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Southern District Council (2020-2023) (SDC) Minutes of the 1st Meeting of the

Finance and Vetting Committee (FVC) Date : 25 February 2020 Time : 2:30 p.m. Venue : SDC Conference Room Present: Mr LO Kin-hei (Chairman of SDC and Chairman of FVC) Mr YU Chun-hei, James (Vice-Chairman of FVC) Mr CHAN Hin-chung Mr CHAN Ping-yeung Ms CHAN Yan-yi Mr LAM Andrew Tak-wo Mr LAM Ho-por, Kelvin Ms LAM Yuk-chun, MH Mr Jonathan LEUNG Chun Ms LI Shee-lin Mr PANG Cheuk-kei, Michael Mr POON Ping-hong Mr WONG Yui-hei, Angus Mr YIM Chun-ho Miss YUEN Ka-wai, Tiffany Secretary: Mr CHAN Lok-yiu, Morris Executive Officer (District Council) 1,

Southern District Office, Home Affairs Department

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In Attendance:

Mr CHENG Kong-chung, Francis, JP

District Officer (Southern), Home Affairs Department

Miss CHENG Wai-sum, Sum Assistant District Officer (Southern), Home Affairs Department

Ms YIP Wai-see, Priscilla Senior Executive Officer (District Council), Southern District Office, Home Affairs Department

Mr CHAN Ip-to, Tony Senior Executive Officer (District Management), Southern District Office, Home Affairs Department

Mr CHEUNG Wai-chun, William Executive Officer I (District Management), Home Affairs Department

for agenda item 1

Miss LI Sze-nga, Sennia District Secretary, Southern District Office, Home Affairs Department

for agenda item 3

Opening Remarks: The Chairman welcomed members and government representatives to the meeting. 2. The Chairman said that in view of the latest situation of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), this meeting was not open to the public in order to reduce the risk of crowd gathering. Moreover, members and departmental representatives were advised to bring their own masks and water. Before entering the venue, all persons were subject to checking of body temperature with the assistance of the staff of Southern District Office (SDO), and were required to complete a health declaration form and declare whether he/she was under the 14-day compulsory quarantine. The duration of the meeting should last no more than two hours, i.e. the meeting would end by 4:30 p.m. Any outstanding items thereafter would be discussed at the next meeting.

3. The Chairman continued that each member would be allotted a maximum of two three-minute slots to speak in respect of each agenda item. He also reminded members to speak as concisely as possible. The electronic timer would beep when it reached two minutes 30 seconds and three minutes of each speaking slot respectively. To avoid suspension of meeting in the absence of a quorum, if members wished to leave earlier, they should inform the Secretariat staff as early as possible. Moreover, the Chairman advised that during the discussion of any agenda item, members should raise their hands to declare interests where necessary.

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Agenda Item 1: Follow up the Allocation of $500,000 endorsed at the 2nd SDC Meeting for Epidemic Prevention Work (FVC Paper No. 1/2020) [2:35 p.m. – 2:54 p.m.]

4. The Chairman said that this agenda item was raised by Mr YU Chun-hei, James. He also welcomed Mr CHEUNG Wai-chun, William, Executive Officer I (District Management) of SDO to join the discussion of this agenda item. 5. The Chairman invited the Mr YU Chun-hei, James to briefly introduce his agenda item. 6. Mr YU Chun-hei, James briefed members on the agenda item as follows: (i) the three issues set out in the Annex of the Paper were put to discussion at a

workshop before the meeting. Concerning the procurement of epidemic prevention materials, the workshop had discussed the procurement method and types of epidemic prevention materials to be purchased. As such, the meeting could now focus on discussing whether there was a need to endorse the provision of supplementary funding and the amount of supplementary funding involved; and

(ii) in view of the current situation that the shortage of masks had lessened, he would like to know whether FVC should consider purchasing epidemic prevention materials other than masks.

7. The Chairman invited SDO to report on the latest progress of the procurement of epidemic prevention materials. 8. Mr CHENG Kong-chung, Francis, JP said that an allocation of $500,000 had been endorsed by the SDC at its 2nd meeting for procurement of epidemic prevention materials and related expense. To expedite the relevant procedure, SDO had invited suppliers’ quotations by means of direct purchase so as to shorten the purchasing time. At present, SDO had received quotations and was checking the quotation documents to verify compliance of the quoted products with the specified requirements and standards. SDO would keep the SDC informed of the latest progress. 9. The Chairman invited members to raise comments and enquiries. 10. Ms LAM Yuk-chun, MH said that with reference to the past practice of SDO which provided funding under the District-led Actions Scheme of the Southern District to other

