Author Archives: hksar gov

     â€‹The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) will hold the Local Organic Watermelon Festival 2025 from June 20 to feature four highlighted varieties of organic watermelons this year.

     A spokesman for the AFCD said today (June 18), “The annual Local Organic Watermelon Festival promotes local organic watermelons and other premium agricultural products, enhances sustainability of local agriculture, and provides farmers with opportunities to share their harvests and engage with the public.”

     At the Local Organic Watermelon Festival 2025, four highlighted varieties of watermelons, namely Reyan 2K, Hami Yellow Flesh, Super Sweet Black Angel 168 and Diana, will be featured. The Reyan 2K, a new variety introduced this year, is oblong with green, dark striped skin, has a thin rind and intense juicy red flesh with a sweetness of around 12 degrees Brix (degrees of Brix denote the units for measuring sucrose content in solution). The Hami Yellow Flesh, also oblong with dark green, striped skin, has yellowish-orange flesh and a sweetness of around 10 degrees Brix. The Super Sweet Black Angel 168 is small and spherical with dark striped skin and green and bright crimson-coloured flesh, also with a sweetness of around 12 degrees Brix. Diana, oblong with bright striped skin in yellow, features intense red flesh and a sweetness of around 11 degrees Brix. Local organic watermelons generally have a sweetness ranging from 8 to 12 degrees Brix.

     The AFCD, together with the Vegetable Marketing Organization (VMO), the Federation of Vegetable Marketing Co-operative Societies Ltd and the MTR Corporation Limited will co-organise the first four-day organic farmers’ market of the Local Organic Watermelon Festival 2025. The public can buy local organic agricultural products at Maritime Square 1 from June 20 to June 23. The event will also feature booth games and workshops, providing recreational activities for the public.

     Furthermore, the AFCD will continue to invite all regular organic farmers’ markets to join the Local Organic Watermelon Festival. Starting from July, the public can purchase local organic watermelons and other seasonal vegetables and fruits at organic farmers’ markets across various districts. They can also order from the VMO via the “Local Fresh” website (www.localfreshhk.com) and mobile application or purchase from certified organic farmers listed on the Hong Kong Organic Resource Centre Certification Limited website (www.hkorc-cert.org/en). The opening dates and times of these farmers’ markets are listed in the Annex. Local organic watermelons as well as other seasonal vegetables and fruits are available for a limited time while stocks last.

     For more details on the Local Organic Watermelon Festival 2025, please visit the AFCD website (www.afcd.gov.hk/english) or Facebook page (www.facebook.com/afcdgovhk).

    

     Following is a question by the Hon Chan Hak-kan and a reply by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Chris Sun, in the Legislative Council today (June 18):
 
Question:
 
     The number of imported workers approved under the Enhanced Supplementary Labour Scheme (ESLS) has exceeded 50 000 to date. On the other hand, the latest unemployment rate announced by the Government is 3.4 per cent, the highest in 27 months. Regarding the safeguarding of the employment priority for local workers, will the Government inform this Council:
 
(1) as it has been reported that some applicant enterprises have set unreasonable criteria to exclude local applicants when conducting local recruitment under ESLS, of the number of complaints or reports involving non-compliant local recruitment procedures in the past three years and, among them, the number of substantiated cases and the relevant penalties; of the mechanism in place for proactively reviewing the reasonableness of such recruitment criteria;
 
(2) as it has been reported that since ESLS requires enterprises to maintain a manning ratio of imported labour to local labour of no less than 1:2, some enterprises have employed local workers on a part-time basis or arranged for imported workers to take up positions inconsistent with those they applied for, whether the Government has looked into such situations; and
 
(3) of the number of illegal workers arrested in the past three years, together with a breakdown by the trade in which they were engaged; whether it has assessed if the existing penal measures against employers of illegal workers and the intermediaries concerned have sufficient deterrent effect?

