Session 21 EDB - page 16 reserved school sites would be submitted for funding approval from FC in the 2016-17 LegCo Session. For the remaining 13 sites, four fall within or site availability is affected by a private development project while the rest are either being deployed for temporary use or with detailed design being undertaken for school building.
Table (1) – Reserved School Sites by District
No. District Location
Site Area (rounded
to the nearest hundred
m2)
Planned use Number of
classrooms Remark
1 Kowloon City To Kwa Wan 8 000 Two Special
Schools 12 each (i)
2 Kowloon City Kai Tak
Development 7 500 Secondary School 30 (i) 3 Kowloon City To Kwa Wan 7 700 Secondary School 30 (iii)
4 Kowloon City Ho Man Tin 7 800 Primary School 24 (iv)
5 Kowloon City Kowloon Tong 7 700 Two Special Schools
12 and 24
respectively (iii) 6 Kwun Tong Jordan Valley 6 900 Special School 18 (i) 7 Kwun Tong Anderson Road 7 500 Secondary School 30 (iii) 8 Kwun Tong Anderson Road 6 500 Primary School 30 (i) 9 Kwun Tong Anderson Road 7 200 Primary School 30 (iii) 10 Eastern North Point 12 300
(Total)
Primary School 24 (i)
11 Eastern North Point Primary School 24 (i)
12 North Fanling 7 100 Primary School 36 (i)
13 North Fanling 6 100 Primary School 30 (iii)
14 North Fanling 6 200 Primary School 30 (iii)
15 Sham Shui Po Cheung Sha
Wan 6 500 Primary School 30 (ii)
16 Sham Shui Po Cheung Sha
Wan 4 400 Special School 12 (i)
17 Sham Shui Po Cheung Sha
Wan 6 200 Primary School 30 (iii)
18 Sai Kung Tseung Kwan O 6 200 Primary School 30 (iv) 19 Sai Kung Tseung Kwan O 7 000 Secondary School 30 (iv)
20 Sai Kung Tseung Kwan O 7 400 Secondary School 30 (iii)
21 Tuen Mun Tuen Mun West 7 100 Special School 16 (i) 22 Islands Tung Chung 5 800 Special School 18 (ii)
23 Sha Tin Shui Chuen O 8 700 Primary School 30 (iii)
24 Tsuen Wan Tsuen Wan
West 5 800 Primary School 30 (iv)
Remarks:
(i) Funding approval has been obtained from FC of LegCo for the school building project.
(ii) Funding approval would be sought from FC of LegCo in the 2016-17 LegCo Session for the school building project.
(iii) The site is either being deployed for temporary use or with detailed design being undertaken for the school building project thereon.
(iv) The site falls within a private development project and is not regarded as Government land or the site availability is affected by a private development project.
(b) & (c) It has all along been EDB’s policy objective to put vacant school premises (VSP) into gainful use.
When there is a vacant or to-be-vacated school premises, EDB will consider factors including the size,
Session 21 EDB - page 17 location, physical conditions etc. of the relevant premises, and the educational needs and relevant policy initiatives with a view to assessing the VSP’s suitability for educational use or whether the premises is needed to be re-allocated for school or other educational use.
While EDB is allowed to retain VSP for school uses, for premises which are proposed to be used for educational uses other than school uses, EDB needs to put forward its proposed use with justification to the Planning Department (PlanD) for assessment and may need to compete with other government departments on use of such VSP. Once EDB confirms that the VSP are no longer required by EDB for school or other educational uses, EDB would inform PlanD and other relevant departments (such as the Lands Department (LandsD) and the Housing Department (HD)) for PlanD’s consideration of suitable alternative long-term uses in accordance with the central clearing house mechanism.
As at end-February 2017, there are 18 VSP and two partial VSP under EDB’s purview which are earmarked/retained for school or other educational uses (including those not yet been confirmed as being no longer required by EDB). Information on these premises is set out in Table (2) below.
Table (2) – 18 VSP and two partial VSP under EDB’s purview (position as at end-February 2017) No. District School year in which the school
ceased operation (Note 1)
Site area of school premises
(rounded to the nearest hundred m2) (Note 2)
1 Wanchai 2006/07 2 000
2 Wanchai 2007/08 6 500
3 Eastern 2011/12 600#
[Partly vacant]
4 Southern 2012/13 6 000
5 Kwun Tong 2011/12 2 900
6 Kowloon City 2013/14 3 200
7 Wong Tai Sin 2016/17 2 400
8 Wong Tai Sin 2016/17 3 700
(Total) 9 Wong Tai Sin 2016/17
10 Sham Shui Po 2013/14 3 700
11 Sham Shui Po 2010/11 2 200
12 Sha Tin 2015/16 3 900
13 Sha Tin 2011/12 5 800#
14 Sha Tin 2010/11 3 900#
15 Sha Tin 2010/11 2 600#
[Partly vacant]
16 Tai Po 2006/07 5 200#
17 Tai Po 1999/00 2 400
18 Tsuen Wan 2010/11 3 600#
19 Tuen Mun 2010/11 5 300#
20 Islands 2006/07 5 800
Note 1: “School year in which the school ceased operation” refers to the year the school premises was ceased to be used by the original school on site. Some of these school premises have been put to temporary use afterwards.
