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Following is a question by the Hon James To Kun-sun and a written reply by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, in the Legislative Council today (January 27):
Question:
Some social welfare organisations (SWOs) have relayed to me that they are unable to provide better services for the public because the floor areas of their facilities are insufficient. In this connection, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council:
(a) of the current number of facilities of SWOs under the Social Welfare Department (SWD) for children, youth and the elderly, which fail to comply with the floor area requirements laid down in the Hong Kong Planning Standards and Guidelines (broken down by the categories mentioned in the Guidelines), as well as the reasons for non-compliance;
(b) of the current number of government properties which are vacant or with a vacancy rate over 80%; among the properties with a vacancy rate over 80%, the number of those which belong to SWD, and whether SWD has applied for converting such properties to other uses; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
(c) whether they have assessed if the "big envelop for operating expenditure" arrangement (ie the arrangement under which government departments have to bear the operating expenditure of their public works) has impeded SWD and other government departments in applying for "government, institution and community facilities" sites and converting vacant government properties to other uses; if the assessment result is in the affirmative, what improvement measures the Government has put in place; if the assessment result is in the negative, of the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
The planning and use of Government land/premises straddles a number of policy areas falling under the purview of different Government bureaux and departments. The Administration's co-ordinated reply to the three parts of the question is set out below:
(a) One of the functions of the Hong Kong Planning Standards and Guidelines (HKPSG) is to assess the land requirements for community use. With an increasing urban population and the shortage of suitable flat land, residential density in Hong Kong is relatively higher than in other places. Against this background, the Government will correspondingly strengthen the provision of community facilities, such as schools, hospitals and social welfare facilities etc, in conducting district planning. In determining the scale of provision of and the standard areas for these community facilities, the Administration will take into account the growth or concentration of population in a given area.
The Social Welfare Department (SWD) provides a wide range of facilities for different sectors of the community, including children, youth, the elderly and persons with disability etc. Some of these facilities are provided in the welfare blocks of community centres, while others are accommodated in public housing estates, private / joint-user buildings. The Administration plans and determines the floor area requirements for the relevant welfare facilities based on a number of factors such as population, demographic characteristics, geographical factor, service provision and demand etc. Nevertheless, these floor area requirements are for general reference only. The Administration will apply them flexibly, taking into account the actual circumstances.
At present, SWD has not conducted any survey on welfare service units not meeting the floor area requirements recommended by the HKPSG. We believe that most of the units are able to meet the relevant standards. As to cases not meeting the planning requirements, they are attributable to a number of reasons. For instance, some organisations may choose to set up service units in specific locations in view of service demand and distribution of service users, though these locations may not be entirely up to the planning standards. There may also be individual service units which require extra space owing to service expansion and are awaiting reprovisioning or setting up of sub-bases.
We are aware that there is a strong demand for social welfare services in the community. SWD has been actively identifying suitable sites for the provision of welfare facilities in different districts so that NGOs may operate new subvented services or reprovision/expand their existing services. If individual organisations experience accommodation shortfall owing to enhancement/expansion of existing subvented services, SWD will, on a case-by-case basis, assist them in searching for appropriate sites to reprovision the relevant facilities, or set up sub-bases, to address the shortfall problem.
(b) Currently, eight government properties under the purview of the Government Property Agency are wholly vacant or have a vacancy rate of over 80%. These properties are temporarily vacant for various reasons, including the property pending or being considered for demolition, redevelopment or refurbishment. As for premises under SWD's purview, the former O Pui Shan Boys' Home is the only one with a vacancy rate of over 80%. SWD is now actively considering converting the premises into welfare facilities.
(c) The Government adopts the "operating expenditure envelope" resource allocation approach for the purpose of providing individual Bureau Directors with more flexibility to redeploy resources among their relevant bureaux and departments for the delivery of policy objectives and services. Where necessary, departments can apply for sites, convert properties or seek additional funding for meeting the operating expenses of proposed additional services.
In general, departments may, having regard to their needs, apply for and be provided with additional resources to cover operating expenditure arising from major public works projects. The "operating expenditure envelope" approach does not in itself affect a department's application for Government, Institution and Community sites or converting vacant government properties in accordance with the established mechanism.
Ends/Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Issued at HKT 15:08
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