Author Archives: hksar gov

     Following is a question by the Dr Hon Fernando Cheung and a written reply by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Dr Law Chi-kwong, in the Legislative Council today (February 27):
 
Question:
 
     In recent years, incidents of sudden deaths of employees suspected to be caused by overexertion at work (commonly known as “deaths from overexertion”) have been heard from time to time, arousing public concern about overexertion at work.  In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
 
(1) of the number of cases, as recorded by the Labour Department (LD) in each year since 2013, in which employees suddenly died not as a result of an accident arising out of and in the course of the employment, together with a breakdown by the gender of the deceased, the age group to which the deceased belonged, the industry and job type in which the deceased was engaged before death, as well as the cause of death of the deceased (e.g. brain disease and heart disease);
 
(2) whether it knows which 10 industries had the highest median weekly working hours in each year since 2013, as well as the relevant distributions of working hours;
 
(3) given that LD has commissioned the Occupational Safety and Health Council to conduct a study on cases of employees’ sudden deaths at work, of the progress of the study; and
 
(4) whether it will draw up a legal definition for “death from overexertion” and stipulate death from overexertion as one of the incidents in respect of which employers must pay compensation in accordance with the Employees’ Compensation Ordinance (Cap. 282)?
 
Reply:
 
President,
 
     My reply to the question raised by the Member is as follows:
 
(1) Occupational injury statistics published by the Labour Department (LD) are released on a quarterly basis and the latest available statistics are up to the first three quarters of 2018.  The breakdown of the number of fatalities not caused by accidents (i.e. fatalities due to various non-occupational diseases) by sex, age, industry section and disease from 2013 to the first three quarters of 2018 are set out in Annex 1.  LD does not keep the statistical breakdown by trade.
 
(2) According to Annual Earnings and Hours Survey undertaken by the Census and Statistics Department, the 10 industries with the highest employees’ median weekly working hours and their respective distributions of weekly working hours during the period from May – June 2013 to May – June 2017 are set out in Annex 2.
 
(3) The causes of death of employees not caused by work accidents in the course of the employment are often complex, and may involve a multitude of factors including personal health condition, heredity, eating and living habits, work nature and environment, etc. In October 2017, LD commissioned the Occupational Safety and Health Council (OSHC) to conduct a study focusing on death of employees at workplace caused by cardiovascular diseases or cerebrovascular diseases. OSHC will look into the possible causes leading to the death of these employees from different perspectives, like working condition, personal health condition, living habits, etc., through interviewing the deceased workers’ relatives, employers and colleagues.  OSHC started the interviewing work in the first quarter of 2018 and expects to complete the study in about three years.
 
(4) As stipulated in the Employees’ Compensation Ordinance (ECO) (Cap. 282), if an employee sustains an injury or dies (including the case of sudden death) as a result of an accident arising out of and in the course of the employment, the employer is liable to pay compensation in accordance with the Ordinance.  To further expand the scope of ECO to cover all fatal cases that happen during the period of work irrespective of whether they are caused by work accidents would involve a significant change in the basic principle of employees’ compensation, and employees’ benefits as well as affordability of employers should also be taken into account. read more

     Following is a question by the Hon Wu Chi-wai and a written reply by the Secretary for Innovation and Technology, Mr Nicholas W Yang, in the Legislative Council today (February 27):
 
Question:
 
     In May last year, the Finance Committee (FC) of this Council approved a funding of more than $530 million for the establishment of the next generation government cloud infrastructure (cloud facilities) and a big data analytics platform to support agile delivery of e-Government services.  The Government anticipates that those systems will be commissioned in the third quarter of 2020 and they can bring about a one-off cost avoidance of about $570 million for the Government over the next six financial years.  However, when the Government recently put forward proposals of other projects on information technology (IT) systems (e.g. a centralised electronic platform for the administration of Mandatory Provident Fund registered schemes), it did not mention how it would make use of the cloud facilities to achieve greater cost-effectiveness.  In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
 