Reply:
 
President,
 
     To cope with the challenges brought by manpower shortage and on the premise of ensuring employment priority for local workers, the Government has enhanced the mechanism for importation of labour. Apart from launching sector-specific labour importation schemes for the construction sector, transport sector, and residential care homes for the elderly and residential care homes for persons with disabilities, the Labour Department (LD) has implemented the Enhanced Supplementary Labour Scheme (ESLS) since September 4, 2023 to suspend the general exclusion of the 26 job categories as well as unskilled or low-skilled posts from labour importation under the previous Supplementary Labour Scheme for two years.

     In consultation with the Security Bureau, the reply to the Member’s question is as follows:
 
(1) The LD has all along been stringently processing each application under ESLS. Applicant employers must undertake a four-week local recruitment exercise and accord priority to employing suitable local workers to fill the job vacancies. The LD will review and ascertain the employment terms, including the entry and academic qualification requirements, monthly salary and hours of work of all job vacancies posted by employers during the local recruitment. Employers taking on local job seekers through any recruitment channels during the local recruitment shall offer them employment terms no less favourable than those agreed by the LD.
 
     Upon completion of the local recruitment procedures, employers shall report the results to the LD and submit recruitment advertisements for verification. The LD will contact each of the local job seekers who is not employed by the employers, and assess whether the employers have sincerity in recruiting local workers. If there is evidence showing that an employer has violated the requirements of local recruitment, or refused to employ qualified local job seekers without reasonable reasons, the LD will impose administrative sanction of terminating the processing of the application submitted by the concerned employer for importation of labour, and refusing to process other applications submitted by the employer in the following year. Since the implementation of ESLS, the LD has not detected any employer who has violated the requirements of local recruitment or received relevant complaint from job seekers.
 
(2) To safeguard the employment opportunities of local workers, ESLS requires relevant employers to meet the manning ratio requirement of full-time local employees to imported workers of 2:1 on a continuous basis. Full-time employees refer to local employees who are directly employed by an employer and work not less than 35 hours per week for operating the relevant business, excluding part-time staff, staff of sub-contractor(s) or self-employed person(s) providing services to the employer. At the same time, the employer shall not displace local workers in employ with imported workers. In the event of redundancy, imported workers should be retrenched first. To ensure that employers will not displace local workers in employ with imported workers, the LD has set up a dedicated hotline of 2150 6363. I appeal to employees who suspect that they have been dismissed owing to the employment of imported workers to call the hotline. The LD will follow up the complaints seriously. If substantiated, the LD will impose administrative sanction on the concerned employers, including withdrawal of approvals for importation of labour previously granted and refusal to process other applications submitted by the employers in the following two years.

     Besides, imported workers under ESLS must be employed under the Standard Employment Contract (SEC) prescribed by the Government, and shall perform specified duties for the specified job at the specific workplace(s) stipulated in the SEC.

     Labour Inspectors of the LD inspect workplaces of imported workers under ESLS from time to time to check whether employers have complied with the Employment Ordinance and the requirements of ESLS, and require employers to report information on full-time local employees and imported workers as well as the relevant manning ratios. If an employer violates the relevant requirements, including failing to meet the manning ratio requirement or arranging imported workers to perform duties other than those stipulated in SEC, the LD will impose administrative sanction on the employer, including withdrawal of approvals for importation of labour previously granted to the employer and refusal to process other applications submitted by the employer for up to two years.
 
(3) Engaging in illegal employment is a serious offence. Employers, illegal workers as well as aiders and abettors of illegal employment will be liable to prosecution in accordance with the Immigration Ordinance (IO). The IO stipulates different provisions targeting relevant offences committed by different groups of people. Visitors, illegal immigrants, overstayers, etc, are prohibited from taking up any employment, whether paid or unpaid, or establishing or joining any business. Aiders and abettors are liable to the same penalties. In addition, the Government amended the IO in 2021 to increase the penalty on employers of illegal workers, with the maximum penalty significantly increased from a fine of $350,000 and three years’ imprisonment to a fine of $500,000 and 10 years’ imprisonment with a view to reflecting the gravity of such offences. Besides, any person who takes up any employment, whether paid or unpaid, in contravention of a condition of stay shall be guilty of an offence. Upon conviction, he/she is liable to a maximum fine of $50,000 and up to two years’ imprisonment. In addition, if local employment agencies or their persons in relation are convicted of breaches of the IO, the LD may consider revoking or refusing the renewal of license for the concerned employment agencies. If the concerned persons apply for operating other employment agencies in future, the LD may also consider rejecting the issue of license. 
 
