The Leisure & Cultural Services Department said no preferential treatment has been given to its outsourced contractor in booking facilities at sports centres.

The department made the statement in response to media enquiries regarding the booking arrangements for outsourced contractor, Spotlight Enterprises Limited, which organises fee-charging programmes at sports centres under its management.

The department said it handled all bookings for facilities in sports centres in an impartial manner.

It said all booking procedures for its sports centre facilities, including those submitted by the outsourced contractors, must be handled in accordance with the “Booking Procedure for Use of Fee Charging Recreation & Sports Facilities”.

Under the booking system, Spotlight belongs to the category with the lowest priority and can reserve recreation and sports facilities three months in advance.

If bookings from other organisations with the same priority as Spotlight are received for the same session, the allocation will be determined by balloting, the department added.

The department said Spotlight must comply with requirements specified under the contract, which only allow it to book no more than 100 hours a month and no more than 20 hours during peak periods for facilities at sports centres under its management.

The contractor is also required to submit a detailed proposal on its programmes two months in advance for the department's approval.

Spotlight has organised programmes at venues and facilities with comparatively lower usage rates including squash courts, activity rooms and dance rooms in 10 of the 14 outsourced sports centres during the current contract period.

The department also said its recreations and sports programmes promote “Sport for All” and are highly subsidised by the Government, adding it is inappropriate to compare its programme fees with those held by Spotlight.

The department will monitor the usage of the outsourced sports centres and the performance of contractors to ensure service quality.