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2025
Secretary for Labour & Welfare Chris Sun today announced the official launch of a guide for mandated reporters' reference on child protection. The Mandatory Reporting of Child Abuse Ordinance, which mandates 25 categories of specified professionals from the social welfare, education and healthcare sectors to report serious child abuse cases, will commence on January 20, 2026, to create a wide and effective protection web for children. As such, the Government formed three professional consultative panels in each of these sectors in early 2024 for formulating the guide. Addressing the guide's launch ceremony, Mr Sun said that the three professional consultative panels comprise cross-disciplinary professionals. He noted that their professional exchanges on different cases not only have assisted in establishing a list of key factors that mandated reporters should take into consideration before deciding whether a report is necessary under different scenarios, but also laid an important foundation for the decision trees in the guide, which further helps mandated reporters make reporting decisions and serves as a practical reference for mandated reporters. The welfare chief said that an electronic system of the decision trees has also been specially developed by the Social Welfare Department to assist mandated reporters in making an analysis of the case scenarios in a swift and convenient manner only by answering simple questions. He added that the electronic system will also direct those cases that need mandatory reporting to the reporting page to ensure mandated reporters can make a report as soon as practicable. The features of the guide were introduced at the ceremony. A demonstration of the workflow of the electronic version of the decision trees to be rolled out was also featured. While formulating the guide, the professional consultative panels discussed 650 case scenarios and questions collected from their sectors in 33 focus group meetings. The valuable advice gathered from the 540 frontline professionals participating in these focus group meetings became a helpful and important reference for the professional consultative panels to finalise the details of the guide. The Government will roll out Module 2 of the online learning course for specified professionals in phases starting from next week, covering basic knowledge on the legal and reporting matters related to the ordinance, including the key content of the ordinance, a brief introduction to the guide, analysis of common scenarios, reporting procedures and post-reporting follow-up.
The Government is carefully studying the judgment handed down by the Court of First Instance on the judicial review concerning the provisions on segregation of the sexes under the Public Conveniences (Conduct & Behaviour) Regulation, and is seeking legal advice and considering lodging an appeal. The Environment & Ecology Bureau made the statement today, noting that members of the public must continue to use public toilets according to the principle of segregation of the sexes to avoid contravening the relevant laws. In the judicial review, the Court of First Instance ordered that provisions related to segregation of the sexes under the aforesaid regulation shall be struck down, and suspended the execution of the order for 12 months to allow the Government time to address the matter of transgender individuals with gender identity disorder using Food & Environmental Hygiene Department’s public toilets. The bureau said the establishment of sex-segregated public toilets under the regulation aims to protect the privacy and safety of the public when using public toilets and to reflect social norms and expectations, an arrangement that has been widely accepted by society. Currently, public toilets under the department’s purview are categorised into sex-segregated public toilets and gender neutral public toilets. Sex-segregated toilets follow the segregation of the sexes under the regulation. Concurrently, gender-neutral toilets are available near about half of the number of sex-segregated toilets. They include "Accessible Toilets" and "Unisex Toilets", available for use by all members of the public including transgender individuals.
The Working Family & Student Financial Assistance Agency today said Police arrested a total of six people for allegedly defrauding or intending to defraud the agency, involving an amount of about $30,000. The agency had recently conducted a joint operation with Police to combat fraudulent acts by those seeking to obtain the Working Family Allowance (WFA) illegally. The agency's Working Family Allowance Office, when processing WFA applications in April, detected suspicious documentary proof relating to employment and income submitted by some applicants. The agency swiftly reported the incident and referred the cases suspected of using false documents to Police for investigation. After a thorough investigation, Police recently carried out an operation and arrested a total of six people so far for allegedly defrauding or intending to defraud the agency. The agency will continue to render full assistance to Police in the investigation and recover the overpaid allowances from the relevant persons as appropriate in a timely manner. The agency pointed out that it scrutinises every WFA application in a stringent manner and has established a mechanism to identify and guard against fraud cases. It added that it will continue to examine WFA applications in a stringent manner to ensure the proper use of public funds. People are urged not to defraud the agency. The WFA Scheme aims to support low-income working households. Applicants are required to submit documentary proof of working hours, income and assets to the agency for assessing their eligibility. Anyone obtaining the WFA by deception will be disqualified for the WFA and are liable to a maximum penalty of 14 years' imprisonment.
The Police Force’s National Security Department (NSD) has laid a holding charge after arresting an 18-year-old local man over the alleged writing of seditious words in the toilet of a commercial building on three occasions. The charge involves one count of committing an act or acts with seditious intention and three counts of criminal damage. The case was due to be mentioned at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts this afternoon. The man was arrested on Monday in Kowloon in relation to acts committed with seditious intention, in contravention of the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance. The seditious words concerned involve provoking hatred, contempt or disaffection against the constitutional order and the executive, legislative or judicial authority of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, as well as inciting other persons to break the laws of the Hong Kong SAR. Police reminded members of the public that committing any act with seditious intention is a serious offence, and that offenders are liable to imprisonment for seven years on first conviction. It urged members of the public not to defy the law.
