************************************
Following is a question by the Hon Lee Wing Tat and a written reply by the Secretary for the Civil Service, Miss Denise Yue, on the employment of disabled persons in the Legislative Council today (March 29):
Question:
Will the Government inform this Council, in the form of the following table, of the employment of people with disabilities in government departments and public organisations as at the end of each of the past three years?
Government Public
departments organisations
No. of No. of No. of No. of
full part full part
-time -time -time -time
employees employees employees employees
--------- --------- --------- ---------
Persons
with
Down's
Syndrome
Mentally
-handicapped
persons
Visually
-impaired
persons
Hearing
impaired
persons
Physically
disabled
persons
Discharged
mental
patients
The chronically
ill
Total number of
employees with
disabilities
Percentage of
employees with
disabilities in
the total number
of employees
Reply:
Madam President,
With regard to government employees with disabilities, the information required is set out below:
Government Departments
Number of full-time/part-time
employees(Note 1)
as at as at as at
31.12 31.12 30.6
2003 2004 2005
(Note 2)
------ ------ --------
Mentally 31 29 32
-handicapped
persons
(Persons with (0) (0) (0)
Down Syndrome
Visually 562 581 571
-impaired
persons
Hearing 323 328 333
impaired
persons
Physically 1 801 1 847 1 868
disabled persons
Discharged 282 288 279
mental patients
Persons with 369 355 377
visceral disability
(Note 3)
Others(e.g. 27 24 18
autism,
speech impairment)
(Note 3)
Total number of 3 395 3 452 3 478
employees with
disabilities
Percentage of 1.67% 1.76% 1.79%
employees with
disabilities in
the total number
of employees
Note 1: In collecting statistics on government employees with disabilities, no differentiation is made between full-time and part-time employees. The figures therefore cover part-time employees including auxiliary service members.
Note 2: With effect from mid-2005, we collect statistics on government employees with disabilities on an annual basis as at March 31 of each year instead of on a bi-annual basis as in the past. For 2005, the latest figures show the position as at June 30, 2005.
Note 3: We do not keep figures on chronically-ill government employees. On the other hand, we collect figures on government employees with "visceral disabilities" and "other disabilities". In order to show the complete picture of employees with disabilities in the Government, figures on these two groups are also presented.
With regard to the employment of disabled persons in public organisations, the latest available and relatively comprehensive figures were obtained from a survey conducted by the Health, Welfare and Food Bureau (HWFB) from November 2003 to April 2004, which showed that 36 public organisations (as listed in the Annex) employed a total of 794 disabled employees at the time. That survey did not collect breakdown figures by disability types.
Within the limited time available, HWFB has obtained the following figures on employment of disabled persons (including full-time and part-time employees) from the Hospital Authority and Hong Kong Airport Authority:
Hospital Authority and
Hong Kong Airport Authority
Number of full-time/part-time employees
as at as at as at
31.12 31.12 31.12
2003 2004 2005
------ ------ ------
Mentally 1 1 1
-handicapped
persons
(Persons with (0) (0) (0)
Down Syndrome)
Visually 111 104 103
-impaired
persons
Hearing 24 22 25
impaired
persons
Physically 462 610 786
disabled persons
Discharged 54 61 69
mental patients
Persons with 39 58 70
visceral disability
Others (e.g. 3 3 4
autism,
speech impairment)
Total number of 694 859 1 058
employees with
disabilities
Ends/Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Issued at HKT 15:45
NNNN