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departments for strengthening their efforts in resolving the environmental hygiene problem in the district, she enquired whether Home Affairs Department (HAD) would provide additional funds for various departments to enable sufficient provision of protective supplies for the frontline staff as well as strengthen the epidemic prevention work and enhance environmental hygiene. 11. Mr CHAN Hin-chung supported allocation of supplementary funding for procurement of epidemic prevention materials. With supplementary funding provided, quotation invitation could still be made before deciding whether procurement of the materials was still necessary under the prevailing circumstances. Besides, some of the epidemic prevention materials, such as rubbing alcohol seemed to have adequate supplies with downward adjustment of the product prices. Yet, masks were still very expensive. He suggested giving priority to procurement of masks with the supplementary funding provided. 12. Mr POON Ping-hong said that some of the elderly people in the district did not have enough masks; yet, they did not know how to seek help either. SDC could offer assistance to these residents, so the SDC funding should continue to be used for procurement of epidemic prevention materials. 13. The Chairman invited representatives of SDO to respond. 14. Mr CHENG Kong-chung, Francis, JP responded that during the initial stage of the epidemic, SDO did liaise with other departments like the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, the Leisure and Cultural Services Department and the Housing Department. It was learned that these departments already had sufficient provision of epidemic prevention materials for their frontline staff. SDO would continue to keep in touch with the departments and render assistance as far as possible if they should need additional resources. 15. The Chairman said that owing to the lead time required for the procurement process, if supplementary funding was to be provided, it would utilise the allocation under the 2020-21 SDC Funds for Community Involvement (CI) Project. Therefore, there would be greater flexibility for handling fund allocation. He asked members to give their views on the amount and usage of supplementary funding. 16. Mr CHAN Ping-yeung enquired about the lead time required for the procurement of epidemic prevention materials. He worried that it would be too late to serve the purpose if distribution of epidemic prevention materials to the public was still pending until May or June 2020.

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17. The Chairman said that with reference to the previous experience of using $500,000 for the procurement of epidemic prevention materials, it took about one week from issuing quotation invitation to receiving quotations. Therefore, he believed that upon provision of supplementary funding, the procurement process was unlikely to cause too much delay in the release of the epidemic prevention materials, subject to the supplier delivery date. 18. Mr Jonathan LEUNG Chun said that if supplementary funding was to be provided, it would be the second allocation of SDC fund for procurement of epidemic prevention materials. Since the delivery date of the purchase was not yet sure for the moment, he suggested that consideration be given to those materials which were useful for a longer time even after the epidemic, such as rubbing alcohol. In the meantime, materials of lesser usage after the epidemic, such as masks, should be excluded because the public would not be willing to wear masks any more after going out with masks for so many months. 19. The Chairman said that according to his observation, there was more supply than demand for rubbing alcohol recently. 20. Mr YIM Chun-ho raised the following comments and enquiries: (i) he heard that a few local factories would produce masks in Hong Kong. However,

as the factories had to rely on the import of raw material from other places, the supply condition of these factories was not sure. He supported the use of supplementary funding for procurement of masks. Even though the delivery of masks might possibly take place after the epidemic had lapsed, the masks could still be reserved as “strategic commodity” in the long run and stored in the SDC or offices of SDO. If the masks were no longer needed by the public, the materials could be transferred to non-governmental organisations as gift, and hence wastage could be avoided; and

(ii) he opined that people should not be too optimistic about the epidemic, as experts had mentioned that there would be inevitably a global outbreak of COVID-19 and it was not certain that the coronavirus epidemic would end in the summer around June to July 2020. To play safe, he proposed endorsing the provision of supplementary funding for procurement of epidemic prevention materials in order to help the residents and those in need from the elderly centres and community centres in the Southern District.

21. The Chairman said that according to his observation, the situation of panic buying of masks among the public seemed to have ameliorated. However, a lot of countries were

