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pool, children's pools, teaching and training pools and children's paddling pools. Most complexes are fully opened to the public at weekends and on public holidays in the summer season even though maximum possible attendance is very rarely reached. Moreover sessional attendances at less well used complexes on Mondays through Fridays, even during school holidays, rarely exceed about a third of the capacity of the whole complex. In these circumstances and in order to limit the current annual deficit on swimming pools which is about $M60, it is Council policy not to open all the pools at complexes where records show that attendance is low. But even at these less well used complexes the majority of pools are open with, generally speaking, only the main or the secondary pool closed as a direct result of the low attendance.
However, these policies are subject to annual review after the end of each swimming season and I shall ensure that Mr. CHAN and other members of the Recreation Select Committee are provided with the full attendance and other relevant figures and information before decisions are made with regard to the 1987 swimming season.
MR. JOSEPH Y. S. CHAN (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, I agree that if we want to reduce management costs and the deficit figure and if the attendance rate is not really that high, it is a good idea to open partly some swimming complexes but under some circumstances, we have agreed attendance rate for some complexes but according to the information collected by the swimmers, some pools in these complexes would not be open to them because of the shortage of lifeguards and this reason is given to them, so I would like to know whether this is the real reason and what remedial measures do we have?
(Mr. Frederick K. K. FUNG arrived at this point—2.38 p.m.)
MR. SAMUEL P. W. WONG (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, generally speaking, this was not the real reason for closing down one of the two larger pools. Based on the attendance record kept by the Department, the maximum number of swimmers that could be accommodated in one pool is between three to four hundred. For the very popular swimming complex, in the hot summer days there were adequate swimmers to warrant the operation of both the main and the secondary pool. In very rare circumstances where there was a shortage of life-guards on duty, say due to sick leave etc., we might have to close one of the larger pools for safety reasons. This would very rarely occur.
2. MR. JOSEPH Y. S. CHAN asked the following question (in Cantonese):—In view of the safety of small children, would Urban Council do some efforts to restrict people from bringing children in large number to beaches for swimming instruction?
MR. SAMUEL P. W. WONG, CHAIRMAN OF THE RECREATION SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows (in Cantonese):—The question asks whether the Urban Council will restrict people from bringing children in large numbers to beaches for swimming instruction.
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Council will restrict people from bringing children in large numbers to beaches for swimming instruction.
Beaches are public places. Generally speaking they each have a great many access points. In practice, therefore, it would be quite impossible for USD beach staff to restrict entry effectively or to ensure that commercial swimming lessons were not conducted from beaches.
Learning to swim from Hong Kong Island beaches is inherently more dangerous than learning to swim in swimming pools. It is obviously preferable, therefore, for large numbers of children to be taught, in groups, in Urban Council swimming pool complexes where facilities exist for this purpose. Indeed, organizations which have large numbers of children in their care may wish to ensure that they have rules which prohibit the taking of such children to public beaches for the purposes of swimming instruction.
This year the Council is providing learn-to-swim courses for 27,000 beginners, including 21,000 children and teenagers. Next year we plan to do even more and we shall continue to publicise the availability of these courses and, in conjunction with the Committee on Safety in Outdoor Pursuits, continue to promote public awareness of the need for caution when sea bathing.
MR. JOSEPH Y. S. CHAN, (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, I agree with Mr. WONG concerning some of the information he provided but we do see the following situation happening; that is we have a lot of organizations or voluntary agencies organizing swimming courses for children during summer holidays. Usually when they would like to rent Urban Council pools, their applications were turned down and that is why they have no alternative but to go to beaches. Of course, we know that learning to swim from the island beaches is dangerous for children. Of course it is impossible for us to restrict them from going to the beaches but can't offer some help to these organizations so that they can more conveniently use Urban Council venues for these learn-to-swim courses which are held mainly for children and by doing so will be able to help them to promote safety.
MR. SAMUEL P. W. WONG (in Cantonese):—As all our training pools were fully booked in the whole swimming season, it would be rather difficult to entertain other organizations or voluntary agencies. However, we are currently looking into ways and means to increase our training facilities, e.g. the possibility of using the shallower end of the secondary pools etc. and we might be able to give Mr. CHAN some good news before the swimming season starts next year.
3.
