Minutes of the 6th Meeting of the Social Services Committee (SSC) of Tai Po District Council in 2017

Date: 8 November 2017 (Wednesday)

Time: 9:31 a.m. – 12:57 p.m.

Venue: Conference Room, Tai Po District Council Present Time of Arrival Time of Withdrawal

Chairman

Mr. TAM Wing-fun, Eric, MH Beginning of meeting End of meeting Vice-Chairman

Mr. LO Hiu-fung Beginning of meeting End of meeting Members

Mr. AU Chun-wah 12:20 p.m. End of meeting Mr. CHAN Cho-leung, MH Beginning of meeting 12:17 p.m. Mr. CHAN Siu-kuen, MH, JP Beginning of meeting End of meeting Mr. CHOW Yuen-wai Beginning of meeting End of meeting Mr. KWAN Wing-yip Beginning of meeting End of meeting Dr. LAU Chee-sing Beginning of meeting End of meeting Mr. LAU Yung-wai Beginning of meeting End of meeting Mr. LI Kwok-ying, BBS, MH, JP Beginning of meeting End of meeting Mr. LI Wah-kwong, Rex Beginning of meeting End of meeting Mr. TANG Ming-tai, Patrick Beginning of meeting End of meeting Ms. WONG Pik-kiu, BBS, MH, JP Beginning of meeting 11:39 a.m. Mr. WOO Kin-man, Clement Beginning of meeting End of meeting Mr. YAM Kai-bong, Francis Beginning of meeting End of meeting Mr. YAM Man-chuen 9:38 a.m. End of meeting Mr. YU Chi-wing, Ken Beginning of meeting End of meeting Co-opted Members

Mr. CHAN Hei-chuen, Tany 9:36 a.m. End of meeting Mr. CHUNG Man-fai Beginning of meeting End of meeting Mr. KOO Chun-hin, Zlato 9:37 a.m. End of meeting Mr. POON Hing-fai, MH Beginning of meeting 12:34 p.m.

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Secretary Miss KU Yu-ting, Karen Beginning of meeting End of meeting Executive Officer (District Council)3/ Tai Po District Office/ Home Affairs Department In Attendance Ms. CHAN Sin-yee, Perin, Sindy Assistant District Social Welfare Officer (Tai Po/North

District)1/Social Welfare Department (“SWD”) Ms. KWOK Wing-yee, Angel Senior Regional Officer(New Territories East)/Independent

Commission Against Corruption (“ICAC”) Mrs. CHIM WONG Suk-ching, Annie Housing Manager/Tai Po, North & Sha Tin 7/Hong Kong

Housing Department Mr. TSUI Tak-ming Senior School Development Officer (Tai Po)3/Education

Bureau (“EDB”) Dr. MAN Chi-yin Hospital Chief Executive/Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole

Hospital and Tai Po Hospital Ms. CHENG Ka-yan, Christine Manager (Communications and Social Relations)/Alice Ho

Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital and Tai Po Hospital Mr. CHAN Yip-on Sergeant/Police Community Relations Section (Tai Po

District)/Hong Kong Police Force (“HKPF”) Mr. LEE Yu-sau, Terence Senior Executive Officer (District Council)/Tai Po District

Office (“TPDO”)/Home Affairs Department (“HAD”) Mr. CHAN Hoi-ming, Peter Senior Liaison Officer (1)/TPDO/HAD

Opening remarks The Chairman welcomed participants to the meeting.

I. Confirmation of the minutes of the 5th meeting of the SSC in 2017 on 13 September 2017 (TPDC Paper No. SS 46/2017) 2. The Secretariat had received no proposed amendments to the minutes before the meeting. The Chairman enquired whether Members had any proposed amendments.

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3. Members proposed no amendments. The said minutes were confirmed.

II. Report by the Hospital Authority on the provision of medical services in Tai Po District (TPDC Paper No. SS 47/2017) 4. The Chairman welcomed Dr. MAN Chi-yin, Chief Executive and Ms. Christine CHENG, Manager (Communications and Social Relations) of Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital (“Nethersole Hospital”) and Tai Po Hospital to the meeting for discussion of this agenda item. 5. The Chairman said that the Secretariat had on 24 October 2017 received a letter from Mr. CHEUNG Hok-ming, Ms. WONG Pik-kiu, Mr. LI Kwok-ying, Mr. CHENG Chun-ping, Mr. Clement WOO, Mr. CHUNG Man-fai, Mr. MUI Siu-fung, Mr. CHAN Wai-hung, Mr. WONG Kwok-wai and Mr. WU Cheuk-him demanding the expansion of Nethersole Hospital. He invited Mr. Clement WOO to introduce Paper No. SS 47/2017. 6. Mr. Clement WOO introduced Paper No. SS 47/2017. 7. Dr. MAN Chi-yin reported on the medical services provided by the Hospital Authority (“HA”) in Tai Po District as follows:

(i) Recent service volume of the Hospitals had been relatively steady. The Hospitals reminded medical and healthcare staff to take sufficient rest so as to get themselves prepared for dealing with the upcoming winter flu season.

(ii) Currently, the occupancy rate of medical ward of Nethersole Hospital exceeded 100% whereas occupancy rate of paediatric ward was close to 100%. The occupancy of orthopaedic ward was around 90%.

(iii) Tai Po Hospital and Nethersole Hospital had recently set up a “Community Relations Committee” which would organise an event called “Stop Influenza in Tai Po” at Tai Po Tai Ming Lane Square at 10:00 a.m. on 26 November this year. HA thanked DC Members for agreeing to attend the event to show their support. Since influenza might also lead to severe complications, the main purpose of the said event was to appeal to residents to take preventive measures against influenza and receive influenza vaccination. There would be health talks, health check-ups and game stalls at the event. He hoped Members would help appeal to members of the public in the district to participate.

(iv) During visiting hours, there was a long wait at the visitors’ car park at Tai Po Hospital and Nethersole Hospital. If the visitors’ vehicles were lining up closer to the car park entrance of Nethersole Hospital, the ambulance entrance might be

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blocked and its operation affected. Therefore, the Hospitals would test run a diversion scheme to divert visitors’ traffic to another car park entrance next to Tai Po Hospital to prevent the queue of visitors’ vehicles from blocking the ambulance entrance. The Hospitals expected to review the effectiveness of the diversion scheme in January 2018.

