Author Archives: hksar gov

Attention TV/radio announcers: Please broadcast the following as soon as possible and repeat it at regular intervals:      Here is an item of interest to swimmers.      The Leisure and Cultural Serv… read more

     The Government received a total of 2 847 requests for information under the Code on Access to Information in the second quarter of 2021, a spokesman for the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau said today (December 31).

     The total number of requests received since the introduction of the Code in March 1995 and up to the end of June 2021 amounted to 94 375. Of these, 5 378 requests were subsequently withdrawn by the requestors and 4 754 requests covered cases in which the bureaux/departments concerned did not hold the requested information or cannot confirm or deny the existence of information. As at June 30, 2021, 420 requests were still being processed by bureaux/departments.

     Among the 83 823 requests which covered information held by bureaux/departments and which the bureaux/departments had responded to, 81 166 requests (96.8 per cent) were met, either in full (78 916 requests) or in part (2 250 requests), and 2 657 requests (3.2 per cent) were refused.

     Any member of the public who is dissatisfied with the response of a bureau/department under the Code may request that the matter be reviewed. He or she may also lodge a complaint with the Ombudsman.

     In the second quarter of 2021, the Ombudsman received 23 complaints relating to requests for information. In this quarter, the Ombudsman concluded 20 complaints, among which one was partially substantiated, three were unsubstantiated, 13 were concluded by inquiries, and three were assessed and closed. As at June 30, 2021, the Ombudsman’s investigations on 24 complaints were ongoing.

     “The Code has provided an effective framework for the public to seek access to information held by the Government,” the spokesman said. read more

     Seventy-two convictions were recorded in November 2021 for breaches of legislation enforced by the Environmental Protection Department.      Two of the convictions were under the Air Pollution Control Ordinanc… read more

     â€‹The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department today (December 31) released the findings of its food safety report for last month. The results of about 6 800 food samples tested were s… read more

     The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) concluded the second round of this year’s anti-rodent operations in designated target areas in all districts on December 24. The operations effectively enhanced the rodent prevention and control work at the district level. During the operations, the FEHD strengthened rodent control work at problematic spots such as rear lanes, refuse collection points, markets, hawker bazaars, cooked food markets and peripheral areas of construction sites. The FEHD placed poisonous baits at 9,366 locations, placed 26,309 traps and plugged 518 rat holes, with 871 dead rodents collected and 1,010 rodents caught in traps.

     An FEHD spokesman said, “The FEHD launched the eight-week anti-rodent operations in designated target areas on November 1, with multi-pronged strategies including improving environmental hygiene and stepping up rodent disinfestation and enforcement actions to carry out targeted rodent prevention and control work in the districts. The FEHD also conducted a trial by including an enhanced version of the anti-rodent operations in designated target areas for the first time in Sham Shui Po, Wan Chai and Yuen Long to expand the scope of rodent control, so as to cover more rodent black spots, including those in public markets and municipal services buildings, hawker bazaars and rear lanes adjacent to food premises, and to conduct large-scale and targeted anti-rodent operations. FEHD staff also enhanced street cleaning services and cleaning of public markets and hawker bazaars in the target areas including sweeping and washing of streets and rear lanes, and clearing of refuse and waste on the streets, in public markets and at hawker bazaars so as to keep the environment clean.”

     The FEHD also stepped up public education and publicity, and arranged 134 health promotion and publicity activities for building management companies of private buildings, persons-in-charge of food premises and market and hawker stall operators to provide information and technical advice on rodent prevention and control.

     “In addition, the FEHD stepped up inspections of markets, hawker bazaars, cooked food markets and food premises. Enforcement actions especially against premises causing poor environmental hygiene conditions, food preparation and scullery at rear lanes, and improper storage of articles and illegal dumping of refuse were strengthened. During the eight-week operations, the FEHD conducted 20,226 inspections and issued 2,801 health advisories, 1,306 verbal warnings, five warning letters and 1,059 fixed penalty notices, and took out 103 prosecutions.”

     The spokesman said that to optimise the effectiveness of the rodent prevention and control work, the first phase of the territory-wide anti-rodent campaign will start on January 3, 2022, and will last for 10 weeks to strengthen the collaboration of departments and raise the public awareness of rodent prevention. He called on all sectors of the community to continue to participate in the campaign and eliminate the three fundamental survival conditions of rodents in their daily life, namely food, harbourage and passages, i.e. the elimination of the food sources and hiding places of rodents as well as blockage of their dispersal routes, so as to work together to combat the rodent problem. read more