Hong Kong will roll out the first stage of a pilot scheme in the next few weeks that will use data from more than 10,000 households caring for the elderly or those with disabilities to identify high-risk cases in need of extra support.

Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun Yuk-han also said on Saturday that the government would not stop bringing in foreign labour despite the catering industry recently recording a 5 per cent unemployment rate.

Appearing on a radio programme, the minister said the pilot project for the government’s scheme to use big data to identify at-risk families faster would be launched “in the coming weeks”.

The project will be launched in two phases, with the first stage using Hospital Authority data to flag if a carer has been hospitalised.

The second stage will involve using Housing Authority data to identify elderly households living in public flats that have yet to sign up for support from the Social Welfare Department.

The first stage would also focus on supporting about 10,000 low-income carers who were receiving living allowances under a scheme by the department, Sun said.