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MR. JOSEPH CHAN YUEK-SUT (in Cantonese):—In the reply, it is mentioned that we have delegated authority to take out prosecutions to some government officers, e.g. librarians and curators. I would like to know if this is effective in taking out prosecution actions. Whether in their capacity they have chances to carry out prosecution works and I would like to know in the past few years whether we have figures of how many prosecutions they have taken out. If we do not have such figures, perhaps the effectiveness is not high. I wonder if we should delegate the authority to other government officers who have frequent contacts with the public?
MR. PAO PING-WING (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, I do not have the figures requested by Mr. CHAN on hand, but I will try to find out such figures and submit to Mr. CHAN after the meeting. I will support the suggestion that if some government officers could meet the following criteria:-
(a) who have frequent contacts with the public;
(b) who are legally suitable for delegation;
(c) whose daily duties are not adversely affected after such delegation; and (d) who can effectively carry out the prosecution action.
I will refer Mr. CHAN's suggestion to the Department for consideration but I hope Mr. CHAN could lay down which particular government officers he feels should be delegated the authority to do so after the meeting and I will follow up the matter.
CHAIRMAN (in English):-That would imply making new policy and I think this should be further discussed at the Public Health Select Committee.
2. THE HON. MARVIN CHEUNG KIN-TUNG asked the following question (in Cantonese): Under the MAA, maintenance of the Council's vehicles is undertaken by the EMSD on behalf of the Council. However, up until April 1992, the EMSD has not been able to submit detailed invoices to support the charges levied on the Council to enable the Council to monitor whether these charges are reasonable.
In April, EMSD introduced an Operating Service Account in respect of vehicle maintenance provided to various users including the Urban Services Department. I am advised that monthly invoices are being sent to the USD giving details of each of the jobs done.
Can we be advised:—
(1) whether such monthly reports have, in fact, been received by the Department; (2) what procedures are adopted to verify that the charges are reasonable for the services rendered; and
(3) whether the expenditure on maintenance per vehicle has increased or decreased as compared with previous years?
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MRS. ELEANOR LING CHING-MAN, CHAIRMAN OF THE ADMINISTRATION SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows (in English):-Mr. Chairman, the question concerns the charges of maintenance of the Council's vehicles and is in three parts.
The first part asked whether monthly reports giving details of the maintenance jobs done were received by the Urban Services Department after the Electrical & Mechanical Services Department (EMSD) introduced the Operating Services Account for vehicle maintenance in April 1992.
The Department receives monthly Demand Notes from EMSD in respect of vehicles related services. Since April 1992, the Demand Notes have been supported by two additional pieces of information:--
(1) a Monthly Summary listing charges per job for each month;
(2) a Jobs Detail Report which lists all the labour and material charges in respect of individual assignments.
The second part of the question concerns the procedures to verify that the charges are reasonable for the services rendered. Upon the receipt of these three documents, the Regional Transport Sections vet them against the Department's own records and the work actually carried out as recorded in the Department's copy of the EMSD Job Cards, which are the official records of the actual job done. Any discrepancy and/or suspected over-charge discovered will be referred to EMSD for investigation and explanation. Refund for the over-charge items, if any, will be adjusted in the following month. The professional staff employed in our transport depots, many with very long experience in the field, know what the rates are in the market and can, without difficulty, identify any examples of over-charging.
Having described the process, I am glad to say that very few, if any, mistakes are detected and EMSD's methodology for determining charges is deemed to be reasonable. For preventive maintenance, the charge is based on the standard number of hours for the job at a standard labour rate plus the material charges. The standard number of hours was based upon guidelines from a UK time study approach which is then modified with reference to the vehicle manufacturer's standard time for repair and the local (i.e. Hong Kong) conditions. For corrective maintenance or repairs, it is obviously more difficult to obtain standard times due to the variation in the actual job content. Nevertheless, the above method is also used to work out 'standard' times for the repairs which are then used as guidelines for estimating the time required. The charging methodology for corrective maintenance is the actual number of hours spent on the job at standard labour rate plus the material charge. In short there is a thorough procedure to ensure that the EMSD charges are reasonable for the services rendered.
The third part of the question asked whether the expenditure on maintenance per vehicle had increased or decreased since April 1992 as compared with previous years?
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