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The following is issued on behalf of the Social Welfare Advisory Committee:
The Social Welfare Advisory Committee (SWAC) today (November 2) discussed new initiatives relating to the area of welfare in the 2005-06 Policy Address.
Members of the committee were also briefed on the Government's preliminary responses to the recommendations of the Consultancy Study on Child Abuse and Spouse Battering and had some initial discussions thereon.
On the Policy Address, the chairman of SWAC, Mr Wilfred Wong, said after the meeting: "Members support the basic concepts in formulating welfare policies in that the welfare system should encourage people to help themselves and increase their resilience. We should also, through the joint efforts of all the relevant parties such as the business sector and the community, help those who are most in need.
"We hope social welfare is not just providing services to the needy but to enhance their capability for achieving self reliance.
"Members consider that the SWAC should examine social welfare policies from a broader conceptual level and make suggestions to the Government. It can thus play a more proactive role during the concept development stage as well as the initiative implementation stage."
He added that the committee supported the Government in attaching importance to the traditional core values of families. He believed that it could help reduce social problems and was conducive to developing a harmonious society.
The committee noted new initiatives on the Policy Address fell into three areas, family, the elderly and rehabilitation. Members generally supported the initiatives.
Members had put forward useful views on the new initiatives so that the details to be developed by the Government would better meet the needs of the beneficiaries, he said.
In addition, the committee discussed the concept of zero tolerance of domestic violence. Mr Wong said members supported the stance of zero tolerance towards family violence but more in-depth discussion would be needed on how to implement this concept. For instance, should we ask the police to arrest the batterer immediately? Or should we prosecute in all domestic violence cases?
Members felt that every case of domestic violence was unique and it might be better to leave it to the frontline professionals to take appropriate action as the situation warranted.
The committee also noted that the Social Welfare Department (SWD) would launch two pilot projects of batterer intervention programmes next January with a view to identifying effective treatment modalities for batterers of various backgrounds as well as serving as a reference for the objective, content and standard of future counselling programmes.
Mr Wong said the committee welcomed the launch of the pilot projects, which would provide more scientific basis for future batterer counselling services.
"The committee notes that the consultancy report has made several recommendations on handling domestic violence and legislative amendments. The committee believes that the consultant might have approached the issue of handling domestic violence and come up with the recommendations from the academic perspective. On the way forward, the Government should approach the overall policy and measures to better prevent and handle domestic violence in a pragmatic way.
"The committee understands that the Government will further study the subject and consult the committee again in due course. We hope there will be more thorough discussion in the community from which we can come up with measures that suit Hong Kong's context," he said.
The Chief Executive stated in his Policy Address on October 12 that cherishing the family was a core value of the community. The Government would allocate new resources to strengthen and extend family education, and to promote the values, ethics and individual responsibility needed for family harmony. A series of new welfare initiatives in the areas of family, the elderly and rehabilitation were also announced in the Policy Address.
SWD had earlier commissioned the University of Hong Kong to conduct a study on child abuse and spouse battering. The report was released in June this year.
The consultancy report proposed 21 recommendations on preventing and handling domestic violence.
The Health, Welfare and Food Bureau and other relevant departments have studied the recommendations and other relevant considerations to examine if there is any room for improvement to the existing legal framework.
Ends/Wednesday, November 2, 2005
Issued at HKT 18:27
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