(v) In the long-run, HA had already earmarked Tai Po Hospital car park for the expansion of Nethersole Hospital. However, before the confirmation of the expansion plan, HA would commit to carrying out internal area planning and renovation under limited resources to strengthen the medical services and to increase the number of beds. For instance, a total of 12 beds had been added this year in orthopaedic wards such that joint replacement surgical services could be provided to patients of both North District Hospital and Prince of Wales Hospital. New Territories East Cluster had formulated clinical service scheme years ago and emergency surgical service had been launched in Nethersole Hospital by phases since October 2016. As of October 2017, Nethersole Hospital already had 6 surgical beds to provide an additional 4-hour emergency surgical services from Monday to Friday, after which eight hours of emergency surgical services could be provided daily. The Hospitals would in the future set up a surgical ward and arrange for 24-hour resident surgical teams subject to the supply of medical staff to provide whole day emergency surgical services.

(vi) Since there was insufficient space in the waiting hall of Accidents & Emergency (“A&E”) Department of Nethersole Hospital, the Hospital would launch an expansion study in 2018 to alleviate the crowdedness of the A&E waiting hall.

8. Members’ first round of comments and questions were as follows:

(i) Mr. KWAN Wing-yip agreed that members of the public should receive influenza vaccination, while the Hospitals and the local community must enhance promotion of health education information to the public to make members of the public more aware of personal hygiene. He said that the biggest medical problem in Tai Po District at present was that the Administration had not yet formulated any foreseeable medical growth plan and was unable to provide the exact construction timetable for the expansion of Nethersole Hospital. He was worried that the public medical institutions within the district would not be able to cope should there be a shortage of medical services. On the other hand, although the Planning Department (“PlanD”) had reserved land for the construction of the Tai Po Integrated Community Medical Centre and had changed the land use planning, the construction of the said Centre had yet to be confirmed, while the construction would take time, he hoped that HA could commence the preparation works as soon as possible.

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(ii) Mr. LAU Yung-wai hoped to know the timetable for the expansion of Nethersole Hospital as soon as possible and enquired about the progress of the installation of electronic queue number display screen outside Tai Po Jockey Club Clinic.

(iii) Mr. Francis YAM said that under the 10-year Hospital Development Plan, many hospitals in Hong Kong (including Queen Mary Hospital, Kwong Wah Hospital, United Christian Hospital and smaller hospitals such as Our Lady of Maryknoll Hospital etc.) would carry out various expansion projects and service enhancement plans. He enquired whether the main reason for Nethersole Hospital’s failure to increase its service volume was the shortage of medical and healthcare personnel or of space. Among the hospitals in New Territories East, North District Hospital would expand its A&E Department while Prince of Wales Hospital would build a new building (the old building would be revitalised to provide other medical services). He pointed out that TPDC Members and the Hospitals had already proposed multiple planning directions to increase medical service volume in Tai Po District years ago, such as the construction of Tai Po Integrated Community Medical Centre and the expansion of Nethersole Hospital and that consideration should be given to constructing multi-storey buildings to make better use of the existing and surrounding land (including visitors’ car park, staff car park, and minibus stop, bus stop and taxi stand outside the hospital etc.). In comparison to other projects (such as Kwong Wah Hospital’s having to first demolish multiple existing nursing schools and surrounding subsidiary buildings in order to carry out the re-development works whereas Queen Mary Hospital would need to merge several old buildings to facilitate the re-development project etc.), expansion of Nethersole Hospital and Tai Po Hospital was relatively simple given the availability of sufficient land. Therefore, he questioned why this simpler expansion project had not been included in the 10-year Hospital Development Plan. He also opined that providing several emergency surgical beds now could not make up for the loss arising from the suspension of surgical services in Nethersole Hospital after SARS.

(iv) Mr. Clement WOO said that he had seen the ambulance entrance’s being obstructed by queue of vehicles at the car park, therefore he supported the Hosptials’ plan to divert visitors’ traffic to another car park entrance. He praised the Hospital’s measures to upgrade internal medical hardware, and he also hoped the Hospitals would not underestimate the importance of parking spaces in car parks while carrying out the expansion of Nethersole Hospital in the future. Besides, he pointed out that many medical and healthcare staff in the public medical system would switch to private medical institutions, therefore he suggested that the Government train a large number of relevant staff in advance so as to reduce the impact of medical and healthcare staff wastage on public medical services.

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(v) Dr. LAU Chee-sing opined that since the Government encouraged members of the public to receive influenza vaccination, HA should provide patients with influenza vaccination service when they visited Government hospitals. In addition, he enquired of HA about the progress of the installation of electronic queue number display screen outside the entrance of Wong Siu Ching Family Medicine Centre. He also welcomed HA’s making use of the car park of Tai Po Hospital for the expansion of Nethersole Hospital and he hoped to know the exact timetable of the expansion works.

(vi) Mr. Ken YU said that he attached great importance to the progress of the expansion of Nethersole Hospital and the enhancement of Wong Siu Ching Family Medicine Centre. He opined that TPDC Members could request while meeting with Legislative Council (“LegCo”) Members that the said projects be implemented as soon as possible. In addition, in view of the uptrend of fatal cases of influenza, he supported HA’s practice to encourage members of the public to receive influenza vaccination. Lastly, as exercise could help members of the public maintain physical health, he suggested that the Hospitals work together with departments, schools and DC Members within the district to launch different exercise reward schemes to promote sports for all on a district level.

(vii) Mr. CHUNG Man-fai praised the Hospitals for having made intense publicity efforts to promote the importance of receiving influenza vaccination. Moreover, he said that the expansion of Nethersole Hospital had all along been the subject of greatest concern of the residents in the district. After the expansion of Nethersole Hospital, residents of the district would no longer need to travel a long distance across districts for medical consultation while the pressure on medical and healthcare staff of Prince of Wales Hospital and North District Hospital in taking care of Tai Po residents could also be alleviated. Hence, he hoped that HA could finalise the timetable of the expansion works as soon as possible.

(viii) Mr. Patrick TANG enquired about the procedure for funding application for the expansion of Nethersole Hospital.

(ix) Ms. WONG Pik-kiu said that SSC had always strived for the expansion of Nethersole Hospital. Residents of Plover Cove Reservoir had moved away 50 years ago, but could only enjoy the services of Tai Po Jockey Club Clinics and Wong Siu Ching Family Medicine Centre so far without any access to medical services provided by district general hospital. She continued that if need be, the local community in Tai Po would spare no efforts to raise fund for the expansion of Nethersole Hospital. Besides, some TPDC Members and she herself had met with Dr. KO Wing-man, the then Secretary for Food and Health, in June 2016 in connection with the $200 billion funding allocated by the last-term Government for expansion projects of different hospitals. Dr. KO had at the time said that bed

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occupancy rate of North District Hospital was as high as 92% whereas that of hospitals in Tai Po District was only around 84% to 85%. It was thus evident that there had still been some way to go before Nethersole Hospital reached the threshold for expansion. In this regard, she enquired how the Hospitals could make use of TPDC Members’ capacity to strive further for materialising the expansion of Nethersole Hospital.

