Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Mr Frank Chan Fan, at a media session after attending the Legislative Council meeting today (June 27):

Reporter: Mr Chan, would the Government consider, much like Michael Tien suggested, breaking up the walls and inspecting to see if there are actually so many problems at the Hung Hom Station?

Secretary for Transport and Housing: The suggestion to demolish the concrete for the sake of examining whether or not there are substandard works is a way that is without any scientific justification, I would say. If there are further evidences pointing to the likelihood of such substandard works, then it might warrant another thought.

(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)

Attention TV/radio announcers:

Please broadcast the following as soon as possible and repeat it at regular intervals:

     Here is an item of interest to swimmers.

     The Leisure and Cultural Services Department announced today (June 27) that the Jockey Club Yan Oi Tong Swimming Pool in Tuen Mun District has been temporarily closed for cleaning and superchlorination following the discovery of a small amount of vomit in the pool.

     It will be reopened at 7.30pm today.

     The department appeals to swimmers to be considerate and to keep the swimming pools clean. They are advised not to swim after a full meal and should use the toilet facilities if necessary before swimming.

     Following is a question by the Hon Shiu Ka-chun and a reply by the Secretary for Security, Mr John Lee, in the Legislative Council today (June 27):
 
Question:
 
     It has been reported that some secondary school students arrived at the Victoria Park in the afternoon of the 4th of this month to get themselves ready for attending the June 4th candlelight vigil to be held there that night. During that time, a woman, for the reason of compiling statistics on the number of participating students, enquired with those students and jotted down the names of the schools they were attending, and she refused to disclose her identity to the reporters. Albeit not wearing a police warrant card, the woman was not stopped when she entered the Police Command Post on the spot. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
 
(1) whether the aforesaid woman is a police officer; if so, of the duties she was discharging at that time and why she was not wearing her police warrant card; if not, the reasons why she was not stopped when she entered the Police Command Post;
 
(2) whether the Police will deploy plainclothes police officers to compile statistics on the number of students participating in public assemblies; if so, of the number of participating students in the past five years; if not, how it prevents lawbreakers from collecting the personal data from students under the guise of compiling statistics; and
 
(3) of the ranks of police officers who are generally deployed by the Police to assess the number of participants of public assemblies, and whether they will also collect the personal data of the participants; if so, of the items, uses and retention periods of the data collected, and the measures to prevent such data from being misused?
 
Reply:
 
President,
 
     Hong Kong residents enjoy freedom of peaceful assembly, of procession and of demonstration.  Over the past five years, a total of about 38 000 public meetings and about 6 000 public processions were held in Hong Kong, i.e. a daily average of 24 public events of different scales.  The Police have always handled public meetings and processions in a fair, just and impartial manner in accordance with the law.  They also endeavour to preserve public order and public safety by striking a balance between ensuring the smooth progress of lawful and peaceful public events and minimising the inconvenience which they caused to other members of the public or road users.
 
     To ensure that public events, particularly large scale assemblies and demonstrations, will not cause disorder, as well as to reduce public order and security risk, the Police have a duty to take lawful measures to manage such events as appropriate.
 
     In handling each public event, the Police will first conduct a comprehensive risk assessment in order to formulate an overall strategy comprising staff and equipment deployments as well as contingency plans.  The Police will take into account the number of participants and information provided by the organisers, past experience in handling events of similar nature or scale as well as other risk considerations in assessing necessary crowd management measures, road traffic arrangements and manpower deployment and division of work.  To devise appropriate crowd management measures, the Police will implement special crowd control and arrange different routes for the participants' entry into the venue or access to the starting point of the procession, etc.  They will also coordinate with the Transport Department and other relevant departments on traffic and public transport services, including diversions of and time restrictions on traffic.
 
     The Police will communicate with the organisers on the detailed arrangements prior to the events.  On the event day, the Police will maintain close liaison with the organisers and their marshals before, during and at the end of the event.  The Police Field Commander and other personnel will keep observing and assessing the situation at scene, stay alert and adopt necessary response measures in light of the actual environment to ensure that the public event concerned can be conducted in a safe and orderly manner.
 
