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Following is a written reply by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, to a question by the Hon Mrs Anson Chan on the livelihood protection for women not in employment in the Legislative Council today (March 12):
Question:
At present, the retirement protection afforded by the Mandatory Provident Fund Scheme does not cover women not in employment. Yet, these women often play a vital role in the family, such as taking care of elderly or disabled family members, thereby alleviating the burden on the society. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:
(a) it has formulated any specific plan or policy to provide livelihood protection for women at old age who are not in employment; if it has not, of the reasons for that; and
(b) it has conducted any study (including making reference to overseas practices) on introducing a "carers' allowance"; whether it will consider granting such allowance to women not in employment who are carers in recognition of their contributions to the society; if it will not, of the justifications and relevant factors of consideration?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) Under the current social security and welfare system, the Government has been providing different forms of livelihood protection and support for elderly women who did not engage in employment. At present, elders in financial difficulties, regardless of gender, can apply for financial assistance under the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) Scheme. There are also other forms of financial assistance such as the Old Age Allowance (OAA) and the Disability Allowance (DA) to help Hong Kong residents meet their special needs arising from old age or disability. Elders aged 70 or above are not subject to a means test when they apply for the OAA. The DA is open to applicants of all ages and entirely non-means-tested. Moreover, the Government provides a wide range of subsidised services for those in need (including women not in employment) such as public housing, medical services, education and social welfare services.
As at end-January 2008, there were some 500,000 CSSA recipients, over 470,000 OAA recipients and 120,000 DA recipients. Of these, women accounted for 52.4%, 55.3% and 52.2% respectively. There were around 200,000 CSSA old age recipients, and 52.4% of them were women.
Apart from providing support through the social security system, the Government has all along attached importance to meeting the service needs of women from different backgrounds and has been reviewing and re-engineering its services with a view to enhancing their efficiency and effectiveness. For instance, the Government provides diversified services to women of different backgrounds through the Integrated Family Service Centres and elderly centres in the districts.
(b) The Government has been promoting mutual family support and highly appreciates the contribution made by women not in employment who take care of the elderly, children or disabled members in their families.
To alleviate the burden of family carers, the Government has been providing them with a wide range of support services. For example, in the Budget just released, the Financial Secretary announced that the Government would provide $45 million over the next three years to strengthen day foster care services and promote various types of child care services that offer greater flexibility. The Capacity Building Mileage Programme initiated by the Women's Commission also offers courses related to child development and care, elderly health and care, home safety, etc. to enhance the capability of women who are also family carers. On support for the carers of persons with disabilities, the Social Welfare Department has provided various community support services for persons with disabilities and their family members / carers to strengthen the caring capacity of the family members / carers and relieve their stress, thereby enhancing the life quality of all the parties concerned. Besides, any person who is certified to be severely disabled by the Director of Health or the Chief Executive of the Hospital Authority and is in need of constant attendance from others in his / her daily life will be entitled to the Higher Disability Allowance (except those who are receiving institutionalised services).
For women who take care of elders at home, the Government provides a range of services to facilitate elders to age in the community and to relieve carers' pressure. These services include day care services and home-based services for elders in need. In terms of day care services, Day Care Centres for the Elderly provide elders with personal care, nursing care, rehabilitation exercises, meals, recreational activities and transport service, etc. For home-based services, depending on the elder's condition, the scope of services may include personal care, nursing care, domestic cleaning, rehabilitation exercises, meal delivery, home environmental risk assessment and homemaking, etc. In addition, elderly centres throughout the territory provide support to carers by offering information, training and counselling services, helping them with the formation of mutual assistance groups, setting up resource corners, and giving demonstration and loan of rehabilitation equipment. All subvented and contract residential care homes for the elderly and Day Care Centres also provide relief to carers through their residential / day respite services.
To further enhance the ability of family members in taking care of elders, the Government launched the District-based Trial Scheme on Carer Training (the Scheme) in October 2007. Under the Scheme, 11 District Elderly Community Centres (DECCs) in three districts were each provided with seed money of $50,000 to organise carer training programmes for the neighbourhood (including women who are not in employment) in collaboration with community organisations. The DECCs would also organise "carer" services by arranging trainees to temporarily stand in for the carers of elders.
In the past ten years, the expenditure on CSSA and Social Security Allowance has increased sharply from $13.9 billion in 1997-98 to the revised estimate of $24 billion in 2007-08, representing an increase of 72.9%. In order to maintain a simple tax system and to direct limited public resources to those most in need, we must be prudent in considering any suggestion on introducing new allowance under the existing social security system. We need to ensure the sustainable development of the social security system which is non-contributory and funded entirely by general revenue. We should also consider the implications of the challenge of a rapidly ageing population on various expenditure items of the Government.
Ends/Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Issued at HKT 11:46
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