9. Dr. MAN Chi-yin responded as follows:

(i) The Hospitals would provide information about the installation progress of the electronic queue number display screen outside Wong Siu Ching Family Medicine Centre and Tai Po Jockey Club Clinic in due course.

(Post-meeting note: Relevant departments had completed the project feasibility study and were currently handling the procurement procedure. The project was expected to commence in early 2018.)

(ii) The Hospitals would reflect to HA Head Office in full the comments and requests Members had put forward at the meeting. HA had a grasp of the situation and medical statistics of 18 Districts territory-wide while Food and Health Bureau (“FHB”) would put forward medical planning proposals based on relevant statistics to the Government accordingly.

(iii) The Hospitals suggested that Members consider raising the relevant expansion request in the next 10-year Hospital Development Plan and continue to fight for it through other channels.

(iv) According to Government policy, eligible groups of Government Vaccination Programme (GVP) 2017/18 could receive influenza vaccination for free while other persons might receive influenza vaccination at privately run clinics.

10. Members’ second round of comments and questions were as follows:

(i) Mr. Francis YAM said that according to the paper of the meeting of Environment, Housing and Works Committee (“EHWC”) of TPDC in May 2017, Tai Po District should have 1 589 beds to satisfy the population’s needs. However, there were currently only had 1,469 beds in Tai Po District, meaning that no more than some 5.5 beds were available to every 1 000 residents in Tai Po District, which was far below the international standard and reflected that the medical resources the Government had put in for in Tai Po District were insufficient. Apart from the shortage of beds, Tai Po District also lacked one public clinic. He questioned why the Government had not included hospitals in Tai Po District in the 10-year Hospital Development Plan. Moreover, he opined that the expansion of

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Nethersole Hospital should be funded by the Government rather than financed by funds raised from local community. Lastly, he recommended that the Government strengthen medical services in Tai Po District in the future, and make reference to signature projects of Kwai Tsing District to provide free influenza vaccination service to members of the public not eligible for free influenza vaccination.

(ii) Mr. LAU Yung-wai thanked the Hospitals’ continuous effort to follow up on the installation of electronic queue number display screen outside Tai Po Jockey Club Clinic.

(iii) The Vice-Chairman enquired whether the Hospitals had any short-term measures and sufficient medical and healthcare staff to cope with the upcoming winter influenza peak.

11. Mr. LAU Yung-wai, Mr. YAM Man-chuen and Mr. CHOW Yuen-wai moved an impromptu motion as follows: “Social Services Committee of Tai Po District Council requested HA to expedite the expansion of Nethersole Hospital and the construction of an Integrated Community Medical Centre”. The impromptu motion (hereinafter referred to as “Motion 1”) was seconded by Mr. Francis YAM, Mr. KWAN Wing-yip, Mr. AU Chun-wah, Mr. Ken YU and Mr. Zlato KU. 12. Mr. Patrick TANG said that carrying the motion would only let relevant departments note the comments of SSC and there would not be much practical effect. He suggested making a more practical request, such as to request that relevant departments attend the meeting to heed views, so as to fight for the expansion of Nethersole Hospital in a more active manner. 13. Mr. LI Kwok-ying said that given the same stance Members shared on the request for expansion of Nethersole Hospital and the construction of Tai Po Integrated Community Medical Centre, he recommended that the said topic be raised when meeting with LegCo Members instead of processing the above impromptu motion at this meeting. 14. Mr. YAM Man-chuen opined that whether the said motion should be handled had nothing to do with the meeting with LegCo Members. 15. Mr. CHOW Yuen-wai opined that whether SSC carried the motion or not at SSC had nothing to do with the meeting with LegCo Members. He enquired of HA about the progress of increasing service hours of Wong Siu Ching Family Medicine Centre. He hoped HA could take measures to enhance medical service in Tai Po District before the completion of the third public clinic in the district. 16. Mr. Ken YU opined that the Chairman could use discretion to approve the handling of impromptu motion 1, and hoped that the Hospitals would reflect SSC’s request to the Head Office

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via this impromptu motion to fight for more resources to enhance medical services in Tai Po District. 17. The Chairman said that pursuant to Order 17 of Tai Po District Council Standing Orders (“Standing Orders”), unless otherwise agreed by the Chairman, any Members who wished to move a motion were required to give the Secretary 10 clear working days’ notice in advance of a forthcoming meeting. Therefore, unless under special circumstances, he would not recommend that Members move any impromptu motion since Members had not been informed prior to the meeting of the need to handle the motion while Members would need time to decide on their stance and consider whether to make amendments. However, given the fact that Members shared more or less the same stance on the said impromptu motion without much controversy, he used discretion to approve the handling of Motion 1. He enquired whether Members had any amendments. 18. Mr. CHUNG Man-fai proposed the following amendment: “Social Services Committee of Tai Po District Council requested HA to set down a timetable for the expansion of Nethersole Hospital and the construction of an Integrated Community Medical Centre as soon as possible”. The amendment was seconded by the Vice-Chairman. 19. Mr. YAM Man-chuen enquired whether Members would need to take a vote on Motion 1 if the amendment was carried. 20. The Chairman said that according to the Standing Orders, if the amendment was carried, Members would not need to take a vote on Motion 1.

