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PROVISIONAL URBAN COUNCIL
5 Common Causes for Failing to Obtain a Food Business Licence
Causes Number (1) Final plans not in conformity with the actual layout, 403 (2) Non-submission of Certificate of Compliance pertaining to building safety requirements. 372 (3) Letter of Compliance for Ventilating System not yet issued by the Director of Fire Services. 343 (4) Fire Services Certificate not yet issued by the Director of Fire Services. 321 (5) Non-submission of final layout plans. 230 431Note: The number of outstanding applications as at 31-12-98 is 697. However, each application may fail due to one or more of the above causes as well as causes not listed in the table.
On the second part of the question, an applicant for a food business licence has to satisfy all health, building, fire and ventilation safety requirements before a licence will be issued/renewed. The licensing requirements also include the attendance of a food hygiene course organized or approved by the Council by a staff member of the food premises. According to departmental records, no applicant has been refused a licence solely on the grounds that he or his staff member has not attended the course.
Part three of the question is about the information on food hygiene courses. When a Letter of Requirements is issued, the Department will inform applicants of the timetable of the proposed food hygiene courses to be organized in the next 3 months so that they can attend any one of the courses of their own choice. There are 3 food hygiene courses in each month, including 2 conducted in Cantonese and 1 in English. The duration of each course is 2 1/2 hours. Food hygiene courses conducted in Cantonese are usually held in a working day in the first half of each month, with one course held in the morning and another one in the afternoon. For the courses conducted in English, they are held in an afternoon in the latter half of each month. Those who have completed the course will be awarded a certificate and regarded as having satisfied the licensing requirement by the Department.
THE HON. LI WAH-MING (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, I have several follow-up questions. First of all, how many places are there for each food hygiene course? What is the enrolment situation and what is the percentage of enrolment? The second question concerns the information about 697 outstanding applications as at the end of 1998 and five common reasons listed for the situation as stated in
Page 443 of 606
Page 443 of 606