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Following is a question by the Hon Tam Heung-man and a written reply by the Secretary for Home Affairs, Dr Patrick Ho, in the Legislative Council today (March 22):
Question:
I have recently received complaints about the venues in the community halls under the Home Affairs Department being used by certain local organisations for a prolonged period or for profit-making purpose, and some community halls have even been put under the management of a single local organisation. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the numbers of community centres/community halls currently managed by local organisations;
(b) whether the authorities have reviewed the existing procedure and rules for the hiring / borrowing of the venues in community centres / community halls with a view to preventing abuse of public resources; if they have, of the outcome of the review; if not, whether and when they will conduct such reviews; and
(c) whether the authorities will require organisations hiring these venues for profit-making activities to pay higher charges; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) The Home Affairs Department (HAD) manages a total of 47 community halls (CHs) and 37 community centres (CCs). Of these CHs and CCs, the HAD has entrusted the management of 11 CHs and three CCs to non-profit making local organisations. Under the arrangement, the entrusted organisations can make full use of CH/CC facilities. For instance, unallocated time-slots can be taken up in good time for holding community activities so as to make better use of community resources. Besides, in order to improve utilisation at those CHs/CCs where the usage rates are low, the HAD would allow these organisations to have priority in using the facilities concerned under certain circumstances and in accordance with prescribed arrangements.
(b) The rules for hiring CHs/CCs are drawn up jointly by the CH/CC Management Committees and District Offices (DOs) having regard to local circumstances. The members of most CH/CC Management Committees include District Councillors, local personalities, members of Mutual Aid Committees, representatives of local schools and Government departments. Such rules can, therefore, cater for the needs of the whole district.
To make good use of CH/CC resources, CH/CC Management Committees meet on a regular basis to discuss or review the various management arrangements for CHs/CCs, including the arrangements for handling hire applications (such as the first-come-first-served practice, balloting and prescribed priorities), setting of time-slots and the upper limit of number of time-slots for hiring by each applicant, detailed arrangements for approving venue fee waivers, and matters relating to penalties for breach of hiring conditions. Based on the results of discussion, the CH/CC Management Committees and DOs concerned will amend the rules for hiring CHs/CCs to ensure that the relevant arrangements meet the expectations of local residents and organisations in terms of the use of community resources.
(c) The general policy of Government in respect of fees and charges is that they should be set at levels sufficient to recover the full cost of providing the goods or services. In most cases, Government has charged fees according to this policy. The fees of hiring CH/CC facilities are also determined in accordance with the same policy. They are set at levels generally sufficient to allow Government to recover the cost of providing the services. Unless their applications meet the criteria for fee waivers, organisations given approval to hire CH/CC facilities are required to pay the prescribed fees. The HAD will not charge individual organisations or activities higher fees.
Ends/Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Issued at HKT 14:21
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