TNAG-1415-FCO40-1896-Public-finance-in-Hong-Kong-1985 — Page 171

144.

Head 53

Government Secretariat: City and New Territories Administration. Subhead 215. Environmental improvement and community involvement projects. In examining the expenditure allocated for the three-year period from 1982-83 to 1984-85 to District Boards for environmental improvement and community involvement projects, I questioned certain items which I considered to be outside the ambit of the vote as described in the estimates of expenditure approved by the Legislative Council and amplified in guidelines issued by the City and New Territories Administration. The expenditure questioned included grants of over $1.2 million for the administrative expenses and over $200,000 for office renovation and equipment of various recreational and cultural organizations, which did not comply with the requirement that the expenditure should be restricted to specific recreational and cultural projects. The expenditure questioned also included over $200,000 paid towards a dance training scheme for schools organized by the Education Department which did not meet the requirement that it should be used only for district-based activities. The Secretary for District Administration accepted that for most of the expenditure questioned, he will ensure that in future payments to recreational and cultural organizations will be made in such a way as to bring them within the ambit of the vote.

145.

Head 90 Labour Department. Subhead 001. Salaries. The Pneumoconiosis (Compensation) Ordinance 1980 provides for a Pneumoconiosis Compensation Fund to be financed from a levy on those major trades and industries mainly responsible for causing pneumoconiosis diseases. The legislation came into operation on 1 January 1981 and persons diagnosed as suffering from pneumoconiosis after that date became entitled under the Ordinance to claim compensation and damages from the Pneumoconiosis Compensation Fund. At the same time it was decided as a matter of Government policy to pay compensation on an ex-gratia basis to those who had been diagnosed as suffering from the disease before the operative date of the legislation. In order to administer the pneumoconiosis compensation scheme, the Commissioner for Labour formed a Pneumoconiosis Compensation Unit comprising eight professional and clerical staff. The number of staff was provisional because at that time it was not possible to accurately assess the workload involved. The first task of the Pneumoconiosis Compensation Unit was to deal with some 1,500 ex-gratia cases and in the 17-month period up to 31 December 1981, over 90% of these cases had been processed. Thereafter, the Pneumoconiosis Compensation Unit dealt almost exclusively with the statutory cases, that is persons who were diagnosed as suffering from the disease after the operative date of the legislation, and these were estimated to number only 250 a year, an estimate that later proved to be about right. The reduced workload of