The Transport Department (TD) and the Committee on Taxi Service Quality (CTSQ) today (November 16) rolled out an online training course for enhancing the service quality of in-service taxi drivers and encouraged taxi drivers to actively join the training course to boost their customer service skills.

     The training course is composed of five short videos covering communication skills and building relationship with passengers; handling customer conflicts; basic customer service skills; introduction to the relationship between taxi owners/management agents and drivers; and knowledge about wheelchair accessible facilities in taxis.

     The first three units of the training course are now available on the webpages of the TD and the CTSQ, as well as the TD's YouTube Channel. In-service taxi drivers can view the videos at any time and download them free of charge. As for the remaining units of the training course, they will be available by end of this year.

     To encourage taxi drivers' active participation in the training course, taxi drivers who have completed the course may opt to attend a written test arranged by the TD free-of-charge. As a token of encouragement, they will be presented with a certificate of recognition by the TD and the CTSQ if they pass the test. The TD and the CTSQ will announce the enrollment details on their websites in late December.

     The Support and Consultation Centre for SMEs (SUCCESS) of the Trade and Industry Department will hold a seminar entitled "Tax Essentials for Investing in the Bay Area" on November 29 (Thursday).
 
     The business opportunities of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (Bay Area) are attracting many Hong Kong enterprises to invest and do business there. Tax considerations are very important in the process. Further to the seminar on "Tax Essentials for Investing in the Mainland" held on September 4, SUCCESS has again invited the Director of BC Advisory Co Ltd and BC Training Co Ltd, Miss Bolivia Cheung, to explain common misunderstandings and facts on the Bay Area taxes, and the proper ways of dealing with them.
 
     The seminar will be held at 2.30pm in the Lecture Theatre, G/F, Hong Kong Central Library, 66 Causeway Road, Causeway Bay (MTR Tin Hau Station, Exit B). The seminar will be conducted in Cantonese. Admission is free.
 
     Please visit the SUCCESS website (www.success.tid.gov.hk/tid/eng/activity/activity.jsp) for details of the seminar and online registration. Interested persons are invited to register with SUCCESS by November 28 (Wednesday).
 
     For enquiries, please call 3403 6111.

     The Director of Health, Dr Constance Chan, and the Controller of the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health (DH), Dr Wong Ka-hing, visited Pentecostal Yu Leung Fat Primary School in Fanling this morning (November 16) to observe the operation of the School Outreach Vaccination Pilot Programme and visit Government Outreach Team colleagues providing the vaccination service to schoolchildren on-site.

     To enhance the seasonal influenza vaccination (SIV) uptake rate among primary schoolchildren, the DH introduced the School Outreach Vaccination Pilot Programme this year, which has been underway since October 22, to reach out to 184 primary schools gradually to help the schoolchildren in preparation for the winter influenza season through Government Outreach Teams and Public-Private-Partnership Teams.
 
     "Today's vaccination activity was performed by a Government Outreach Team. About 740 pupils, over 80 per cent of the total number of pupils, consented to receive SIV at the school. In addition to providing vaccination service to pupils, our DH colleagues also arranged the procurement and delivery of vaccines as well as collected unused vaccines and clinical waste. We are pleased to see that the outreach vaccination arrangement has been smooth and the school and parents have been very supportive of the activity. Home-school co-operation is of vital importance to raising vaccination coverage," Dr Chan said.
 
     Dr Chan added that based on previous epidemiological and clinical experiences, vaccinating schoolchildren can reduce influenza-related complications, hospitalisations and deaths; potentially reduce absenteeism; and provide numerous benefits to them with respect to personal health and learning. As the winter influenza season is approaching and it takes about two weeks for antibodies to develop in the body after vaccination to offer protection, she reminded parents to consider vaccination for their children as soon as possible.
 
      In addition to introducing the School Outreach Vaccination Pilot Programme, the DH has also rolled out the Enhanced Vaccination Subsidy Scheme (VSS) Outreach Vaccination this year. Under the enhanced programme, schools can invite participating doctors from a list published on the CHP's website to arrange outreach SIV service at their campus. No tendering will be required by the schools and no extra service fees will be charged by the doctors to schools or students. The Government will also provide subsidies for vaccines and clinical waste disposal to participating doctors.
 
      "Primary schools, kindergartens (KGs) and child care centres (CCCs) not participating in the pilot programme are urged to arrange outreach vaccination as early as possible for their students through the enhanced programme, which has been underway since October 10. As of November 9, 109 doctors had signed up for the enhanced programme. We note that 91 primary schools and 87 KGs/CCCs will arrange outreach vaccination activities under the enhanced programme," she said.
 
