Following is a question by the Hon Ip Kin-yuen and a written reply by the Secretary for Education, Mr Kevin Yeung, in the Legislative Council today (May 16):
 
Question:
 
     Since the 2009/10 school year, special schools have offered 12-year education for students with intellectual disability. As individual students may need to have their years of study extended due to various reasons, the Education Bureau (EDB) has, from the 2010/11 school year onwards, progressively implemented improvement measures to cater for the extension of students' years of study. As additional classrooms and facilities are involved, EDB has stated that it will implement the improvement measures progressively and will examine the carrying out of conversion works in some schools. In addition, starting from the 2017/18 school year, the EDB has provided additional allied health and nursing manpower in special schools to improve special education services. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
 
(1) in respect of each type of special schools in each of the past three years, of (i) the number of students waiting for enrolment (including those who changed schools) and the average waiting time, and (ii) the number of students waiting for boarding places and the average waiting time;

(2) in respect of each type of special schools, of a list of the schools and the costs of the conversion works involved, broken down by the progress of the works needed to be carried out (including (i) the authorities' discussion with the schools on the works projects yet to commence, (ii) funding approval for the works being awaited, (iii) works in progress, and (iv) works completed);

(3) given that starting from this school year, the Government has provided an occupational therapist and an occupational therapist assistant for each special school for children with mild intellectual disability, moderate intellectual disability and visual impairment, of the conditions of service of such posts, and the average post-to-student ratio;

(4) among each type of special schools, of the number of schools that have recruited sufficient manpower to fill the posts mentioned in (3) at present, the total number of in-service allied health staff members, and the total number of vacancies of allied health posts;

(5) as quite a number of schools have relayed that they have experienced difficulties in recruiting occupational therapists, whether the authorities have approached those schools to find out the reasons for that, and whether they will review the salaries and conditions of service of the relevant posts in order to attract such type of professionals to take up the posts; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and

(6) apart from providing additional allied health manpower in special schools, whether the EDB has provided such schools with related facilities and equipment (e.g. dedicated special rooms or treatment rooms, occupational therapy equipment), so that such staff members may arrange on-campus treatment and movement training for students; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

Reply:
 
President,
 
     To enhance the quality of education, the EDB has all along been reviewing the development and resource of special education and introducing viable improvement measures as necessary in accordance with education professionalism and the learning needs of students. The Government has been increasing resource input for special education. Over the five financial years from 2013-14 to 2018-19, the funding allocation increased by 50 per cent from over $1.8 billion to over $2.7 billion.
 
     Since assuming office, the current-term Government has provided additional teaching and allied health manpower and resources, such as occupational therapists (OT) and speech therapists (ST), to improve the special education services. It has been announced in the 2018-19 Budget that the Government will improve the provision of school nurses and social workers of special schools from the 2018/19 school year. Moreover, the EDB has been actively improving the premises and facilities of special schools through various viable means, including conversion/addition, reprovisioning or in-situ redevelopment, to provide a better learning environment to students of special schools.
 
     Our reply to the questions raised by the Hon Ip Kin-yuen is as follows:

(1) Overall speaking, there are sufficient special school places presently. The EDB will, subject to the assessment and recommendation of specialists and the consent of parents, refer students with more severe or multiple disabilities to special schools. Basically, if parents follow the placement arrangement to special schools made by the EDB for their children, waiting for school places is not required.
 
     As regards boarding places of special schools, the number of students waiting for boarding places in the past three school years from 2014/15 to 2016/17, as at September 15 of each school year, is set out at Table 1. The figures include cases with boarding places allocated who are going through the procedure for admission, cases deferring admission on the request of parents and cases waiting for alternative boarding placement after parents' refusal of the initial offer made by the EDB.
 
Table 1: Number of students waiting for boarding places of special schools
 

 
     The average waiting time for boarding places of special schools from the 2014/15 to 2016/17 school years is set out at Table 2.
 
Table 2: Average waiting time for boarding places of special schools
 

 
     In the calculation of the average waiting time, we have taken into account the cases of students who had been allocated a boarding place towards the end of a school term/year but their parents had requested to postpone admission for better adaptation and integration of the students. The time spent under such circumstances had also been counted.
 
