​Following is a question by the Hon Leung Man-kwong and a written reply by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Chris Sun, in the Legislative Council today (April 1):
      
Question:
 
     Currently, under the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) Scheme, recipients aged 65 or above who are single or living in a family with other family members who cannot take care of him/her may apply to the Social Welfare Department (SWD) for a special grant to cover the one-off installation fee or monthly service charges of an Emergency Alarm System (EAS) (commonly known as "Safety Bell"). With advances in gerontechnology, various smart sensing devices equipped with proactive detection functions have emerged on the market, which can automatically trigger an alarm when an elderly person is unable to press a button. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
 
(1) of the number of CSSA recipients receiving an EAS Grant in the past three years;
 
(2) whether the authorities know the number of cases in which assistance was sought through EAS in each of the past three years, with a breakdown by nature of assistance sought (such as emergency medical transport to hospital and non-emergency support services);
 
(3) whether the authorities know the average time taken by the 24-hour call centres of various EAS service providers from receiving a distress signal to answering the call and dispatching the appropriate services;
 
(4) whether, in the past three years, the authorities have compiled statistics on the number of cases in which elderly persons living alone with an EAS installed were unable to actively press the button to seek help due to an accident, ultimately resulting in delayed rescue or even death; among such cases, of the proportion of those in which the elderly persons were found collapsed at home only after police or fire services personnel had forced entry into the units, as compared with the total number of units with an EAS installed; if the authorities have not compiled such statistics, whether they will consider establishing a mechanism to assess service blind spots;
 
(5) whether the current scope of subsidies provided by SWD covers "contactless" intelligent accident detection systems now available on the market, such as AI-powered millimetre-wave fall detectors or smart door sensors; if not, whether the authorities will consider expanding the subsidy coverage; and
 
(6) given the various new types of sensor systems now available on the market, whether the authorities will formulate uniform certification standards to ensure that such products meet the relevant requirements?
 
Reply:
 
President,
 
     The Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) Scheme provides a safety net of last resort for people who cannot support themselves financially due to old age, ill-health, disability, single parenthood, unemployment, low-earnings or for other reasons to help them meet their basic needs. The CSSA Scheme provides a wide range of special grants, including the grant for emergency alarm system (EAS Grant), to meet the different special needs of recipients. 
      
     The EAS Grant is applicable to all emergency alarm systems available in the market. The EAS Grant is either $100 maximum per month or $2,500 maximum on a one-off basis. From 2023-24 to 2025-26, the number of CSSA recipients receiving the EAS Grant is set out below:
 

Year	Number of CSSA recipients receiving the EAS Grant
2023-24	26 653
2024-25	25 543
2025-26 (As at end December 2025)	25 053

     
     The Social Welfare Department (SWD) does not designate any service providers, systems or certification standards for the EAS Grant. CSSA recipients can select suitable emergency alarm systems and services according to their needs. The SWD does not maintain records regarding the use of relevant services by the EAS Grant recipients and therefore are unable to provide the information requested in parts (2), (3) and (4) of the question.
      
     To strengthen the support for carers and promote the use of gerontechnology, the Labour and Welfare Bureau and the SWD launched in March 2026 a two-year pilot scheme on Installation of Intelligent Accident Detection Systems for High-Risk Households, installing, on a pilot basis, intelligent accident detection systems for no fewer than 300 high-risk carer households, including singleton and doubleton elderly households, as well as households with persons with disabilities. The pilot scheme leverages smart technology, striving to instantly detect, early intervene and promptly assist carers or care recipients who unfortunately encounter home accidents. The pilot scheme is sponsored by HKEX Foundation and participating households of the pilot scheme will be exempted from all fees. The Government has commissioned Hong Kong Shue Yan University to evaluate the effectiveness of the pilot scheme for reference for continuous implementation, adjustments, or improvements of the measure in future.

Ends/Wednesday, April 1, 2026
Issued at HKT 11:42

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