Following is a question by the Hon Tommy Cheung and a written reply by the Secretary for Food and Health, Professor Sophia Chan, in the Legislative Council today (June 27):

Question:

     Under the existing legislation, liquor licences may be issued only to natural persons but not body corporates and companies. For trade facilitation, the Government has implemented since March last year a Reserve Licensee Mechanism (RLM), allowing a liquor licensee to identify and nominate at an early stage a suitable person as a reserve licensee to take over the duty of the licensee within a short period in case of sudden departure of the licensee. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(1) of the respective numbers of applications for nomination of a reserve licensee received and approved by the authorities since the implementation of RLM; among the bars and other types of restaurants which have been issued with liquor licences, the respective current numbers and percentages of those that have a reserve licensee;

(2) as some members of the catering industry have relayed that under the existing requirements, an application for nomination of a reserve licensee may only be submitted together with an application for new issue, transfer or renewal of liquor licence, whether the authorities will consider permitting liquor licensees to submit applications for nomination of a reserve licensee at any time during the licence period, with a view to enhancing the flexibility of RLM; if so, of the implementation timetable; if not, the reasons for that;

(3) of the number of applications, received by the authorities since the implementation of RLM, for authorisation of a reserve licensee to manage a liquor-licensed premises (together with a breakdown by whether the liquor-licensed premises were bars or other types of restaurants), as well as the average time taken for processing those applications; and

(4) whether it has reviewed the effectiveness of RLM; if it has reviewed and the outcome is that RLM is ineffective, whether the authorities will consider afresh the proposal of permitting liquor licences to be held by body corporates or companies; if so, of the implementation timetable; if not, the reasons for that?

Reply:

President,

     The Liquor Licensing Board (LLB) implemented the Reserve Licensee Mechanism (RLM) on March 28, 2017, under which a liquor licensee can identify and nominate at an early stage a suitable person as a reserve licensee. The reserve licensee can take over the role of the licensee as soon as possible in case of his/her departure under predictable or unforeseen circumstances, so as to avoid disruption to the liquor selling business and allay the concern of the trade over the sudden departure of the "natural person". At present, an application for nomination of reserve licensee can be submitted together with the application for new issue, renewal or transfer of liquor licence. Should there be a sudden departure of the liquor licensee, the business owner or operator can apply for authorisation of the nominated reserve licensee to temporarily manage the liquor-licensed premises, and the owner or operator can meanwhile formally apply to the LLB for transfer or new issue of liquor licence.

     My reply to the various parts of the question is as follows:

(1) From March 28, 2017 to May 31 this year, the LLB received 2 733 applications for nomination of reserve licensee, of which 1 652 were approved.  As at May 31 this year, the numbers and percentages of liquor-licensed premises where their applications for nomination of reserve licensee have been approved, with a breakdown by the type of liquor licence (with or without bar endorsement), are set out as follows:
 

Note 1: It means a bar operates on the particular premises.  According to section 2 of the Dutiable Commodities (Liquor) Regulations (Cap. 109B), a "bar" means any place exclusively or mainly used for the sale and consumption of intoxicating liquor.  

Note 2: As at May 31, 2018, a total of 2 733 applications for nomination of reserve licensee were received. Among them, 1 652 applications were approved, one was rejected and 205 required no further actions due to withdrawal by the applicants or other reasons, such as applicants failing to provide relevant documents before the deadline. The remaining 875 applications were being processed.

(2) At the initial stage of the implementation of RLM, to avoid delay in processing the applications caused by a sudden surge in workload of the departments concerned, the LLB only accepted applications for nomination of reserve licensee submitted by the applicants (including existing licensees) together with their applications for new issue, renewal or transfer of liquor licence. The LLB will monitor the implementation of the RLM from time to time and conduct timely reviews. For instance, it will look into the feasibility of relaxing the arrangement to allow the licensees to submit nomination applications separately, and increasing the number of reserve licensees to be nominated with a view to facilitating the trade. In addition, to further minimise the disruption to business operation in case of sudden departure of the licensee, since July last year, the LLB has started to accept applications for transfer of liquor licence from liquor licenced business owners or operators even without consent of the current liquor licensees. Overall speaking, we believe that the two trade facilitation initiatives mentioned above could further minimise the impact of sudden departure of the licensee on the trade. 

