Secretary for welfare Chris Sun on Saturday said it’s not necessary to disclose every violation that happens at care homes, saying it depends on the severity of individual incidents.

The Social Welfare Department has issued warnings to 15 care homes for persons with disabilities, in the past year.

One of them was issued to Hong Chi Association in August, which operates a care home in Tai Po.

A 38-year-old staff member from the facility has been charged on suspicion of sexually assaulting two residents while on duty.

The case was confirmed by the Social Welfare Department on Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters, Sun said the standard procedure for the department is to upload the issuance of warnings to its website.

He said it’s not necessary to share details of every case to the public.

“It depends on the severity of individual violations as well as social awareness. These are judgments we need to make. For example, regarding the Hong Chi case, of course we think the incident was serious, and society is highly concerned, so we believe it’s necessary to explain to the public the details of the case,” he said.

“Some other violations are really about technical problems. For such violations, we just follow procedures that we think are suitable.”

Sun reiterated that he doesn't think it's wrong to delay the announcement for two months, adding that officials want to make sure the alleged victims and their families are in a stable emotional state and will not experience further harm.