Note 2: The site area of school premises is only a rough estimate based on records available to EDB and the figures are for reference only. Information on area of those school premises standing on public housing estates of the Hong Kong Housing Authority/ Housing Society refers to internal floor area of the premises and is marked with (#) in the table above.
EDB would take into account a basket of factors and periodically assess the possible educational use of the VSP under EDB’s purview. There is a need to earmark/retain some VSP to cater for the anticipated future demand for school places and to allow flexible arrangements required for in view of the uncertainty
Session 21 EDB - page 18 involved. In addition, EDB needs VSP to flexibly address various and changing needs, including re-provisioning of existing schools to improve their learning and teaching environment or decanting use by schools undergoing in-situ redevelopment or extension works, etc. It is therefore not practicable to impose any fixed target on the length of the vacancy period of a VSP or the number of VSPs to be retained.
Nevertheless, with the policy objective of putting VSP into gainful use in mind, EDB strives to facilitate the utilisation of VSP in an expeditious manner as far as practicable. In this regard, we circulate the list of VSP within EDB on a half-yearly basis to invite new and/or updated proposals on educational uses and/or short-term uses (where appropriate). We also circulate, on a half-yearly basis, a list of VSP earmarked for educational use but suitable for short-term use to relevant bureaux/departments (including the Home Affairs Bureau (HAB), Home Affairs Department (HAD), LandsD, PlanD and Social Welfare Department (SWD)) with a view to identifying short-term use pending the deployment of such premises for the earmarked use so that the land resources can be gainfully used.
(d) & (e) Under the established mechanism, PlanD will reserve sites for school development when preparing town plans and planning large-scale residential developments having regard to the planned population intake and on the basis of the needs for community services in accordance with the guidelines set out in the Hong Kong Planning Standards and Guidelines. In the process, EDB will be consulted on whether school sites should be reserved. As far as long-term planning in primary and secondary education is concerned, EDB will make reference to the school-age population projections, which are compiled based on the population projections updated regularly by the Census and Statistics DepartmentNote 1, and take into account the actual number of existing students at various levels and the estimated number of cross-boundary studentsNote 2 as well as the latest demographic changes, including the number of newly-arrived children from the Mainland, in estimating the future demand for school places and relevant resources. We will consider if there is a long-term need to identify reserved school sites to meet the projected demandNote 3 and relevant educational initiatives, and liaise with PlanD accordingly when such need arises. When planning the School Building Programme for reserved school sites, EDB will consider the latest projections, the prevailing educational initiatives, other factors that may affect the demand for school places in certain districts and different options to increase the supply of places (e.g. utilising vacant classrooms in existing schools) in particular districts.
We will also consider the projected demand for school places in the district in the medium and the longer term, the technical feasibility of developing the site and the likelihood of acquiring alternative school sites in the district, etc., before we decide to retain or release a particular reserved school site so as to facilitate better utilisation of valuable land resources. For example, the ex-reserved primary school site at Area 40, Fanling has been released to PlanD for alternative use in 2014. PlanD has already identified a replacement site for school development for meeting future educational needs.
As regards the publicly-funded post-secondary education sector, the Government and the University Grants Committee (UGC) are committed to supporting the development of publicly-funded teaching facilities and student hostels by UGC-funded institutions in accordance with the established policies and calculation criteria. To ensure optimal use of limited land resources, the Government and UGC encourage UGC-funded institutions to identify suitable sites within campus or consider the conversion or expansion of existing campus structures so as to make the best use of campus land. Where necessary, we will also identify suitable government land outside the campus for UGC-funded institutions to meet their development needs under the prevailing policies and calculation criteria.
As for the self-financing post-secondary education sector, the Government has been actively identifying suitable sites and vacant government premises (including VSP) to facilitate the operation of quality self-financing locally-accredited post-secondary programmes by non-profit-making institutions. Subject to the demand of the self-financing post-secondary education sector, the Government will identify suitable sites/premises for campus development of institutions.
Note 1 : The latest set of population projections (i.e. 2014-based Population Projections) was released in September 2015, which had adopted the latest assumptions on fertility of local women, time and rate of return of over 180 000 babies born to Mainland women in Hong Kong whose fathers are non-permanent residents of Hong Kong (i.e. Type II babies) during 2006 to 2012, and children admitted under One-way Permits. It is worth noting that the actual number of Type II babies who would settle in Hong Kong and if so, when, is subject to high uncertainty and that should they settle and live in Hong Kong, it is more difficult to predict their demand for school places in individual districts.