21. Mr. YAM Man-chuen enquired if the amendment was carried, whether it would mean that SSC under TPDC only requested HA to set down a timetable for the expansion of Nethersole Hospital and the construction of Integrated Community Medical Centre. 22. The Chairman said that he was unable to understand the content of the amendment on behalf of Mr. YAM Man-chuen. 23. Mr. Ken YU suggested that Mr. CHUNG Man-fai consider not to make an amendment to Motion 1 but to move another impromptu motion instead. 24. Mr. LAU Yung-wai concurred with Mr. Ken YU’s views. He opined that according to Order 21 of the Standing Orders, amendments to the original motion should not run contrary to the original motion, and the amendment proposed by Mr. CHUNG Man-fai (to set down a timetable for the expansion of Nethersole Hospital and the construction of an Integrated Community Medical Centre as soon as possible) was not the same as Motion 1 (to expedite the

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expansion of Nethersole Hospital and the construction of Integrated Community Medical Centre), the amendment might even run counter to Motion 1. 25. Mr. CHUNG Man-fai said that he had put forward the amendment above in the hope that HA would provide a definite construction timetable as soon as possible. 26. Mr. KWAN Wing-yip suggested that the meeting be adjourned for five minutes. 27. SSC agreed to adjourn the meeting for five minutes. 28. The meeting was resumed subsequently. 29. Mr. CHUNG Man-fai withdrew his amendment. Members did not have any objection. 30. Mr. Clement WOO moved another impromptu motion (hereinafter referred as “Motion 2”) as follows: “Social Services Committee of Tai Po District Council requested the Hong Kong Government to expand Nethersole Hospital and construct an Integrated Community Medical Centre and to set down the expansion timetable as soon as possible to meet Tai Po District residents’ increasing medical needs.” Motion 2 was seconded by Mr. LI Kwok-ying and Mr. Tany CHAN. 31. Members did not propose other motions or amendments. The Chairman said that Dr. MAN Chi-yin had left the meeting to attend another meeting at 11:00 a.m. He asked the Secretariat to inform the Hospitals of the relevant motion after the meeting for the Hospitals’ follow up. 32. The Vice-Chairman hoped that the Hospitals could give after the meeting a reply regarding the manpower arrangement during the winter influenza peak and the corresponding measures. (Post-meeting note: The Secretariat had on 23 November 2017 informed the Hospitals of the

relevant motion and relayed the request of the Vice-Chairman to the Hospitals. The Hospitals had also reached a consensus with the Vice-Chairman on 11 December 2017 and would report on the corresponding measures for the winter influenza peak at the first SSC meeting in 2018.)

33. The Chairman briefed Members on the voting procedure and said that the motions would be handled one after another in the order in which they were moved, so a vote would be taken first on Motion 1, after which Motion 2 would be handled. He continued that voting would be done by open ballot. Member raised no objection.

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34. The Chairman invited Members to take a vote on Motion 1 with the results as follows: For: 19 votes Mr. LO Hiu-fung

Mr. CHAN Siu-kuen Mr. KWAN Wing-yip Mr. LAU Yung-wai Mr. Rex LI Ms. WONG Pik-kiu Mr. Francis YAM Mr. Ken YU Mr. CHUNG Man-fai Mr. Zlato KU

Mr. CHAN Cho-leung Mr. CHOW Yuen-wai Dr. LAU Chee-sing Mr. LI Kwok-ying Mr. Patrick TANG Mr. Clement WOO Mr. YAM Man-chuen Mr. Tany CHAN Mr. POON Hing-fai

Against: 0 vote Abstain: 0 vote Total: 19 votes 35. The Chairman announced that Motion 1 was carried. 36. The Chairman invited Members to take a vote on Motion 2 with the results as follow: For: 19 votes Against: 0 vote Mr. LO Hiu-fung

Mr. CHAN Siu-kuen Mr. KWAN Wing-yip Mr. LAU Yung-wai Mr. Rex LI Ms. WONG Pik-kiu Mr. Francis YAM Mr. Ken YU Mr. CHUNG Man-fai Mr. Zlato KU

Mr. CHAN Cho-leung Mr. CHOW Yuen-wai Dr. LAU Chee-sing Mr. LI Kwok-ying Mr. Patrick TANG Mr. Clement WOO Mr. YAM Man-chuen Mr. Tany CHAN Mr. POON Hing-fai

Against: 0 vote Abstain: 0 vote Total: 19 votes 37. The Chairman announced that Motion 2 was carried.

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38. Mr. YAM Man-chuen enquired whether a response to the letter, which had been requested at the last meeting to be issued in the name of SSC to HA and FHB, had been received. 39. The Chairman said that the said letter had been sent but there had been no response so far. 40. Mr. Francis YAM said that in addition to delivering the minutes of this meeting to HA, he suggested that a letter be sent in the name of the SSC to the Office of the Chief Executive, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (“Office of the Chief Executive”) to express SSC’s views. 41. Mr. LAU Yung-wai requested that the appeal “request for the expansion of Nethersole Hospital and the construction of an Integrated Community Medical Centre” be included in the letter to be sent to the Office of the Chief Executive. 42. Mr. Patrick TANG said that the letter to be sent to the Office of the Chief Executive should be backed up by statistics from the Hospitals. Hence, he suggested requesting relevant statistics from the Hospitals before sending the letter. 43. Since it would take time for the Hospitals to provide the statistics concerned, the Chairman recommended that a letter be sent first to the Office of the Chief Executive in the name of SSC. Members raised no objection. (Post-meeting note: The Secretariat had sent a letter to the Office of the Chief Executive on 7

December 2017.)

III. Report by the Education Bureau on education matters in Tai Po District 44. The Chairman welcomed Mr. TSUI Tak-ming, Senior School Development Officer of of the EDB to the meeting for discussion of this agenda item. 45. Mr. TSUI Tak-ming reported as follows:

(i) “Free Quality Kindergarten Education Scheme” had been launched and running smoothly. All “Registration Certificates for Kindergarten Admission” had been sent out to parents who had submitted their application for the said certificate to EDB before the designated date. If their children had been admitted, parents could complete the registration procedure for their children for Kindergarten 1 by submitting the “Registration Certificate for Kindergarten Admission”. EDB expected that parents would be informed by December this year as to whether their children were admitted by the kindergartens of their choice. Centralised

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registration of kindergartens in the district would be carried out from 11 to 13 January 2018 where parents could submit their applications by bringing along the “Registration Certificate for Kindergarten Admission” to the kindergarten on the spot, and the result could become available and the enrolment procedure could be completed immediately.

(ii) EDB conducted a headcount of students on 15 September this year to confirm that the actual number of classes in primary and secondary schools to operate in Tai Po District in 2017/18 was the same as the expected number.

(iii) Student population territory-wide was on an uptrend, secondary schools in Tai Po District would need to increase the number of Secondary One classes in the future. To this end, EDB had already scheduled a meeting with principals of the secondary schools in the district to discuss relevant arrangements.

