****************************************
Following is a written reply by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, to a question by the Hon Frederick Fung on provision of maternity Protection in the Legislative Council today (November 14):
Question:
Under the Maternity Protection Convention, 2000 (Convention 183) enacted by the International Labour Organization, female employees shall be entitled to a period of maternity leave of not less than 14 weeks and they should be allowed to take nursing breaks for breast-feeding their babies. Moreover, in some places, supporting measures are provided on various fronts (e.g. parental leave) to facilitate employees who are parents in taking care of their children. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) whether it has reviewed if the existing 10-week period of statutory maternity leave should be extended; if so, of the outcome of the review; if not, the reasons for that; and whether it will extend the duration of statutory maternity leave to 14 weeks in accordance with the provision of the above-mentioned Convention;
(b) of the latest respective percentages of babies who are breast-fed before their discharge from hospitals and those who have been breast-fed continuously for four and six months after their discharge from hospitals; given that the above-mentioned percentages of babies who were breast-fed continuously in 2004 were only 25% and 17% respectively, which were lower than the global averages of 45% and 36% respectively, whether it will study the introduction of nursing breaks for breast-feeding, and require employers to provide the relevant facilities (such as baby-sitting rooms), so as to facilitate female employees in breast-feeding their babies and milking;
(c) whether it has reviewed the supporting measures currently available to working parents, and whether these measures are sufficient in comparison with those in other places; if it has, of the outcome of the review; if it has not, the reasons for that; and whether it will follow the practice of other places to provide working parents with support on various fronts, including the provision of parental leave; and
(d) whether it will consider taking the lead in providing civil servants and non-civil service contract staff with parental leave and 14 weeks of full-pay maternity leave, as well as nursing breaks for breast-feeding and the relevant facilities, so as to promote its policy of encouraging enterprises to adopt family-friendly measures?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) Under the existing provisions of the Employment Ordinance (EO), a pregnant employee is entitled to 10 weeks' maternity leave if she has been employed under a continuous contract immediately before the commencement of maternity leave. With the agreement of her employer, the employee may choose to commence her maternity leave two weeks before the expected date of confinement and take the remaining maternity leave after she has given birth. Such flexibility in taking maternity leave enables an employee to have more time for breast-feeding and recuperation after confinement. If the employee prefers to have a longer period of rest before confinement, or if she fails to reach an agreement with her employer on the commencement date of her maternity leave, she can commence her maternity leave four weeks before the expected date of confinement and take the remaining maternity leave after giving birth. If the employee encounters health problems before or after delivery, the employer shall allow her to take an additional period of leave for up to four weeks.
We are of the view that the provisions on maternity protection in the EO have afforded comprehensive protection to pregnant employees in various aspects, including provisions governing the duration and the taking of maternity leave, maternity leave pay, employment protection and preservation of the health of pregnant employees etc. These provisions have also struck a reasonable balance between the interests of both the employers and the employees. The Administration presently has no plan to extend the duration of statutory maternity leave. In assessing whether amendments should be made to the relevant legislative provisions, the Administration will take into consideration the local socio-economic situation and whether there is wide consensus across different sectors.
(b) For the babies born in Hong Kong in 2006, 70% of them were breastfed before their discharge from hospitals, and 30% and 23% of them were continuously breastfed for 4 months and 6 months respectively after their discharge from hospitals.
The Department of Health is committed to promoting, protecting and supporting breastfeeding. It also encourages and supports mothers to breastfeed their babies through different means. Breastfeeding rooms or areas are made available according to needs in public hospitals, clinics and some government premises frequented by the general public. In general, they offer seating, washing basin and electric outlet (for breast pump). We will discuss with other government departments and the private sector on how to further promote breastfeeding.
The Labour Department (LD) has been promoting the adoption of employee-oriented good people management practices among employers. To help employees attain work and family life balance, LD has been actively encouraging employers through various publicity channels to address the needs of employees and flexibly adopt various family-friendly employment practices, amongst which is the provision of appropriate facilities and work arrangements to cater for the breastfeeding needs of female employees.
(c) The Administration subsidises non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to provide a wide range of day child care services. Regular services are provided at standalone child care centres and child care centres co-located with kindergartens. The Social Welfare Department (SWD) also subsidises these child care centres to operate extended hours service and occasional child care service to support parents who are unable to take care of their children because of long working hours and unforeseen circumstances, etc. Moreover, through the Community Investment and Inclusion Fund, we assist members of the community in developing mutual help networks to support needy families by providing services such as child care.
The Administration is aware that because of the need to work shifts and other reasons, some parents are unable to take care of their children outside the regular opening hours of the various child care services. To address their needs, we will step up efforts in promoting more responsive neighbourhood mutual help child care services. In addition to providing financial incentives to Mutual Help Child Care Centres to enhance their services in the evenings, at weekends and on holidays, SWD has also been subsidising foster homes to provide non-residential day care service since October 2007. Within 2007-08, some small group homes will start offering day care places.
Apart from subsidising child care services, SWD also operates or subsidises 61 Integrated Family Service Centres and two Integrated Services Centres throughout the territory. They provide a continuum of preventive, supportive and therapeutic welfare services, including family life education, parent-child activities, referrals to receive different child care services, etc., to individuals and families in need.
The Government will continue to act as a facilitator and partner with the business community and non-governmental organisations to promote different family-friendly employment practices to help employees balance work and family commitments.
(d) At present, if a civil servant is recommended by a medical practitioner to take maternity leave in excess of 10 weeks, she may be allowed to take unpaid maternity leave at the end of her full-pay maternity leave, or may opt to take her earned paid leave before proceeding on to maternity leave without pay. In fact, the vast majority of civil servants have accumulated a considerable balance of untaken leave which can be used for meeting personal needs that may arise during the year, including taking care of family members. As regards Non-Civil Service Contract (NCSC) staff, they are not civil servants and their terms and conditions should remain distinct from those applied to civil servants. It is the Government's established policy that the employment terms of NCSC staff should be no less favourable than those provided for under the Employment Ordinance and no more favourable than those applicable to civil servants in comparable civil service ranks or comparable levels of responsibilities. The Government currently has no plan to extend the full-pay maternity leave, make available breastfeeding breaks and related facilities, and introduce parental leave for civil servants and NCSC staff.
Ends/Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Issued at HKT 11:41
NNNN