     The Government is committed to combatting illegal employment, with a view to protecting the job opportunities for the local workforce. Relevant law enforcement agencies will, depending on operational needs, risk assessment and other considerations, flexibly arrange sufficient manpower to continuously conduct intelligence-led operations. When necessary, they will conduct joint operations to rigorously combat crimes related to illegal employment.
 
     According to the records of the Immigration Department, there were respectively 886, 1 304 and 1 268 illegal workers arrested each year during 2022 to 2024. 506 illegal workers were arrested during January to May 2025. The illegal workers arrested were mainly engaged in work related to the catering, construction, cleaning, or retail and wholesale industries. read more

     Following is a question by the Hon Chan Siu-hung and a written reply by the Secretary for Transport and Logistics, Ms Mable Chan, in the Legislative Council today (June 18):

Question:

     It is learnt that the Highways Department (HyD) adopts innovative technologies and promotes management digitalisation to enhance the efficiency in road repair and maintenance services. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(1) of the total length of public roads in Hong Kong, the total length of public roads repaired and the total project cost for repair of public roads in each of the past three years; the respective details of the contracts awarded for repair and maintenance of such roads (including but not limited to the names of contractors, districts involved, contract periods, length of the roads involved and contract values);

(2) as the Government indicated in its reply to a question from a Member of this Council on March 27 last year that the HyD aimed to digitalise most inspection and supervision procedures in all road maintenance contracts in 2024, of the progress of the relevant work; whether it has assessed how the adoption of innovative technologies help enhance the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of road inspection, including the savings in manpower expenditure and project cost; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;

(3) given that, according to the information from the HyD, the HyD is using the Road Defect Detection System (RDDS) and the Road Condition Assessment System (RCAS) for inspection of road conditions, of the respective application scenarios, stages of application (e.g. at trial stage or being converted to regular use), efficiency of inspection and cost-effectiveness of the two systems;

(4) given that, according to the estimation of HyD, the introduction of RCAS will be able to free up about one-fourth of the manpower of the contractors’ road inspection teams, and the HyD is now evaluating the effectiveness of RCAS and will consider in due course the full scale application of the technology and its incorporation into the standard operating procedures for future road inspections, of the latest progress of the relevant work, and whether it has studied if future deployment will be implemented by adopting both systems, namely RDDS and RCAS, or either one of them; and

(5) given that HyD is one of the selected applicants for the first batch of low-altitude economy Regulatory Sandbox pilot projects, of the details of HyD’s pilot projects involving road repair and maintenance as well as road inspection (including but not limited to the contents of the projects, application scenarios, flight paths, route plans and flight distances)?

Reply:

President,

     Having consulted the Highways Department (HyD), my reply to the various parts of the question raised by Hon Chan Siu-hung is as follows:

(1) In the past three years (i.e. from 2022 to 2024), the total length of roads maintained by the HyD each year was 2 223, 2 239 and 2 241 kilometres respectively. The annual expenditure on maintenance of roads and associated road facilities was about $1.70 billion, $1.73 billion, and $1.66 billion respectively.

     The HyD ensures the safety and reliability of the public road network by engaging road maintenance contractors under term contracts to carry out regular inspection and maintenance work. When damage to road surfaces is identified during inspections or damages to roads and ancillary road facilities are reported by the public, the HyD would arrange contractors to carry out repair works as soon as possible to defects that may pose hazard to road users. As such repairs are part of the routine road maintenance work, the HyD does not separately keep statistics on the area of such type of road surface maintained. 