(3) From March 28, 2017 to May 31, 2018, the LLB received 21 applications for authorisation of reserve licensee, of which 14 were approved. The numbers of applications for authorisation of reserve licensee received and approved, with a breakdown by the type of liquor licence (with or without bar endorsement), are set out as follows:
 

Note 3: As at May 31, 2018, a total of 21 applications for authorisation of reserve licensee were received. Among them, 14 applications were approved and the remaining seven were being processed.
 
     Under normal circumstances, the LLB Secretariat may grant approval-in-principle to the authorisation of reserve licensee within four working days after receiving the application. The application will then be circulated to the Police for comment. Upon receiving the comments of the Police, the LLB will consider whether or not to formally approve the authorisation. At present, it takes an average of 25 working days to process an application.
 
(4) According to the Dutiable Commodities (Liquor) Regulations (Cap. 109B), a liquor licence should only be issued to a "fit and proper person". The legislative intent of this provision is to make a natural person instead of a company the holder of a liquor licence. As the regulatory work relies heavily on the licensees' fulfilment of their legal and administrative responsibilities, it is a licensing condition that the licensee must personally supervise the operation of the premises. As for the trade's suggestion of allowing a body corporate to be issued with a liquor licence for the purpose of facilitating business operation, the Government is conducting preliminary studies on it. 
 
     Moreover, some trade members suggest that consideration should be given to classifying liquor licences into different categories in accordance with the types of risks involved, in a bid to strengthen the risk management of various types of liquor-selling premises. The Government will consider making use of the risk assessment principles to set the criteria for classifying liquor-licensed premises into different risk types. The criteria may include the term of the liquor licence, past records of the liquor-licensed premises (e.g. whether the premises had caused any noise nuisance to nearby residents or received complaints during the licence period), records of contravention of licensing conditions, location and operation mode of the premises, and liquor-selling hours. Specific criteria will also be followed when considering the feasibility of allowing a body corporate to be issued with a liquor licence.

     Following is a question by the Hon Lam Cheuk-ting and a written reply by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Mr Frank Chan Fan, in the Legislative Council today (June 27):
 
Question:

     During the period from July 2010 to May 2012, the Finance Committee of this Council approved the allocation of funds respectively for carrying out a number of works under the Shatin to Central Link (SCL) project, including: (a) Protection Works at Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter (58TR), (b) Protection Works in Wan Chai Development Phase II (59TR), (c) Construction of Railway Works – Advance Works (63TR), (d) Construction of Non-railway Works – Advance Works (64TR), (e) Construction of Railway Main Works (61TR), and (f) Construction of Non-railway Main Works (62TR). In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(1) regarding each of the aforesaid works, of (i) the original estimated expenditure and a breakdown of the expenditure, (ii) the latest estimated expenditure/ the final outturn expenditure and a breakdown of the expenditure, and (iii) the reasons leading to differences between the two sets of figures;

(2) of the names of the (i) main contractor(s) and (ii) subcontractor(s) of each of the works; and

(3) given that the MTR Corporation Limited (MTRCL) has been entrusted by the Government to undertake the construction, testing and commissioning of SCL, and to provide management and supervision services, how the Government monitors such work undertaken by MTRCL; of the mechanism in place for MTRCL to report to the Government the works progress and irregularities of the works?

Reply:

President,

     In response to the three parts of the Hon Lam Cheuk-ting's question, the reply is now as follows:

(1) As regards each of the works under the Shatin to Central Link (SCL) project, (i) the original estimated expenditure and a breakdown of the expenditure, (ii) the latest estimated expenditure/ the final outturn expenditure and a breakdown of the expenditure, and (iii) the reasons leading to differences between the two sets of figures are listed at Annex 1.
     
     As regards items 61TR and 62TR of the SCL project, after the Government received the latest cost estimate of the main works of the SCL project from the MTR Corporation Limited (MTRCL) last December, the Highways Department (HyD), in collaboration with the monitoring and verification (M&V) consultant, has held several meetings with the MTRCL, and has reviewed rigorously the information given by the MTRCL. The HyD has also scrutinised the assumptions and background of the estimates according to the usual practice for government public works projects to ascertain whether there are sufficient reasons for the estimate of the MTRCL. As the SCL project involves many works contracts and there is substantial amount of information for detailed examination, the HyD has requested the MTRCL to provide more information for its detailed review. The review concerned is still under way. Upon completion of the detailed review, the Government will apply for additional funds from the Legislative Council to continue with the works under the SCL project.

(2) Item 58TR is "Shatin to Central Link – construction of railway works – protection works". The main contractor is China State Construction Engineering (HK) Limited and the main subcontractor is Richwell Engineering Limited.