     The EDB has been closely monitoring the supply and demand of boarding places in special schools and exploring feasible ways to increase the supply with reference to the actual demand. Currently, the overall supply of boarding places for different types of special schools is sufficient to meet the demand, except for schools for children with MoID. In this connection, the EDB has made optimal use of the space available in the boarding sections of schools for children with MoID, where relevant ordinances and regulations permit, for provision of additional boarding places in recent years. In addition, we have explored new measures with a view to increasing the provision. For instance, in the 2017/18 school year, we have piloted the operation of two MoID classes with 20 boarding places in a school for children with SID. Also, some new school projects are in the pipeline. Subject to the funding approval and the timely completion of the construction works, the number of boarding places for students with MoID will be increased to around 400 in the 2020/21 school year.
 
(2) The EDB has carried out 43 improvement works to address the circumstances and needs of individual special schools. To ensure that school needs are catered for properly, the EDB has all along maintained close liaison and communication with the schools concerned to gauge their views on the design, details and arrangements of the works. During the implementation of the projects, consultants are required to submit layout plans and design proposals to relevant government departments for vetting and approval with a view to complying with relevant statutory requirements. For those projects involving more complicated issues such as lease modification, it will take longer time to process. As at April 2018, 18 special school improvement projects have been completed, involving a total estimated expenditure of about $171.60 million, and another 25 projects are being implemented at different works stages. The actual amount of funding required for these projects will be determined after the project details are finalised.

(3) Starting from the 2017/18 school year, schools for children with mild intellectual disability (MiID), schools for children with MoID, the school for children with VI and the school for children with hearing impairment (HI) operating six or more approved classes are provided with one occupational therapist II (OT II) and one occupational therapist assistant (OTA). Regarding schools for children with MiID and MoID, each section operating six or more approved classes are provided with one OT II and one OTA respectively. As at September 2017, the salary scale for OT II and OTA is as follows:
 

 
(4) In the 2017/18 school year, there are 39 OT II/OTA posts in 34 schools for children with MiID, schools for children with MoID, the school for children with VI and the school for children with HI. We learnt that, as at April 2018, 29 out of these 34 schools employed an OT and/or frozen the post to obtain a cash grant for recruiting temporary staff and hiring the related service. The remaining five schools have six OT vacancies but they neither recruited any OT nor applied for the cash grant. One school froze only one out of two OT posts. In other words, there are seven OT vacancies. As for the manpower of OTA, 26 schools are at full or partial strength while eight schools have yet to recruit such staff, involving a total of 11.2 posts.
 
(5) OT of special schools are remunerated by the Salaries Grant on a pay scale linked to that of the civil service. Their pay and conditions of service are set according to the established mechanism of the Government. The EDB maintains communication with individual special schools and the Hong Kong Special Schools Council through various channels to learn about their difficulties in recruiting OT. In view of the keen demand for OT, the fundamental solution lies in increasing the overall supply of manpower through training. In this connection, the EDB has requested universities to increase their training capacity and encouraged self-financing post-secondary education sector to offer designated programmes, including nursing programmes through the Study Subsidy Scheme for Designated Professions/Sectors to nurture talent in support of specific industries with keen demand for human resources. For the meantime, to alleviate the difficulties in recruiting OT, special schools may choose to freeze some of the OT vacancies in exchange for cash grant to recruit temporary staff or hire related services.
 
(6) Students of schools for children with MiID, schools for children with MoID, the school for children with VI and the school for children with HI often display weaknesses in their fine motor skills and eye-hand coordination which require the support of OT. Generally speaking, schools can make available OT to support students through direct (such as individual/group OT sessions) and indirect (such as in-class teaching and learning activities) intervention. The said intervention services will enable needy students to develop and improve their fine motor skills and eye-hand coordination through individualised daily learning activities in the school environment. Schools can make flexible use of the existing hardware to offer OT service to their students. If necessary, schools can also make use of the Expanded Operating Expenses Block Grant as well as the Composite Furniture and Equipment Grant to procure the equipment needed for the therapy.