     Moreover, for defects that do not pose immediate danger to road safety, the HyD would formulate appropriate maintenance plan and schedule for such defects after taking into account various factors, such as arranging road resurfacing at a timely juncture. In each of the past three years (i.e. from 2022 to 2024), the areas of roads resurfaced and reconstructed by HyD are about 1.55, 1.77 and 1.65 million square metre respectively.

     Currently, the HyD has a total of 9 road maintenance contracts for the maintenance of all public roads in Hong Kong, details of which are at Annex.

(2) At present, the Road Maintenance Monitoring System (RMMS), which is a system that fully digitalises the monitoring and administrative work of road maintenance, has been used in all road maintenance contracts. In the past, whenever the HyD’s staff identified defects in road facilities during inspection, they were required to fill in and send the relevant physical form to the contractors upon completion of the inspections. With the RMMS, staff can now log on to the system during outdoor inspections and electronically notify the contractors of the information on damage to facilities captured on site, so that contractors can receive the relevant data promptly and arrange for repair works accordingly. After completion of repair works, contractors can also use RMMS to report the work done and submit maintenance records. The adoption of RMMS can cut down on complicated paperwork and transmission time to enhance work efficiency, facilitating HyD’s staff to monitor the progress of maintenance. It resulted in better maintenance record keeping as well as reduction in the use of paper. In addition, the HyD is now developing the second phase of RMMS, which will incorporate more monitoring and management functions, such as automatic alerts or warnings to contractors with unsatisfactory maintenance progress, as well as digitalised checking procedures, etc.

     In terms of cost-effectiveness, with the full implementation of the first phase of the RMMS, the average time taken by the HyD’s staff to handle a case of damaged road facility (from the discovery of damage to road facility to the completion of the repair works) is about 20 per cent faster than before. Subsequently, upon completion and full adoption of the second phase of the RMMS, the HyD will then consider adjusting the manpower requirements of contractors for new road maintenance works. At that time, the HyD would re-assess the savings in manpower expenditure and works cost arising from the use of RMMS, as well as the cost-effectiveness of the system. 

(3) The Road Defect Detection System (RDDS) utilises high-definition cameras installed on inspection patrol vehicles to capture images of road conditions, and employs global satellite positioning technology to record the locations of such images. It then uses artificial intelligence (AI) technology to automatically identify road surface cracks and discoloured road markings, instead of relying on the visual inspection by road inspectors as in the past to ensure that the detection results are objective and accurate (above 90 per cent accuracy). Contractors use inspection patrol vehicles equipped with RDDS to carry out comprehensive inspection of all roads in Hong Kong once every three months. The detection results of road defects will be displayed on a web-based maintenance platform equipped with geographic information system maps, to facilitate maintenance personnel to locate the defects and carry out repair works. Moreover, the RDDS can consolidate relevant information into defect reports for maintenance personnel to record and audit the maintenance status. With enhanced inspection accuracy and maintenance records, the required maintenance works can be completed more swiftly and efficiently. At present, the RDDS has been incorporated as a standard operating procedure for road inspection on a regular basis. With the full adoption of RDDS, the average time taken by the contractors from completion of road inspection work to submission of the relevant inspection report has been substantially reduced from 48 hours to within 24 hours. To further enhance the efficiency of road maintenance, the HyD would expand the analytical capability of the AI system of the RDDS to identify more different types of road defects, such as overgrown vegetation, as well as discoloured/obstructed/bent traffic signs on the road surface.

     The Road Condition Assessment System (RCAS), which scans three-dimensional images of road surfaces, uses patrol vehicles equipped with laser scanning equipment and global satellite positioning technology to drive on a carriageway at normal speed, and can automatically identify and accurately record various types of defects on the road surface such as potholes, rutting etc. It calculates a Pavement Condition Index (PCI) for every 100 metres of the road for the reference of engineering personnel responsible for maintenance to determine whether the section of road should be prioritised for reconstruction or resurfacing works. Compared to the past when road inspectors had to conduct visual inspection and measurement on the road surface after making road closure arrangements, which only covered a few hundred meters of carriageways per day at most, RCAS enables the maintenance team to have a more comprehensive grasp of the latest conditions of all road surfaces without the need for road closures. This allows for more effective use of resources when planning road maintenance works, and also helps avoid disruption to traffic.

