Chief Secretary Chan Kwok-ki today chaired the 14th meeting of the Commission on Children, during which members received a briefing on the recommendations for improvement to residential child care services.

Chairing the commission’s meeting for the first time, Mr Chan said the Government would make the best effort to harness the combined strengths of various bureaus and departments and team up with different sectors and professions in order to safeguard children’s well-being and build a pro-child Hong Kong.

At the meeting, members were briefed by the Social Welfare Department on the Interim Report of the Committee on Review of Residential Child Care & Related Services, a first-phase review that focused on the services of Residential Child Care Centres (RCCCs) and Residential Special Child Care Centres for children under six years of age.

Members noted that the review committee had made 31 recommendations for improvement in the areas of service quality, service regulation and monitoring, and service planning.

Among others, the recommendations include introducing a registration mechanism for superintendents, and applying new technologies to the closed-circuit television system in RCCCs to promptly identify any improper behaviour by staff.

Members were also consulted on a proposal to mandate designated professionals to report suspected child abuse cases to the relevant government authorities’ specified categories of child abuse or neglect cases.

They noted that the Labour & Welfare Bureau has started the relevant legislative work, and stakeholder engagement sessions on the proposal will be organised in September.