XN000022-1997-04-23 — Page 28

· 11 11 -

I would first of all like to thank Members of the Bills Committee, especially its Chairman, Dr the Honourable Leong Che-hung, for their hard work and thorough examination of this important Bill. And also I would like to say that I have listened very carefully and taken notice of the remarks put to the Council this afternoon by Dr Leong, by the Honourable Albert Ho and will reflect on them at the extent that they are not already covered in this Bill and the Committee Stage amendments. Mr President, the Administration has responded positively to most of the ideas put forward by members of the Bills Committee and by the medical and the legal professions. As a result, I will be moving a number of Committee Stage Amendments later this afternoon.

There is only one amendment in respect of which agreement has not been reached between the Administration and some members of the Bills Committee. I have listened with particular care to the arguments advanced by Dr the Honourable C H Leong and the Honourable Albert Ho but I have to say that I remain wholly unconvinced of the amendment. The amendment relates to the situation where a coroner has decided not to hold an inquest into the death of a person. I just ask members to bear in mind that situation. This is a situation where the coroners has decided not to hold an inquest and in that situation a person with a proper interest in the death (such as a family member) wishes to obtain a copy of the police report about the death.

The Administration agrees with the suggestion that, in such circumstances, the coroner should supply a copy of the death report. We do not have a problem with that. However, when this is done, it is important that the privacy of witnesses is protected. For this reason, the Committee Stage amendment that I will move later this afternoon, adding a new clause 12A to the Bill, provides that the coroner must delete the personal particulars of any witness from the copy of the death report supplied, unless the witness has expressly consented to the disclosure of those particulars. Provision is also made for the Police to advise a witness, who is making a statement in relation to the death of a person, that the statement may be provided to properly interested

persons.

As we have heard, the Chairman of the Bills Committee, Dr Leong Che-hung, will propose a Committee Stage Amendment to add a new clause 12A which mirrors the Administration's, except that it contains no requirement to delete the personal particulars of a witness if no express consent is given to their disclosure.

Dr Leong has argued that family members of the deceased person should be entitled to ascertain the personal particulars of witnesses even if they have not agreed to those particulars being disclosed. He contends that those particulars may help the family members to assess whether the witness statements are reliable; to contact the witnesses if they need further information; to judge the fairness of the decision not to hold an inquest; and, if necessary, to persuade the Attorney General to require an inquest to be held.