Following is a question by Professor the Hon Alex Fan and a written reply by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Chris Sun, in the Legislative Council today (October 28):

Question:

     In 1983, the Law Reform Commission of Hong Kong (LRC) recommended introducing Community Service Orders (CSOs) as a form of sentence in Hong Kong. The recommendation was implemented in 1984 through the Community Service Orders Ordinance (Cap. 378) (the Ordinance). Under the Ordinance, a court may order a person of or over 14 years of age and convicted of an offence(s) punishable with imprisonment to perform unpaid work for a number of hours not exceeding 240 hours within a period of 12 months. Over the years, the Community Service Orders Scheme (the Scheme) has provided the courts with a sentencing alternative to imprisonment, enabling offenders to turn over a new leaf while giving back to society. Information from the Social Welfare Department (SWD) indicates that the SWD conducted a total of 2 371 social enquiries for the Scheme in the 2024-2025 financial year. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(1) of the figures relevant to CSOs for the past three years (financial years 2022-2023 to 2024-2025) (set out in the table below);

Table 1

Item	2022-2023	2023-2024	2024-2025
Number of Suitability Reports for CSOs prepared by SWD probation officers
Number of cases assessed as suitable for a CSO
Number of cases in which a CSO was imposed by the court
Average hours for which CSOs were imposed by the court, and number of cases in the following categories:
(i) 60 hours or less
(ii) 61-120 hours
(iii) 121-180 hours
(iv) 181-240 hours
Number of cases with successfully completed CSOs
Number of cases with uncompleted CSOs, and those among them with CSOs revoked due to a breach of the CSO requirements

Table 2 Imposition of CSOs by type of offence
Year:

Type of offence	Number of cases in which a CSO was imposed	Average hours for which CSOs were imposed	Number of cases
			60 hours or less	61-120 hours	121-180 hours	181-240 hours
e.g.: (i) Shoplifting
e.g.: (ii) wounding and serious assault
e.g.: (iii) Serious drug offences
……
Total

(2) whether statistics have been compiled on the recidivism rate following completion of CSOs; if so, of the details; if not, whether consideration will be given to compiling such statistics and publishing the data on a regular basis to facilitate assessment of the effectiveness of the Scheme;

(3) given that, in its 1983 report, the LRC recommended against imposing a CSO on a mentally-ill person, of the considerations currently taken by the SWD for an individual with poor mental health when assessing the suitability of an offender for a CSO; and of the number of offenders assessed as unsuitable for a CSO primarily due to mental health reasons in the past three years;

(4) given that quite a number of overseas jurisdictions have successively refined similar regimes (for example, the upper limit on unpaid work hours is 300 hours both in England and Wales and in Scotland, and the Imposition of community and custodial sentences guideline issued by the Sentencing Council for England and Wales even categorises unpaid work hours into three tiers, i.e. 40-80 hours, 80-150 hours and 150-300 hours, based on the seriousness of offence), whether the Government will draw on overseas experience to examine the upper limit on the number of hours, establish guidelines on the number of hours based on the seriousness of offence, and incorporate elements such as training and treatment into CSOs; if so, of the expected time for commencement of the aforementioned examination; if not, the reasons for that; and

(5) given that the Ordinance has been in force for over 40 years since 1984, whether the Government has conducted a comprehensive review of the CSO regime; if so, of the details; if not, whether it will consider conducting a comprehensive review to ensure that the CSO regime is advancing with the times to suit current social conditions; if so, of the expected time for its commencement; if not, the reasons for that?

Reply:

President,

     Community Service Order (CSO) is a community-based sentence pursuant to the Community Service Orders Ordinance (Cap. 378) (the Ordinance). According to the Ordinance, the court may order a person who is aged 14 or above and convicted of an offence that is punishable by imprisonment, to perform unpaid community work under a CSO, which specifies a number of hours, not exceeding 240 hours, of unpaid community work to be completed within 12 months. Having consulted the Security Bureau, the response to the question is as follows:

(1) and (3) Under the CSO Scheme, as directed by the court, Probation Officers of the Social Welfare Department (SWD) would submit a social enquiry report, to assess whether an offender is suitable for serving the CSO as well as the offender's rehabilitation needs, having regard to the nature of offence, the offender's background, physical and mental health, family support, the feasibility of fulfilling the CSO, and past work experience, etc, for the court's reference in determining the sentence.

     Regardless of the offender's mental health condition, Probation Officers would consider the aforementioned factors in making a recommendation to the court as to whether a CSO should be made. The SWD does not maintain the number of the cases that are assessed to be unsuitable for a CSO due to mental health issues.

     Relevant figures of CSO cases in the past three years are tabulated at Annex.

(2) The Government does not keep data on recidivism rate upon completion of CSOs and currently has no plan to conduct related research. 

(4) and (5) The SWD implements the CSO Scheme under the framework of the Ordinance, to arrange suitable unpaid community work for offenders put under a CSO. When the CSO is made by the court, the Probation Officer will arrange unpaid community work for the offenders, and provide suitable training depending on the respective work requirements, as well as supervise, guide and counsel the offenders put under the CSO, to strengthen their law-abiding awareness and assist them in re-integrating into society.

     Where necessary, the SWD would review the nature of various unpaid community work. In addition to considering factors including the required knowledge and skills, degree of safety, whether the privacy of offenders can be protected, and the alignment with the objectives of the CSO, it is also necessary to ensure that offenders can gain work experience and skills in the course of service, so as to broaden their horizons, as well as reach out to and help people in need. These are to enable offenders to gain satisfaction, build a positive, constructive and meaningful life, thereby creating a positive impact in the society and themselves.

     The Government considers that the CSO Scheme is currently operating smoothly, and is effective in assisting the court in making community-based sentencing decisions. The Government will continue to monitor the operation of the Scheme, and will review, as appropriate, whether there is a need to study further optimisation of the community-based sentencing framework.

Ends/Wednesday, October 28, 2026
Issued at HKT 11:35

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