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Alleviating Poverty
79. Poverty alleviation is a priority for the Government in the next five years. The Commission on Poverty has recently concluded its work and put forward over 50 proposals. The Secretary for Labour and Welfare will head an inter-bureau/departmental task force to oversee poverty alleviation matters. The Commission has finalised arrangements to implement some of these initiatives:
(1) A pilot Transport Support Scheme was launched in June and will be reviewed in mid-2008;
(2) Current restrictions on disregarded earnings under the Comprehensive Social Security Allowance Scheme are expected to be relaxed in December this year;
(3) Proposals to establish a Child Development Fund will be submitted later this year;
(4) The Comprehensive Child Development Service will be gradually expanded to all districts from the 2008-09 financial year; and
(5) More will be done to help the "hidden" and single elderly people integrate into the community. Additional residential care places will be provided, and community care services will be enhanced in the 2008-09 financial year.
Health Care Vouchers for the Elderly
80. We should care more about the elderly, especially their health care needs. They have made contributions to our society, and they deserve better services in return. I am pleased to announce that the Government will launch a trial scheme under which all citizens aged 70 or above will be given annually five health care vouchers worth $50 each to subsidise primary medical care services they purchase from the private sector. The vouchers can be used for services provided by Western and Chinese medicine practitioners, allied health professionals and dental practitioners, as well as for preventive services such as medical examination or vaccination, and therapeutic services. Apart from giving something back to our senior citizens, this initiative enables them to choose more freely various primary medical care services in the local community and therefore reduces the waiting time. It also seeks to encourage the elderly to make good use of primary medical care services and establish a "continuum of care" relationship with family doctors, to better safeguard their health. The health care vouchers will cost some $150 million annually. The three-year trial scheme will be subject to a full review. The Secretary for Food and Health will draw up details of the scheme, which is expected to be implemented in the 2008-09 financial year.
Care for the Elderly
81. The elderly are important members of families. Family members play a major role in taking care of the elderly. We need to strengthen mutual support among family members and improve their ability to look after the elderly. We will strengthen training for carers of the elderly and provide them with information on elderly services. We will also enhance the counselling services at district elderly community centres. In addition, we will provide more day care places for the elderly. We will increase home care services in support of families living with frail elderly people in certain districts. A trial scheme to provide one-stop support services to elderly dischargees, including rehabilitation, home care and carer support services, will be launched in Kwun Tong early next year.
82. Some elderly people live in relatively poor communities without family support. Their dilapidated homes imply poor quality of life and domestic safety problems. We will earmark one-off funding of $200 million to help improve their homes in the next five years. The Labour and Welfare Bureau will, in collaboration with the SWD, examine the arrangements to implement this measure. We hope that this initiative will encourage our citizens to care more about the elderly in need, enabling the culture of caring for the elderly to take root in our community.
Elderly Housing
83. The Hong Kong Housing Society (HKHS) has implemented a pilot Senior Citizen Residence Scheme. It has been well received. We believe that it is necessary to continue the comprehensive home care approach by expanding the scheme. The HKHS will propose new plans and locations for the elderly housing scheme on Hong Kong Island in the near future.
The Family as a Core Value
84. In welfare planning, service delivery modes are determined by the types of service recipients. The provision of social services has not been planned from a holistic family approach. Hong Kong is a predominantly Chinese community with the family as its core value. The Government should strengthen the family by formulating social policy and providing welfare services relating to the family that meet the needs of women, children, youngsters and the elderly. I announced in my last Policy Address the establishment of a Family Council. The Council will be set up this year and will be chaired by the Chief Secretary for Administration. It will implement policies and initiatives relating to family support in the next two years. From now on, supporting and consolidating the family will be the primary consideration of our social policy and social services planning, and the family will be promoted as a core social value.
Mediation Services
85. To alleviate conflicts and foster harmony, we will promote the development of mediation services. On many occasions, interpersonal conflicts need not go to court. Mediation can reduce social costs and help the parties concerned to rebuild their relationship. This is a new trend in advanced regions around the world. The cross-sector working group headed by the Secretary for Justice will map out plans to employ mediation more extensively and effectively in handling higher-end commercial disputes and relatively small-scale local disputes.
Tackling Juvenile Drug Abuse
86. Hong Kong and many other advanced cities face similar social problems, among which youth drug abuse figures prominently. A lack of awareness, coupled with peer influence and curiosity, has led many young people to believe that taking psychotropic drugs is not that serious or even trendy. Drug abuse is dangerous to health as well as a criminal offence. I am deeply concerned about the problem of juvenile drug abuse because young people are the pillars of our future. We must tackle this issue with a multi-pronged approach. Otherwise, our society will definitely pay a high price in the future. To this end, I will appoint the Secretary for Justice, the incumbent Deputy Chairman of the Fight Crime Committee, to lead a high level inter-departmental task force which will make use of the existing anti-crime and anti-narcotics networks to consolidate strategies to combat juvenile drug abuse from a holistic perspective. The task force's terms of reference covers a wide range of areas, such as preventive education and publicity, treatment and rehabilitation, law enforcement, research and external co-operation. Task force members will do their best to mobilise various government departments and the local community to tackle juvenile drug abuse.
(To be continued)
Ends/Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Issued at HKT 12:20
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