46. Members’ first round of comments and questions were as follows:

(i) Mr. Tany CHAN said that some 10 primary schools in Tai Po District had reflected to him that the actual enrolment number in the 2017/18 school year was lower than the previous school year, while the Mainland had also encouraged cross-border students to go to schools in the Mainland. Therefore he suggested that EDB review the policy to increase the number of Primary One classes due to the large number of cross-border students in the district in the past, so as to prevent the reduction of classes due to subsequent under-enrolment in the district. He pointed out that existing primary schools in Tai Po District could provide a maximum of some 3 060 Primary 1 places in the 2018/19 school year while there were only 2 352 Kindergarten 3 students in the 2017/18 school year. Therefore, he opined that it was an overestimation for EDB to have projected that the enrolment of Primary 1 students in the district in the 2018/19 school year would be 2 900. Schools might operate additional classes because of the said estimation which would lead to reduction of teaching resources (such as teaching staff) or vicious competition among schools as schools might in the end face the problem of under-enrolment. He questioned whether it was necessary to run time-limited schools and hoped that EDB would study the matter seriously.

(ii) Mr. Francis YAM said that since the Mainland encouraged cross-border students to go to schools in the Mainland, whereas the number of local Primary 1 students did not show any uptrend, he doubted if it was necessary for EDB to use the former Confucian Sam Lok Chow Mud Wai School (“Chow Mud Wai School”) premises to run a time-limited school in the 2018/19 school year. In addition, he recently walked by Chow Mud Wai School and noticed that there was no renovation or refurbishment being carried out. Therefore he had doubts as to whether the

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renovation works could be completed before the start of the 2018/19 school year. He hoped that EDB would report on the progress of the relevant works. Lastly, he opined that even if students of the district were allocated places in the said time-limited school, their parents might still try to get places in other schools for their children, which would result in the under-enrolment of the time-limited school in question, thus wasting the resources being put in for running the school.

(iii) Mr. LAU Yung-wai questioned that if demand for primary school places would peak in the 2018/19 school year, there should have also been an uptrend in the 2017/18 school year. However, Mr. Tany CHAN had pointed out just now that some 10 primary schools in Tai Po District had a lower enrolment rate in the 2017/18 school year than the previous school year, therefore he opined that it was necessary for EDB to get a grasp of the estimated number of Primary 1 students for the 2018/19 school year as soon as possible and to examine whether to put on hold the setting up of a time-limited school. He continued that if EDB in the end decided to operate the time-limited school, measures would need to be taken to ensure that running the time-limited school would have no impact on the teaching resources primary schools within the district would receive in the future.

(iv) Mr. Zlato KU hoped that EDB would ensure running the time-limited school would have no impact on the teaching resources to be received by existing schools in the district. He also said that if there was no significant difference between the number of Primary 1 places required and the actual number of school places currently available in Tai Po District in the 2018/19 school year, it would not be necessary for EDB to run that time-limited school and could instead consider allocating the relevant resources to existing schools within the district to enhance teaching quality, subsidise teachers to attend counselling related courses and hire more school-based social workers.

(v) Mr. POON Hing-fai said that he was worried about introducing sponsoring bodies from other districts and hoped that running a time-limited school would not affect the current education ecosystem in Tai Po District. He said that since local sponsoring bodies were familiar with the service needs of the existing schools in Tai Po District, he opined that EDB should give incumbent sponsoring bodies in the district priority to use Chow Mud Wai School premises to run the school. Moreover, since the premises of the time-limited school would have to be returned after a period of time, policy arrangement and manpower coordination would be more coherent if the school was run by existing sponsoring bodies in the district. Lastly, he asked EDB about the estimated enrolment number of Primary 1 students in the future.

(vi) Ms. WONG Pik-kiu opined that the time-limited school would cease to operate in the end and the impact on the school’s teaching staff would be far-reaching. She

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was of the view that if the demand for places in the 2018/19 school year was not as strong as expected, EDB could consider allowing existing primary schools to adjust upwards the enrolment of each class rather than opening a time-limited school.

(vii) Mr. CHUNG Man-fai enquired if EDB had measures to ensure that when the number of school-age children dropped, the resources to be received by the existing schools in the district would not be reduced because of the operation of the said time-limited school and that no under-enrolment would arise. Besides, he enquired if EDB would make any special arrangements for the teachers and students when the school ceased to operate.

(viii) The Vice-Chairman pointed out that the time-limited school was temporary in nature, it would be quite sad for the teaching staff, who had taught there for some time, to leave the school when the school ceased to operate. Hence, he did not agree to open a time-limited school. He hoped that EDB would allocate the resources intended for running a time-limited school to existing schools in the district instead to facilitate an expansion of the teaching establishment and to improve the hardware and ancillary facilities. Moreover, he opined that counselling work within the schools was important to students. However, a school-based social worker at present would need to take care of a large number of students. Therefore, he enquired if EDB could allocate more resources to the schools in this regard.

(ix) Mr. Clement WOO said that if the number of places provided by existing primary schools in the district was sufficient to cope with the demand of 2018/19 school year, EDB would not need to allocate additional resources to run a time-limited school.

(x) The Chairman said that since existing primary schools in Tai Po District could provide some 3 000 Primary 1 places in the 2018/19 school year, which was more than 2 900 as EDB had estimated, it was necessary for EDB to explain to SSC why a time-limited school would be required.

47. Mr. TSUI Tak-ming responded as follows:

(i) As regards the increase in school-age population in the district and territory-wide, EDB took measures to ensure that there were sufficient Primary 1 places in Tai Po District so that students would not need to travel to go to school in another district. Under this premise, EDB would take into consideration factors such as concerns of schools, preference of parents, teaching quality and use of resources with a view to ensuring steady development of schools while satisfying parents’ expectations to enrol their children in schools in the district where they lived. EDB had always

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taken into consideration various practicable measures to ensure that sufficient places were available for Primary 1 students in Tai Po District. Measures concerned and their respective limitations were as follows:

(a) To borrow school places from schools outside the district (such arrangement would fall short of fulfiling the expectations of TPDC and parents in the district);

(b) To use vacant classrooms, convert other rooms or build new ones to increase the number of classrooms (actual circumstances would depend on whether a school had vacant classrooms, rooms or spaces to build classrooms. At present, schools in Tai Po District had already run out of space for increasing the number of classrooms);

(c) To add places in each class (subject to classroom capacity while the impact on teaching quality would also need to be considered); and

(d) To run a time-limited school (would be considered only when all of the above measures failed to solve the problem of insufficient places in the district).