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being hit by the disease one after another, including Japan, Korea as well as Middle East countries like Iran. He thus worried that the supply of masks was not yet stabilised even though it appeared to be stable for the moment. Since other countries might close their border controls later, export of masks would be prohibited and masks would be in short supply again. 22. Mr LAM Andrew Tak-wo said he shared the view that the epidemic should be treated prudently. So far, no expert could tell when the epidemic would end. The allocation of $500,000 endorsed by SDC earlier on was not a large sum of money while the purchase of more masks was not a bad thing either. Although the supply of masks had increased in the market, quite a lot of people were still worrying about the recurrence of mask shortage in future. As such, he supported the endorsement of supplementary funding for purchase of masks. Even if there might be an oversupply of masks, he believed that the excess supply of masks could be used for some other purposes. 23. Ms LAM Yuk-chun, MH said that the allocation of $500,000 approved by SDC earlier on might not be enough to buy a quantity of masks which were sufficient to meet the needs. Only limited quantity of masks was available for allotment to each of the 17 constituencies in the district. Therefore, she supported the allocation of supplementary funding for further use if necessary. As it took about one week from issuing quotation invitation to receiving quotations, she suggested that SDC might keep in view the market situation during this period before making the decision as to whether additional masks should be purchased or not. 24. The Chairman said that since members had not made any comments on the amount of supplementary funding to be allocated, he asked Mr YU Chun-hei, James, proposer of this agenda, whether he would like to put up a specific figure on the suggested amount of supplementary funding. Mr YU Chun-hei, James said that the quantity of epidemic prevention packages purchased with the previous allocation of $500,000 approved by SDC was not that much. Furthermore, if supplementary funding was to be provided, he shared a member’s view that quotation could be invited before deciding whether procurement of the materials was still required or not. He proposed an allocation of $1 million as supplementary funding and sought other members’ comments in this regard. 25. The Chairman consulted SDO on allocating a provision of $1 million from the SDC Fund for CI Projects for the procurement of epidemic prevention materials and related expense.

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26. Mr CHENG Kong-chung, Francis, JP responded that according to the Government Stores and Procurement Regulations, direct purchase was only allowed for purchases of stores not exceeding $1.4 million. If the supplementary funding was to be provided at $1 million, together with the $500,000 allocation endorsed earlier on, the amount available for procurement of epidemic prevention materials would add up to a total of $1.5 million which had exceeded the direct purchase limit. To this end, he suggested that it would be more appropriate to allocate $900,000 for supplementary funding, such that the total amount would not exceed $1.4 million. 27. Ms YIP Wai-see, Priscilla said that if supplementary funding was to be provided, the allocation would be made under the 2020-21 SDC Funds for CI Projects. At its 1st SDC meeting, SDC had endorsed the provisional allocation of SDC Funds for CI Projects in 2020-21 with a total over-budget of $2,915,640, which accounted for 15.4% of the total allocation. If supplementary funding was to be provided for $900,000, the amount of the revised over-budget as a percentage of the total allocation had not yet exceeded the ceiling. Besides, after HAD’s confirmation of the amount of allocation for the 2020-21 CI Projects of SDC, adjustment could still be made to the allocation for other items if circumstances so required. 28. The Chairman asked members whether they agreed to endorse the provision of $900,000 from the CI Project Fund of SDC as supplementary funding for procurement of epidemic prevention materials and related expense. Members had no objection. 29. The Committee endorsed the provision of $900,000 from the CI Project Fund of SDC as supplementary funding for procurement of epidemic prevention materials and related expense. 30. The Chairman asked SDO to continue following up the work accordingly. 31. Mr CHENG Kong-chung, Francis, JP asked FVC about which type of epidemic prevention materials the Committee would like to purchase this time. 32. The Chairman said that SDC had previously approved an allocation of $500,000 intended for procurement of epidemic prevention materials, including masks, antiseptic wet wipes, rubbing alcohol and production of epidemic prevention packages. He invited members to give comments about what epidemic prevention materials to be purchased with the supplementary funding of $900,000 provided this time, and whether purchase should be made for a single material or multiple items.

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33. Mr CHAN Hin-chung shared the view of another member that rubbing alcohol was showing a trend of oversupply. On the other hand, masks had become a daily necessity of the public these days and were having the most severe shortage among all the materials. He agreed to focus the funding on procurement of masks, but suggested that decision should be pending until quotation of prices for the masks had been obtained. 34. Mr Jonathan LEUNG Chun said that as mentioned by another member, the allocation of $500,000 approved by SDC earlier on might only be enough to buy masks for distribution to a small number of residents, while masks still had the most severe shortage among all materials. He thus agreed to focus funding on procurement of masks. Meanwhile, he also suggested that quotation should be sought for other materials at the same time. In case the price of masks was too high, there was no need to conduct a quotation for the other items again as this would affect the progress of procurement. 35. The Chairman said that the Committee agreed to focus the funding on procurement of masks and requested SDO to obtain quotation for various kinds of materials during its conduct of procurement. Mr YU Chun-hei, James consented to the said comments. 36. The Chairman requested SDO to continue following up the work. 37. Mr CHENG Kong-chung, Francis, JP said that with reference to the administrative arrangements on the allocation of $500,000 approved by SDC earlier on, SDC had authorised the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Environment, Hygiene and Healthcare Committee (EHHC) to be responsible for liaising with the Secretariat and following up and making decision on related matters. He asked whether the aforesaid arrangements should continue to be adopted for the relevant work under the $900,000 supplementary funding this time. 38. The Chairman asked members whether they agreed to grant authorisation for the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of EHHC to liaise with the Secretariat and follow up and make decision on the related matters. Members had no objection. 39. The Committee endorsed that authorisation be granted for the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of EHHC to liaise with the Secretariat and follow up and make decision on the related matters.