     My consolidated reply to Hon Shiu Ka-chun's questions is as follows:
 
     In the evening of June 4 this year, a large scale public assembly was held in Victoria Park.  According to the Police's statistics, about 17 000 people attended the assembly that evening.  To facilitate the holding of the assembly, crowd safety management measures and special traffic arrangements were implemented by the Police at the streets in the vicinity of Victoria Park (Gloucester Road, Sugar Street, Paterson Street, Kingston Street and Great George Street).  The Police also designated the South Boulevard and Middle Boulevard of Victoria Park as the emergency vehicle access so that emergency vehicles might reach the park quickly and provide emergency services to people in need as and when necessary.  On that day, the Police made use of an underground multi-functional room adjacent to the tennis courts in Victoria Park, which belonged to the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, to set up a Provisional Police Command Post so as to facilitate the command of the front-line work and deployment of manpower.  Beside police officers, representatives of other Government departments and authorised persons participating in the operation on that day might also gain access to that Command Post. 
 
     Similar to their handling of ordinary large scale public meetings and processions, on that evening the Police deployed police officers from various units to implement crowd control measures and traffic diversions, maintain public order at the venue and its environs, prevent crimes and safeguard public safety.  On that day, the Police implemented special traffic arrangements and crowd management measures beginning from 4pm, the public entered the venue from 6pm onward, the assembly reached its peak at around 9pm and people began to leave when it came to an end at about 10pm.  The entire operation lasted for more than six hours.  At each stage the Police had to assess whether there would be problems of over-crowdedness, congestion or collision crowds of people, whether unlawful elements would take advantage of the crowdedness to commit crimes of theft or offences against the person, and whether there would be any confrontation or trouble-makers deliberately provoking others to charge and act violently.  As there were many people at the venue, it would be easy to cause chaos instantly and thus endangering the people there.  Therefore, it was necessary for the Police to deploy adequate manpower on that day to ensure the overall safety of the event and participants and to minimise the threats of crimes.  While uniformed officers were responsible for crowd control, traffic control, etc., plainclothes officers were engaged in on-site observation and anti-crime duties, as well as the identification of suspected persons such as pickpockets, persons in possession of offensive weapons and persons who committed offences against the person.
 
     The woman referred to in the media report mentioned in the question was one of the plainclothes police officers deployed to work on the spot.  The Police's operational details on that day form part of the operational deployment and it is inappropriate for me to disclose. 
 
     As for the disclosure of a plainclothes officer's identity and production of his/her warrant card, a plainclothes officer shall identify himself/herself and produce his/her warrant card when exercising his/her police powers according to the prevailing requirement.
 
     Regarding the Hon Shiu's question about the Police’s compilation of statistics on the number of participants, since the number of participants in public events will have direct impact on public order, safety and related risks, the Police will compile relevant statistics to facilitate the effective management of public events.  The ranks of police officers deployed to assess the number of participants depend on the scale of the event.  During the public assembly on June 4, the Police deployed officers to assess the overall number of participants.  However, they did not make separate assessments on the number of students or any specific groups, and therefore such breakdowns are unavailable.  The Police assess the number of participants for the purposes of taking effective crowd management measures, directing and diverting people flow and keeping the order at the scene.  The officers on the spot have to report information like the number of participants, movement of people flow and crowd sentiment so as to gain a clear picture of the situations at the scene for the purposes of making suitable manpower deployment, taking corresponding crowd management measures and formulating contingency plans.  Such information does not contain any personal particulars.  If members of the public suspect that their personal particulars are collected illegally, they can complain to the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data or seek assistance from the Police for follow up actions.  If members of the public are dissatisfied with police officers' discharge of duty, they can complain under the existing complaint mechanism.  The Complaints Against Police Office (CAPO) will process such complaints and then conduct independent investigations, while the Independent Police Complaints Council will examine the CAPO's investigation findings so as to ensure that the complaints are handled in a fair and just manner.
 
     From the perspective of public order and safety, large scale public assemblies, processions and demonstrations usually involve risks.  In case an incident occurs, the situations may change rapidly and threaten safety of the persons.  The Police have the responsibility to deploy suitable and sufficient manpower, including officers of different ranks and units, for such activities, take all practical and legitimate measures to regulate the flow of people and traffic, maintain the order of the activities and safeguard the safety of participants.
 
     Thank you, President.