     The HyD expects that after using RCAS to inspect all major road sections in Hong Kong, it will be able to make more effective use of resources by prioritising sections with poorer conditions for road maintenance. RCAS is still in the trial stage and is capable of inspecting about 200 km of carriageways per day. It is expected that during the one year trial period, all major road sections in Hong Kong can be inspected and the data collected will be used for establishing a web-based maintenance platform for use by engineering staff.

     As RCAS is still at the trial stage, the cost-effectiveness of the technology is still being assessed. However, according to preliminary estimation, the introduction of RCAS can free up about one-fourth of the manpower of the contractors’ road inspection teams to cope with the increasing road maintenance work.

(4) Since 2024, the HyD has engaged various service contractors through road maintenance contracts to participate in the development of RCAS which is used to accurately record the undulations of road surfaces and identify road defects such as potholes, to facilitate the planning of road maintenance work. The aforesaid development project is broadly divided into three stages: in the first stage, the service contractors are required to procure vehicles and install laser scanning equipment and positioning devices on the vehicles; in the second stage, the service contractors are required to develop an AI and geometric analysis algorithm system to automatically detect road defects, assess road conditions, and establish a Geographic Information System (GIS) web-based platform to disseminate the relevant information; and in the third stage, the service contractors are required to utilise this system to scan all road surfaces in Hong Kong and automatically assess road conditions, as well as upload the assessment results to the GIS web-based platform at the same time. The first and second stages have been completed, while work on the third stage has commenced and is anticipated to be completed within this year. The HyD is evaluating the effectiveness of the entire smart road conditions analysis system and would consider incorporating this technology into the standard operating procedures for future road inspections in due course.

     Currently, the RDDS is used for rapid identification of cracks on road surface and discoloured road markings which facilitates maintenance staff to locate road defects and expedite the completion of the required maintenance works, thereby enhancing maintenance efficiency. Meanwhile, RCAS focuses on accurately identifying and recording various types of defects on road surfaces and their degree of deterioration. It calculates the PCI for every 100m of carriageway which will help maintenance staff to determine whether a road section should be prioritised for resurfacing works. In view of the distinctive functions of RDDS and RCAS, as well as their differences in speed and accuracy in detecting road conditions, the positioning of their applications is thus different. These two systems will be implemented in parallel at this stage. However, the HyD will continue to develop the functions of RDDS and RCAS and will not rule out the possibility of merging them in the future when their functions, speed, and accuracy become comparable.

(5) According to the requirements of the existing Small Unmanned Aircraft (SUA) Order, the “pilot” controlling a SUA is required to maintain visual-line-of-sight with SUA under standard operation. The HyD’s Regulatory Sandbox project utilises beyond visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) technology, coupled with 4G/5G command and control links, to enable SUA to operate beyond the pilot’s line-of-sight in a safer and more stable manner, up to a distance of several kilometres. This enables flexible deployment for surveying and inspecting road infrastructures and major trunk roads during emergencies, such as landslides, as well as routine operation.

     In emergency situations, with the adoption of BVLOS technology, SUA can swiftly reach a remote landslide site and calculate a three-dimensional model of the slope through aerial photographs taken, which facilitates engineers to accurately measure the area and volume of landslide debris in support of slope restoration work. In addition, under extreme weather condition, SUA can be operated to fly along designated pre-set routes to quickly see whether there are any flooding, fallen trees, or other obstructions on major highways. For routine surveys and inspections, BVLOS technology can assist in the inspections in places such as cross-sea bridges, confined spaces and elevated structures that are difficult for engineering personnel to access or visually inspect. Such technology can be regularly applied to routine operations, such as surface defect inspection of bridge structures and slope restoration works. 