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Agenda Item 2: SDC Funding Guidelines (2020 – 2023)

(FVC Paper No. 2/2020) [2:54 p.m. – 3:01 p.m.]

40. The Chairman invited the Secretary to brief members on the content of the paper. 41. The Secretary briefed members on the content of the paper as follows: (i) SDC would allocate funds to local organisations for organising various types of CI

Projects every year. The last term of SDC had drawn up the Guidelines on Application for Southern District Council Funds (2016-2019) (“the Funding Guidelines”) with reference to the Manual on the Use of District Council Funds (“the Manual”) introduced by the HAD. The last amendments were endorsed on 29 May 2018 and the amended Funding Guidelines had been in use since then;

(ii) HAD made the latest amendments to the Manual in December 2019. The proposed amendments were grouped into nine categories, as detailed in paragraph 3 of the Paper for members’ reference;

(iii) further to the proposed amendments stated in paragraph 3 of the Paper as well as other amendments on wording and presentation, the Secretariat had prepared the draft Funding Guidelines (2020-2023) with changes to the current version shown in revision mode. Details were given at the Annex of the Paper;

(iv) as prior notification had to be given to various organisations, it was proposed that the revised Funding Guidelines (2020-2023) be adopted with effect from 17 March 2020 (i.e. commencement date of the new round funding application) and applicable to all fund applications received by the Secretariat from that date onwards. The existing Funding Guidelines (2016-2019) would continue to apply to funding applications received by the Secretariat before the said date; and

(v) according to paragraph 7.5.1 of the Funding Guidelines (2020-2023), “Penalty should be imposed in accordance with the ‘Code of Practice in Dealing with Contraventions with Respect to the Guidelines on Application for Southern District Council Funds (2020-2023)’ at Annex F if an NGO fails to observe the terms and conditions imposed on it, if any, in implementing the CI project without a reasonable explanation”. In this connection, it was proposed that the explanations submitted by the organisation concerned should be forwarded to the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of FVC for consideration. Upon deliberation, if the grantee organisation was considered to have provided a reasonable explanation, the relevant case would be handled with flexibility, such as by issuing a reminder letter instead of a Notice of Contravention. However, if the Chairman or

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Vice-Chairman of FVC considered it necessary, the case would be submitted to FVC for further discussion.

42. The Chairman asked the Secretariat to provide additional information to help members understand the authority delegated to the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of FVC. 43. Ms YIP Wai-see, Priscilla cited an example that according to one of the provisions of the Funding Guidelines (2016-2019), the grantee was required to give written notice to SDC at least seven clear working days in advance in case there was any change in the date, venue and event title of the project concerned. However, according to experience, some of the first-time grantees were not familiar with the Funding Guidelines and so had not adhered to the relevant requirement. For example, if the event title had a final version slightly different from the title provided by the grantee on the application, the grantee would explain that it was a typo and they were not familiar with the Funding Guidelines. As such, the grantee had not notified SDC in accordance with the stipulated requirement. Under the circumstances, the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of FVC could take into consideration the grantee’s explanation and determine whether it warranted the issue of a Notice of Contravention. Members were asked to note that if it was a second contravention of the Funding Guidelines, the grantee would be barred from application for SDC Funds for a period of 12 months. 44. The Chairman invited members to give their views on the proposed amendments to be incorporated into the Funding Guidelines (2020-2023) as given in the Paper and the aforesaid suggestions. The Chairman added that the relevant amendments were mainly drafted by HAD and not suggested by members. He opined that the new term of FVC could review the Funding Guidelines (2020-2023) in detail later. Members could also raise their comments and suggestions, and convene a workshop for a detailed discussion in due course. 45. The Chairman asked whether members endorsed the revised draft of the Funding Guidelines (2020-2023) at Annex, the arrangement suggested in paragraph 5, and the arrangement on dealing with contraventions with respect to the Funding Guidelines, i.e. authorising the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of FVC to consider and determine the contravention cases of the grantees. Members had no objection. 46. FVC endorsed the revised draft of the Funding Guidelines given at Annex, the arrangement suggested in paragraph 5, and the arrangement on dealing with contraventions of the Funding Guidelines, i.e. authorising the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of FVC to consider and determine the contravention cases of the grantees.

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Agenda Item 3: Application for SDC Funds: Employment of Contract Staff

for the Secretariat (FVC Paper No. 3/2020) (3:01 p.m. – 3:13 p.m.)