(ii) Enrolment statistics of individual schools belonged to sensitive information and EDB did not hope that schools would use relevant statistics for promotional or other purposes. Taking the existing number of Kindergarten 3 students in the district for calculation, the number of Primary 1 classes required to be run in the 2018/19 school year was still far larger than the number of existing classrooms even without additional students’ being allocated school places in the district. When projecting the number of students, EDB would use the statistics of Census and Statistics Department and PlanD (which indicated that the demand for Primary 1 places within the district would peak in the 2018/19 school year) as the basis. Even though the demand for Primary 1 places would after all depend on parents’ preference, EDB had the responsibility to reserve sufficient Primary 1 places in the district for parents to choose from.

(iii) EDB had in August and September this year invited sponsoring bodies to submit applications to use the premises of former Chow Mud Wai School to run a school. Application results would be announced in December this year. EDB must accord top priority to interests of students while the application procedure would need to be in compliance with the principle of fairness that no restrictions should be imposed on sponsoring bodies eligible for application. Content of proposals submitted by sponsoring bodies, including quality of school operation, mode of operation and allocation of teaching resources would all be taken into account in evaluation. Members of the public could refer to the list of Time-limited School

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Vetting Committee members online and view the information required when submitting applications to run the school.

48. Members’ second round of comments and questions were as follows:

(i) Mr. Tany CHAN said that primary school principals in the district had initially believed in the estimated figures provided by the Government and had therefore agreed that it was necessary to set up a time-limited school to increase Primary 1 places in the 2018/19 school year in Tai Po District. However, according to the current estimation, there might not be as many Primary 1 students in the 2018/19 school year as initially projected by EDB. Moreover, Tai Po District had already cancelled “small class teaching” four years ago but EDB still calculated the number of Primary 1 students for the 2018/19 school year based on the “small class” standard, thus rendering the result inaccurate. He continued that according to the statistics provided by EDB, there were some 2 294 Kindergarten 3 students in Tai Po District in the 2017/18 school year, which was rather close to the number he had just provided. Therefore, he opined that it was necessary for EDB to review whether it was still necessary to launch the measures which had been designed in the past to cope with the peak demand for places in the 2018/19 school year.

(ii) Mr. KWAN Wing-yip said that EDB had not communicated enough with schools in the district regarding the setting up of a time-limited school in the district. He opined that both parties must arrange for another meeting for discussion.

(iii) The Chairman agreed that communication between both parties needed to be strengthened. He said that if Tai Po District would not implement “small class teaching” in the 2018/19 school year, setting up a time-limited school could possibly lead to Primary 1 classes in the district’s being excessive, while the said time-limited school might also run the risk of under-enrolment. However, if the actual number of Primary 1 students in the 2018/19 school year matched EDB’s estimation of 2 900, places in Tai Po District would be insufficient without the time-limited school. He enquired whether EDB, when allocating school places, could flexibly adjust the number of Primary 1 students in each class in accordance with the actual enrolment situation of the 2018/19 school year in Tai Po District so as to allow sufficient students to be enroled in both existing primary schools and the time-limited school so that they could continue to operate.

(iv) Mr. Francis YAM said parents were worried that whether the school would receive less teaching resources such as teachers and teaching assistants of non-academic subjects if the time-limited school was unable to maintain its enrolment. In view of this, parents would not want to enrol their children in a time-limited

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school. He enquired whether it would violate EDB’s guidelines if existing schools in the district took in students who had originally been allocated places in the time-limited school. Besides, he enquired how EDB would deal with the request of students of a time-limited school to transfer to other schools. He hoped EDB could cite examples of time-limited schools in other district to share with Members how similar schools operated.

(v) Mr. POON Hing-fai said although he understood that selection of sponsoring body for the time-limited school had to be fair and just and that application could not be limited to sponsoring bodies in the district, he was of the view that if the time-limited school was run by incumbent sponsoring bodies in the district, students and teachers of the time-limited school could be taken in by the incumbent sponsoring bodies in the future, which was an advantage of the existing sponsors in the district. Therefore, he hoped that the Vetting Committee could take this factor into consideration when choosing school sponsors.

49. Mr. TSUI Tak-ming responded as follows:

(i) EDB had various measures to cope with the problem of short-term shortage of places, and it would depend on the demand for places in the district as to whether or not to implement such measures in the end. EDB would review each short-term measure as appropriate and make flexible arrangements in response to the actual enrolment situation. Currently, EDB could in early 2018 have the number of students participating in the Primary 1 central allocation for the 2018/19 school year. Should the actual number of Primary 1 students participating in the central allocation deviate from the estimated number, EDB would adjust the relevant short-term measures accordingly. In addition, EDB would not rule out the possibility of adding new classes to the time-limited school during its operation in response to various needs for school places such as new immigrant students applying for places in Primary 2 to 6.

(ii) When enrolling more students in each class, EDB would provide additional resources to the schools. To ensure that schools would not over-enrol students without additional resources, EDB would designate a ceiling for enrolment each year. Each school could enrol 10% more students on top of the enrolment quota as set out by EDB (if 30 students were enrolled in a class, the school could decide to enrol a maximum of three more students in each class). Under this mechanism, schools would be able to make use of these additional places to enrol students from their own districts or other districts.

(iii) EDB indicated that there had already been an established mechanism for allocating teaching resources to ensure that education resources for the time-limited school

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would not be reduced due to under-enrolment. When selecting a sponsoring body for the school, the Vetting Committee would comprehensively consider the school operation and attach top priority to the interests of the students. Besides, in the event that students who had been allocated places in the time-limited school in the end decided to be enrolled elsewhere, EDB would have to ensure sufficient supply of places in Tai Po District for the parents to choose from before they made the decision, so as to address the expectations of TPDC and parents in the district that students would not have to travel to other districts for going to school.

(iv) EDB would continue to communicate with primary schools in the district. At the same time, EDB also welcomed schools to direct their enquiries and views to the Bureau.

50. The Chairman said the above discussion illustrated that the period between December 2017 and January 2018 was the critical time for projecting the number of Primary 1 students for the 2018/19 school year, SSC could follow up on this subject at the next meeting. At the same time, school principals in the district could further communicate with EDB regarding the enrolment situation. He hoped that EDB could in the future flexibly execute its measures in accordance with the actual number of Primary 1 students in Tai Po District in the 2018/19 school year.

