monitoring bus speeding and following up such cases, the company will verify the speed data recorded in the black boxes and the speed limits of the road sections concerned vigorously, and conduct stringent analysis and prudent assessment before a decision is made on the appropriate remedial trainings to be received by or disciplinary actions imposed on the bus captains concerned. Furthermore, KMB has set up an independent appeal mechanism to handle appeals made against any disciplinary action to protect the rights of the bus captains concerned and ensure the procedural justice of the review process. The appeal board is a standing mechanism. The appellant can come before the board in person to put up his/her case and the board will process each appeal case.
(5) Other franchised bus operators indicated that no significant errors have been found in the black boxes of their bus fleets in measuring the vehicular speeds and positions. The TD will continue to follow up with the franchised bus operators on the trial of geo-fencing technology to refine the system with a view to further enhancing the operational safety of franchised buses. read more
In his Budget delivered today (February 27), the Financial Secretary proposed the following tax measures.
The Financial Secretary proposed a 75 per cent reduction of profits tax, salaries tax and tax under personal assessment for the year of assessment 2018-19, subject to a ceiling of $20,000 per case. This measure will cost the Government $18.9 billion, benefiting about 2.05 million taxpayers.
The tax reduction will reduce the amount of tax payable by taxpayers for the year of assessment 2018-19. Taxpayers should file their profits tax returns and tax returns for individuals for the year of assessment 2018-19, to be issued in the coming April and May respectively, as usual. Upon enactment of the relevant legislation, the Inland Revenue Department will effect the reduction in the final assessment. Tax bills, with the reduction duly reflected, will be issued starting from about late July 2019. As usual, profits tax and personal assessment bills will fall due starting from November this year, and salaries tax in January 2020.
The proposed tax reduction will only be applicable to the final tax for the year of assessment 2018-19, but not to the provisional tax of the same year. Therefore, despite the proposed reduction, taxpayers are still required to pay the provisional tax on time as stipulated in the demand notes that have been issued to them. The provisional tax paid will, in accordance with the Inland Revenue Ordinance, be applied in payment of the final tax for the year of assessment 2018-19 and provisional tax for the year of assessment 2019-20. Excess balance, if any, will be refunded.
The proposed tax reduction is not applicable to property tax. Nevertheless, individuals with rental income, if eligible for personal assessment, may be able to enjoy such reduction under personal assessment.
A taxpayer who is separately chargeable to salaries tax and profits tax can enjoy tax reduction under each of the tax types. For a taxpayer having business profits or rental income and electing for personal assessment, the reduction will be based on the tax payable under personal assessment. It might be different from the amount of tax reduction he would get if he was not assessed under personal assessment. The exact position will need to be evaluated case by case. Individuals having business profits or rental income may make election for personal assessment in their tax returns for the year of assessment 2018-19.
The Financial Secretary also proposed to waive the business registration fees for 2019-20.
The above proposed tax measures will be effected by amending the relevant ordinances. Details of the proposals and examples of tax calculations are available on the website of the Inland Revenue Department (www.ird.gov.hk) for the public’s reference. They can also be obtained through the fax hotline 2598 6001. read more