Replies to LegCo questions
LCQ18: Hawker control policy
Following is a question by the Hon Christopher Chung and a written reply by the
Secretary for Food and Health, Dr Ko Wing-man, in the Legislative Council today
(November 14):
Question:
I have recently received requests for assistance from quite a number of licensed
fixed pitch hawkers in Hong Kong East. These hawkers allege that individual
members of the Hawker Control Teams (HCT) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene
Department (FEHD) not only have very poor attitude during law enforcement, but
they also take actions with inconsistent standards, targeting their actions at
some hawkers while letting other hawkers get away. As a result, conflicts
between the hawkers and HCT members happen from time to time. When there are
such conflicts, the hawkers involved often have no way to seek redress of their
grievances due to the lack of a third party as the witness. In this connection,
will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the number of complaints received by the authorities in the past three
years about HCT members being alleged of corruption, the number of cases among
these complaints which had been referred to the Independent Commission Against
Corruption for follow-up, and the number of convictions;
(b) whether the Environmental Hygiene Branch of FEHD has a mechanism in place to
monitor HCT members' law enforcement actions (such as deploying plain-clothed
management staff to secretly monitor if individual hawkers have been targeted
at) so as to ensure that HCT members take law enforcement actions impartially;
(c) whether FEHD has provided regular training for HCT members to ensure their
service quality and good attitude;
(d) as FEHD indicated earlier in a document on the outcome of a public
consultation that it had exercised flexibility to allow hawkers to display their
goods outside the approved stall areas during business hours, whether the
authorities had instituted prosecutions against any hawkers for placing their
goods outside the boundaries of their pitches last year; if so, of the number of
hawkers prosecuted; and
(e) whether FEHD will improve its hawker management policy to enhance the
business environment of hawkers of open-air stalls?
Reply:
President,
The Hawker Control Teams (HCTs) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department
(FEHD) are enforcement teams mainly responsible for controlling on-street
hawking activities. Their duties include managing hawking activities of licensed
hawkers and taking enforcement action against illegal hawking.
As civil servants, all HCT members are bound to observe the requirements
stipulated in the Civil Service Code and uphold such core values as commitment
to the rule of law, honesty and integrity, objectivity and impartiality, etc.
when discharging their duties. The FEHD's Operational Manual for Hawker Control
also contains instructions setting out clearly the discipline training that HCT
members must receive as well as the regulations and procedures that all HCT
members are required to comply with. Cases of disciplinary offences committed by
HCT members will be handled by FEHD in accordance with the Civil Service
Regulations and the department's established procedures.
My reply to the various parts of the question is as follows:
(a) Over the past three years (2009 to 2011), FEHD has received a total of 30
corruption complaints against HTC members. All cases have been referred to the
Independent Commission Against Corruption for investigation. No prosecution has
been instituted for corruption.
(b) FEHD has put in place an internal monitoring system to guard against
breaches of disciplinary rules or improper behaviour on the part of HCT staff
when performing their duties. It is clearly stated under the system how hawker
control staff at different levels should monitor the work of HCT members under
their supervision, including the number of on-site supervision and inspections
that should be carried out. Upon receipt of relevant complaints, FEHD's Quality
Assurance Section (QAS) will conduct follow-up investigation in an independent,
objective and fair manner. Where necessary, the QAS will deploy plainclothes
officers to observe the performance of front-line staff.
(c) According to FEHD's instructions on hawker control, front-line enforcement
staff should always serve the community with a positive attitude and be
courteous at all times. FEHD attaches great importance to the conduct and
service quality of its front-line enforcement staff and provides them with
comprehensive training to ensure that they carry out their duties with
professional knowledge and proper attitude. In this connection, FEHD regularly
organises a full series of relevant training for hawker control staff at
different levels, including workshops on customer service and complaint
handling, workshops on personal effectiveness, seminars on diversity management
(equal opportunities) and talks on integrity (probity and ethics), etc. Besides,
FEHD also invites different service organisations and experts on a regular basis
to share their experience so as to further enhance the service consciousness of
hawker control staff at all levels.
(d) There are currently some 6 300 fixed hawker pitches in Hong Kong. From
October 1, 2011 to September 30, 2012, FEHD instituted a total of 4 545
prosecutions against licensed fixed-pitch hawkers for causing obstruction by
placing their goods outside the approved stall boundaries, with 1 838
prosecutions instituted in the second half of the period concerned (i.e. from
April 1 to September 30, 2012).
(e) It is the Government's established hawker management policy to strike a
proper balance between allowing legal hawking activities and providing a
reasonable business environment on the one hand, and maintaining environmental
hygiene, ensuring public safety and protecting the public from nuisances on the
other hand.
To establish a partnering relationship with various stakeholders, FEHD has set
up Hawker Management Consultative Committees (HMCCs) in all hawker areas.
Members of HMCCs include representatives of licensed hawkers, members of the
respective District Councils and District Fire Safety Committees. HMCCs provide
a platform for two-way communication and for FEHD district staff and HMCC
members to discuss day-to-day management and regulatory and safety issues, as
well as to encourage self-discipline and good practices among hawkers.
Ends/Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Issued at HKT 12:06
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