Secretary for Labour & Welfare Chris Sun said today that a database on carers will be rolled out in the coming weeks, allowing the Government to use data to identify families at risk at an earlier stage.

At a media session following an appearance on a radio programme this morning, Mr Sun said the pilot scheme will start with beneficiaries of the “Scheme on Living Allowance for Low-income Carers of Persons with Disabilities”, which assists thousands of families at higher risk.

“An example is if the carer has been admitted into hospital. Under our new pilot scheme, a message would be given from the Hospital Authority to the Social Welfare Department signaling that the said family is now at risk, so that we can reach out to it to provide necessary respite service or home service to make sure those being taken care of (are) receiving proper care.”

Separately, the labour chief iterated that the Enhanced Supplementary Labour Scheme is designed to ensure that local workers are given priority for employment.

Employers are required to prove that they are unable to recruit enough workers locally before the Government will consider applications for the importation of labour, he added.

“Once an employer put up an application, first of all they have to recruit locally for four weeks. That is a very vigorous process.

“They have to interview every local worker (who) applies for the job. Even if he or she is not employed, the Labour Department will give them a call to make sure that they have not been mistreated. If we found out during that process that the local workers have the willingness to work and somehow the employer has not been treating him or her in a fair manner, this would possibly result in the rejection of the application for importation of labour for that employer.”