IV. Departmental reports on the response to community activities held in September and October 2017 in Tai Po and the proposed community activities to be held in November and December 2017 in Tai Po (TPDC Paper No. SS 48/2017) 51. Ms. Sindy CHAN reported on the response to the community activities organised by the Social Welfare Department (“SWD”) in Tai Po in September and October 2017of this year, and the proposed community activities to be held in November and December 2017. She supplemented that “Rainbow Extravaganza Women Group”, “Wise Adventure - English Storyland”, “‘Decoding Communications’ - Family Communication Workshop” and “Conquering Devil’s Peak” had been launched. Except for“Wise Adventure - English Storyland” of which the actual number of participants was 9, the actual number of participants of all other activities turned out to be the same as estimated. 52. Ms. Angel KWOK reported on the enrolment of the community activities of the ICAC held between September and October 2017 in Tai Po and the proposed community activities to be held in November and December 2017 in Tai Po. She highlighted “‘All for Integrity’ Tai Po District Bus Parade” which ICAC would hold on 18 November 2017 (Saturday) to promote the message of integrity to residents of the district.

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53. Mr. Francis YAM hoped that SWD could send staff to elaborate on “Higher Old Age Living Allowance” (“Higher OALA”) at the next meeting. (Post-meeting note: Since details of the said scheme had not yet been finalised, SWD had replied

to Mr. Francis YAM that it would not be able to report on the scheme at the next meeting.)

V. Report by the Social Welfare Department on data of major social services between July and September 2017 in Tai Po (TPDC Paper No. SS 49/2017) 54. Ms. Sindy CHAN recapped TPDC Paper No. SS 49/2017. 55. Mr. Zlato KU said that elderly people tended not to carry their identity cards with them when going out. He asked if SWD could, while providing service to them, remind the elderly to abide by the law and carry their identity cards with them when going out. 56. The Chairman recommended that SWD staff remind elderly to carry identity cards with them while offering the elderly services. Service groups for the aged could also be contacted to help make the appeal to their service targets.

VI. Reports of working groups (I) Working Group on Elderly Projects and Medical Services 57. Mr. LI Kwok-ying, Chairman of the Working Group, reported as follows:

(i) The Working Group had in the past 2 months continued to follow up on the projects scheduled for this year.

(ii) “Healthy Cooking with Reduction of Salt and Sugar in Food” had been completed on 13 October 2017 in which 160 persons had taken part. The participants had found the activity content practical and said that they would pay more attention to healthy diet.

(iii) “Friendly Elderly Community - Active Prosperous Years in the Community” Carnival had been organised in Tai Ming Lane Square on 21 October 2017 while the remaining activities would be organised as scheduled.

(iv) “Elderly Care Community Volunteer Commendation cum Family Fun Day 2018”,

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“Chinese New Year Celebration - Elderly Household Clean-up Campaign and Elderly Visit 2018” and “Healthy Heart and Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation promote plan” would be organised as scheduled.

(v) The fund allocation for the second phase of “Jockey Club Age-friendly City Project” in Tai Po District had been vetted. CUHK Jockey Club Institute of Ageing had contacted local groups and non-governmental organisations (“NGOs”) within the district and officially commenced the application of the third phase of the project. Having taken reference from the elderly and the age-friendly scope being covered in the first 2 phases of the project, CUHK Jockey Club Institute of Ageing had proposed activities with more focused direction in connection with the remaining scope, and hoped that proposals submitted by applying groups and organisations could more aptly address the baseline study result of Tai Po District.

(II) Working Group on Youth Projects 58. Mr. LO Hiu-fung, Chairman of the Working Group, reported as follows: In the past two months, the Working Group continued to follow up on the projects scheduled for this year. “Walking with the ‘Child’s’ Heart Carnival”” had been completed with a total of 665 participants who had been satisfied with the activity arrangement. In addition, due to unstable weather, “Tai Po Health Carnival 2017” had been postponed to 19 November 2017 which would take place in Zone D at Tai Po Mega Mall. Moreover, “2017 Tai Po District Outstanding Student Award Presentation Ceremony”, “Love of Performing 2017”, “Remarkable Youth Leadership Training Programme 2017”, “Arts and Culture Training Programme 2017/18”, “PROJECT GREEN” and “Children’s Love for Hong Kong Programme” would be organised as scheduled. (III) Working Group on Caring for the Community 59. Mr. Ken YU, Chairman of the Working Group, reported as follows: In the past two months, the Working Group continued to follow up on the projects scheduled for this year. “Family and Friends Summer Growth Programme” for building friendship between disabled youths and healthy youth, expanding their social circle, and to better prepare disabled youth for participating in the society in the future had been completed. In addition, “My Heart My Neighbours Harmonious Community Programme”, “Peace @ Tai Po Community Programme”, “FUN Filled Fiesta”, “Happy Children Support Programme 2017”, “Lovely Family Gathering @ Tai Po”, “Benevolence and Righteous Beings”, “Care for Physical and Mental Health of Women Community Programme 2017”, “Festive Community Connection - Community Service Programme 2017-18”, “Amazing Dance Programme in Kwong Fuk” and “International Rehabilitation Day 2017 ─ Ocean Park Fun Day” had all been organised as scheduled.

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Besides, an amendment to the fund application of “International Rehabilitation Day 2017 - Central Activities” had been made as required by the activity. He hoped that Members would support endorsing the amendment.

VII. Applications for DC Funds (TPDC Paper No. SS 50/2017) 60. The Chairman asked Members to declare interests in connection with the applications for DC Funds submitted to the SSC for vetting where necessary. 61. The Secretary reported as follows: Pursuant to Orders 48(9) and 48(10) of the TPDC Standing Orders, a Member should declare interests if he found he had direct personal interests, pecuniary interests or other interests in an application for DC Funds under consideration, or had links with the benefited party or the potential benefited party. The Secretariat had compiled a declaration form based on the information collected. The form set out the links between Members and the hosting/partnering/co-hosting organisations concerned, with substantive and non-substantive positions represented by different colours and had already been tabled for Members’ reference (see Annex). She asked Members to check the information contained in the declaration form and make revisions or give supplementary information where necessary. She continued that in addition to any links with the hosting/partnering/co-hosting organisations of activities, Members should also declare interests if they had any direct personal interests, pecuniary interests or other interests in the applications for DC Funds to be examined at this meeting. 62. The Chairman asked Members to refer to the declaration form that had been placed on the table. Executors of the activities concerned, non-substantive positions and substantive positions were represented respectively by the colours red, green and yellow. 63. Members did not have any amendments or supplementary information. 64. Since the Chairman had declared his link with the hosting/partnering/co-hosting organisations of “Night Study with the Lamp Programme”, pursuant to Order 48(12) of the Standing Orders, he asked the Vice-Chairman of SSC to decide whether he could speak or participate in the voting of the fund application of the above activity and whether he should withdraw from the meeting. 65. The Vice-Chairman opined that despite the substantive position the Chairman held in the hosting/partnering/co-hosting organisations of “Night Study with the Lamp Programme”, no pecuniary or other interests were involved, therefore he recommended that the Chairman remain

