Acting Deputy Secretary for Health, Welfare & Food Vincent Liu says the Government has an open mind on setting up designated zones for hawkers, but their impact on shops and the publicmust be considered.

Speaking on radio talk shows today, Mr Liu said there are more than 7,000 licensed hawkers and about 2,000 illegal ones. The Government gets about 1,000 complaints about hawkers each month.

He stressed the Government has adopted a flexible approach to handle illegal hawkers provided that food and environmental hygiene is not compromised.

Illegal hawkers usually get a warning from Food & Environmental Hygiene Department staff before the Government takes enforcement action. Those found in black spots are prosecuted without warning, though.

Finding suitable places may be difficult

On establishing designated zones for hawkers, Mr Liu said the relevant district councils will explore the feasibility and make recommendations. He admitted their may be difficulties in finding suitable places and past experiences showed the effect of such designated zones is not satisfactory.

Deputy Director of Food & Environmental Hygiene Annette Lee reiterated safety of staff, the public and hawkers is of paramount importance in all enforcement actions. She stressed no quotas have been set for hawkers' prosecutions, adding the number of prosecutions is not an assessment criteria of staff performance.

To boost staff's ability to handle crises and incidents, the department will launch a training course in August. A list of illegal hawking black spots will be tabled to district councils for their reference. Staff may be in plain clothes when collecting evidence or doing site inspections, but only those in uniform will make arrests, she added.