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(1) The commitment of this Council to culture.
(2) The impending completion of the Tsim Sha Tsui Cultural Complex. (3) The inevitable costs of running an orchestra of such standard. (4) A realistic assessment of the amount of funds that can be raised from
other sources, and finally
(5) The relationship of the Council with the General Committee of the HK Philharmonic and the role of our Councillors being nominated thereon.
The annual report of the Director of Audit dated 15 October 1986 was published recently. This must be a relief to quite a number of civil servants who must have had a few nail-biting moments before learning that they have survived yet another year without any adverse comment or criticism by our guardian of public finances. In the actual report, there were a number of direct references to the Urban Council. Some of these were critical of other Government Departments relating to matters which have resulted in losses to the Council, e.g. the non-assessment and delays in assessing rates on premises occupied by the Vocational Training Council and the Seaman's Training Centre. Some of these were critical of other Government Departments on matters which have resulted in gains to the Council, e.g. the undercharging on the Council of Consultants fees and additional costs on capital projects. All in all, no direct criticisms were levied at the Urban Services Department and I must therefore congratulate the Department for yet another year of outstanding performance.
The Director of Audit also highlighted in his report some areas where other Government Departments have slipped up. These include errors in cost-benefit analysis being included in an evaluation report on computerization, errors in the calculation and recording of leave entitlements, delays in the occupation of rented premises and payment for Services not required or not supplied. All of these could equally have applied to the Urban Services Department. Without the benefit of knowing the scope of the work of the Director of Audit, one is left wondering whether the Urban Services Department have indeed achieved a level of performance far superior than that achieved by other Government departments or whether it was not the turn of the USD to come under the close scrutiny of the Director of Audit last year.
As Councillors, we are accountable to the public for the spending of public money. I submit that we should receive a separate report from the Director of Audit on the findings of the examination of the USD and at the very least, we should be advised of the scope and nature of his examination after he has completed his audit so that we may fully appreciate the significance of his work.
With these remarks, I support the motion.
MR. CHOW WAI-KEUNG (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, I remember that I first spoke on the question of the elderly people in the District Board in 1982 so I will focus on the problems of elderly people in my very brief speech today.
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Within the scope of the work of Urban Council, there are not many items which have direct relationship with the elderly but we do provide a lot of services which will affect their lives. The parks under the management of the Urban Council are most popular among the elderly people. Among cultural and sports events, Cantonese operas and Tai-Chi classes are most welcomed by the elderly people. This is indeed a pleasure for them to enjoy the sunshine and to have Tai-Chi classes in our parks. During these months, it has been noticed that in all districts on the pavements near markets and our RCPs, we may find elderly people with no smiles on their faces. They are observing the activities of the hawkers and the housewives around them. These elderly people are trying to find items which they can resell among the rubbish dumped by other people. Usually they have a box and they will try to sell items in the boxes to the nearby stores just to earn their living. I don't know how many elderly people's living have been supported by our RCPs. I am not saying that we should make arrangements so that no scavengers can gather around the RCPs any more but I would just like to draw members' attention to such a problem.
Another problem is that there has been an increasing suicidal rate among elderly people in the city. This is worrying because we don't know whether this will form a trend. In fact, a lot of elderly people still have to live after they retire and they have to find means of supporting themselves. I think every young person should think about how they can spend their life after retirement. We have contributed to the society when we are young and we should be protected and supported by the society when we retire. We know that the whole population is aging in the society of Hong Kong and I think the time is ripe for us to review the policy concerning elderly people. According to our information, usually we have over 200 to 300 people waiting to join elderly centres to become members so that they can enjoy facilities there. An elderly person in need and who is qualified for entering hostels will have to wait for over one to three years before they can become a member. Why don't we have a lot of private operated daily centres for the elderly people and homes for the aged? I know that the Government is aware of the situation and I am sure the Government is looking into the problems in privately operated homes for the aged and the Government will be giving her views and laying down better policies concerning homes for the aged. I would like to urge the Government to review the services to the elderly people comprehensively including the massive scale, increase in the number of elderly centres, increase in subsidies to the elderly people and setting up a central provident fund as soon as possible. As for the Urban Council, I think the Urban Council should provide more facilities for the elderly and subsidize other voluntary organizations to hold various activities for the enjoyment of elderly people.
Mr. Chairman, I am happy to support the motion.
(The Chairman declared a recess of 10 minutes and the meeting resumed at 4:25 p.m.)
MR. MAN SAI-CHEONG (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman,
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