(1) of the latest progress (including whether there are changes in the projected (i) commissioning dates and (ii) cost-effectiveness) of the establishment of the two aforesaid systems;
 
(2) of the number of proposed projects on IT systems, since May last year, in respect of which the Government has submitted discussion papers and/or funding proposals to the panel(s) and FC of this Council, as well as the following details of each of such projects: (i) the name of the project, (ii) the policy bureau/government department (B/D) responsible, (iii) the estimated non-recurrent expenditure, (iv) the (projected) date for awarding the service contract for system development, (v) the (projected) commissioning date for the system, (vi) whether the system will make use of the cloud facilities, and (vii) the panel(s) concerned (set out in a table);
 
(3) whether the tender documents for the projects in (2) have contained/will contain provisions (i) specifying that the proposed IT system must make use of the cloud facilities, and (ii) encouraging the successful bidder to make use of the cloud facilities in developing the proposed IT system; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
 
(4) regarding the estimations of the non-recurrent expenditure and the financial benefits for the projects in (2) submitted by the Government to this Council, of the respective numbers of those projects for which (i) the bases of such estimations included the making use of the cloud facilities, and (ii) quantitative assessments on the cost implications for using the cloud facilities were provided;
 
(5) whether the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO) has been involved in the preparatory work and tender exercises for the projects in (2); if so, of the details of OGCIO’s involvement in each of such projects (including whether it has conducted any technical and cost assessments on making use of the cloud facilities in the projects concerned), and whether OGCIO has advised the B/Ds concerned to provide, when drawing up the relevant tender conditions, incentives for encouraging the successful bidders to make use of the cloud facilities in developing the proposed IT systems; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
 
(6) whether the Government has put in place policies and guidelines to encourage various B/Ds and public bodies to make use of the cloud facilities in future; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
 
(7) of the estimated number of funding proposals for projects on IT systems to be submitted by the Government to this Council’s FC in the coming year and, among such projects, the number of those which will make use of the cloud facilities, and set out by project name the details, such as the B/D responsible?
 
Reply:
 
President,
 
     Our reply to the seven parts of the question is as follows:
 
(1) The Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO) is conducting tender exercise for the implementation of the Next Generation Government Cloud Infrastructure (GovCloud) and Big Data Analytics Platform.  It is expected that the concerned system and platform will be launched in the third quarter of 2020 as planned.  The estimated total expenditure for the project is $533 million.  The cost savings from GovCloud in other government IT systems between 2019-20 and 2024-25 are estimated to be about $573 million, which include the costs of upgrading individual infrastructures and developing respective government bureaux/departments (B/Ds) systems.  The cost-effectiveness figure remains unchanged.
 
(2) Between May 2018 and January 2019, relevant panels of the Legislative Council (LegCo) have discussed six funding proposals for government department IT system projects and the Finance Committee (FC) has approved five of them.  Details are as follows:
 

	Name of Project	B/D	Estimated Non-recurrent Expenditure ($ million)	Estimated Contract Award Date for System Development Services	Estimated System Commissioning Date	Will GovCloud be adopted	Panel Concerned
(1)	Redevelopment of Service Performance Management Information System	Social Welfare Department	65.42	Not applicable (the system is mainly developed by in-house staff)	September 2022	Yes	Panel on Welfare Services
(2)	Redevelopment of Client Information System	Social Welfare Department	316.88	Not applicable (the system is mainly developed by in-house staff)	June 2023	Yes	Panel on Welfare Services
(3)	Electronic Submission Hub	Buildings Department	214.39	Q2 2019	To be rolled out in phases from Q1 2022 to Q2 2025	Yes	Panel on Development
(4)	Information Technology Equipment and Services for the 2021 Population Census#	Census and Statistics Department	202.68	Service contracts for individual sub-systems will be awarded from June 2019 to October 2020	Individual sub-systems will be rolled out progressively from June 2020 to September 2022	Yes	Panel on Financial Affairs
(5)	Development of Smart Library System	Leisure and Cultural Services Department	877.30	December 2020	December 2024	Yes	Panel on Home Affairs
(6)	Information Technology Enhancement Project of the Department of Health (covering 35 projects)	Department of Health	1,057.13	To be awarded in Q4 2019 at the earliest depending on individual projects	To be fully completed by December 2024	Yes	Panel on Health Services