     Item 59TR is "Shatin to Central Link – construction of railway works – protection works in Wan Chai Development Phase II".  The main contractor is Chun Wo – Leader Joint Venture and the main subcontractors are Sambo E & C Company Limited, Falcon Foundation Engineering Company Limited, Chung Ming Construction Engineering Limited and Tin Wo Engineering Company Limited etc.

     Items 63TR and 64TR are "Shatin to Central Link – construction of railway works – advance works" and "Shatin to Central Link – construction of non-railway works – advance works" respectively. The list of major contractors under main contracts and the major sub-contractors are at Annex 2.

     Items 61TR and 62TR are "Shatin to Central Link – construction of railway works – remaining works" and "Shatin to Central Link – construction of non-railway works – remaining works" respectively. The list of major contractors under main contracts and the major sub-contractors are at Annex 3.

(3) The Government has had a mechanism to closely monitor the work of the MTRCL, including through the Project Supervision Committee led by the Director of Highways, holding monthly meetings with the Projects Director of MTRCL to review the progress of the SCL project, as well as monitoring procurement activities, post-tender award cost control and resolution of contractual claims. The MTRCL submits monthly progress report to the HyD updating the latest progress and the financial situation of the SCL project. In addition, the HyD and the MTRCL hold monthly Project Coordination Meetings and Project Progress Meetings to monitor the progress of every item of works under the project and to deal with matters relating to design, construction and environment which may have potential impact on the progress and programme of the project and interface with other projects. Through the above arrangement of three-tier framework, the MTRCL needs to report to the HyD on matters which have substantial impact on the SCL project such as works progress, cost and safety etc. The HyD has also engaged a M&V consultant to assist the department in monitoring and auditing the works. The M&V consultant will also report on whether there are risks of slippage in the progress of the projects and advise the HyD on the appropriateness of the delay recovery measures proposed by the MTRCL. The Director of Highways also holds project progress meetings with the Secretary for Transport and Housing (the Secretary) on a monthly basis and submits reports to the Secretary on the progress of the project and to raise any important matters relating to the project as required.

     The Secretary for the Civil Service, Mr Joshua Law, visited the Immigration Department today (June 27) to learn more about the upcoming work plan of the department and meet with its management and front-line staff to exchange views on matters of concern.

     Accompanied by the Permanent Secretary for the Civil Service, Mr Thomas Chow, Mr Law met with the Director of Immigration, Mr Erick Tsang, and the directorate staff to get an update on their work in immigration control, visa policies, issue of travel documents, law enforcement and the like.

     Mr Law then visited the 24-hour Enterprise System Management Centre to learn more about how the department employs the Centre to monitor the operation of all computer systems for flexible deployment of its front-line manpower.

     He later proceeded to the International Co-operation Section, where he was briefed by staff of the Assistance to Hong Kong Residents Unit on the work of providing assistance to Hong Kong residents in distress outside Hong Kong.

     Before concluding his visit, Mr Law met with staff representatives of various grades at a tea gathering to exchange views on matters that concerned them. He expressed appreciation for colleagues' dedication and encouraged them to continue to provide efficient and quality services to members of the public and visitors.

        

     The Education Bureau (EDB) today (June 27) launched a consultation exercise on a proposal to extend the retirement age for newly joined teachers of aided schools from 60 to 65.
      
     Views will be sought from the education sector and stakeholders on, among other things, the target group of the new retirement age policy and the necessary adjustments to the arrangements for government donation to teachers' provident funds. The consultation period will last until September 7.
      
     The Consultation Document on Extension of Retirement Age for Newly-joined Aided School Teachers has been uploaded to the EDB website (www.edb.gov.hk/en/teacher/openconsultretireage/index.html) for public viewing.
      
     Views can be submitted by post (Education Bureau, 2/F, Trade and Industry Tower, 3 Concorde Road, Kowloon), by fax (2520 0065) or by email (consultretirementage@edb.gov.hk).
      
     The EDB will also conduct three open consultation sessions to gather feedback from the education sector and stakeholders. The details are as follows:
 
Date: July 4 (Wednesday), July 9 (Monday) and July 18 (Wednesday)
Time: 6.30pm to 8pm
Venue: Room WB, 4/F, West Block, EDB Kowloon Tong Education Services Centre, 19 Suffolk Road, Kowloon Tong
Language: Cantonese
 
     Reservations for seats at the open consultation sessions can be made on a first-come, first-served basis on the following website: http://survey2.hkedcity.net/TakeSurvey.aspx?SurveyID=92L07o7. Enquiries about the open consultation sessions can be made by calling the EDB on 3467 8281 or 3467 8282.