MR. LAM CHAK-PIU asked the following question (in Cantonese):—Recently it is reported in the press that swimmers have complained that swimming pools under the management of the Urban Council are very often only partially opened and the free pools for children are closed because of a shortage of staff. How is the Council going to resolve this problem? I understand that a pilot scheme
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pool, children's pools, teaching and training pools and children's paddling pools. Most complexes are fully opened to the public at weekends and on public holidays in the summer season even though maximum possible attendance is very rarely reached. Moreover sessional attendances at less well used complexes on Mondays through Fridays, even during school holidays, rarely exceed about a third of the capacity of the whole complex. In these circumstances and in order to limit the current annual deficit on swimming pools which is about $M60, it is Council policy not to open all the pools at complexes where records show that attendance is low. But even at these less well used complexes the majority of pools are open with, generally speaking, only the main or the secondary pool closed as a direct result of the low attendance.
However, these policies are subject to annual review after the end of each swimming season and I shall ensure that Mr. CHAN and other members of the Recreation Select Committee are provided with the full attendance and other relevant figures and information before decisions are made with regard to the 1987 swimming season.
MR. JOSEPH Y. S. CHAN (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, I agree that if we want to reduce management costs and the deficit figure and if the attendance rate is not really that high, it is a good idea to open partly some swimming complexes but under some circumstances, we have agreed attendance rate for some complexes but according to the information collected by the swimmers, some pools in these complexes would not be open to them because of the shortage of lifeguards and this reason is given to them, so I would like to know whether this is the real reason and what remedial measures do we have?
(Mr. Frederick K. K. FUNG arrived at this point-2.38 p.m.)
MR. SAMUEL P. W. WONG (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, generally speaking, this was not the real reason for closing down one of the two larger pools. Based on the attendance record kept by the Department, the maximum number of swimmers that could be accommodated in one pool is between three to four hundred. For the very popular swimming complex, in the hot summer days there were adequate swimmers to warrant the operation of both the main and the secondary pool. In very rare circumstances where there was a shortage of life-guards on duty, say due to sick leave etc., we might have to close one of the larger pools for safety reasons. This would very rarely occur.
2. MR. JOSEPH Y. S. CHAN asked the following question (in Cantonese):-In view of the safety of small children, would Urban Council do some efforts to restrict people from bringing children in large number to beaches for swimming instruction?
MR. SAMUEL P. W. WONG, CHAIRMAN OF THE RECREATION SELECT Committee, replied as follows (in Cantonese):-The question asks whether the Urban
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Council will restrict people from bringing children in large numbers to beaches
for swimming instruction.
Beaches are public places. Generally speaking they each have a great many access points. In practice, therefore, it would be quite impossible for USD beach staff to restrict entry effectively or to ensure that commercial swimming lessons were not conducted from beaches.
Learning to swim from Hong Kong Island beaches is inherently more dangerous than learning to swim in swimming pools. It is obviously preferable, therefore, for large numbers of children to be taught, in groups, in Urban Council swimming pool complexes where facilities exist for this purpose. Indeed, organizations which have large numbers of children in their care may wish to ensure that they have rules which prohibit the taking of such children to public beaches for the purposes of swimming instruction.
This year the Council is providing learn-to-swim courses for 27 000 beginners, including 21 000 children and teenagers. Next year we plan to do even more and we shall continue to publicise the availability of these courses and, in conjunction with the Committee on Safety in Outdoor Pursuits, continue to promote public awareness of the need for caution when sea bathing.
MR. JOSEPH Y. S. CHAN, (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, I agree with Mr. WONG concerning some of the information he provided but we do see the following situation happening; that is we have a lot of organizations or voluntary agencies organizing swimming courses for children during summer holidays. Usually when they would like to rent Urban Council pools, their applications were turned down and that is why they have no alternative but to go to beaches. Of course, we know that learning to swim from the island beaches is dangerous for children. Of course it is impossible for us to restrict them from going to the beaches but can't offer some help to these organizations so that they can more conveniently use Urban Council venues for these learn-to- swim courses which are held mainly for children and by doing so will be able to help them to promote safety.
MR. SAMUEL P. W. WONG (in Cantonese):—As all our training pools were fully booked in the whole swimming season, it would be rather difficult to entertain other organizations or voluntary agencies. However, we are currently looking into ways and means to increase our training facilities, e.g. the possibility of using the shallower end of the secondary pools etc. and we might be able to give Mr. CHAN Some good news before the swimming season starts next year.
3.
MR. LAM CHAK-PIU asked the following question (in Cantonese):- Recently it is reported in the press that swimmers have complained that swimming pools under the management of the Urban Council are very often only partially opened and the free pools for children are closed because of a shortage of staff. How is the Council going to resolve this problem? I understand that a pilot scheme
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