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HONG KONG PROVISIONAL URBAN COUNCIL
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is also at the same time responsible for the overall management of the district pest control section.
The last part of the question is about USD staff members' duties pertaining to prosecution of litter offenders. Depositing litter in public places is a contravention of by-law 4 of the Public Cleansing and Prevention of Nuisances (Urban Council) By-laws. A number of public officers of certain Government departments including Urban Services Department are authorized under Section 8A of the Magistrates Ordinance, Cap. 227 to issue Form 1A to prosecute any person found depositing litter in public places. As far as the Department is concerned, staff members of Health Inspectorate, Supervisory Grade, Hawker Control Officer Grade and Amenities Officer Grade are authorized to prosecute litter offenders. The total staff establishment of all these grades in various sections is 2644. However, these officers have specific duties relating to their grade. Although these officers will perform the duty of issuing Form 1A to prosecute litter offenders witnessed during their routine district work or patrol, Members should be aware that in most cases this work will be auxiliary to their primary duties, for example such as in the case of the hawker control staff where their primary duty is to prevent illegal working. It is therefore almost impossible to produce a realistic estimate on how much time the USD staff spend on the prosecution of litter offenders.
Ms. GRACE AU YUK-HAR (in Cantonese):-I have several follow-up questions. First, in paragraph 6 of the reply document, it is clearly pointed out that in most cases, prosecuting litter offenders is auxiliary to the primary duties of Departmental staff. Does this mean there is no need for a specialized team to prosecute litterbugs on our streets? Or does the Department take the view that street cleanliness is something to rely on citizens' self-discipline and therefore there is no need for stepped-up prosecution?
Secondly, do we have some forms available for the public to complete so as to prosecute indiscriminate throwing of refuse out of vehicles or on to streets? If there are such forms, why is there so little publicity? I look forward to being enlightened by the Chairman of the Public Health Select Committee.
MR. JOSEPH CHAN YUEK-SUT (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, on whether we need special staff to prosecute litterbugs or we can rely on the self-discipline of members of the public, I think we have already passed the era of keeping clean through stepped-up prosecution. In the early days when we launched the Keep Hong Kong Clean Campaign, we did step up prosecution. Now is the time for stepped-up publicity and education. The way I see it, the message of keeping Hong Kong clean has already penetrated into our community and individual families. As to whether all members of the public are well disciplined, we cannot assure this 100%. Although we do not have a special team going through our streets to prosecute litterbugs, members of various grades are authorized to prosecute them. There are 1500 members in the grade
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