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process of popular culture moving towards culture of higher hierarchy. I would not rule out the possibility that pop songs of today will be regarded as culture of this age by the future generations. Therefore, I think it is difficult to set the criteria of cultural activities.
THE HON. LI Wah-ming (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman. I think Miss Ada WONG Ying-kay is not asking about cultural programmes. She is asking about commercial programmes, the programmes which obviously aimed at making profit. This kind of programmes can easily be distinguished. It is easy to tell whether the programmes presented by those organisations aim at making profit or not. It is not necessary to define whether their programmes are cultural programmes. However, I do not want to dwell on this any longer. I would like to raise two questions. The first question is, the subsidy level in 85/86 was 97% while 10 years later it is reduced to 48.5% and in the reply it was said that there has been a substantial reduction, but I would like to look further ahead; I would like to ask, is there a target for further reduction of the subsidy level in the next 5 or 10 years, or will the subsidy level be frozen at 48.5%? I would be grateful if Mr. SUEN can give me a reply.
The second question is, in selling each ticket, we are actually subsidising the organisation $3 to $4. Is this subsidy reflected in the individual financial statement of each cultural programme? Or is it reflected in the annual statement of the URBTIX, for instance, how much subsidy was given by the Council for every 100 or 700 tickets sold for each cultural programme? Is this reflected separately in the individual financial statements of the programmes?
Mr. Suen Kai-Cheong (in Cantonese):—Mr. Li said that he did not want to dwell on, but I would like to respond to him. At present, some commercial organisations would also present cultural programmes. These are what is good about the Hong Kong society. Some commercial organisations are also concerned about community services in Hong Kong. Therefore, I think we cannot just look at one aspect, nor can we make it a rule that will charge more for selling tickets for cultural programmes presented by those organizations. We'll get higher income if those programmes have good ticket sales. Well, I do not want to dwell on this either. I would like to go back to Mr. Li's questions. As to whether the subsidy level will be further reduced in future, actually the Committee is now implementing the Council's policy and as what I have said just now, we have no intention to attain full cost recovery, but we will continue to monitor and review the subsidy level taking into account the inflation rate and the public's ability to bear higher fees. I am sure our Members will follow-up on this issue very closely.
CHAIRMAN (in Cantonese):—Would Mr. SUEN answer Mr. Li's second question, please?
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process of popular culture moving towards culture of higher hierarchy. I would not rule out the possibility that pop songs of today will be regarded as culture of this age by the future generations. Therefore, I think it is difficult to set the criteria of cultural activities.
THE HON. LI Wah-ming (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman. I think Miss Ada WONG Ying-kay is not asking about cultural programmes. She is asking about commercial programmes, the programmes which obviously aimed at making profit. This kind of programmes can easily be distinguished. It is easy to tell whether the programmes presented by those organisations aim at making profit or not. It is not necessary to define whether their programmes are cultural programmes. However, I do not want to dwell on this any longer. I would like to raise two questions. The first question is, the subsidy level in 85/86 was 97% while 10 years later it is reduced to 48.5% and in the reply it was said that there has been a substantial reduction, but I would like to look further ahead; I would like to ask, is there a target for further reduction of the subsidy level in the next 5 or 10 years, or will the subsidy level be frozen at 48.5%? I would be grateful if Mr. SUEN can give me a reply.
The second question is, in selling each ticket, we are actually subsidising the organsation $3 to $4. Is this subsidy reflected in the individual financial statement of each cultural programme? Or is it reflected in the annual statement of the URBTIX, for instance, how much subsidy was given by the Council for every 100 or 700 tickets sold for each cultural programme? Is this reflected separately in the individual financial statements of the programmes?
Mr. Suen Kai-Cheong (in Cantonese):—Mr. Li said that he did not want to dwell on, but I would like to respond to him. At present, some commercial organisations would also present cultural programmes. These are what is good about the Hong Kong society. Some commercial organisations are also concerned about community services in Hong Kong. Therefore, I think we cannot just look at one aspect, nor can we make it a rule that will charge more for selling tickets for cultural programmes presented by those organizations. We'll get higher income if those programmes have good ticket sales. Well, I do not want to dwell on this either. I would like to go back to Mr. Li ́s questions. As to whether the subsidy level will be further reduced in future, actually the Committee is now implementing the Council's policy and as what I have said just now, we have no intention to attain full cost recovery, but we will continue to monitor and review the subsidy level taking into account the inflation rate and the public's ability to bear higher fees. I am sure our Members will follow-up on this issue very closely.
CHAIRMAN (in Cantonese):-Would Mr. SUEN answer Mr. Li's second quesiton, please?
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