47. The Chairman welcomed Miss Sennia LI, District Secretary of SDO for discussion of this agenda item. 48. The Chairman invited the Secretary to briefly introduce the content of the paper. 49. The Secretary briefed members on the content of the paper as follows: (i) District Councils (DCs) could use not more than 15% of their allocation in each

financial year to employ dedicated staff to help discharge DC-related duties and responsibilities. It was suggested that the Secretariat should employ four full-time Executive Assistants (EAs), five full-time Project Coordinators (PCs) and not more than 20 part-time Project Assistants (PAs) in 2020-21 at a proposed budget of $2,767,019, representing 14.62% of the total allocation to SDC; and

(ii) the estimated budget was prepared on the assumption that HAD would make pay adjustments to contract staff effective from August 2020 and with reference to the adjustment rates of 2017, 2018 and 2019.

50. The Chairman invited the Secretariat to briefly introduce the areas of work of the contract staff. 51. Ms YIP Wai-see, Priscilla responded that the areas of work of the contract staff included providing support for the Secretariat, such as serving as Secretaries of Working Groups, handling remuneration, allowances and expenditure reimbursement for SDC members as well as assisting with processing of applications for organising CI Projects and reimbursing advance payments. 52. The Chairman invited members to raise comments or enquiries. 53. Mr POON Ping-hong enquired whether the applied funds for the employment of contract staff and the number of contract staff of the Secretariat in 2020-21 differed from those in 2019-20.

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54. Ms YIP Wai-see, Priscilla responded that the applied funds for the employment of contract staff and the number of contract staff of the Secretariat in 2020-21 were comparable to those in 2019-20. The applied funds in both years constituted about 14.6% of the total allocation to SDC, which was near the upper limit for such allocation, i.e. 15% of the total allocation to SDC. The full-time contract staff to be employed in 2020-21 included four full-time EAs and five full-time PCs. 55. The Chairman said that this agenda item used to be discussed at the SDC meeting held in March every year. In 2019-20, five full-time EAs, five full-time PCs and part-time PAs working for not more than 1 000 hours were employed. Since one of the full-time EA posts would be converted from non-civil service contract (NCSC) post to civil service post in 2020-21, only four full-time EAs would be employed. 56. Mr YIM Chun-ho said that after a full-time EA post was converted to a civil service post, the number of NCSC full-time EAs would decrease by one. He enquired whether the total number of staff of the Secretariat remained unchanged, whether the Secretariat had sufficient manpower to support the existing operation and whether the Secretariat needed to employ one more full-time EA to support the daily operation of the Secretariat. 57. Mr CHENG Kong-chung, Francis, JP responded that the conversion of the NCSC post to a civil service post could provide better job security for the staff member concerned and enable smoother operation of the Secretariat. While the manpower of the Secretariat remained unchanged, the Secretariat would continue to seek more resources including human resources. However, it took time to secure resources through the Government’s Resource Allocation Exercise. Moreover, the stipulation of using not more than 15% of DC’s allocation in each financial year to employ dedicated staff was applicable to all 18 districts. Since the applied funds for the employment of contract staff for the Secretariat in 2020-21 was close to the upper limit, there was no room for employing one more full-time EA. 58. Mr CHAN Hin-chung enquired about the man-hours of part-time PAs employed in 2019-20 and the reason for increasing the man-hours of part-time PAs to be employed from 1 000 hours to 1 300 hours in 2020-21. 59. Ms YIP Wai-see, Priscilla responded that the man-hours of part-time PAs employed in 2019-20 was close to the approved 1 000 hours. In view of the increased number of Committees under SDC, the Secretariat needed more manpower to carry out the additional work. Having regard to the 15% limit for using DC’s allocation to employ contract staff and

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the employment of full-time EAs and full-time PCs, there was still room for increasing the man-hours of part-time PAs to be employed, and so the man-hours were increased to 1 300 hours. The percentage of the applied funds in the total SDC allocation was also comparable to that in the previous years. 60. Mr YU Chun-hei, James enquired about the areas of work of part-time PAs and whether the man-powers could be decreased from 1 300 hours back to 1 000 hours or even more so as to spare more resources for the employment of an additional full-time EA and strengthen the manpower for the work of the Secretariat. 61. Ms YIP Wai-see, Priscilla responded that the duties of part-time PAs were to assist with the general clerical work of the Secretariat. Their hourly wage was $59. Therefore, saving the wages of 300 man-hours was not sufficient for the employment of a full-time EA or full-time PC. However, given the limited resources, it was still hoped that more man-hours of part-time PAs could be employed to alleviate the manpower shortage of the Secretariat. 62. The Chairman said that the applied funds for the employment of contract staff for the Secretariat in 2019-20 and 2020-21 were comparable. But in consideration of factors such as inflation, pay rise, etc., the resources practically available would decrease if there was no corresponding increase in the allocation. He urged HAD to notice the said situation. 63. The Chairman asked if members endorsed the fund application (in the amount of $2,767,019) and the proposal stated in paragraph 4 of FVC Paper No. 3/2020. Members had no objection. 64. FVC endorsed the fund application (in the amount of $2,767,019) and the proposal stated in paragraph 4 of FVC Paper No. 3/2020.

