The Leisure and Cultural Services Department announced today (July 7) that due to one of the latest confirmed cases of COVID-19, the Hong Kong Railway Museum, as a cautionary measure, will be closed temporarily tomorrow (July 8) for one day for thorough cleaning and disinfection.

     The Hong Kong Railway Museum is located at 13 Shung Tak Street, Tai Po Market, Tai Po. For enquiries, please call 2653 3455.

     Police today (July 7) appealed to the public for information on a man who went missing in Sha Tin.
 
     Ling Wai-kuen, aged 58, went missing after he left his residence on On King Street on yesterday morning (July 6). His family made a report to Police on the same day.
       
     He is about 1.7 metres tall, 63 kilograms in weight and of medium build. He has a square face with yellow complexion and short black hair. He was last seen wearing a dark green T-shirt, dark grey long trousers, black shoes and carrying a blue rucksack.

     Anyone who knows the whereabouts of the missing man or may have seen him is urged to contact the Regional Missing Person Unit of New Territories South on 3661 1174 or 6064 4571 or email to rmpu-nts-2@police.gov.hk, or contact any police station.

  

     Police are investigating a fatal traffic accident in Sha Tau Kok this morning (July 7) in which a 28-year-old man died.

     At about 11.09am, a motorcycle driven by the 28-year-old man was travelling along Bride’s Pool Road towards Sha Tau Kok. When approaching near Kai Kuk Shue Ha, it reportedly lost control and rammed into barriers.

     Sustaining serious head injuries, the motorcyclist was rushed to North District Hospital in unconscious state and was certified dead at 12.03pm.

     Investigation by the Special Investigation Team of Traffic, New Territories North is underway.

     Anyone who witnessed the accident or has any information to offer is urged to contact the investigating officers on 3661 3800.

The following is issued on behalf of the Legislative Council Secretariat:

     The Legislative Council (LegCo) will hold a meeting tomorrow (July 8) at 11am in the Chamber of the LegCo Complex. During the meeting, Members will continue to consider the Employment (Amendment) Bill 2019. If the Bill is supported by Members and receives its Second Reading, it will stand committed to the committee of the whole Council. After the committee of the whole Council has completed consideration of the Bill and its report is adopted by the Council, the Bill will be set down for the Third Reading.

     Meanwhile, the Second Reading debate on the Limited Partnership Fund Bill, the Inland Revenue (Amendment) (Profits Tax Concessions for Insurance-related Businesses) Bill 2019, the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes (Amendment) Bill 2019, the Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2020, the Insurance (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2020, the Pharmacy and Poisons (Amendment) Bill 2019, the Court Proceedings (Electronic Technology) Bill, the Statute Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2019, the Evidence (Amendment) Bill 2018, the Fisheries Protection (Amendment) Bill 2019, the Broadcasting and Telecommunications Legislation (Amendment) Bill 2019, the Freight Containers (Safety) (Amendment) Bill 2019 and the Road Traffic Legislation (Parking Spaces) (Amendment) Bill 2019 will also resume. If the Bills are supported by Members and receive their Second Reading, they will stand committed to the committee of the whole Council. After the committee of the whole Council has completed consideration of the Bills and their reports are adopted by the Council, the Bills will be set down for the Third Reading.

     On Members' motions, Ms Yung Hoi-yan and Ms Alice Mak will move separate motions under Rule 49B(1A) of the Rules of Procedure to censure Ms Claudia Mo and Mr Dennis Kwok. The motions are set out in Appendices 1 and 2 respectively.

     Mr Lam Cheuk-ting and Ms Mo will move two separate motions under the Legislative Council (Powers and Privileges) Ordinance, in relation to the incident of assaults occurred in Yuen Long Station of West Rail Line of the MTR Corporation Limited on July 21, 2019. The motions are set out in Appendices 3 and 4 respectively.

     Mr Alvin Yeung, Dr Kwok Ka-ki and Mr Kwong Chun-yu will move three separate motions under Article 73(5) and (10) of the Basic Law and the Legislative Council (Powers and Privileges) Ordinance, in relation to the incident of assaults occurred in Prince Edward Station of the MTR Corporation Limited on August 31, 2019. The motions are set out in Appendices 5-7 respectively.

     Ms Tanya Chan, Dr Kwok, Dr Fernando Cheung and Mr Kenneth Leung will move seven separate motions under Article 73(5) and (10) of the Basic Law and the Legislative Council (Powers and Privileges) Ordinance, in relation to the Police's handling of protesters and persons performing duties in the protests during the "anti-extradition to China" movement. The motions are set out in Appendices 8-14 respectively.

     Mr Chung Kwok-pan and Dr Priscilla Leung will move two separate motions under the Legislative Council (Powers and Privileges) Ordinance, in relation to the causes and consequences of the social conflicts or disturbances arising from the amendments to the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance and related matters. The motions are set out in Appendices 15 and 16 respectively. Mr James To will move an amendment to Dr Leung's motion.

     Mr Charles Mok, Mr Jeremy Tam and Dr Kwok will also move four separate motions under Article 73(5) and (10) of the Basic Law to summon persons concerned to produce papers and testify. The motions are set out in Appendices 17-20 respectively.

     Meanwhile, Mr Dennis Kwok will move a motion on no confidence in the Fifth Term Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region as set out in Appendix 21. Ms Mo will move an amendment to Mr Dennis Kwok's motion.

