The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has accepted the advice of the Disaster Relief Fund Advisory Committee and approved from the Disaster Relief Fund a grant of $6.217 million to World Vision Hong Kong for providing relief to flood victims in Kenya.
 
     Announcing the grant today (June 5), a spokesman for the Government said that the grant will be used to provide water filters, household and hygiene items and mobile toilets to the victims. The Committee hoped the grant would facilitate the provision of timely relief to the victims and help them restore their normal living.
 
     "To ensure that the money is used for the designated purposes, World Vision Hong Kong will be asked to submit an evaluation report and an audited account on the use of the grant after the relief project has been completed," the spokesman said.

     The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department today (June 5) announced that a tomato sample was found to have pesticide residue at a level exceeding the legal limit. The CFS is following up on the case.

     A CFS spokesman said, "The CFS collected the tomato sample at import level for testing under its routine Food Surveillance Programme. The test result showed that the sample contained acetamiprid at a level of 0.39 parts per million (ppm), exceeding the maximum residue limit (MRL) of 0.2 ppm.

     "Based on the level of pesticide residue detected in the sample, adverse health effects would not be caused under usual consumption."

     Generally speaking, to reduce pesticide residues in vegetables, members of the public can rinse vegetables thoroughly under clean running water, and scrub produces with hard surfaces with a clean brush to remove dirt and substances including pesticides and contaminants from the surface and the crevices, when appropriate.

     Any person who imports, manufactures or sells any food not in compliance with the requirements of the Pesticide Residues in Food Regulation (Cap 132CM) concerning pesticide residues commits an offence and is liable to a maximum fine of $50,000 and to imprisonment for six months upon conviction.

     Since the regulation came into effect on August 1, 2014, the CFS has taken over 144 900 samples at import, wholesale and retail levels for testing for pesticide residues. Together with the unsatisfactory sample announced today, a total of 219 food samples (including 211 vegetable and fruit samples) have been detected as having excessive pesticide residues. The overall unsatisfactory rate is less than 0.2 per cent.

     The spokesman added that excessive pesticide residues in food may arise from the trade not observing Good Agricultural Practice, e.g. using excessive pesticides and/or not allowing sufficient time for pesticides to decompose before harvesting. The MRLs of pesticide residues in food set in the Regulation are not safety indicators. They are the maximum concentrations of pesticide residues to be permitted in a food commodity under Good Agricultural Practice when applying pesticides. In this connection, consumption of food with pesticide residues higher than the MRLs will not necessarily lead to any adverse health effects.

     The CFS will follow up on the unsatisfactory result, including tracing the source of the food in question and taking samples for testing. Investigation is ongoing.

     The Civil Service Bureau (CSB) made the following pay offers, effective retrospectively from April 1, 2018, to the staff side of the four civil service central consultative councils today (June 5):

(a) a pay increase of 4.06 per cent for civil servants in the upper salary band and the directorate (equals to the net pay trend indicator (PTI) for the upper salary band), subject to the pay points referred to in (i) and (ii) below the dollar values of which should be as specified:

(i) Master Pay Scale 34 at $70,590; and

(ii) General Disciplined Services (Officer) Pay Scale (GDS(O)) 20 and Police Pay Scale (PPS) 36 at $70,470, and GDS(O) 21 and PPS 37 at $70,970;

(b) a pay increase of 4.51 per cent for civil servants in the lower and middle salary bands (equals to the net PTI for the middle salary band).

     The above decision was made by the Chief Executive-in-Council (CE-in-Council) after considering all relevant factors under the established annual civil service pay adjustment mechanism, including:

* the net PTIs
* the state of Hong Kong's economy
* changes in the cost of living
* the Government’s fiscal position
* the pay claims of the staff side
* civil service morale

     "The CE-in-Council made the decision in accordance with the established mechanism. The pay offers for civil servants in the upper and middle salary bands are the same as their respective net PTIs (i.e. 4.06 per cent and 4.51 per cent respectively). The pay offer for civil servants in the lower salary band follows the net PTI for the middle salary band due to the 'bring-up' arrangement," a spokesman for the CSB said.

     "Under the 'bring-up' arrangement, if the net PTI for the lower salary band is lower than that for the middle salary band, its pay adjustment will be brought up to the same level of the net PTI for the middle salary band, subject to the decision of the CE-in-Council," the spokesman said.

     "In accordance with past practice, the pay offer for directorate civil servants follows the arrangement for civil servants in the upper salary band," the spokesman added.

     The Government will submit the pay adjustment proposal to the Legislative Council Finance Committee for consideration as soon as possible after the CE-in-Council considers the response from the staff side to the pay offers and makes a decision on the 2018-19 civil service pay adjustment.

     Police today (June 5) appealed to the public for information on a man who went missing in Tuen Mun.

     Luk Wai-ip, aged 58, went missing after he was last seen on Tsing Chung Koon Road on May 29 afternoon. The nursing home staff made a report to Police on the same day.

     He is about 1.7 metres tall, 68 kilograms in weight and of medium build. He has a pointed face with yellow complexion and is bald. He was last seen wearing a pair of black-rimmed glasses, black T-shirt, black trousers and slippers.

     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 North on 3661 3112 or 6273 5787, or email to rmpu-ntn-1@police.gov.hk, or contact any police station.

  

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

     The Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), Mr Norman Chan, together with the Deputy Mayor of the People's Government of Shenzhen Municipality, Mr Ai Xuefeng, and the Director-General of the Office of Financial Development Service (OFDS), Mr He Xiaojun, today (June 5) met with representatives of the winning organisations of the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Fintech Award (please see Annex).
 
     The competition is a joint initiative between the HKMA and the OFDS with a view to further deepening financial cooperation between Hong Kong and Shenzhen, promoting research and application of fintech in the two cities, and recognising financial institutions that apply fintech in new products, promote financial inclusion, and improve the overall efficiency of financial services. The "Shenzhen-Hong Kong Financial Collaborative Innovation Award" was added this time to encourage the collaboration between organisations in the two cities and the launching of high-quality cross-border financial products and services; the "Fintech Initiatives Award" focuses on rewarding innovative projects on digital currency, blockchain, artificial intelligence, big data analytics, etc.
 
     Mr Norman Chan said, "Financial institutions in Hong Kong and Shenzhen have actively participated in this competition and have outstanding performance. This has collectively served as a good role model for the deepening of Hong Kong-Shenzhen financial cooperation and the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Hong Kong and Shenzhen each has its own advantages in the development and application of fintech. Collaboration between the two can complement our edges, facilitate fintech talent development, and achieve a win-win situation."
 
     The next collaboration between the HKMA and the OFDS will be the launch of the Shenzhen Summer Internship Programme of the Fintech Career Accelerator Scheme 2.0 at the end of this month. Under the programme, 50 students from tertiary educational institutions in Hong Kong will be assigned to eight leading fintech firms on 6-week internships.