Following is a question by Professor the Hon Joseph Lee and a written reply by the Secretary for Security, Mr John Lee, in the Legislative Council today (December 4): Question: &nbs… read more
The following is issued on behalf of the Committee on Home-School Co-operation:
The Committee on Home-School Co-operation (CHSC) will release the e-version (in Chinese and English) of the Secondary School Profiles 2019/2020 tomorrow (December 5). The Chinese and English printed versions of the profiles will be delivered to primary schools for distribution to parents with children at the Primary Six level in the current school year.
The Secondary School Profiles 2019/2020 cover basic information on more than 400 secondary schools including teaching staff, class structure, school facilities, school characteristics, school life, extra-curricular activities, student support and the school curriculum, as well as the schools’ teaching strategies, such as the whole-school language policy. The profiles contain information provided and verified by individual schools, showing their situations as at September 2019.
The publication of the profiles aims to provide comprehensive secondary school information for parents’ reference. The profiles also include “A Message from CHSC Chairman”, which states key points for parents when choosing schools.
The e-version of the profiles enables schools to update their information on the web directly whenever necessary, so that parents can obtain the most up-to-date school information.
The profiles will be uploaded to the website of the CHSC at www.chsc.hk/secondary/en. Copies of the printed version will be available for public reference at District Offices, public libraries, Regional Education Offices and the Central Resources Centre of the Education Bureau (EDB).
For enquiries about the profiles, please call the EDB’s Regional Education Offices (Hong Kong: 2863 4646; Kowloon: 3698 4108; New Territories East: 2639 4876; and New Territories West: 2437 7272) or the CHSC Secretariat at 3698 4376. read more
Parents of Primary Six (P6) students participating in the 2018/2020 Secondary School Places Allocation (SSPA) System will receive two application forms for Secondary One (S1) discretionary places (DPs) through their children’s primary schools starting from tomorrow (December 5), a spokesman for the Education Bureau (EDB) said today (December 4).
Students not studying in primary schools participating in the SSPA System (including newly arrived children who are eligible for participating in DP) can obtain the application forms from the EDB’s School Places Allocation Section.
“Parents wishing to apply for S1 DPs in government, aided, caput and Direct Subsidy Scheme schools participating in the SSPA System have to complete the application forms for their children and submit the forms with other necessary documents directly to the schools concerned during school office hours between January 2 and 16, 2020,” the spokesman said.
“The schools to which parents apply for DPs are not restricted by districts. Parents are strongly advised to consider the schools in all respects, such as their educational philosophy, tradition, admission criteria, development and operation, as well as their children’s abilities, inclinations and interests, so as to make a suitable school choice.”
One of the two application forms carries Order of School Preference 1 and the other carries Order of School Preference 2. Order of School Preference 1 stands for the student’s first choice school and Order of School Preference 2 stands for the student’s second choice school.
Primary and secondary schools should not ask the students to disclose their order of preference. Applicants and their parents should not indicate their order of preference to the secondary schools.
In addition, parents should not submit applications to more than two schools participating in the SSPA. Otherwise, the DP applications of their children will be rendered void.
The spokesman reminded parents that the secondary schools concerned are required to make public their admission criteria and weightings, their number of S1 DPs for application as well as any documents required by them. Schools may arrange interviews, and would notify applicants of the interview arrangements.
“Students who are successful in the DP application will not be allocated a school place in central allocation (CA). Parents should, therefore, apply to the school(s) of their preference. The EDB will match students’ preferences against schools’ Successful and Reserve Lists. If a student is successful in both schools to which he or she has applied, allocation will be based on the student’s order of preference,” he said.
Parents may refer to the Handbook for Application for Secondary 1 Discretionary Places for the list of government, aided and caput as well as Direct Subsidy Scheme schools accepting DP applications and the number of DPs for application. The Handbook will be distributed to primary schools and is available through the bureau’s homepage (www.edb.gov.hk) and 24-hour Automatic Telephone Enquiry System on 2891 0088 tomorrow.