     The test flights of the Regulatory Sandbox project are conducted in stages under different scenarios, at locations including Tai Po Waterfront Pier to Sam Mun Tsai, Tseung Kwan O Tunnel Road, Tseung Kwan O Cross Bay Link, Tate’s Cairn Highway, and Ap Lei Chau Bridge. These simulated flights carry out BVLOS inspections of slopes along the roads at the above locations and the related major trunk roads, with flying distances ranging from 200m to 2 000m. Among them, the HyD has already completed the trial flights at the first two test sites, with the remaining three expected to be completed in phases by the end of September 2025. read more

     Following is a question by the Hon Kwok Wai-keung and a written reply by the Secretary for Housing, Ms Winnie Ho, in the Legislative Council today (June 18):
 
Question:
 
     I have contacted a group of grass-roots households in recent months, several of whom are young people who have been waiting for public rental housing (PRH) under the Harmonious Families Priority Scheme for years. Unfortunately, their family members passed away before they were allocated PRH, leaving them to continue waiting for PRH as “non-elderly one-person applicants”. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
 
(1) of, in each year between 2022 and 2024, (i) the number of score points that non-elderly one-person applicants needed to obtain to be arranged for detailed vetting (commonly known as “being interviewed by an officer”), (ii) the respective ages of the oldest and the youngest non-elderly one-person applicants at the time when they were allocated PRH, and (iii) the quota of PRH units for allocation to non-elderly one-person applicants and its share in the total number of PRH units supplied for that year;
 
(2) as the 2024 Policy Address has proposed that the total public housing supply from 2025-2026 to 2029-2030 will reach 189 000 units, which is about 80 per cent higher than that of the first five-year period since the current-term Government took office (i.e. 2022-2023 to 2026-2027), and in the past two years, the average waiting time for PRH dropped from the peak of 6.1 years to the current 5.5 years, whether the Government has plans to increase the quota of PRH units reserved for non-elderly one-person applicants; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
 
(3) to enable non-elderly one-person applicants to consider whether they should continue waiting for PRH, whether the Government can provide them with more information on the Points System in a timely manner, such as by dividing the non-elderly one-person applicants into 10 groups evenly according to their score points and publishing the highest and lowest score points of applicants in each group, so that the applicants will know which group they are in and their waiting status, thereby helping them to assess their waiting time?
 
Reply:
 
President,
 
     The objective of the Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA) is to provide public rental housing (PRH) to people who cannot afford private rental accommodation. It is the policy of the HA to accord priority to general applicants (i.e. family applicants and elderly-one person applicants) over non-elderly one-person applicants in the allocation of PRH flats. The reply to the Hon Kwok Wai-keung’s question is as follows:
 
(1) From 2022/23 to 2024/25, the points for non-elderly one person applicants arranged for detailed vetting, the highest and lowest ages of non-elderly one-person applicants that were housed to PRH flats and the ratio of actual allocation for non-elderly one-person applicants to the actual annual allocation are set out in Tables 1 to 3 of the Annex respectively.
 
(2) In order to rationalise and prioritise the allocation of PRH to non-elderly one-person applicants, the HA implemented the Quota and Points System (QPS) since September 2005. Unlike general applicants, the priority of flat allocation to non-elderly one-person applicants is not determined by the time when the individual applicant joined the queue, but the total points accumulated by an individual applicant under QPS. The points are calculated based on the applicants’ age, their waiting time and whether they are already residing in PRH.
 
     The HA endorsed refining QPS in October 2014. Such refinements included increasing the scale of age points from three to nine points per year of age increase at the time of application to reduce the incentive for early registration; and awarding a one-off bonus of 60 points to non-elderly one-person applicants aged 45 or above so as to accord them with higher priority over other younger applicants. In addition, starting from 2015/16, the HA has also increased the annual allocation quota for non-elderly one-person applicants under QPS from 8 per cent to 10 per cent of the total number of units to be allocated to PRH applicants, subject to a cap which was increased from 2 000 to 2 200 units. Generally speaking, elder applicants will be allocated flats faster under the refined QPS. The above arrangement of increasing the cap of allocation quota has struck an appropriate balance between the needs of non-elderly one-person applicants and that of general applicants. Considering that the demand for PRH in the society remains strong currently, we have no plan to further increase the annual allocation quota for QPS at this stage.
 