The following is issued on behalf of the University Grants Committee:
 
     The Chairman of the University Grants Committee (UGC), Mr Carlson Tong, today (May 16) welcomed the new policy of the Central Government to open up science and technology funding by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) and the Ministry of Finance for application by the higher education institutions and research institutions in Hong Kong.
 
     Mr Tong said, "I am very pleased and appreciate very much the support given by the Central Government in allowing the UGC-funded universities to bid for state funding to undertake science and technology projects in the Mainland. This new initiative is an important milestone in supporting research in the higher education sector of Hong Kong. It will certainly give our universities great impetus for further development. The UGC calls upon the universities to capture this valuable opportunity and continue to foster collaboration between Hong Kong and the Mainland on the research front.

     I believe this new policy would attract young people to join academia and retain talents in Hong Kong. This will surely enhance the overall competitiveness of Hong Kong in the long run."
 
     The Chairman of the Research Grants Council (RGC), Professor Benjamin Wah, welcomed the policy, which he said will allow the RGC to work more closely with the MOST and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

     A woman was sentenced to four weeks' imprisonment, suspended for two years and fined $12,000 at Kowloon City Magistrates' Courts today (May 16) for contravening the Hotel and Guesthouse Accommodation Ordinance.
      
     The courts heard that in October last year, officers of the Office of the Licensing Authority (OLA), the Home Affairs Department, inspected a suspected unlicensed guesthouse on Sai Yee Street in Mong Kok. During the inspection, the OLA officers posed as lodgers and successfully rented a room in the guesthouse on a daily basis.
      
     According to the OLA's record, the guesthouse did not possess a licence under the Ordinance on the day of inspection. The woman responsible for managing the premise was charged with contravening section 5(1) of the Ordinance.
      
     A department spokesman stressed that operating or managing an unlicensed guesthouse is a criminal offence and will lead to a criminal record. Upon conviction, the offender is liable to a maximum fine of $200,000 and two years' imprisonment.
           
     The spokesman appealed to anyone with information about suspected unlicensed guesthouses to report it to the OLA through the hotline (Tel: 2881 7498), by email (hadlaenq@had.gov.hk), by fax (2504 5805) using the report form downloaded from the OLA website (www.hadla.gov.hk), or through the mobile application "Hong Kong Licensed Hotels and Guesthouses".

     Following is a question by the Hon Tony Tse Wai-chuen and a written reply by the Secretary for Development, Mr Michael Wong, in the Legislative Council today (May 16):

Question:

     Regarding the expenditure on consultancy fees involved in the delivery of public works projects, will the Government inform this Council of:
 
1. the following information in respect of the public works projects with an approved estimated cost exceeding $15 million implemented by each works department in the past three years:
(i) the title of the construction project;
(ii) the approved estimated project expenditure;
(iii) the comparison between the original estimated expenditure on consultancy fees at the design stage and the approved estimated project expenditure;
(iv) the awarded price of the contract for the construction works;
(v) the comparison between the original estimated expenditure on consultancy fees at the design stage and the awarded price of the consultancy contract (design stage); and
(vi)the reasons for the discrepancy between the original estimated expenditure on consultancy fees at the design stage and the awarded price of the consultancy contract (design stage) (set out in a table).

(2) the criteria and methods adopted for calculating the expenditure on consultancy fees for public works projects at the design stage, and whether a limit has been imposed on the expenditure concerned?
 
Reply:

President,
 
     To continuously improve people's quality of life, enhance Hong Kong's long-term competitiveness and promote our economic development, the Government has been implementing all types of public works projects in an orderly manner. The implementation of public works projects involves efforts on various fronts including project study, investigation, design, construction supervision and contract management, and requires the participation of a large number of professional and qualified persons as well as support of other technical personnel. In general, government departments will procure architectural or engineering consultancy services when the Government does not have sufficient in-house manpower resources to implement public works projects within a reasonable period of time.
 