     Following is a question by the Hon Wu Chi-wai and a written reply by the Secretary for Food and Health, Professor Sophia Chan, in the Legislative Council today (June 27):

Question:

     An incessant increase in the number of new referrals (including suspected cases of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) to the Child Assessment Service (CAS) under the Department of Health (DH) in recent years, coupled with the high turnover rate of doctors, has resulted in the failure of CAS last year to fulfill its performance pledge that 90 per cent of new cases are assessed within six months. In addition, in 2017-2018 (as at December 31, 2017), the longest median waiting time of the new cases of child and adolescent psychiatric specialist outpatient (CAPSO) among various hospital clusters was 119 weeks. On the other hand, the Government will regularise the Pilot Scheme on On-site Pre-school Rehabilitation Services (On-site Services Scheme) starting from the 2018-2019 school year. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
 
(1) as some psychiatrists have pointed out that the incidence rate of ADHD among school-age children is 5 per cent to 9 per cent, whether the authorities have estimated the current number of ADHD children in the territory and, among them, the number of those who are undiagnosed; if so, of the details; of the authorities' new measures to identify hidden cases as early as possible;
 
(2) whether the authorities have compiled statistics on the respective current numbers of child psychiatrists serving in DH, public hospitals and private hospitals, and the number of those in private practice;
 
(3) whether DH has specific measures to increase the doctor manpower of CAS, with a view to shortening the service waiting time and fulfilling the aforesaid performance pledge; if so, of the details;   
 
(4) among the members of the interdisciplinary teams of the On-site Services Scheme, of the types of professionals who may prescribe psychiatric medications; the time when the Scheme will be open for application, and the anticipated impact of the regularisation of the Scheme on the waiting time for CAPSO services;
 
(5) as some non-profit-making organisations currently conduct assessments and provide therapies to low-income families' children with suspected ADHD, whether the authorities have plans to collaborate with such organisations in order to shorten the waiting time for the relevant public services; and
 
(6) whether the Government, the Hospital Authority and local universities studied in the past three years the causes of ADHD (including its relationship with genetic inheritance), with a view to identifying the causes of ADHD and formulating specific preventive measures as early as possible?

Reply:
 
President,
 
     Having consulted the Labour and Welfare Bureau, my reply to Hon Wu Chi-wai's question is as follows:
 
(1) As at December 2017, the total number of patients under 18 years of age being treated at the Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Service under the Hospital Authority (HA) which were diagnosed with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD) was 13 630. The Government does not have the statistics of all AD/HD patients in Hong Kong.
 
(2), (3) and (5) Currently, there are 31 Maternal and Child Health Centres (MCHCs) under the Department of Health (DH) which provide a range of health promotion and disease prevention services to children from birth to five years. The child health services include immunisation, health and developmental surveillance, and parenting education. Children with developmental concerns identified during developmental surveillance will be arranged for a MCHC doctor's preliminary developmental assessment. After being assessed by doctors of MCHCs, children with suspected developmental problems would be referred to Child Assessment Service under DH/HA for further assessment.
 
     The Child Assessment Service under DH (CAS) adopts a multi-disciplinary team approach for assessment. The assessment team comprises paediatricians, nurses, clinical psychologists, speech therapists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, audiologists, optometrists and medical social workers. The team will seek information from the parent on the development, behaviour and learning of the child, and, with the application of assessment tools and clinical observation appropriate to the child's age and condition, conduct assessments on various developmental aspects of the child such as physical, cognition, language and communication, self-care and behaviour. The team will also arrange and coordinate follow-up and rehabilitation services in accordance with the child's individual needs and the family's circumstances.
 
     In the past few years, the number of new referrals to the CAS has been on an increasing trend. Nearly all new cases in CAS were seen within three weeks after registration. The assessment service will then be arranged according to needs. Due to the continuous increase in the demand for assessment service and the high turnover rate and difficulties in recruiting doctors, the target for completion of assessment for 90 per cent of the new cases in CAS within six months in 2017 was unable to be met. A triage system has been adopted in CAS to ensure that children with urgent and more serious conditions are accorded with higher priority in assessment. To meet increasing service demands, additional resources have been allocated to CAS in the past few years to recruit additional manpower. In order to shorten the waiting time and to strengthen the assessment service provided, we are planning to recruit additional nurses and allied health professionals for the CAS. Moreover, DH will continue its effort in filling the vacancies through recruitment of new doctors and internal re-deployment.
 