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Agenda Item 4: Application for Reimbursement of Expenses for a Cancelled

Project (FVC Paper No. 4/2020) (3:13 p.m. – 3:22 p.m.)

65. The Chairman invited the Secretary to briefly introduce the content of the paper. 66. The Secretary briefed members on the content of the paper as follows: (i) on 16 October 2019, the Secretariat received notification from the Southern District

Joint School Conference (SDJSC) that the “Southern District Kindergarten Parade cum Education Path 2019” originally scheduled for 19 October 2019 would be cancelled and SDJSC applied for reimbursement of the expenses already incurred in the preparation/implementation of the project, with details given at Annex 1 to the paper;

(ii) according to paragraph 7.4 (Pre-mature Termination of Project) of the Funding Guidelines, depending on the circumstances, SDC might, where applicable, endorse reimbursement of expenses already incurred in the preparation/implementation of the project;

(iii) SDJSC applied to SDC for reimbursement of the expenses already incurred in the preparation/implementation of the project in the amount of $7,809.1, with details given at Annex 2 to the paper; and

(iv) the organiser suggested that some supplies already purchased, including souvenirs, gifts, etc., could be reserved and used in future SDC-funded activities.

67. The Chairman said that many projects had been cancelled owing to the epidemic and enquired whether all applications for reimbursement of the expenses already incurred in the preparation/implementation of the projects had to be vetted by FVC. 68. The Secretary said the Secretariat noted that a number of funded project organisers intended to apply for reimbursement of the expenses already incurred in the preparation/implementation of their cancelled projects, and these applications had to be vetted by FVC. 69. Mr YU Chun-hei, James said that in view of the epidemic, it was expected that a lot of such applications would be received, and enquired whether there were alternative ways to process these applications.

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70. Ms YIP Wai-see, Priscilla responded that reimbursement of the expenses already incurred in the preparation/implementation of all cancelled projects had to be handled in accordance with paragraph 7.4 of the Funding Guidelines and vetted by FVC. Currently, about 20 projects had been cancelled owing to the epidemic. Some of the funded project organisers had indicated their hope that the expenses already incurred in the preparation/implementation of the cancelled projects could be reimbursed. The Secretariat had requested the funded project organisers to submit relevant documents and receipts for processing in March 2020 and the latter would be submitted to FVC for vetting in April 2020, depending on the progress. 71. Mr YU Chun-hei, James enquired whether FVC had to vet all such applications one by one. 72. Ms YIP Wai-see, Priscilla responded that to streamline the vetting process, it was planned that the applications would be processed in one go at the future FVC meeting. Consideration could be given to vetting all applications under one agenda item. The Secretariat would provide details of the cancelled projects for members’ scrutinisation and consideration. 73. The Chairman said that at the 1st Special Meeting on 12 February 2020, SDC had endorsed that in view of the epidemic, funding applications for projects to be commenced and completed in April and May 2020 would not be processed. He asked the Secretariat to notice whether it was appropriate to reimburse expenses incurred on or after 12 February 2020. 74. Mr LAM Andrew Tak-wo said that according to Annex 1 to the paper, the approved amount for publicity items (posters) was $1,200. But the applied amount to be paid by SDC fund was $1,490, which was higher than the approved amount. He enquired whether the expense could be reimbursed. 75. Ms YIP Wai-see, Priscilla responded that after obtaining approval for the budget, the funded project organiser could readjust the amounts of individual approved items, provided that the total expenses did not exceed the total approved amount. She supplemented that certain items had subsidy ceilings. For instance, staff-related expenses must not exceed 25% of the approved amount and so the expenses of these items must not exceed the respective subsidy ceilings.

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76. As it was mentioned that some supplies already purchased would be used in future SDC-funded activities, Ms CHAN Yan-yi enquired whether a list of such supplies could be prepared to facilitate future follow-up. The Chairman agreed to the suggestion. 77. The Secretary responded that the funded organiser of this project applied for SDC funds to organise activities every year. The Secretariat had reminded the funded organiser that the supplies must be used in future SDC-funded activities. In case similar applications in future also involved handling of supplies, the Secretariat would prepare lists of supplies and other relevant information to facilitate follow-up. 78. The Chairman asked whether members endorsed the application for reimbursement of expenses as stated in paragraphs 2 and 3 of FVC Paper No. 4/2020 and the related arrangement for handling the supplies involved. Members had no objection. 79. FVC endorsed the application for reimbursement of expenses as stated in paragraphs 2 and 3 of FVC Paper No. 4/2020 and the related arrangement for handling the supplies involved.

