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PROVISIONAL URBAN COUNCIL
471
MR. SAN STEPHEN WONG HON-CHING (in Cantonese):-My reply to Mr. NG is that club licences are not handled by the LLB. The LLB only processes some work before club liquor licences are issued. If messes in police stations, clubs or canteens are issued by the authorities (Home Affairs Department) with club licences and the applications are made simultaneously with applications for liquor licences, the LLB issues club liquor licences. If no application has been made at the same time, the Board does not issue a club liquor licence. In such a case, the premises will have to obtain the club licence first before it can apply to the LLB for a club liquor licence.
MR. CHAN KWOK-LEUNG (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, I am worried that the LLB of this Council may turn into an establishment with power in name only. The power for the issuance of liquor licences is vested in this Council, but enforcement of the ordinance is the responsibility of the Police. If the Police does not report to this Council or monitor the situation, this Council may become an establishment solely for issuing licences without any responsibility in managing the system. If that happens, the LLB will be left with power in name only. I appreciate, as put by the Chairman of the LLB, that enforcement of the ordinance is the responsibility of the Police, but then under certain circumstances such as street obstruction, enforcement is jointly taken up by the Police and the Urban Services Department (USD). Shouldn't we amend the ordinance on liquor licences so that in exceptional cases when conflict of interest is involved, the executive arm of this Council (the USD) will be empowered to inspect premises selling liquor?
Secondly, how can we step up monitoring Police performance in inspections of liquor licences?
MR. SAN STEPHEN WONG HON-CHING (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, Mr. CHAN worries that the LLB may be reduced to having power in name only. I don't know the perspective Mr. Chan is taking on this matter. This Council does not have law enforcement power. In fact, this Council is a licensing authority. The LLB cooperates well with the Police and discusses all matters with them. As to Mr. Chan's question on whether we have power in name only, how we can take enforcement action and monitor the work of the Police, I believe the LLB holds many meetings with the police for discussions. If Mr. Chan is concerned about this, we can take this up with the Police in the upcoming meeting to see if Members' concern is genuine and try to handle it. I hope members of the LLB will consider this seriously.
As for the second question on how to monitor the work of the Police, I note that the LLB has always taken a cooperative role in its liaison with the Police. On the point of monitoring the work of the Police, as the Police is an independent department, so I think, our role is to give opinions and input for the Police to take enforcement action. The LLB has never assumed the role to
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