****************************************************
Following is the English translation of the opening remarks by Secretary for Security, Mr Ambrose S K Lee, at the Special Finance Committee Meeting of the Legislative Council today (March 23):
Chairman,
In the draft Estimates for the new financial year (2011-12), the allocation for the security policy area group is $31.9 billion, representing 8.6% of the total government expenditure. The two policy areas of Internal Security and Immigration Control under my responsibility will account for $27.8 billion.
Law and Order
--------------
In 2010, the overall crime figure and the violent crime figure registered a decrease of 2.1% and 4.6% respectively as compared with 2009. Most categories of crimes - such as all robberies, wounding and serious assault, rape, missing motor vehicles, unlawful society offences, as well as serious narcotics offences - also decreased in number. Overall, the law and order situation in Hong Kong has remained stable. The Police will as always remain alert to maintain the law and order of the society.
The major operational targets of the Commissioner of Police for 2011 include combating violent crimes, triads, syndicated and organised crimes, dangerous drugs, and "quick-cash" crimes, and maintaining professionalism in handling public order events and counter-terrorism work.
The Police will also create new posts with a view to strengthening overall internal security.
Immigration Clearance
---------------------
With the strengthened ties between the Mainland and the Hong Kong SAR in recent years, and the implementation of measures such as "one-year multiple individual visit endorsement" for Shenzhen residents with household registration, the number of passengers at various land control points has kept on growing. In 2010, there were on average 330,000 passengers arriving Hong Kong per day, representing an increase of 8% as compared with 2009. The number of trips made by Mainland visitors was 62,000 per day in 2010, representing an increase of nearly 30% as compared with 2009.
Individual Visit Scheme
-----------------------
Since the implementation of the Individual Visit Scheme (IVS) in 2003, there have been more than 63 million visitor-arrivals to Hong Kong under the scheme, bringing considerable benefits to tourism, retailing and related sectors. Since December 15 last year, the Mainland authority has further relaxed the applications by non-Guangdong residents in Shenzhen for individual visit endorsements. In the first two months of this year, there were more than 3 million visitor-arrivals under the IVS, a jump of 20% over the same period last year. The Immigration Department (ImmD) has maintained close liaison with the tourism industry and Mainland counterparts. ImmD will suitably recruit additional staff in 2011-12 in order to enhance its handling capacity for passengers and vehicles throughput.
Capital Investment Entrant Scheme
---------------------------------
We welcome investors to come to Hong Kong for investment. From October 2003 to end-2010, 8,924 applicants were given formal approvals to reside in Hong Kong under the Capital Investment Entrant Scheme. They invested a total of $63.3 billion, or an average of $7.09 million per entrant. The scheme benefits various local sectors, such as the development of financial services, and indirectly creates many job opportunities.
To ensure that the scheme is up-to-date and continues to serve the best overall interest of Hong Kong, we have introduced amendments in October last year, which mainly include: temporarily excluding real estate as a class of Permissible Investment Assets to address the public concern about property prices; raising the threshold of investment and personal assets from $6.5 million to $10 million; etc. The Government has undertaken to regularly review the effectiveness and operation of the scheme; we will accordingly undertake a comprehensive review of the scheme in 2013.
Assistance to Hong Kong Residents Overseas
------------------------------------------
We will continue to provide assistance to Hong Kong residents in distress outside Hong Kong. The ImmD comprehensively enhanced the 1868 hotline services in December 2010, such as increasing the number of hotlines from 23 to 46 and adding recording and automatic call distribution functions.
The ImmD also launched the Registration of Outbound Travel Alert Information service at the end of last year to enable Hong Kong residents to register their itineraries and contact details through GovHK before departure. The ImmD will directly disseminate practical information to them through appropriate means, including SMS on mobile phones, when necessary.
To further improve the Outbound Travel Alert (OTA) system, we have decided to conduct a review every six months on the system coverage. We have just completed the first review and have announced the expanded OTA coverage on February 24, increasing the number of countries from 60 to 80. The newly added countries are mostly tourist destinations which have become more popular among Hong Kong residents or countries which are included in common group tour itineraries and adjacent to current OTA countries.
Apart from the regular half-yearly reviews, the HKSAR Government will also communicate with the Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong before peak seasons for outbound travel to affirm that the OTA coverage is in line with the latest travel preference of Hong Kong residents.
Moreover, we will enhance the OTA's work flow, information dissemination and the updating of the OTA webpage functions according to the operational experience to ensure the provision of suitable information with wider coverage for residents.
e-Channel Service
-----------------
In view of the continued growth of Mainland visitor numbers, ImmD will allow, from 2012 in phases, frequent Mainland visitors to use the e-Channel service after enrolment. We will also carry out improvement works at the Lok Ma Chau and Man Kam To Control Points, doubling the number of e-Channels there.
ImmD launched a pilot scheme on Express e-Channels in March 2009, shortening clearance time to eight seconds. 1.4 million residents have enrolled so far. We have also implemented travel convenience measures between Hong Kong and Macao since December 2009 allowing residents to use e-Channels of the other side. More than 500,000 Hong Kong residents have enrolled for the service so far.
Screening Torture Claims and Combating Illegal Employment
----------------------------------------------------------
The enhanced torture claim screening mechanism has been implemented for more than a year. Publicly funded legal assistance is provided to needy claimants through the Duty Lawyer Service. Adjudicators with legal background are appointed to handle petitions in an independent manner. The Administration will continue to endeavour to achieve fair and effective screening of torture claims. We will consult the LegCo Panel on Security on a statutory screening mechanism and put forth the Bill within this year.