# The funding proposal is yet to be approved by FC
 
     In addition, the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau (FSTB) submitted to the Panel on Financial Affairs the proposal for the IT project “Centralised Electronic Platform for the Administration of Mandatory Provident Fund Registered Schemes” in December 2018.  According to the information provided by FSTB, the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority is considering different options, including the adoption of GovCloud.
 
(3) to (7) In August 2016, OGCIO issued guidelines to B/Ds, requesting them to accord priority to adoption of GovCloud when developing new systems or revamping existing systems.  Relevant B/Ds should also include the requirement of adopting GovCloud in their tender documents.
 
     The estimated non-recurrent expenditure and financial benefits for the six projects in the reply for part (2) above have included the resources involved for adopting GovCloud.
 
     Currently, OGCIO does not have the timetable of other B/Ds’ proposals for IT system projects to be submitted to the LegCo in the coming year.  It is envisaged that large-scale projects on IT systems submitted to the LegCo FC for funding approval in the coming year will adopt GovCloud. read more

     Following is a question by Hon Ho Kai-ming and a reply by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Mr Frank Chan Fan, in the Legislative Council today (February 27):    Question:   Quite a number of residents in p… read more

     Following is a question by the Hon Charles Mok and a written reply by the Secretary for Innovation and Technology, Mr Nicholas W Yang, in the Legislative Council today (February 27):
 
Question:
 
     Regarding the requests made by the Government to information and communication technology (ICT) companies for disclosure and removal of information, will the Government inform this Council:
 
(1) of the following details of the requests for information disclosure made by the Government respectively in the first and the second halves of 2018 to ICT companies (set out the information in a table, broken down by government department):
 
(i) total number of ICT companies involved,
(ii) names and types of ICT companies involved (e.g. Internet service providers, device producers, social media and search engines),
(iii) total number of requests made,
(iv) total number of user accounts involved,
(v) types of information requested for disclosure (e.g. user names, Internet Protocol addresses and contact methods) and the respective numbers of the requests concerned,
(vi) nature of information requested for disclosure (i.e. metadata and/or content of communication) and the respective numbers of the requests concerned,
(vii) reasons for making the requests concerned (e.g. investigation of cases, law enforcement and other reasons) and the respective numbers of the requests concerned,
(viii) number of requests made under court orders,
(ix) number of requests acceded to, and
(x) reasons why some requests were not acceded to (e.g. the request not made under a court order, failure to provide appropriate legal documents, insufficient justifications, not in compliance with the policies of the ICT companies, and other reasons) and the respective numbers of the requests concerned;
 
     if such information cannot be provided, of the reasons for that;
 
(2) of the following details of the requests for information removal made by the Government respectively in the first and the second halves of 2018 to ICT companies (set out the information in a table, broken down by government department):
 
(i) total number of ICT companies involved,
(ii) names and types of ICT companies involved,
(iii) total number of requests made,
(iv) volume of information requested for removal,
(v) types of information involved (e.g. videos, text, images) and the respective numbers of the requests concerned,
(vi) nature of information involved (e.g. indecent content, illegal advertisements, copyright infringement and false information) and the respective numbers of the requests concerned,
(vii) reasons for making the requests concerned (e.g. for investigation of complaints, law enforcement and other reasons),
(viii) number of requests made under a court order,
(ix) number of requests acceded to, and
(x) reasons why some requests were not acceded to and the respective numbers of the requests concerned;
 
     if such information cannot be provided, of the reasons for that;
 