     On the other hand, DH is planning to establish a new Child Assessment Centre (CAC) with a view to strengthening the manpower support and enhancing service capacity to meet the rising number of referred cases. To meet the demand during the construction period, DH has opened a temporary CAC in an existing clinic in Ngau Tau Kok in January 2018.
 
     Furthermore, the Government is looking into ways to provide mental health services to children in a more effective manner, with a view to shortening the waiting time for assessment. At the same time, DH will strengthen its nursing and allied health manpower to provide support services for children and their parents during the waiting period.
 
     Currently, there are 23 officers in the Medical and Health Officer grade in DH who are Fellows of the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine in Paediatrics, and they are working in the CAS, Clinical Genetic Service, Family Health Service and Student Health Service. At present, the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine does not have a subspecialty in child psychiatry.
 
     On the HA front, HA delivers mental health services using an integrated and multi-disciplinary approach involving psychiatric doctors, psychiatric nurses, clinical psychologists, medical social workers, and occupational therapists. The adoption of a multi-disciplinary team approach allows flexible deployment of staff to cope with service needs and operational requirements. As at December 31, 2017, there were 351 psychiatric doctors working in the psychiatric stream of HA. As healthcare professionals providing child and adolescent (C&A) psychiatric services in HA also support other psychiatric services, HA does not have the breakdown on the manpower for supporting C&A psychiatric services only.
 
(4) The Social Welfare Department (SWD) launched the Pilot Scheme on On-site Pre-school Rehabilitation Services (the Pilot Scheme) by phases in November 2015. The Pilot Scheme aims to provide rehabilitation services, including training in gross and fine motor skills development, speech development, cognitive and social skills development, through multi-disciplinary teams arranged by non-governmental organisations, for children with special needs at participating kindergartens (KGs)/kindergarten-cum-child care centres. The Pilot Scheme also provides professional advice and assistance for KG teachers/child care workers who are responsible for looking after children with special needs, and renders support to parents. Given the nature of the services, the multi-disciplinary team comprises occupational therapists, physiotherapists, speech therapists, clinical/educational psychologists, social workers and special child care workers. Professionals who are permitted to prescribe psychiatric drugs are not included.
 
     The Government has announced that the Pilot Scheme will be regularised from the 2018/19 school year onward. Upon service regularisation, family members/carers of children with special needs may make application via social workers or staff of rehabilitation service units who will refer them to SWD's Central Referral System for Rehabilitation Services.
 
(6) In the past three years, there was no commissioned research or investigator-initiated research projects funded by the Food and Health Bureau or HA on the relationship between AD/HD and genetics.

     The Government today (June 27) announced the appointment of the Chairperson and members of the Advisory Committee on Admission of Quality Migrants and Professionals for a two-year term from July 1, 2018, to June 30, 2020.

     The Committee advises the Director of Immigration on applications received under the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme and the Admission Scheme for Mainland Talents and Professionals.
          
     The Committee will be chaired by Mr Chow Chung-kong and comprise 18 non-official members. The non-official membership is (in alphabetical order) as follows:
     
Mr Chow Chung-kong (Chairperson)
Dr Daniel Chan Ching-yan*
Ms Rainy Chan Nor-ka
Professor Anthony Chan Tak-cheung
Professor Cheng Shuk-han
Mr Human Cheung*
Professor Cheung Siu-yin
Mr Chong Man-keung
Dr Hung Keung
Mr Ko Tin-lung
Mr Matthew Lam Kin-hong*
Mr Edmund Lam Siu-chung
Mr Anthony Leung Ming-tim*
Dr Liu Yuk-shing*
Ms Anthea Lo Wing-sze*
Ms Malina Ngai Man-lin
Mrs Lillian Okusako Chan Pui-shan
Ms So Ching
Ms Ellen Tsang Fung-chu
 
* Newly appointed
 
      Ex-officio members on the Committee are representatives from the Labour and Welfare Bureau, the Security Bureau and the Labour Department.

      "We are grateful to the Committee for the service over the past two years and have benefited from their wise counsel. We look forward to the valuable advice from the Chairperson, Mr Chow Chung-kong, and re-appointed members as well as the new members," a government spokesman said.