Agenda Item 5: Duty Roster for Evaluation of Community Involvement

Projects by SDC Members (FVC Paper No. 5/2020) (3:22 p.m. – 3:27 p.m.)

80. The Chairman invited the Secretary to brief members on the content of the paper. 81. The Secretary said that according to paragraph 7.2 of the Funding Guidelines (2020-2023), a grantee which had been granted SDC Funds exceeding $20,000 was required to invite SDC member(s) to be the guest(s) of the project. The grantee should give at least ten days’ prior notice to the Secretariat before the activity date so that the Secretariat could make arrangements for the visit and its evaluation. SDC members might also volunteer to conduct evaluations for projects with a grant of $20,000 or below. A Duty Roster was prepared by the Secretariat at Annex of the Paper for reference. 82. Regarding district CI projects, Mr YU Chun-hei, James proposed that a grantee should be required to invite SDC member of the constituency where the project was organised for attendance at the activity. Only if the SDC member of the constituency concerned was not available should the other SDC member(s) being on duty in the particular

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month be invited to attend the said activity. 83. The Secretary gave a consolidated response as follows: (i) for a grantee which had been granted SDC Funds exceeding $20,000, the

Secretariat had reminded the grantee in its approval letter of the requirement to invite SDC member(s) to be the guest(s) of the project;

(ii) if the invitation was not accepted, the grantee could submit the relevant details and proof to the Secretariat in order to seek assistance. The Secretariat would then invite the SDC member(s) concerned on the Duty Roster to attend the activity;

(iii) according to past experience, the majority of the grantees would invite SDC members of the constituencies where the projects were organised to be the guests of their projects; and

(iv) the above member’s suggestion had not been stipulated in the Funding Guidelines (2020-2023). It was proposed that the member could raise the suggestion again for discussion at the workshop for reviewing the Funding Guidelines.

84. The Chairman said that in general, SDC would encourage organisers to invite SDC members to be the guests of their projects by themselves. It was often not required to arrange for an SDC member on the Duty Roster to be the guest of a project. The above member’s suggestion could be further discussed at the workshop for reviewing the Funding Guidelines. 85. Miss YUEN Ka-wai, Tiffany enquired whether the “Evaluation Report for Project Financed by SDC Funds” for use by SDC members in evaluating projects could be revised. 86. The Chairman said that the last term of SDC had commented the design of the aforesaid report for being over-simplified, and thus it was unable to evaluate the projects effectively. He suggested that discussion at the workshop for reviewing the Funding Guidelines should include this item as well. 87. The Chairman enquired whether members endorsed the Duty Roster and the relevant arrangement. Members had no objection. 88. FVC endorsed the Duty Roster and the relevant arrangement.

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Agenda Item 6: Any Other Business (3:27 p.m. – 3:42 p.m.)

“Travel South” website 89. The Secretary briefed members on the content as follows: (i) SDC set up the “Travel South” website in early 2010, with the aim of attracting

overseas, mainland and local tourists to visit the Southern District for leisure and entertainment. The website content had included some introduction to the historic monuments and tips on popular places to visit in the district. At present, a contractor was engaged to provide the maintenance service for the website, whereas the payment for the fee at about $30,000 per annum was borne by the SDC funds for CI projects. The relevant service would end after 31 March 2020;

(ii) with the popularity of social media nowadays, the public could easily gain access to the latest travel information through various social media. Earlier on, the Secretariat had invited the grantee organisations of CI Projects funded by SDC to upload information of their activities onto the “Travel South” website, hoping to enrich the content of the website. However, the invitation had not met with satisfactory response; during the period from August 2018 to September 2019, only less than ten organisations applied for uploading of information onto the “Travel South” website for their projects; and

(iii) at its 2nd meeting on 23 January 2020, SDC endorsed the setting up of an official SDC Facebook Page for disseminating SDC information. To utilise SDC resources more effectively, a member proposed that the “Travel South” website should be terminated after 31 March 2020.

90. The Chairman said that the “Travel South” website was set up by SDC in 2010 to promote the Southern District Tourism and Culture Festival (also known as the “Southern District Festival”), and was put under the maintenance service provided by contractor. He had repeatedly pointed out that as the maintenance service of the website only cost a fee of around $30,000, the quality of service was supposed to be quite limited. Moreover, the Southern District Festival activities were of a relatively small scale in recent years, and thus the need for information updates was reduced. Upon termination of its maintenance service, the website could no longer function. He believed that the Secretariat would have archived the information stored in the website. He proposed that members have discussion on whether to terminate the maintenance service for the website directly or withhold termination of the service pending operation of the SDC Facebook Page to become mature.