     Mr Lam Cheuk-ting will move a motion on strengthening the combat against parallel trading activities, and tightening the arrangements for Mainland residents visiting Hong Kong. The motion is set out in Appendix 22.

     During the meeting, the Chairman of the Advisory Committee on Corruption of the Independent Commission Against Corruption, Mr Martin Liao, and the Chairman of the Independent Commission Against Corruption Complaints Committee, Mr Jeffrey Lam, will present the "Independent Commission Against Corruption, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Annual Report 2019 and Reports of ICAC Advisory Committees" and the "ICAC Complaints Committee Annual Report 2019" respectively. They will address the Council on the Reports.

     The Chairman of the Finance Committee, Mr Chan Kin-por, will present the Finance Committee Report on the examination of the Estimates of Expenditure 2020-2021 and address the Council.

     The Chairman of the Investigation Committee established under Rule 49B(2A) of the Rules of Procedure in respect of the motion to censure Hon Holden CHOW Ho-ding, Mr Abraham Shek, and member of the Investigation Committee Mr Dennis Kwok, will present the "Report of the Legislative Council Investigation Committee established under Rule 49B(2A) of the Rules of Procedure in respect of the motion to censure Hon Holden CHOW Ho-ding" and the "Minority report on the investigation into the matter stated in the motion moved under Rule 49B(1A) of the Rules of Procedure to censure Hon Holden CHOW Ho-ding" respectively. They will address the Council on the Reports.

     The Chairman of the Investigation Committee established under Rule 49B(2A) of the Rules of Procedure in respect of the motion to censure Hon HUI Chi-fung, Ms Mak, and member of the Investigation Committee Mr Leung, will present the "Report of the Legislative Council Investigation Committee established under Rule 49B(2A) of the Rules of Procedure in respect of the motion to censure Hon HUI Chi-fung" and the "Minority report on the investigation into the matter stated in the motion moved under Rule 49B(1A) of the Rules of Procedure to censure Hon HUI Chi-fung" respectively. They will address the Council on the Reports.

     The Chairman of the Panel on Food Safety and Environmental Hygiene, Mr Tommy Cheung; the Chairman of the Panel on Environmental Affairs, Dr Junius Ho; the Chairman of the Panel on Security, Mr Chan Hak-kan; the Chairman of Panel on Development, Mr Tony Tse; the Chairman of the Panel on Welfare Services, Mr Kwong Chun-yu; the Chairman of the Panel on Housing, Mr Wilson Or; the Chairman of the Panel on Economic Development, Mr Chung; the Chairman of the Panel on Public Service, Mr Kwok Wai-keung; and the Chairman of the Panel on Constitutional Affairs, Mr Cheung Kwok-kwan; will present the 2019-2020 Reports of the related Panels and address the Council respectively.

     Members will also ask the Government 22 questions on various policy areas, six of which require oral replies.

     The agenda of the above meeting can be obtained via the LegCo Website (www.legco.gov.hk). Members of the public can watch or listen to the meeting via the "Webcast" system on the LegCo Website. To observe the proceedings of the meeting at the LegCo Complex, members of the public may call 3919 3399 during office hours to reserve seats.

     The Employment Support Scheme (ESS) Secretariat will notify the fifth batch of about 9 000 employer applicants of their successful applications under the ESS within this week. Disbursement of wage subsidies, totalling about $4.2 billion and covering more than 190 000 employees, will commence early next week.

     A Government spokesman said, "This batch of employers will receive an average wage subsidy of about $460,000, which is higher than the average subsidy of $214,000 for the first three batches of approved employers but lower than the average subsidy of $565,000 for the fourth batch of employers. Four per cent of the fifth batch of employers are large-scale enterprises with 50 or more employees."

     In addition, about 2 000 self-employed persons (SEPs) will receive a one-off lump sum subsidy of $7,500 early next week. The total subsidy involved is about $15 million.  

     Together with the first four batches of wage subsidies that have been disbursed, the wage subsidies in all the five batches amount to about $29.6 billion, covering nearly 110 000 employers and more than 1.3 million employees. In addition, about 86 000 SEPs in these five batches have received or will receive a one-off subsidy of $7,500, involving about $650 million. 

     The spokesman added, "After excluding the ineligible applications, the ESS Secretariat is processing some remaining 49 000 applications from employers and 18 000 applications from SEPs, with a view to completing the processing of all eligible applications in mid-July. Among these applications, about 23 000 employers have not yet provided the supplementary bank and/or MPF account information as requested by the Secretariat and the processing agent. The Secretariat and the processing agent are following up on the cases, with a view to completing the processing of applications expeditiously."

     The spokesman said that among the employers with approved wage subsidies in the third batch, there are around 150 employers (most employing only one or two people in the specified month) whose headcount in March 2020 was reduced to zero (e.g. having made all employees redundant before applying for the ESS). Since these employers have provided an undertaking to spend all the wage subsidies on paying wages to the employees, they have to rehire staff and use all the wage subsidies received to pay the wages of their employees from June to August 2020 and make contributions to their MPF accounts. Otherwise, the Government will claw back the unspent balance of the subsidies.

     The spokesman stressed, "Assisting employers, by providing wage subsidies, to re-employ employees who have been dismissed or to pay wages to employees who have been put on no-pay leave is consistent with the principles underpinning the ESS. The ESS processing agent will pay special attention to employers with zero 'committed headcount' and, when necessary, conduct on-site checking when processing their applications or after disbursing wage subsidies to these employers."