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silent during the discussion and abstain from resolution or voting of the fund allocation concerned, but could continue to chair the meeting. He could also provide supplementary information where necessary. 66. Members raised no objection to the above arrangement. 67. The Chairman invited the Secretary to recap the approach in dealing with Members who had declared interests. 68. As regards those Members who had declared interests, the Secretary raised the following suggestions: If they held a non-substantive position in the hosting/partnering/co-hosting organisations without involving pecuniary interest or other interests, they could take part in the discussion and resolution of the fund applications concerned. If they held a substantive position in the hosting/partnering/co-hosting organisations without involving pecuniary interest or other interests, they were not required to withdraw from the meeting at which the fund applications concerned were being examined, but should remain silent during the discussion and abstain from resolution or voting. SSC could request that they provide supplementary information if necessary. 69. Members raised no objection to the above arrangement. 70. The Chairman said that one fund application and one amendment to a fund application were listed in Paper No. SS 50/2017. If Members were satisfied that the said application and amendment were covered under the scope of the DC funds while benefitting people living, working or attending schools in the district, they could consider endorsing the application. (I) “Night Study with the Lamp Programme” 71. The Chairman said that Mr. CHUNG Man-fai and himself held substantive positions in Tai Po Youth Association and must remain silent during the discussion of the funding application concerned and abstain from resolution or voting. However, they might provide supplementary information where necessary. 72. SSC agreed to allocate $37,715 to Tai Po Youth Association for organising “Night Study with the Lamp Programme” and agreed to make an exemption for the group to start holding the activity within 30 days after this SSC meeting had been held. 73. Mr. LAU Yung-wai said that DC-funded activities should have at least 30 days for activity promotion before the activity commenced, he hoped that Tai Po Youth Association could pay more attention in the future.

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(Post-meeting note: The Secretariat had issued an email reminder to the group on 21 November

2017.) (II) “International Rehabilitation Day 2017 - Central Activity” 74. The Chairman said that the total amount of funding being applied for “International Rehabilitation Day 2017 - Central Activity” had been amended from $8,450 to $3,500. 75. SSC agreed to allocate $3,500 from the funding of the Labour and Welfare Bureau to the Hong Kong PHAB Association New Territories PHAB Centre for co-organising “International Rehabilitation Day 2017 - Central Activity” with the Working Group on Community Care.

VIII. Applications for funding of the Committee on Reduction of Salt and Sugar in Food (TPDC Paper No. SS 51/2017 (Revised)) 76. The Chairman said that SSC had at the last meeting agreed to further identify suitable service groups to promote the culture of Reduction of Salt and Sugar in Food. He requested that Members declare interests where necessary in respect of the applications for funding of the Committee on Reduction of Salt and Sugar in Food submitted to SSC for vetting. 77. The Secretary reported as follows: Pursuant to Orders 48(9) and 48(10) of the Tai Po District Council Standing Orders (“TPDC Standing Orders”), a Member should declare interests if he found he had direct personal interests, pecuniary interests or other interests in the applications for DC Funds under consideration, or had links with the benefited party or the potential benefited party. In addition, apart from the links with the hosting/partnering/co-hosting organisers of the activities concerned, a Member should declare interests if he found he had direct personal interests, pecuniary interests or other interests in the applications for DC Funds under consideration. She had checked with the hosting/partnering/co-hosting organisers of the activities concerned, collected information and had not found any Members holding any positions in the relevant groups. Members could supplement if there were any omissions. 78. Members made no supplementary remark. 79. The Chairman said that if Members were satisfied that the two funding applications submitted for SSC’s vetting were in line with the purpose of the Subsidy Scheme “to promote the subsidy programme of healthy diet culture on Reduction of Salt and Sugar in Food in the district”, they might consider approving the applications.

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(I) “Chinese New Year Celebration Inter-Society Cooking Competition with Reduction of

Salt and Sugar in Food” 80. SSC agreed to allocate $3,348 from the Committee on Reduction of Salt and Sugar in Food to Tai Po Sam Yuk Secondary School for organising “Reduction of Salt and Sugar in Food Chinese New Year Celebration Inter-Society Cooking Completion”. (II) “Reduction of Salt and Sugar in Food on a Healthy Campus” 81. SSC agreed to allocate $71,667 from the Committee on Reduction of Salt and Sugar in Food to Tai Po Rhenish Church Kindergarten (Main and branch campus) for organising “Reduction of Salt and Sugar in Food on a Healthy Campus”.

IX. Schedule of SSC meetings in 2018 (TPDC Paper No. SS 52/2017) 82. The Chairman said that TPDC had endorsed at its meeting on 2 November 2017 the meeting timetable of SSC in 2018. He asked Members to note the said timetable.

X. Any other business (I) Meeting-cum-luncheon between Legislative Council (“LegCo”) Members and TPDC

Members 83. The Chairman said that as regards the subject to be discussed at the meeting between LegCo Members and TPDC Members, SSC had already reached a consensus earlier at this meeting and would have “request to expedite the expansion of Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital and the construction of Tai Po Integrated Community Medical Centre” as one of the discussion topics when meeting with LegCo Members. (II) The issue of street sleepers in Tai Po District 84. Ms. Sindy CHAN said that SWD had set up a computer information system on street sleepers, which served primarily to record the personal information of the street sleepers and details of the services they had received. As of September 2017, there were 1 023 registered

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street sleepers in Hong Kong, among whom 12 were in Tai Po District. Besides, SWD also subsidised three NGOs (namely St. James’ Settlement, Salvation Army and Christian Concern for the Homeless Association), each operating an Integrated Services Team for Street Sleepers to provide various services for street sleepers (such as accommodation service, emergency relief fund and counselling). If necessary, parties concerned could refer the issue of street sleepers in New Territories East to Christian Concern for the Homeless Association for follow up. 85. Mr. Zlato KU enquired whether St. James’ Settlement, Salvation Army and Christian Concern for the Homeless Association would assist SWD in updating the computer information system on street sleepers. 86. Ms. Sindy CHAN responded that St. James’ Settlement, Salvation Army, Christian Concern for the Homeless Association and units under SWD would update the statistics on street sleepers in each district.

XI. Date of next meeting 87. The next meeting would be held on 10 January 2018 (Wednesday) at 9:30 a.m. 88. The meeting was adjourned at 12:57 p.m.

Tai Po District Council Secretariat December 2017