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91. Mr Jonathan LEUNG Chun enquired about the view count of the “Travel South” website in the past. 92. Ms YIP Wai-see, Priscilla responded that the “Travel South” website had recorded a relatively low view count in recent years, and it was believed that some of the views were accumulated by visits of the Secretariat staff who assisted in updating the website. 93. Mr Jonathan LEUNG Chun said that in view of the relatively low view count of the “Travel South” website, coupling with the fact that the Hong Kong Tourism Board had assisted in promoting tourism and the mode of public viewing for information had changed at present, he proposed that resources should be focused on promoting the SDC Facebook Page. 94. Mr PANG Cheuk-kei, Michael said that the maintenance service for the website costing around $2,500 per month had little usefulness. As the relevant website did not have a significant effect on promoting tourism and economic development in the Southern District, he opined that the maintenance service for the website should be terminated directly, so as to avoid wasting public money and time on discussion. Regarding tourism and economic development, he suggested that the relevant matters be put forth to the Economy, Development and Planning Committee for detailed discussion. 95. Mr CHAN Hin-chung said that as a resident who had been living in the Southern District for more than 30 years, he had never heard of the “Travel South” website or any Southern District Festival events held by SDC. He would also like to know more about the previous events of Southern District Festival. He further enquired whether FVC should consider organising similar activities of Southern District Festival again if the previous events were successfully held in order to promote tourism in the Southern District. Besides, he opined that the view count of the website was as low as the support rate of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. There was no need to retain the website in question. 96. The Chairman added that the Southern District Festival consisted of a wide range of activities, such as organising workshops for the public to experience fishing with a view to promoting the fishermen culture of the Southern District, and holding guided tour activities at the Aberdeen Wholesale Fish Market to help the public identify different kinds of fish.

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97. Mr CHAN Ping-yeung said that he had been a resident living in the Southern District for over 30 years as well, but had never come to know that there was such a “Travel South” website. He said that nowadays social media could serve to achieve a certain degree of publicity effect at a cheap price, for example, the use of Facebook Pages and connection with groups and communities relating to the Southern District could help promote activities effectively. The publicity effect would be better than that of spending $2,500 per month on the maintenance service of the website. Therefore, the expenditure on the existing website was not value for money. He agreed that operation of the website should be terminated, in particular under the current tight financial situation, saving of money was necessary. 98. Ms LAM Yuk-chun, MH said that previously SDC had promoted the Southern District Literary Trail and the events of Southern District Festival through the “Travel South” website which could not be denied of its value. She also took the opportunity to briefly introduce the unique Southern District Literary Trail in Hong Kong, along which landmarks were built at various locations in Repulse Bay, Stanley and Tin Wan. The works implemented for the remaining landmark was now underway in Pok Fu Lam. She suggested that everyone should gain more knowledge about the Southern District Literary Trail. Lastly, she supported terminating the maintenance service of the website in order to release more resources for other purposes. 99. The Chairman said that previously some of the programmes of the Southern District Festival would make announcement of the details on the “Travel South” website and online enrolment was accepted via the website, so it had attracted quite a lot of viewers. The development of the Southern District Literary Trail had lasted for 10 years but there was still outstanding works on landmark. The relevant matter would continue to be followed up by the Recreation and District Facilities Committee. 100. The Chairman asked members whether they agreed to shut down the “Travel South” website after 31 March 2020. Members had no objection. 101. FVC endorsed the shut-down of “Travel South” website after 31 March 2020. 102. The Chairman asked whether members had any other items to raise.

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Other Matters

103. Mr WONG Yui-hei, Angus raised an enquiry about the proposal of Miss YUEN Ka-wai, Tiffany to revise the “Evaluation Report for Project Financed by SDC Funds” as to when the workshop for reviewing the Funding Guidelines would be held. 104. The Chairman responded that as FVC would not process any funding applications for projects to be commenced and completed in April and May 2020, there was spare time to review the Funding Guidelines before making approval for any funding applications. A workshop would be held at a suitable time and the suggestions mentioned in the workshop would be further discussed and endorsed in the subsequent FVC meeting. Part II - Items for Information 105. The Chairman asked members to note the Financial Statement of Community Involvement Projects Funded by SDC in 2019-2020 (as at 10.2.2020) (FVC Paper No. 6/2020). Date of Next Meeting 106. The Chairman advised that the next FVC meeting would be held at 2:30 p.m. on 28 April 2020 (Tuesday). 107. There being no other business, the meeting was adjourned at 3:42 p.m. Secretariat, Southern District Council May 2020