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Following is a question by the Hon Sin Chung-kai and a written reply by the Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology, Mr Joseph WP Wong, in the Legislative Council today (November 29):
Question:
In regard to helping the disadvantaged groups to overcome the digital divide so as to integrate into an information society, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the operation of the Digital Solidarity Fund since its establishment at the end of 2004, including the respective numbers of funding applications received and approved each year;
(b) whether the Government will further inject funds into the Fund; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
(c) as it is very common for modern city dwellers to make use of the Internet for searching information and mobile phones for contacting one another, whether the authorities will specify the basic monthly charges of Internet access services and mobile phone services as items of basic living expenses under the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance Scheme; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
Madam President:
(a) In order to help disadvantaged groups to catch up with the development in the IT community, the Digital Solidarity Fund (DSF) was established by the Hong Kong Council of Social Service in 2004 with the support from the Government and the commercial sector. The DSF is to provide financial support for digital inclusion programmes and engage different stakeholders in designing and implementing digital inclusion strategies. In 2005, the Government and the commercial sector contributed $1 million and $750,000 to the DSF respectively. In 2006, the Government contributed another $1 million to the DSF.
The DSF is open to applications each year. A committee comprising representatives from the Government, the commercial sector and non-government bodies is responsible for examining the applications. Each application will be examined in terms of the number of beneficiaries, innovativeness and target effectiveness, as well as the track record of the applicant. Successful applications will receive a maximum of $200,000 from the Fund.
The DSF has conducted two rounds of open invitation for financial assistance. In the first round conducted in 2005, six projects were selected out of 58 applications and the projects received $940,653 in total from the Fund. In the second round conducted in early 2006, seven projects were selected out of 59 applications and the projects received $1,134,733 in total from the Fund.
(b) The Government will first consider how effective the various projects financed by the Fund are in achieving their objectives before making any decision to make further contributions to the Fund.
(c) The non-contributory Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) Scheme is a safety net of last resort, wholly funded by the Government. It is implemented to provide income supplement to help those who are unable to support themselves financially to meet their basic needs. The current CSSA standard rates cover the expenses for food, fuel, transport and other basic necessities. Moreover, the CSSA Scheme also provides higher standard rates, special grants and supplements for the basic and special needs of the elderly, children, the disabled and those in ill health.
Assistance for basic needs under the CSSA Scheme is only part of the Government's overall strategy to help disadvantaged members in the community. The Government provides many other subsidised services, such as medical services, housing, education and other welfare services, to help people in need. In regard to the developmental needs for children, the Education and Manpower Bureau (EMB) allocated $49.3 million to collaborate with the Hong Kong Council of Social Service and launched a Computer Recycling Scheme in the school year of 2005/06 and 2006/07, aiming to enable students in financial difficulties to have equal learning opportunities and can make use of information technology at home to facilitate their studies. The Scheme provides recycled computers with one-year free broadband Internet access and maintenance service to students of Primary One to Secondary Seven who are in financial difficulties (including CSSA recipients or students nominated by school teachers or social workers). As at the end of September 2006, EMB has received about 11,000 applications.
Besides, the Social Welfare Department has a mechanism in place to revise the standard rates, special grants and supplement under the CSSA Scheme according to the movement of the price changes, including the flat-rate grant for selected items of school-related expenses. According to the findings of the 2004/05 Household Expenditure Survey on CSSA Households, the average monthly CSSA payment to CSSA households is higher than their average monthly expenditure. We believe that under the current regular adjustment mechanism, the CSSA rates and allowances are sufficient to meet the basic needs of CSSA families. But we are, as always, ready to listen to and consider the proposals of concern groups and Members and to make any necessary improvement.
Ends/Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Issued at HKT 13:19
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