Dear Home Affairs Bureau,

Based on the LCQ7 document: Support for athletes. A question by the Hon Kenneth Lau and a written reply by the Secretary for Home Affairs, Mr Caspar Tsui, in the Legislative Council on August 18, 2021, currently there are around 1 300 elite athletes training at the HKSI, of which around 500 are full-time athletes.

We observed that the number of retired athletes participating in the RATP in the past three years and this year is constantly increasing yet still not that engaging in terms of its participation.

Q1: We would like to request some more data and information to understand the situation and existing support HKSAR have for Hong Kong athletes, and possibly make feasible suggestions to enhance the support.

1) How does the Sports Commission track a) the number of full-time athletes in Hong Kong and b) the number of full-time athletes who retire? Please provide the figures a) and b) for the past 10 years.

2) Since the launch of the programme, how many athletes had been eligible? Please provide the yearly figures (if available) and let us know how the Commission tracked the numbers of athletes that fulfill the following criteria:
a. Have retired for no more than six years by the time of making first application under the Programme;
b. Have attained secondary education;
c. Have received at least two years of training for senior athletes or full-time professional athlete; and
d. Have represented Hong Kong at least once in an international competition (including the National Games or the National Championships)

3a) Please provide numbers of the athletes that fulfill criterion c and numbers of the athletes that fulfill criterion d, respectively.

3b) Please indicate the percentage of athletes that fulfill criterion c or d that have attained secondary education respectively.

3) According to the LCQ7 document: Support for athletes , there are totally 256 retired athletes who joined RATP since its initiation in 2018. What’s the admission rate (Admitted case / Applying case)? How many among them dropped out from the programme? Please provide the yearly figures.

4) What are the other alternatives or programmes to support retired athletes’ career development, and how many athletes joined?

Q2: [Capacity] How was the funding budget for this programme determined? Was it sufficient to support the retired life of the athletes? And is there enough capacity to support them in terms of funding resources and quota system and partnership with other institutions?

1.1本計劃參加者可申請 1 個運動相關的專上教育課程學費資助，資助涵蓋課程 部分不少於半年，資助金額為該課程部份學費的 80%，上限為港幣 40,000 元。

Q3: [Feedback and evaluation]
3a. What's the key measurement for the effectiveness or the success of RATP?
3b. Are there any evaluation reports about RATP in the past three years?
3c. What’s the satisfaction rate of the participants?
3d. What are the key feedbacks from Athletes themselves who participated in the programme? Are there any particular examples?
3e. How many of them dropped out from the programme?

Yours faithfully,
Arthur, Bosco Christy, Natalie, and Simon