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Following is a question by the Hon Audrey Eu and a reply by the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today (May 16):
Question:
Marriage between Mainlanders and Hong Kong residents is getting popular. Not only do men in Hong Kong marry Mainlanders, the number of Hong Kong women with Mainland spouse is also on the increase. It is reported that, in 2006 alone, there were about 34 500 such marriages registered in either the Mainland or Hong Kong. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) in respect of housing, whether, under the current public housing policy, a family formed by a Hong Kong resident and his/her Mainland spouse is considered as a unit and whether this is taken as one of the factors for consideration in allocating public rental housing to them; if it is the case, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
(b) in respect of healthcare services, whether the Hospital Authority, in determining its service charges, has considered the needs of families formed by Hong Kong residents and their Mainland spouses, such as obtaining additional fee concessions or applying for fee waivers; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
(c) in respect of children's rights, whether the Government has information on the number of children aged 11 or below born to Hong Kong residents and their Mainland spouses, their place of residence and schooling situation; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; whether the Government has studied the impact of such marriage on the development of the children; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
Madam President,
The number of marriages registered in Hong Kong where either the husband or wife is a Mainlander has increased from about 2 600 in 1997 to 21 400 in 2006 (provisional figures). Over the same period, the number of successful applications for Certificate of Absence of Marriage Record (CAMR) from the Immigration Department for the purpose of getting married in the Mainland has decreased from about 27 900 in 1997 to 13 100 in 2006 (provisional figures). As those successful applicants of CAMR may not get married eventually, the gross figure above could only serve as a rough indicator of the grand total of marriages between Hong Kong residents and Mainlanders.
Public housing and medical services are scarce public resources. To allocate limited public resources appropriately, the Government will determine the application eligibility and/or service fees according to the residence status of the applicants or service users and their length of residence in Hong Kong when providing these services.
(a) Under the prevailing policy, Waiting List (WL) applicants and their family members must be residing in Hong Kong and have the right to land in Hong Kong without any conditions of stay. For Hong Kong residents whose spouses and/or children are living on the Mainland and have not been given approval to settle in Hong Kong, they may apply for public rental housing (PRH) as single persons. If their Mainland spouses and/or children enter Hong Kong with one-way permits for settlement while they are still waiting for PRH under the WL, they may apply for addition of family members in their applications. Their applications will then be changed from one-person applications to ordinary family applications. They do not have to wait afresh after addition of family members in their applications. Part of the waiting time spent for their single-person applications will be carried forward and counted as the waiting time for their ordinary family applications.
In respect of the residence requirement, at the time when an application is due for allocation of PRH flat, at lease half of the family members in the application must have lived in Hong Kong for seven years and are still living in Hong Kong. However, for family members under the age of 18, as long as they are born in Hong Kong, or one of their parents has lived in Hong Kong for seven years, they are deemed to have fulfilled the seven-year residence requirement. Children who have reached the age of 18 would be so deemed only if they themselves have lived in Hong Kong for seven years.
Existing PRH tenants may apply for addition of their Mainland spouses and/or children in their tenancies once their spouses and/or children have settled in Hong Kong. In case of overcrowding as a result of the addition of family members, they may apply for transfer to larger flats in accordance with the prevailing procedure.
(b) Our public healthcare services are provided primarily for the benefits of Hong Kong residents. For rational use of public resources, eligibility for heavily subsidised public healthcare services is restricted to holders of Hong Kong Identity Card or children under 11 years of age who are Hong Kong residents. Persons not holding a Hong Kong Identity Card, i.e. Non-eligible Persons (NEPs) may access public healthcare services in Hong Kong by paying the specified charges applicable to them (NEP charges).
The current subsidy level of our public healthcare services is over 95% and this involves a huge amount of public funds. As such, it is necessary for the Government to impose appropriate requirements on the eligibility for the services so as to ensure the long-term sustainability of our public healthcare system in the interests of the local public.
(c) The Government attaches priority to children's well-being. As regards welfare services, they are provided to all families in need. At present, the Integrated Family Service Centres (IFSCs) across the territory provide a continuum of preventive, supportive and therapeutic welfare services to people in need, including couples in marriages between Mainlanders and Hong Kong residents, as well as their children living in Hong Kong. The IFSCs will assess the situation and problems of the children, and provide them with appropriate services to cater for their needs according to different stages of their development. The services include family life education, parent-child activities, various types of support groups, counselling and referral services.
For families which are unable to take care of their young children as the parents are separately residing in the Mainland and Hong Kong or due to other social reasons, social workers will refer the families to receive various types of child care services in accordance with their needs.
In addition, using the Maternal and Child Health Centres as the platform, the Comprehensive Child Development Service seeks to identify children in need or at-risk pregnant women or families for early intervention. The service covers needy families formed by marriages between Mainlanders and Hong Kong residents and their children.
Children whose one of their parents is a Mainlander, with right of abode and permanently residing in Hong Kong enjoy the same public services as the children born to parents who are local residents. We collect statistics relevant to the planning of public services on a need basis. For example, the Education and Manpower Bureau conducts annual survey on children from the Mainland newly admitted to primary or secondary schools in Hong Kong. The schooling information will facilitate the formulation of relevant service strategies. Moreover, the Immigration Department collects data on the demographic and social characteristics of one-way permit holders (OWPHs) when they first enter Hong Kong via the Lo Wu control point. To identify their profile and needs, the Home Affairs Department conducts regular surveys on new arrivals from the Mainland who are aged 11 or above and who have arrived in Hong Kong for less than one year when they apply for their Hong Kong Identity Cards at the Registration of Persons Office which handles such applications for OWPHs. No study has been conducted on the impact of marriages between Mainlanders and Hong Kong residents on the development of children. That said, the Government will make every effort to meet the development needs of those children who have the right of abode and choose to settle in Hong Kong.
Thank you, Madam President.
Ends/Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Issued at HKT 12:16
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