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PAPER
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
The following paper was laid on the table:-Report to the Urban Council by the Director of Urban Services and Secretary, Urban Council, for the month of November 1978.
QUESTIONS
1 MR HOWARD H. W. YOUNG asked the following question (in English):- In connection with previous discussions on the possibility of allowing public eating facilities to be established in factory buildings so that workers do not have to resort to patronizing unlicensed and possibly unhygienic food pedlars in streets, can I be informed of the progress made so far?
MR EDMUND W. H. CHOW, CHAIRMAN OF THE FOOD HYGIENE SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows (in Cantonese):-This question concerns eating facilities in factory buildings and I propose to deal with it under three headings, namely, fast food shops, restaurants and canteens.
The present position on fast food shops in industrial buildings is that the Fire Services Department has withdrawn its objections to them provided that they prepare food for consumption outside the shop and do not have seating accommodation. Two applications are being processed and licences will be issued once the standard health requirements have been complied with.
The licensing of restaurants in industrial buildings has been discussed at length by the Government departments concerned, and the conclusion which has been reached is that it would not be desirable to allow restaurants serving the public to operate in industrial buildings because of the fire and health hazards that this would create. It seems unlikely therefore that this proposal will be taken any further.
As regards canteens, the present position is that individual factories are permitted to run canteens for their staff in industrial buildings. The Department is examining the possibility of changes in the Food Business By-laws which will allow canteens to be set up for the use of all the industrial workers employed in factory buildings, that is, they would not be restricted to employees of any one factory in the building. This proposal involves not only a change in the existing legislation but also the drafting of an appropriate licensing system.
MR YOUNG (in Cantonese):-Mr Chairman, for the fast food shops which have been granted licences in industrial buildings or licensed restaurants of similar nature from which workers can obtain take-away food by a delivery service, would that be considered as contravening the law or the legislation?
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
MR CHOW (in Cantonese):-Concerning Mr YOUNG's question, if the food has been manufactured and is being delivered to another section within the industrial building, the concern has to obtain a Food Factory Licence, but for fast food shops which are just supplying prepared food so that customers can take away the food to another building for consumption, it is quite different from having staff to deliver the food for consumption.
MR F. K. HU (in English):-Mr Chairman, is the customer allowed to buy the food in a fast food shop, then stay and stand in the shop and eat the food inside the shop?
MR CHOW (in Cantonese): In these circumstances, we will not interfere with such practices, but I think it is wrong for any fast food shops to have any seating accommodation for the customers.
2 MR HOWARD H. W. YOUNG asked the following question (in English):- What progress, if any, has the Urban Council or Urban Services Department made in employing handicapped persons to fill posts within our jurisdiction?
MR TSIN SAI-NIN, CHAIRMAN OF THE ESTABLISHMENT SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows (in Cantonese):-Statistics for the past four years showing the position as at 1 April indicate that the number of disabled persons employed by the Urban Services Department is as follows-
1 April 1975 137 persons
1 April 1976 133 persons
1 April 1977 137 persons
1 April 1978 153 persons
Of the 153 disabled persons employed on 1 April 1978, 121 worked in the urban areas. Since 1 April 1978, 2 more disabled persons have been recruited for the urban areas. It is understood that, as at 1 April 1978, 451 disabled persons were employed in the entire Civil Service in Hong Kong.
The employment of disabled persons by the Urban Services Department is consistent with the Government's general policy of integrating the disabled into the community through the process of vocational rehabilitation and eventual gainful employment in the commercial and industrial sector as well as in the Civil Service. The disabilities of those employed in the Urban Services Department include: loss of hearing or speech, impaired vision, and deformity of limbs or joints. Almost all of them are minor staff.
MR YOUNG (in English):—Mr Chairman, does the City Hall Booking Office or places like swimming pools in fact employ disabled persons who are possibly normal as far as speech, vision and hearing are concerned, but perhaps have some difficulties with limbs and joints?
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