The Correctional Services Department said that in accordance with the law, it declined a visitor who is not on the declared visitors list of a person in custody (PIC) for a visit this morning. According to the established mechanism, visitors must be declared on the PIC's declared visitors list. The Prison (Amendment) Rules 2025 came into effect last Friday. The department has not invoked Rule 48 of the Prison Rules to prohibit any person from conducting visits, nor has it imposed restrictions or conditions on any visits.
Secretary for Justice Paul Lam, in his capacity as the chair of the sub-group on Belt & Road development under the Steering Group on Integration into National Development, will lead Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government officials in attending the eighth “Joint Conference on Advancing Hong Kong's Full Participation in & Contribution to the Belt & Road Initiative”, due to be held on Thursday in Beijing. The other officials attending include Secretary for Commerce & Economic Development Algernon Yau, Secretary for Development Bernadette Linn, Permanent Secretary for Commerce & Economic Development Maggie Wong, Under Secretary for Financial Services & the Treasury Joseph Chan and Under Secretary for Innovation, Technology & Industry Lillian Cheong. During his stay in Beijing, Mr Lam and Law Officer (International Law) in the Department of Justice James Ding will visit the State Council’s Hong Kong & Macao Affairs Office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to report on the progress of the Department of Justice’s major policy initiatives, including relevant work on the International Organization for Mediation and promoting Hong Kong’s position as an international legal and dispute resolution services centre. Mr Lam will also visit the Ministry of Commerce to exchange views on matters of mutual interest. He will return to Hong Kong on the afternoon of July 24. During Mr Lam’s absence, Deputy Secretary for Justice Cheung Kwok-kwan will be Acting Secretary for Justice. In Mr Yau’s absence, Under Secretary for Commerce & Economic Development Bernard Chan will be Acting Secretary for Commerce & Economic Development. During Ms Linn’s absence, Under Secretary for Development David Lam will be Acting Secretary for Development.
With Tropical Storm Wipha approaching Hong Kong, Chief Secretary Chan Kwok-ki chaired a meeting of the steering committee on inter-departmental handling of typhoons this afternoon to ensure comprehensive and adequate preparations and response planning by the Government. At the meeting, members were briefed by the Director of Hong Kong Observatory on the latest assessments of Wipha. According to the present forecast, Wipha will enter within 800km of Hong Kong around midnight tonight, at which point the Hong Kong Observatory will issue the Standby Signal No. 1. It will consider issuing the Strong Wind Signal No. 3 during the day tomorrow. As Wipha comes close to the vicinity of the Pearl River Estuary on Sunday, there will be heavy squally showers and thunderstorms. The observatory will assess, on Saturday afternoon, the need for issuing higher tropical cyclone warning signals. The public is advised to pay close attention to weather forecasts and warnings from the Observatory. The Chief Secretary co-ordinated preparatory work by relevant departments in view of possible adverse weather conditions. The Security Bureau’s Emergency Monitoring & Support Centre will be fully activated upon the issuance of Tropical Cyclone Warning Signal No. 8. Leveraging the Common Operational Picture, the centre will conduct real-time citywide monitoring, and integrate updates from various departments to swiftly assess risks and formulate response plans and measures. Various emergency response teams will be on standby to handle possible emergencies. The Transport Department’s Emergency Transport Co-ordination Centre will work with public transport agencies to closely monitor traffic and transport conditions, and will disseminate emergency traffic information and public transport service arrangements. Meanwhile, the Development Bureau is responsible for co-ordinating preparatory work to deal with flooding, landslides and fallen trees, and to ensure the safety of building structures. Emergency control centres in various departments are fully prepared to respond. The Drainage Services Department (DSD) today completed a special inspection and carried out necessary clearance at about 240 locations which are prone to flooding due to blockages. For coastal low-lying or windy residential areas at high risk, the DSD and the Civil Engineering & Development Department have advance management measures in place. These include early warning systems and emergency response arrangements. The Geotechnical Engineering Office and the Hong Kong Observatory closely monitor weather conditions and will issue a landslip warning when appropriate. Relevant departments have completed inspections of government man-made slopes which have relatively higher potential impacts. Additionally, the Highways Department (HyD) inspected again the flood warning systems installed at Kwun Tong Road Underpass and 16 pedestrian subways along Shing Mun River in Sha Tin, Lam Tsuen River in Tai Po, and Tai Po River, from July 16 to 18, to ensure normal operation. In collaboration with the DSD, the HyD carried out special inspections and clearance of public road sections which are prone to flooding due to blockages. It also inspected and cleared the drainage channels at roadside man-made slopes. District Offices have also initiated response measures, including co-ordinating with other departments and organisations to enhance preparedness, and preparing sandbags and water-stop boards. They will also mobilise District Council members, members of the “three committees”, and the District Services & Community Care Teams, to disseminate the latest weather information to residents in flood-prone areas.