     We do not encourage young people to apply for PRH early. Young people should seize their time and work hard to move up the housing ladder in accordance with their abilities. In fact, the number of non-elderly one-person applicants reduced significantly by about 40 per cent from the highest level of 143 700 as at end-December 2015 to 86 300 as at end-March 2025. During the same period, the number of non-elderly one-person applicants aged below 30 recorded a sharper decline of 57 per cent, from 74 500 to 31 700.
 
     The Government has been encouraging young people to buy their own homes through the provision of various types of subsidised sale flats (SSF). In fact, young people aged below 40 have always accounted for a large proportion of buyers of different types of SSF. For example, nearly half of the successful applicants for first-hand Home Ownership Scheme (HOS) flats are young people under the age of 40; meanwhile, around 80 per cent of the buyers of White Form Secondary Market Scheme (WSM) are under the age of 40.
 
     In the next five years (i.e. from 2025/26 to 2029/30), apart from PRH/ Green Form Subsidised Home Ownership Scheme flats, the HA and the Hong Kong Housing Society will have a supply of about 56 500 SSF. To increase the chances of young people in purchasing SSF successfully, the HA will allocate an extra ballot number to young family applicants and one-person applicants aged below 40 with white form status for the purchase of HOS flats starting from the next HOS sale exercise onwards; for the secondary market, starting from WSM 2024, the HA has also increased the quota by 1 500 to 6 000, all of which will be allocated to young family applicants and one-person applicants aged below 40.
 
(3) The priority under QPS is determined by the total points accumulated by an non-elderly one-person applicant. To enhance the transparency of information, the Housing Department (HD) publishes the latest PRH allocation status in different districts in newspapers on a monthly basis, including the lowest point for non-elderly one person applicants being arranged for detailed vetting and the lowest point for non-elderly one person applicants having accepted public housing offers in individual application district. Such information is also uploaded to the HA/HD website (www.housingauthority.gov.hk/en/flat-application/allocation-status/index.html) for applicants’ reference.
 
     In addition, “e-Services for PRH Application” (eservices.housingauthority.gov.hk/eprhas) also provides 24-hour online services for PRH applicants. Through “iAM Smart+”, applicants can submit their PRH applications, enquire about their application status, amend the application information, and change the date and time of the detailed vetting interview, etc. read more

     Following is a question by the Hon Nixie Lam and a reply by the Acting Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Mr Joseph Chan, in the Legislative Council today (June 18):
 
Question:
 
     Under the Inland Revenue Ordinance, all eligible child allowances for married couples residing together can only be claimed by one of them, and they must decide on their own who should make the claims. There are views that such arrangement may give rise to disputes within the family. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
 
(1) given that modern married couples usually share the responsibility of taking care of their children (both financially and in terms of care), of the reasons why child allowances can only be claimed by one of them at present;
 
(2) whether it has studied amending the legislation to stipulate that married couples with children may allocate child allowances equally or claim child allowances separately; if so, of the specific plan and timetable, including whether it will consider introducing a default allocation mechanism (such as allowing a choice of equal allocation of allowances or automatic allocation of allowances according to the ratio of the married couples’ incomes, empowering the Inland Revenue Department to make rulings or setting clear criteria on the priority of making claims); if it has not studied amending the legislation, of the reasons for that; and
 
(3) whether, in the absence of legislative amendments at present, the Government will consider drawing up a set of reference guidelines on child allowances, e.g. the order of claims may be handled according to the ratio of family incomes, major child-rearing roles or previous claiming practices, etc, as well as stepping up public education, so as to assist families in making proper arrangements for claiming allowances; if so, of the specific plan and timetable; if not, the reasons for that?
 
