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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
The fourth part of the questions asks if a review on the existing Delegated Member system will be conducted in October this year.
The Department has confirmed that a review of the Delegated Member system is already underway. Once the review has been completed and the relevant data analysed, a committee paper with recommendations will be presented to the Council before the end of the year.
MR. TIM S. Manuel Chan (in Cantonese): I have a few follow-up questions. Recently, there was a piece of news about U.S.D. staff being prosecuted by the ICAC on licensing matters. It was reported that assistance could be given to applicants to speed up their license application. I would like to ask the Department or Chairman of the Select Committee or even the Delegated Members whether they know what procedures and which parts of the application process can be speeded up. This is my first question.
Secondly, before the issue of licenses, many restaurants or billiard rooms are actually doing their business without a license. When such applications are referred to the Delegated Members, do the Delegated Members know the background of applicants, whether the applicants have ever been prosecuted or have been asked to modify the layout plans of the premises? This question is not answered in the reply and I want to be given the answer.
Thirdly, if each Delegated Member has to handle 100 or 200 cases per month and there is no departmental staff to brief them of the content of the cases, I think, and perhaps the Department or the Chairman may also think, that the figure is too high. Basically, if the Delegated Members issue the licenses perfunctorily without knowing the contents clearly, they have to be responsible for any problems arising therefrom and this would have an adverse effect on both the Department and the Members. Hence, I would like to have a more positive response to these four supplementary questions.
MR. CHAN YUEK-SUT (in Cantonese): The first question is concerned with the ICAC prosecution. We have a legal adviser here and I don't think I should answer the question now, as the case is still being heard in court. I don't want to affect the course of justice. With regard to what kinds of application procedures can be speeded up, there are specific procedures under normal application process and in fact the process has already been speeded up. There are three procedures including quality assessment, joint site inspection and central vetting. Recently, the Public Health Select Committee has agreed on a provisional licence system so as to speed up licensing procedures. If an applicant can meet specific sanitary, architectural, fire safety and ventilation requirements as well as all other basic requirements, he can apply for a provisional licence for running his business. So in this sense the licensing procedures have already been expedited.
With regard to prosecution records, if the Delegated Member studies the case carefully, he would notice that all information is contained in the documents. If he
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