The spokesman also reminded parents of the New Notification Arrangements to be implemented from this SSPA cycle. Under the new arrangements, if students are included by participating secondary schools in their Successful Lists for Discretionary Places, their parents will receive notifications from the schools on March 31, 2020. The parents concerned do not need to reply to the schools if they would accept the DP offers or not.
He added, “For students notified as successful DP applicants by participating secondary schools who have also been successfully admitted by a non-participating Direct Subsidy Scheme (NDSS) secondary school, their parents should decide whether to accept the offer from the NDSS secondary school concerned as soon as possible. If the parents concerned decide to decline the offer from the NDSS secondary school, they should notify the NDSS secondary school concerned and retrieve the signed undertaking and the original copy of the Primary 6 Student Record Form on or before April 7, 2020 in order to retain the DP offer obtained.”
The allocation results of DP and CA will be released at the same time on July 7, 2020. If parents have enquiries about the DP application, they are advised to consult their children’s primary schools or approach the secondary schools directly.
General enquiries may be directed to the EDB’s School Places Allocation Section (Tel: 2832 7740 and 2832 7700; address: Office 2, 2/F, Manulife Financial Centre, 223 Wai Yip Street, Kwun Tong, Kowloon). read more
Following is a question by the Hon Kenneth Leung and a written reply by the Secretary for the Environment, Mr Wong Kam-sing, in the Legislative Council today (December 4):
Question:
It is learnt that an acute shortage of charging facilities for electric vehicles (EVs) has caused quite a number of people to give up the idea of purchasing EVs. Regarding charging facilities for EVs, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) as the authorities indicated early this year that the relevant government departments were looking for suitable on-street car parking spaces to install charging facilities as a pilot, of the progress and implementation timetable of the measure;
(2) as the authorities indicated early this year that the relevant government departments were looking for suitable locations (which were not car parking spaces) to set up public quick charging stations for trial, of the locations that the authorities have considered so far, the progress of the studies carried out on the feasibility of the various locations, and the implementation timetable of the measure;
(3) whether the authorities will encourage, through the provision of rates concession, commercial car park operators to install charging facilities in their car parks; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
(4) given that under section 20 of the Electricity (Wiring) Regulations (Cap. 406E), if a low voltage fixed electrical installation located in a general premises has an approved loading exceeding 100A, single or three phase, the owner of the installation shall arrange to have the installation inspected, tested and certified at least once every five years, and that the Government will allocate $2 billion for launching a pilot scheme to subsidise the installation of EV charging-enabling infrastructure in car parks of private residential buildings, whether the Government will accord priority to contacting the owners’ corporations or managers of buildings the communal electrical installation therein for which the said inspections will soon be conducted, so as to encourage them to install EV charging-enabling infrastructure in their car parks in tandem with the conduct of the aforesaid inspection; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
The Government has all along adopted a multi-pronged approach to promote the steady development and gradual popularisation of electric vehicles (EVs) in Hong Kong.
My responses to the question raised by the Hon Kenneth Leung are as follows:
(1) Provision of on-street parking spaces is mainly to cater for short-term parking needs, and such spaces are usually installed with parking meters to accelerate the turnover of parking spaces for use by more drivers. Taking into account the power supply and space constraints, potential impact on nearby traffic as well as related considerations such as other drivers’ parking needs, the Government has to look for suitable on-street parking spaces to install charging facilities. Ten-odd possible sites have initially been identified for such installation and their feasibility is under detailed study. When these sites are confirmed to be suitable for installing on-street charging facilities, the Government will draw up an implementation timetable and commence a pilot scheme.
(2) A quick charger (charger with a power output of at least 50 kilowatts) can provide 50 to 100 kilometres of driving range for small EVs (such as electric private cars (e-PCs) and electric taxis) in 15 to 30 minutes. To enable e-PC owners to top up their batteries quickly to meet occasional needs during their trips, and to pave the way for promoting the development of electric taxis, the Government is looking for suitable sites to set up public quick charging stations for trial. In October 2019, a consultant was engaged to identify suitable sites across the territory, and a complete list of such is expected to be ready by the end of 2020 to facilitate the formulation of a comprehensive plan for developing a network of quick charging stations. When searching for trial sites to set up quick charging stations, the Government will consider the impact on nearby traffic flow and explore the possibility of co-locating quick charging stations with other government facilities so as to reduce costs and optimise land use.