     My reply to Hon Tony Tse Wai-chuen's question is as follows:
 
(1) For public works projects implemented by the works departments (involving project design undertaken by consultants) with funding approved in the past three years, the information including the title of the construction project, the approved project estimate (APE), the awarded prices of works contract(s) as well as the comparison between the original estimated consultancy fees for the design stage and the APE of the construction project is set out at Annex 1 (Note 1).
 
     The comparison between the original estimated consultancy fees for the design stage and the awarded prices of consultancy agreements (design stage) is provided at Annex 2 (Note 2).
 
     As indicated in Annex 2, the awarded prices of about 71 per cent of the architectural or engineering consultancy agreements concerned are lower than the works departments’ pre-tender estimates.

     In general, the differences between the original estimated consultancy fees for the design stage and the awarded prices of consultancy agreements (design stage) are attributable to a number of factors, which can broadly be classified as follows:

* competition and price fluctuations in the consultancy services market;
* changes in the job market and wage fluctuations for professionals and technical personnel;
* different working strategies proposed by consultants based on the complexity and risks of individual projects;
* Innovative and creative proposals of different consultants to meet the needs of individual projects; and
* Previous experience, knowledge and expertise of different consultants and their employees.
 
(2) At present, the procurement of architectural or engineering consultancy services undertaken by works departments shall follow the Stores and Procurement Regulations, the Architectural and Associated Consultants Selection Board Handbook or the Engineering and Associated Consultants Selection Board Handbook, and the relevant Development Bureau Technical Circulars (Works) (DEVB TC(W)).
 
     During the procurement of architectural or engineering consultancy services, works departments will follow the above guidelines to compile the estimated consultancy fees taking into account the required manpower input of various categories of professional and technical personnel and the associated market rates based on the degree of complexity of and efforts required for various disciplines in taking forward individual public works projects. Therefore, there may not be a fixed relationship between the estimated consultancy fees for the design stage and the APE of a construction project.
 
     All along, the works departments have attached great importance to the quality and cost-effectiveness of professional services provided by architectural or engineering consultants. Therefore, both the professional technical proposals and tender prices are key considerations in the selection of consultants. According to DEVB TC(W) No. 2/2016 and the related Consultants Selection Board Handbooks, the works departments will generally adopt a "two-envelope" bidding system in the selection of consultants, in which consultants' technical proposals and tender price proposals are assessed separately and then the overall best performing tender will be selected. The competitiveness of a tender is subject to the quality of its technical proposal and how high or low its price is. Moreover, to prevent consultants from bidding at an unreasonable price level, the works departments would compare consultants' tender prices with the estimated prices as well as the market prices. The above assessment criteria, which help establish an appropriate and fair bidding system, have been included in the said technical circular and adopted in tender documents for architectural or engineering consultancy agreements.
 
     At present, if the estimated expenditure on the design, preparation of tender documents and other related work carried out by a consultant prior to commencement of the construction works does not exceed $30 million, the consultancy fees at the design stage will normally be charged against the funding of a Category D item. If the estimated expenditure exceeds $30 million, the works department will need to make application to the Finance Committee of the Legislative Council for upgrading part of the public works project to Category A to fund the consultancy fees at the design stage. The works department should ensure that the estimated expenditure at the design stage for any awarded architectural or engineering consultancy agreement will not exceed the APE of the Category D or A item concerned.

Note 1: The construction projects in Annex 1 do not cover the block vote projects, projects entrusted to other organisations, projects designed and built by contractors, and those designed by in-house staff of works departments.

Note 2: To avoid over disclosure of information which would affect the competitive position(s) of the Government and/or consultants, the information is presented in a consolidated form.

The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:

     The Hong Kong Monetary Authority published today (May 16) the credit card lending survey results for the first quarter of 2018.

     Total card receivables decreased by 8.1% in the first quarter to HK$120.7 billion at end-March 2018, after an increase of 10.8% in the previous quarter that was mainly contributed by festive spending and the payment of salaries tax using credit cards.

     The combined delinquent and rescheduled ratio edged up to 0.33% at end-March 2018 from 0.31% at the previous quarter-end.

     The charge-off amount increased slightly by HK$5 million during the quarter to HK$517 million, while the quarterly charge-off ratio remained stable at 0.41%.