Special traffic arrangements will be implemented in Happy Valley today (June 27). The arrangements will come into effect one and a half hours before the start of the first race and will last until the crowds have dispersed after the race meeting.

A. Traffic arrangements before the commencement of the first race

1. Road closure

Southbound Wong Nai Chung Road between Queen’s Road East and the up-ramp outside Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) will be closed except for vehicles heading for Aberdeen Tunnel.

2. Traffic diversions

– Southbound Wong Nai Chung Road between Village Road and the up-ramp outside HKJC will be re-routed one way northbound;
– Vehicles from eastbound Queen’s Road East heading for Wan Chai and Happy Valley will be diverted to turn left to Morrison Hill Road;
– Traffic along southbound Morrison Hill Road heading for Happy Valley will be diverted via Sports Road and Wong Nai Chung Road;
– Traffic along Queen’s Road East cannot turn right to Wong Nai Chung Road except for vehicles heading to Aberdeen Tunnel;
– Traffic from Cross Harbour Tunnel heading for Queen’s Road East will be diverted via the down-ramp leading from southbound Canal Road flyover to Morrison Hill Road to turn right at the junction of Wong Nai Chung Road and Queen’s Road East; and
– Traffic from Cross Harbour Tunnel heading for Happy Valley or Racecourse will be diverted via the down-ramp leading from southbound Canal Road flyover to Canal Road East, southbound Morrison Hill Road, Sports Road and Wong Nai Chung Road.

B. Traffic arrangements during the race meeting

1. Road closure

The following roads will be closed from 35 minutes before the start of the last race:

– The up-ramp on Wong Nai Chung Road outside HKJC leading to Aberdeen Tunnel;
– Southbound Wong Nai Chung Road between Queen’s Road East and the up-ramp leading to Aberdeen Tunnel;
– Southbound Wong Nai Chung Road between Village Road and the Public Stands of HKJC;
– Westbound Leighton Road between Wong Nai Chung Road and Canal Road East; and
– Southbound Morrison Hill Road between Leighton Road and Queen’s Road East.

In addition, southbound Wong Nai Chung Road between the up-ramp leading to Aberdeen Tunnel and the Public Stands of HKJC will be closed from about 10 minutes before the start of the last race.

2. Traffic diversions

The following traffic arrangements will be implemented from 35 minutes before the start of the last race:

– Eastbound Queen’s Road East at its junction with Morrison Hill Road will be reduced to one-lane traffic heading for northbound Canal Road flyover;
– Vehicles from Cross Harbour Tunnel heading for Wan Chai will be diverted via the down-ramp leading from Canal Road East, U-turn slip road beneath Canal Road flyover, Canal Road West and Hennessy Road;
– Vehicles from Cross Harbour Tunnel heading for Happy Valley will be diverted via the down-ramp leading from Canal Road East, eastbound Leighton Road and Wong Nai Chung Road;
– Traffic on southbound Morrison Hill Road will be diverted to turn left to eastbound Leighton Road;
– Traffic along southbound Morrison Hill Road heading for Happy Valley will be diverted via eastbound Leighton Road and Wong Nai Chung Road; and
– Traffic along westbound Leighton Road will be diverted to Wong Nai Chung Road.

C. Learner drivers prohibition

Learner drivers will be prohibited to turn left from Caroline Hill Road to Leighton Road between one and a half hours before the start of the first race and one hour after the last race. In addition, learner drivers will be prohibited from accessing the following roads within the above period of time:

– Shan Kwong Road between Yik Yam Street and Wong Nai Chung Road;
– Village Road between its upper and lower junctions with Shan Kwong Road;
– Percival Street between Hennessy Road and Leighton Road;
– Canal Road East; and
– The service road leading from Gloucester Road to Canal Road flyover.

D. Suspension of parking spaces

Parking spaces on southbound Wong Nai Chung Road between Sports Road and Blue Pool Road will be suspended from 11am to 7pm during day racing, from 4.30pm to 11.59pm during evening racing, and from 5pm to 11.59pm during night racing.

Any vehicles found illegally parked within the precincts of the above affected areas will be towed away without prior notice.

Actual implementation of road closure and traffic diversion will be made by the Police at the time depending on traffic conditions in the areas. Motorists should exercise tolerance and patience, and follow the instructions of Police on site.