(3) given that information technology is advancing and changing rapidly and the methods adopted by law enforcement agencies for collecting evidence have changed, whether it has plans to review and amend the relevant laws such as the Interception of Communications and Surveillance Ordinance (Cap. 589), to ensure that Hong Kong people continue to fully enjoy the rights to freedom of speech, privacy of communication, etc., as safeguarded under Articles 27 to 30 of the Basic Law;
 
(4) given that quite a number of advanced countries/regions have enacted laws (e.g. the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 of the United Kingdom, the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 of Australia and the Communication Security and Surveillance Act of Taiwan) to regulate the access to residents’ electronic communication records and personal data by law enforcement agencies, and those countries/regions also require law enforcement agencies to proactively make public, on a regular basis, statistics and reports on access to such information, so as to ensure that there is a certain degree of transparency in law enforcement actions, whereas Cap. 589 of Hong Kong regulates only matters such as “postal interception” and “telecommunications interception” and does not regulate the interception of communication records and personal data stored in media such as web servers, whether the Government has plans to amend its internal guidelines and codes of practice, to regulate the making of requests by various law enforcement agencies concerning information disclosure and removal (including the aspect of enhancing transparency); if not, of the reasons for that; and
 
(5) whether the authorities will proactively and regularly make public, in machine readable format, the statistics and reports on requests for information disclosure and requests for information removal made to ICT companies, so as to enhance the transparency of law enforcement actions; if not, of the reasons for that?
 
Reply:
 
President,
 
     In consultation with relevant bureaux and departments, our reply is as follows:
 
(1) and (2) Details of the requests for information disclosure and information removal made by the Government to information and communications technology (ICT) companies in 2018 are set out in Tables 1 and 2 respectively.
 
(3) The Security Bureau advises that the Interception of Communications and Surveillance Ordinance (Cap. 589) (ICSO) regulates interception of communications and covert surveillance by the four designated law enforcement agencies (LEAs) for prevention and detection of serious crimes and protection of public security. The covert operations regulated by the ICSO do not cover general government LEAs’ requests to the Internet service providers during their day-to-day work for information that does not involve non-open communications, such as user information, IP addresses, login records, etc.
 
     ICSO was amended in June 2016, and the Code of Practice issued by the Secretary for Security under section 63 of ICSO was also updated in the same month. The Government will keep in view closely the application of the ICSO and does not have any plan to further amend the ICSO in the near future.
 
(4) If officers of individual government departments and LEAs, in discharging their duties, need to request for information or co-operation from relevant persons or organisations (including ICT companies), they will make the requests in accordance with duty-related legislations, procedures or guidelines, and will ensure that relevant requests would only be made if they are necessary for discharging their duties. The above mechanism and procedures or guidelines have been functioning properly and effectively. At present, the Government does not have any plan to change the above.
 
(5) Regarding the requests made by the Government to ICT companies for disclosure and removal of information, no relevant statistics and reports are provided in machine-readable format at present. Provided that it will not affect future investigation and enforcement actions, the Government will consider disseminating regularly relevant data in machine-readable format having regard to specific circumstances. read more

     The Government announced today (February 27) that the Financial Secretary has invited several leaders from the financial services and business sectors to make recommendations on the investment strategies and portfolios of the Future Fund. Dr Victor Fung has been invited to lead the group comprising Professor Lawrence Lau, Mr Peter Wong and Mr Norman Chan (Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority).
 
     “I look forward to receiving the advice and recommendations from this group of experienced leaders on the investment strategies and portfolios of the Future Fund as well as ways to achieve more diversified investments. The objectives are to enhance return while consolidate Hong Kong’s status as a financial, commercial and innovation centre, and raise the productivity and competitiveness of Hong Kong in the long run,” the Financial Secretary, Mr Paul Chan, said.
 
     The Future Fund, being an integral part of the fiscal reserves, was established in 2016 for placement in longer term investments with a view to securing higher return. The Financial Secretary announced in his 2019-20 Budget that he would invite several leaders from the financial services and business sectors to advise him on the Fund’s investment strategies and portfolios. read more