(3) As regards the charging arrangements for e-PCs, it has always been the Government’s policy direction that e-PC owners should perform daily charging of their e-PCs at their homes, workplaces or other suitable places. Public charging facilities, mainly supplementary in nature, are set up for EV owners to top up the batteries of their EVs at times of occasional needs during their trips.
Given the policy direction mentioned above, the Government’s priority is to facilitate and encourage the installation of charging facilities in private buildings when planning for the development of charging facilities for e-PCs. For new private buildings, the Government has, since April 2011, encouraged developers to provide EV charging-enabling infrastructure (including the provision of sufficient power supply as well as cabling and conduits for all parking spaces) in private car parks of new buildings (including commercial and residential buildings) through granting of concessions on gross floor area (GFA) so that future owners of these parking spaces may install EV chargers for daily charging. According to the information of the Buildings Department, from April 2011 to March 2019, over 80 per cent of parking spaces in the newly approved developments, involving about 490 car parks and around 57 000 parking spaces, will be equipped with EV charging-enabling infrastructure.
For existing private residential buildings, the Chief Executive’s 2019 Policy Address announced to set aside $2 billion to implement a pilot subsidy scheme to promote installation of EV charging-enabling infrastructure in car parks of existing private residential buildings (the pilot subsidy scheme) to subsidise car parks of existing private residential buildings to install EV charging-enabling infrastructure, thereby helping resolve problems encountered when installing the charging facilities in these buildings.
With regard to the public charging network, the Government and the private sector have all along been enhancing the installation of public charging facilities. As at September 2019, there are 2 506 public chargers across all 18 districts with 857 in government car parks and the remaining 1 649 installed by private sectors. The Government has allocated $120 million to install additional medium chargers in government car parks that are open to the public. It is expected that over 1 000 public chargers will be added by 2022, increasing the total number of public chargers in government car parks to around 1 800.
Meanwhile, the private sector has kept providing new public chargers in response to the charging demand from e-PCs in the market. The number of public chargers provided by the private sector has been significantly increased from 536 in 2013 to 1 649 at present. With the continued growth in the number of e-PCs, it is expected that the private sector will continue to provide more public chargers to meet market demand.
For commercial buildings, as mentioned above, the Government has, since April 2011, encouraged developers to provide EV charging-enabling infrastructure in private car parks of new buildings (including the commercial ones) through granting of GFA concessions. The two power companies, at the same time, have been providing technical advice to EV owners or business establishments and rendering service to connect power supply for installation of charging facilities at parking spaces of EV owners or in car parks of commercial buildings. In recent years, several private companies have been providing EV owners or business establishments with one-stop EV charging services, including installation of charging facilities at EV owners’ parking spaces and provision of free and/or paid charging services to tenants and customers at specified locations in car parks of commercial buildings.
The Government’s priority in the next few years is to spearhead the above mentioned pilot subsidy scheme to assist car parks of existing private residential buildings to install EV charging-enabling infrastructure, and encourage developers to provide EV charging-enabling infrastructure in private car parks of new buildings (including commercial ones) through the current granting of GFA concessions. While the Government has no plan to offer other subsidy schemes (such as rates concession) to encourage commercial car park operators to install charging facilities in their car parks, we will keep in view the development of charging facilities in the market and review the relevant policies and measures in due course.
(4) The Environmental Protection Department is working out the implementation details of the pilot subsidy scheme. In respect of facilitating participation of eligible applicants in the scheme, the department would consider applicants’ requests to, as far as practicable, arrange the approved installation works for charging-enabling infrastructure to tie in with the inspection programme of electrical installations in the premises concerned. read more
Following is a question by the Hon Elizabeth Quat and a written reply by the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, in the Legislative Council today (December 4): Question:  … read more