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Following is a question by the Hon Alan Leong and a reply by the Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands, Mr Michael Suen, in the Legislative Council today (January 17):
Question:
In reply to my question at the Council meeting on January 11, 2006, the Government advised that the Buildings Department ("BD") would carry out extensive consultation in 2006 on the proposed amendments arising from the review of the Building (Standards of Sanitary Fitments, Plumbing, Drainage Works and Latrines) Regulations (the Regulations). Prior to this, BD had issued a new Practice Note in May 2005 to revise the ratio for assessing the number of male to female in shopping arcades, cinemas and places of public entertainment from 1:1 to 1:1.25, in order to alleviate the inadequacy of sanitary fitments in female lavatories in the premises concerned. The authorities indicated that it hoped to see the consultation results in 2006 or early 2007 and then present the relevant proposed amendments to the Legislative Council ("LegCo"). In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) whether it has assessed if the improvement guidelines stipulated in the above Practice Note can effectively alleviate the inadequacy of sanitary fitments in female lavatories in the premises concerned; if it has, of the method and outcome of such assessment;
(b) of the total number of organisations consulted by the authorities on the proposed amendments to the Regulations so far, the number of women's groups among them, the progress of consultation, and when the authorities plan to present the proposed amendments to LegCo; and
(c) whether the authorities will, after completing the consultation exercise, revise the improvement guidelines in the Practice Note, such as raising the male to female ratio of 1:1.25, and implement other measures to alleviate the inadequacy of sanitary fitments in female lavatories in the premises concerned?
Reply:
Madam President,
My reply to the three-part question is as follows:
(a) Since the promulgation of the new Practice Note by BD in May 2005, 11 building works projects of private shopping arcades, cinemas and places of public entertainment have adopted the new guidelines for the provision of sanitary fitments in female lavatories. As most of these projects are still in progress, BD could not yet assess the effectiveness of the guidelines. Upon completion of these projects, BD will commence the assessment work.
(b) Regarding amendments to the concerned Regulations, BD has so far met or exchanged views with over 20 concern groups and solicited stakeholders' views through the Department's homepage as well as writing to the concern groups. Women's organisations so consulted include the Women's Commission, Hong Kong Federation of Women, Ladies Sub-committee of the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce, Association for the Advancement of Feminism, Caritas-Hong Kong, Concern Group on Women's Rights, Hong Kong Association of Business and Professional Women, Hong Kong Chinese Women's Club, Hong Kong Council of Social Service, Hong Kong Women Development Association and Zonta Club of Hong Kong. The consultation work has been completed, and BD is carefully analysing and following up with the views collected.
(c) Comparing with the existing requirements under the Regulations, under the guidelines of the new Practice Note, the number of sanitary fitments in female lavatories in the concerned premises will increase by 40 to over 100 percent. BD will make reference to the effectiveness of the new Practice Note, consolidate the comments of the consultancy study, and process the amendments in relation to sanitary fitments in female lavatories together with other proposed amendments to the Building (Standards of Sanitary Fitments, Plumbing, Drainage Works and Latrines) Regulations.
We aim to introduce the proposed amendments into the Legislative Council in the 2007/08 legislative session.
Ends/Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Issued at HKT 12:06
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