Session 21 EDB - page 19 Note 2 : Cross-boundary students (CBS) are not counted as part of Hong Kong resident population. Their numbers and choice of the boundary control points through which they would access Hong Kong are subject to significant year-on-year changes depending on family factors, distribution of their place of residence, and adjustment of related policies, etc. Therefore, it is not plausible to accurately project the overall number of CBS and their geographical distribution.
Note 3 : If it is established that there is a need for more public sector school places in individual district, we will, as a general rule, first consider providing additional classrooms within the existing school premises and recycling suitable vacant school premises for school use. We will implement school building projects to increase the supply when the above measures are unable to meet the expected and sustainable demand.
Flexible measures such as converting other rooms into classrooms, borrowing school places from other school nets etc. will be adopted if the demand is believed to be temporary in nature.
(f) In light of the recommendations of the Report No. 65 of the Director of Audit released on 27 October 2015 and the related report of the Public Accounts Committee tabled at LegCo on 17 February 2016, EDB has undertaken a series of measures to improve the handling and disposal of VSP. Firstly, EDB has improved and updated its VSP database from the VSP handling perspective, with a view to adopting appropriate follow-up actions for VSP in a more focused manner. In addition, EDB has conducted a stocktaking exercise which sought to reconcile the records in the VSP database and the school registration database and has identified 108 addresses for LandsD’s advice, including the land status and compliance with the related land leases, tenancy agreements or land licenses. Based on LandsD’s recent findings, EDB is reviewing whether there is a need to include any of them in the new VSP database and handle them accordingly in accordance with the established procedures. EDB also promulgated the “Procedural Manual on Identification, Screening, Allocation and Management of Vacant School Premises” (the Procedural Manual) in June 2016, setting out clearly the policy objectives and detailed procedures with regard to the handling of VSP within EDB. The Procedural Manual has been disseminated to all sections of EDB which may be involved in the handling of VSP. A briefing session has also been held to enhance EDB officers’
understanding of the detailed arrangements set out in the Procedural Manual. EDB would arrange re-circulation of the Procedural Manual on an annual basis and arrange briefing sessions as appropriate.
We will continue to circulate the list of VSP within EDB, on a half-yearly basis, for new/updated proposals on educational uses and/or short-term uses (where appropriate). EDB will also continue to circulate, on a half-yearly basis, a list of VSP earmarked for educational use but suitable for short-term use to relevant bureaux/departments (including HAB, HAD, LandsD, PlanD and SWD) with a view to identifying short-term use pending the deployment of such premises for the earmarked use so that the land resources can be gainfully used.
The relevant manpower expenses in carrying out the above improvement measures will be subsumed under the recurrent expenditure of EDB. We do not have a separate breakdown on expenditure in this regard.
- End -
Session 21 EDB - page 20 Examination of Estimates of Expenditure 2017-18
CONTROLLING OFFICER’S REPLY
(Question Serial No. 0107)
Head: (156) Government Secretariat: Education Bureau Subhead (No. & title): (000) Operational expenses
Programme: (2) Pre-primary Education
Controlling Officer: Permanent Secretary for Education (Mrs Marion LAI) Director of Bureau: Secretary for Education
Question:
Please provide the respective number of closed, newly operated and existing kindergartens and kindergarten-cum-child care centres by District Council district in the past 3 years.
Asked by: Hon CHAN Tanya (Member Question No. 55) Reply:
The respective numbers of closed, newly operated and existing kindergartens and kindergarten-cum-child care centres by District Council district in the 2014/15, 2015/16 and 2016/17 school years are tabulated as follows:
2014/15 school year
No. of kindergartens No. of kindergarten-cum-child care centres Closed
Newly
operated Existing Closed
Newly
operated Existing
Central & Western 1 0 15 2 1 24
Wan Chai 1 0 13 1 1 15
Southern 0 1 18 1 1 24
Eastern 0 2 35 0 0 48
Yau Tsim Mong 0 0 15 0 1 23
Sham Shui Po 1 2 26 1 0 18
Kowloon City 0 2 46 0 2 48
Wong Tai Sin 0 1 23 0 0 25
Kwun Tong 0 0 35 0 0 38
Sai Kung 0 0 27 0 0 32
Sha Tin 0 1 35 0 0 41
Tai Po 0 0 19 0 0 16
North 0 0 28 0 1 19
Yuen Long 2 3 44 2 0 27
Tuen Mun 0 0 32 1 1 32
Tsuen Wan 0 3 19 1 1 21
Kwai Tsing 1 0 33 0 0 30
Islands 0 0 19 0 0 15