8 -
"Principals of concerned schools are advised to contact the District Education Offices or works departments should they have any enquiries in connection with slope safety.
"The Education Department is well aware of their concerns and will render support in conjunction with other government departments, whenever possible," he said.
End
Bill to improve quality of childminding services
A Bill which seeks to prohibit unsuitable persons from acting as childminders and to improve the quality of care for children in child care centres will be published in the Gazette on Friday (June 14).
Entitled the Child Care Centres (Amendment) Bill 1996, it also proposes to exempt mutual help child care centres from certain controls under the Child Care Centres Ordinance.
Commenting on the proposed amendments, a spokesman for the Health and Welfare Branch said today (Wednesday) that at present, there was no control over childminding activities where care was provided to fewer than six young children under the age of six.
In recent years, incidents have occurred in which babies and young children have suffered serious neglect or physical abuses from their childminders.
A full registration system for childminders would be very cumbersome to administer and, if made compulsory, would greatly reduce the number of people willing to offer such services.
"Being left unattended is a much greater and more common risk for babies and young children than being abused by a childminder.
"After careful deliberation, we concluded that the most appropriate form of control would be to prohibit unsuitable persons from acting as childminders," the spokesman said.
Page 10Page 11
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.