Public Safety
-------------
To enhance the protection of public safety, the Fire Services Department (FSD) will be provided with additional posts in the new financial year to enhance frontline fire-fighting and rescue services in areas with rapid population growth and increased fire risks. In respect of emergency ambulance services, FSD will also create additional posts and 22 ambulance shifts in the new financial year to strengthen the management functions of ambulance services and increase ambulance shifts. Furthermore, we will step up publicity efforts to encourage more judicious use of ambulance services.
We attach great importance to ensuring the safety of frontline personnel, and timely updating and replacement of fire services equipment to meet operational needs. In the past few years, the Administration has allocated additional funding to FSD in this respect. For instance, during 2009-10 and 2010-11, the actual expenses of FSD on procurement of fire appliances and major personal protective equipment was $380 million, and the expenses for 2011-12 is estimated to be around $300 million. To further enhance the procurement work for fire services equipment, FSD has already set up a working group to follow up the improvement measures suggested by the Efficiency Unit. FSD will also set up a Procurement Group responsible for coordinating all procurement projects on April 1, 2011.
In terms of fire protection, FSD has been promoting a fire safety culture in collaboration with various sectors in the community to eliminate fire hazards. FSD will continue to adopt a four-pronged approach for enhancing the fire safety of old buildings through publicity, law enforcement, checking and partnership with owners / occupiers and property management of buildings.
After the No. 4 alarm fire in the industrial building in Cheung Sha Wan last year, FSD conducted a survey of all industrial buildings to assess their fire safety conditions. According to the survey result, the overall fire safety satisfactory rate was about 70%, which shows a solid improvement in the fire safety of industrial buildings, compared to the 47% satisfactory rate in the 1998 survey. We are now studying how to further enhance the fire safety in old industrial buildings.
Custody and Rehabilitation of Offenders
---------------------------------------
The Correctional Services Department (CSD) has been implementing different measures to address the problems of outdated penal facilities and overcrowding in some of our penal institutions. The redeveloped Lo Wu Correctional Institution (LWCI), which commenced operation in July 2010, provides 1,400 penal places and rehabilitative facilities that better suit today's needs. Its commissioning has significantly improved the overcrowding situation in female institutions. As the inmates in Lai Chi Kok Correctional Institution (LCKCI) have been transferred to LWCI, CSD is carrying out works to expand the Lai Chi Kok Reception Centre (LCKRC) by converting the decanted LCKCI into an Annex for the LCKRC to relieve the overcrowding in the remand centre. In the coming year, we will continue to explore other redevelopment projects and improvement works to address the problem of ageing facilities and meet the custodial and rehabilitative service needs of offenders.
To enhance the rehabilitative services for offenders and help them re-integrate into the society upon release, CSD will create additional posts under the Rehabilitation Division in the new financial year. The Department will continue to take forward the Risks and Needs Assessment and Management Protocol for Offenders to enhance the assessment of the re-offending risks and needs of offenders and implement various matching rehabilitative programmes with a view to reducing the chance of re-offending more effectively. CSD will also strengthen the provision of suitable and market-oriented vocational training courses for inmates and prisoners to enhance their chances of securing employment after release. The Department plans to provide about 1,280 training places to adult prisoners in 2011-12, which represents about 1.2 % increase compared with 2010-11. In addition, CSD will continue to appeal for community acceptance and support for rehabilitated offenders through public education and publicity activities.
Full Commitment to Combat Youth Drug Abuse Problem
---------------------------------------------------
With the joint efforts of the Administration and the community in combating the youth drug abuse problem in past years, there has been a sign of easing in the youth drug abuse situation recently. Nevertheless, we will not slacken our efforts. The Government will continue to implement anti-drug initiatives along the recommendations of the Task Force on Youth Drug Abuse led by the Secretary for Justice and the five strategic directions promulgated by the Chief Executive, namely community mobilisation, community support, drug testing, rehabilitation and law enforcement, with a view to mobilising the entire community to fight against drug abuse in a comprehensive manner.
The Government has repeatedly allocated new resources to support various anti-drug measures, including an injection of $3 billion into the Beat Drugs Fund in the last financial year to support different quarters of the community to fight drug abuse.
In the 2011-12 Budget, the Government has also allocated new resources to further promote the anti-drug cause. Firstly, the school social work service will be strengthened on the whole with a 20% increase in professional manpower. Secondly, the on-site medical support services now available at the Counselling Centres for Psychotropic Substance Abusers will be extended to the two social clubs serving rehabilitated drug abusers, with a view to ensuring full implementation of the concept of medical-welfare collaboration at community level. Thirdly, the Administration will increase manpower to provide support to residential drug treatment and rehabilitation centres, enhance the standards of the centres' facilities or carry out redevelopment works, and help them improve the environment of the centres.
The Auxiliary Medical Service Cadet Corps
-----------------------------------------
The Auxiliary Medical Service (AMS) will set up a cadet corps aiming to recruit 1,000 members in five years in phases. The AMS cadet corps will encourage young people aged between 12 and 17 to develop practical skills and leadership through group activities and training, and help them build self-confidence, a sense of responsibility, self-discipline and the spirit to serve. The AMS will recruit at least 300 cadet corps members in 2011-12.
Chairman, this concludes my opening remarks. My colleagues and I will be happy to answer questions from members.
Ends/Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Issued at HKT 18:16
NNNN
