The Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Law Chi-kwong, today (22) attends the last Legislative Council meeting before the government re-election.
During the period, some MPs asked whether the government is setting up a mechanism to compulsorily report child abuse cases and whether it has considered extending it to elder abuse cases.
Law Chi-kwong responded that it was a matter of priority. Since the expansion of the scope may have a great impact, I believe the government will continue to discuss it in the future.
Law Chi-kwong, Secretary for Labour and Welfare.
(file picture)
Member of the Election Committee, Mr. Jiang Yuhuan, raised an oral question and asked about the service quality of residential care homes for the elderly, including the inspections of residential care homes for the elderly, the improvement of the environment, and the code of practice for nursing staff.
Law Chi-kwong emphasized that the government attaches great importance to the service level of residential care homes. The Licensing Office of Residential Care Homes for the Elderly within the Licensing and Regulation Division of the Social Welfare Department will carefully review the performance of residential care homes.
In his speech, DAB Chen Yong first thanked Law for his work in the past few years, and reminded the bureau that in the fifth wave of the epidemic, elderly care homes are the hardest hit areas, and the service quality of the homes must be improved.
Law Chi-kwong pointed out that the government proposed to amend the law earlier to delineate the area of private institutions, and hoped that members would give more opinions at that time.
Tian Beijun from the Real Politics Roundtable asked whether the government would study compulsory reporting of elder abuse, and questioned that even if there were inspections of institutions, no one would be punished in the end.
Law Zhiguang said that it is a "priority timetable" issue. It is true that in addition to children, there are some vulnerable people such as the disabled and the frail elderly who need to be taken care of. However, if the scope of the ordinance is further expanded, the impact will be greater, so The government's priority is to be children first. I believe the government will continue to discuss the issue of expansion in the future.
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