Page 457 of 485
Page 457 of 485
Page 457 of 485
168
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
At district level, legislations concerning food hygiene and licensing are enforced by the two Municipal Services Departments. As to legislations on contents and quality of food, such as excessive metal contents or prohibited metal contents, food labelling, deterioration of food or contents of toxic or harmful substances and food poisoning, etc, they are enforced by the Department of Health. The rough division of duties is that Health Inspectors of the Urban Services Department are responsible for work relating to licensing and enforcement of licensing and food hygiene legislations; while Health Inspectors of the Department of Health are responsible for work relating to the quality of food and ensuring food safety.
Chairman (in Cantonese): Mr. CHAN Kwok-leung, are you satisfied with the above reply?
As a matter of fact, Health Inspectors are divided into 3 teams serving in 3 different departments after receiving training at the Urban Council Training School in Lai Chi Kok. A Health Inspector would only serve in one department at any one time: if he/she works for the Regional Council, he/she will undertake duties concerning public health services within the Regional Council area; if he works for the Urban Council, the same applies; and if he is transferred to the Department of Health, he has to discharge the duties of that department. Although the nature of work is the same in the 3 departments, no one will work for 2 departments at the same time. As Mr. Joseph Chan has said, the Hygiene Services Committee is chaired by the Director of Health who has policy-making and enforcement authority. As to whether the Committee affects the Urban Council, the answer is definitely positive because, under the Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance (Cap. 132), we are responsible for making final decisions, so regarding any issue that affects us, we can express our views to the Department of Health through the Committee and they will accept our opinions.
Next we have questions raised by the Hon. LI Wah-ming and Mr. CHAN Choi-hi.
THE HON. LI WAH-MING (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, I have a question on the financial aspect. It is mentioned in the reply that in 1994/95, the Urban Council allocated $56.4 million to the Department of Health. I understand that the Department of Health does not solely serve the Urban Council, it also has clinics providing medical services. Like other government departments, it also has to bid for additional resources each year in order to improve its services, including municipal services, for example, the Food Control Office at Man Kam To which is jointly funded by the UC and RC instead of by the Central Government. We can allocate funds to the Department of Health for both recruiting staff and its development, but the Department of Health is constrained by the restrictions imposed on government departments. The Department of Health provides a variety of services and each type of service has to compete with each other to bid
185
Page 457 of 485
Page 457 of 485
age 457 of 485
168
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
At district level, legislations concerning food hygiene and licensing are enforced by the two Municipal Services Departments. As to legislations on contents and quality of food, such as excessive metal contents or prohibited metal contents, food labelling, deterioration of food or contents of toxic or harmful substances and food poisoning, etc, they are enforced by the Department of Health. The rough division of duties is that Health Inspectors of the Urban Services Department are responsible for work relating to licensing and enforcement of licensing and food hygiene legislations; while Health Inspectors of the Department of Health are responsible for work relating to the quality of food and ensuring food safety.
Chairman (in Cantonese):~Mr. CHAN Kwok-leung, are you satisfied with the above reply?
As a matter of fact, Health Inspectors are divided into 3 teams serving in 3 different departments after receiving training at the Urban Council Training School in Lai Chi Kok. A Health Inspector would only serve in one department at any one time: if he/she works for the Regional Council, he/she will undertake duties concerning public health services within the Regional Council area; if he works for the Urban Council, the same applies; and if he is transferred to the Department of Health, he has to discharge the duties of that department. Although the nature of work is the same in the 3 departments, no one will work for 2 departments at the same time. As Mr. Joseph Chan has said, the Hygiene Services Committee is chaired by the Director of Health who has policy-making and enforcement authority. As to whether the Committee affects the Urban Council, the answer is definitely positive because, under the Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance (Cap. 132), we are responsible for making final decisions, so regarding any issue that affects us. we can express our views to the Department of Health through the Committee and they will accept our opinions.
Next we have questions raised by the Hon. Lt Wah-ming and Mr. CHAN Choi-hi.
THE HON. LI WAH-MING (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, I have a question on the financial aspect. It is mentioned in the reply that in 1994/95, the Urban Council allocated $56.4 million to the Department of Health. I understand that the Department of Health does not solely serve the Urban Council, it also has clinics providing medical services. Like other government departments, it also has to bid for additional resources each year in order to improve its services, including municipal services, for example, the Food Control Office at Man Kam To which is jointly funded by the UC and RC instead of by the Central Government. We can allocate funds to the Department of Health for both recruiting staff and its development, but the Department of Health is constrained by the restrictions imposed on government departments. The Department of Health provides a variety of services and each type of service has to compete with each other to bid
185.
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