XN000022-1995-07-05 — Page 3

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"As a member of the Cabinet Sub-Committee on Hong Kong, Mr Rifkind knows the Hong Kong issue and has been involved in a number of crucial decisions affecting Hong Kong policy in recent years.

"I look forward to visiting London later this month to meet the new Foreign Secretary and to take the opportunity to discuss Hong Kong issues in detail with him."

End/Wednesday, July 5, 1995

Transcript of the Governor's media session after visiting treatment centre

The following is a transcript of the media session by the Governor, the Rt Hon Christopher Patten, after visiting the Hei Ling Chau Drug Addiction Treatment Centre today (Wednesday):

Governor: This is another of the visits I've been making to follow up our summit on drugs. We are determined to continue to give the beat drugs campaign all the support that's necessary. I'm pleased to have seen what's being done by the Correctional Services Department on Hei Ling Chau. As you will know this particular centre is a reflection of the growing problem among young people. The centre's been opened for a year and I think it's doing a very good job in coping with drug abuse among youngsters. But there's a problem with older men and women as well. So, the activity that was already going on here is also extremely important. We'll be publishing later this week our first quarterly progress report on our action plan on dealing with drugs. And, next week, the Government will be responding to ACAN's comments on the various recommendations and proposals that came forward at the submit we had at Hong Kong University a few months back. So we are trying to move forward on all fronts and in the autumn we should be in a position I think to make some more concrete proposals on the funding of activities. But obviously that's being looked at in the context of our overall review of public spending this summer. But I'm pleased to have seen once again what an excellent Correctional Services Department we've got. They have a very good success rate in their work with drug abusers but obviously there have been concerns expressed about following up what happens after the first 12 months. That may well be an area of research which we'll need in due course to look

at.

Question: here?

In the immediate term, what's going to be done to alleviate over-crowding