Reply:
 
President,
 
     According to Section 31 of the Inland Revenue Ordinance (Cap. 112) (Ordinance), a taxpayer for salaries tax may claim child allowance for a year of assessment if he/she maintains an unmarried child who is under 18 years old; of or over 18 but under 25 years old and receiving full time education at an educational institution; or of or over 18 years old and is, because of physical or mental disability, unable to work in that year of assessment. A taxpayer may claim child allowance for up to nine children. Starting from the year of assessment 2023/24, the allowance for each child is $130,000. An additional allowance of $130,000 is granted for a newborn child during the year of assessment of the child’s birth.
 
     My reply to parts 1-3 of the Hon Nixie Lam’s question is as follows:
 
(1) and (2) According to Section 31(3) of the Ordinance, unless a taxpayer and his/her spouse are living apart, all child allowances must be claimed en bloc by either the taxpayer or his/her spouse. Taxpayers and their spouse should jointly decide who will claim all the child allowances. This requirement was included in the Ordinance in 1989, when married persons started to be allowed to elect separate taxation or joint assessment with their spouse, and has been in force until today. The main considerations are as follows:
 
     Before the year of assessment 2003/04, the amount of child allowance was determined by the number of children claimed on a regressive basis. Starting from the year of assessment 2003/04, the 1st to the 9th child are granted with a uniform allowance. Nevertheless, the prevailing mechanism already provides sufficient options and flexibility to reduce the tax burden on married persons, and more than 60 per cent of taxpayers claiming child allowances claim for only one child. We therefore consider that there is no need to abolish the requirement that only a taxpayer or his/her spouse can claim child allowance. Currently, married persons may elect separate taxation or joint assessment with their spouse for tax savings. Having all child allowances claimed by one party or allowing both parties to separately claim allowances for individual child or children does not affect the total amount of tax payable under joint assessment. Under the current arrangement, even if married persons and their spouse do not elect joint assessment on their own initiative, the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) would still compare their tax payable under separate taxation and joint assessment. If joint assessment is found to be more beneficial to them, the IRD would invite them to elect joint assessment. In addition, the Ordinance does not require that the allowance in respect of the same child must always be claimed by the same claimant. If taxpayers and their spouse choose separate taxation, they may discuss in advance on how to claim the child allowance and flexibly arrange to claim the child allowance for different years of assessment, such as taking turns to claim in different years, to meet the needs of individual families.
 
     We find the current mechanism effective in reducing the tax burden on married persons and providing taxpayers with a flexible and convenient tax filing process, allowing them to make appropriate tax arrangements according to their family situations. There is no need to allow taxpayers and their spouse to separately claim child allowances. Currently, the IRD only apportions the child allowance based on actual circumstances for living apart or divorced cases. This arrangement helps reduce the compliance burden on taxpayers and ensure the IRD’s efficiency of tax assessment.
 
     On the other hand, as the specific circumstances and needs of each family vary, taxpayers and their spouse may have different financial and tax arrangements. We have no plans to change the current practice of the IRD generally not intervening in family matters to introduce a default allocation mechanism, as it is unlikely to meet the needs of all families.
 
     The Government will continue to review the claim arrangements and levels of various allowances from time to time, and consider whether there is room for enhancement based on various factors such as the number of beneficiaries, the Government’s financial situation, and administrative efficiency.
 
(3) The IRD currently provides frequently asked questions and guidelines on child allowances on its website. Generally speaking, it is more beneficial for the party with higher income to claim child allowance. However, if one party is assessed at standard rates, it would be more beneficial for the other party who is not assessed at standard rates to claim the allowance. The website also features a tax calculator, allowing taxpayers and their spouses to input their respective income amounts, deductions, and different allowance distribution scenarios to make the most appropriate claim arrangements. Besides, after issuing individual tax returns in May of each year, the IRD will extend the service hours of telephone enquiry to answer questions from taxpayers about completing their tax returns.
 
     Thank you, Mr President. read more