An investigation conducted by the Hong Kong Examinations & Assessment Authority has concluded there is no evidence of widespread cheating during the HKCEE English examination held on May 4, the authority's Secretary-General Dr Peter Hill says.

However, the investigation suggests there was likely a single case of mobile-phone access from Hong Kong to the Internet during the examination hours, he added.

After the English Language (Syllabus B) examination held on May 4, many students suggested naming websites in the question paper might tempt candidates to cheat by going to the washroom during the examination and accessing the site using mobile phones.

Speaking at a press conference today, Dr Hill said the authority will, with the cooperation of the Police and the Office of the Telecommunications Authority, continue the investigation to establish whether any further action is warranted.

He said the authority has written to the Internet service provider to obtain the information about the person involved in the case.

Investigations found that this person had visited the website twice, the first time for 14 minutes and the second time for three and a half minutes, separated by an interval of 30 minutes.

He said it is quite unusual for a candidate to spend such a long time surfing on the Internet during an examination.

However, he stressed  the authority will treat the suspected cheating case seriously and hoped the issue could be resolved before the release of HKCEE results in August.

Dr Hill said as the issue is not of a significant magnitude, there is no need for any re-sit of the examination, nor is there any need to cancel the marking of any particular part of the paper.

However, in view of public concern, the authority will:

* review the administrative feasibility and implications of banning all telecoms devices in exam venues in consultation with the school sector;

* continue to investigate the use of technical devices to detect telecoms equipment to enhance invigilation; and

*continue the acknowledgement of the sources of materials quoted in exams, but change the format of such acknowledgement following a review with the HKEAA's Council.

He said the authority has no plan to make cheating a criminal offence. However there may be a need to give greater powers to exam centre staff to enable them to properly carry out their duties.

In addition, the authority may need a greater capacity to obtain personal information to aid investigations of suspected cheating cases.

In response, Secretary for Education & Manpower Professor Arthur Li said the investigation results have indicated the overwhelming majority of Hong Kong students are honest.