     Dr Chan pointed out that with the various outreach vaccination models offered, the DH hopes to encourage schools and doctors to conduct vaccination activities in schools more actively, so as to boost the vaccination coverage among schoolchildren. The DH will review the arrangements of outreach vaccination activities and make use of the experiences gained to explore and evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of different programmes with an aim of enhancing services in the future and further extending the vaccination coverage among schoolchildren.
 
     Dr Wong said that based on past epidemiological patterns, the winter influenza season usually occurs from January to March or April each year. Besides high-risk groups such as the elderly, children and immunocompromised patients, healthy people may also contract influenza and develop complications. Schoolchildren aside, other eligible persons can also receive subsidised or free SIV vaccination via the VSS or the Government Vaccination Programme (GVP) respectively.

     Dr Wong reminded the public that SIV is one of the safe and effective ways of preventing seasonal influenza and its complications. He appealed to members of the public, particularly those in high-risk groups, to get vaccinated early to ensure personal protection before the influenza season arrives.

     As of November 11, 2018, 75 schools have conducted vaccination activities via the School Outreach Vaccination Pilot Programme with around 34 400 doses of SIV administered, while 57 primary schools and 67 KGs/CCCs have conducted vaccination activities via the Enhanced VSS Outreach Vaccination with around 36 200 doses of SIV administered. Meanwhile, over 163 000 doses of SIV had been administered via the GVP and over 261 000 doses had been administered via the VSS (including Enhanced VSS Outreach Vaccination), representing increases of 12 per cent and 63 per cent respectively from the same period in the 2017/18 season.
 
     For more details of the vaccination programmes, the public may call the CHP's hotline (2125 2125) in office hours or visit the CHP's Vaccination Schemes page.

          

     The Banking (Amendment) Ordinance 2018 (Commencement) (No. 2) Notice 2018 (Commencement Notice), the Banking (Exposure Limits) Rules, the Banking (Capital) (Amendment) Rules 2018 (BCAR) and the Banking (Disclosure) (Amendment) (No. 2) Rules 2018 were gazetted today (November 16) to implement some recent international standards on banking regulation in Hong Kong.

     The three sets of banking rules seek mainly to implement in Hong Kong certain standards promulgated by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision:

(a) the "internal assessment approach" of the 2014 revised securitisation framework (further revised in 2016), which is a methodology for calculating capital requirements of certain securitisation exposures in asset-backed commercial paper programmes;

(b) the 2016 TLAC holdings standard, which generally sets out the regulatory capital treatment of banks' holdings of certain subordinated instruments capable of absorbing losses should the issuing entities become non-viable; and

(c) the 2014 standards Supervisory framework for measuring and controlling large exposures, together with certain local capital and disclosure requirements on concentration risk in sovereign exposures to complement the implementation of the standards.

     The Commencement Notice seeks to appoint July 1, 2019 as the commencement date for repeal of the relevant provisions of the Banking Ordinance, which will be replaced by the Banking (Exposure Limits) Rules to be effected on the same day.

     A government spokesman said, "The continued implementation of Basel III standards will ensure the resilience of our banking system and reinforce Hong Kong's status as an international financial centre."

     A Hong Kong Monetary Authority spokesman said, "We have carefully considered the banking industry's comments in the course of formulating the rules to ensure that they are appropriate in strengthening the regulatory regime for authorized institutions under the local circumstances."

     The four pieces of subsidiary legislation will be tabled before the Legislative Council on November 21, 2018 for negative vetting and will come into operation respectively on January 11, 2019 for item (a), April 1, 2019 for item (b) and July 1, 2019 for item (c) above.

     The Government Property Agency is inviting tenders for a two-year tenancy of (i) Shop No. 1 and Shop No. 4 and a space for a promotion trolley on the departure level of China Hong Kong City, China Ferry Terminal, No. 33 Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon; and (ii) Shop A on level 4, Arrival Hall of China Hong Kong City, China Ferry Terminal, No. 33 Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon.

     The premises should only be used for general retail purposes including storage, sale and display of duty-free liquor, cigarettes, cigars and other tobacco products but excluding any goods or commodities that are prohibited under the Import and Export Ordinance (Cap. 60), any regulations made thereunder and any amending legislations.

     The tender notices were uploaded today (November 16) to the Agency's website: www.gpa.gov.hk. Tender documents are available for collection at the Government Property Agency, 31/F, Revenue Tower, 5 Gloucester Road, Wan Chai, during office hours (8.30am to 5.45pm from Mondays to Fridays). The documents can also be downloaded from the Agency's website.
      
     Interested tenderers who wish to inspect the sites should make prior appointment with the Government Property Agency by calling 2594 7697 on or before November 27 this year.

     Tenderers must submit their tenders by placing them in the Government Secretariat Tender Box situated on the Lobby of the Public Entrance on the Ground Floor, East Wing, Central Government Offices, 2 Tim Mei Avenue, Tamar, before noon on December 7 this year. Late tenders will not be accepted.