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Government Minute
Following is the speech by the Chief Secretary, the Hon Anson Chan, in introducing the Government Minute in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):
Mr President,
Laid on the table today is the Government Minute responding to Report No. 24 of the Public Accounts Committee. The Minute sets out the measures the Government has taken, or is planning to take, on the conclusions and recommendations contained in the Report.
Mr Peter Wong, the then Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, spoke in this Council on 26 July 1995 when tabling the Report. I would like to respond to some of the points he made.
Mr Wong highlighted the problems relating to the licensing of food establishments, particularly the aspects of co-ordination, both within and amongst government departments, and the time required to process applications. As we have advised the Committee at the public hearing, the licensing authorities; ie. the two Municipal Councils, are conscious of the problems and have been making efforts to rectify the situation. The Director of Regional Services and the Director of Urban Services have been seeking the co-operation of concerned departments to streamline the licensing procedures and co-ordinating improvement measures to achieve this. Both have introduced measures to ensure that the processing time is kept within 60 days. They are also working actively on the "Provisional Licence System" for restaurants whereby premises will be allowed to operate when they have complied with certain basic requirements, pending the issue of a "full" licence. They hope to introduce this system by end 1995. In the meantime, control for food business premises will be strengthened and enforcement action on unlicensed premises stepped up to safeguard public safety.
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