*************************************************
The Chief Secretary for Administration, Mrs Carrie Lam, and the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, together with Non-official Members of the Executive Council and Members of the Preparatory Task Force on the Commission on Poverty, held a consultation session with local academics this afternoon (August 22) to listen to their analysis on the poverty situation in society and views on government measures in alleviating poverty.
The academics who attended the consultation session hold expertise in different fields such as public administration, social work, sociology, economics and statistics. They expressed views on various related issues. Suggestions were made at the meeting that the Government should collate and release more data on the population, household income and expenditure to enable the academic sector to conduct in-depth analyses and empirical studies on the poverty problem.
"Today's meeting was the final consultation session held by the Preparatory Task Force on the Commission on Poverty. The Chief Executive suggested in his manifesto that the reinstated Commission on Poverty would undertake an overall review on the ways in which poverty manifests itself and their underlying causes, and would conduct comprehensive and in-depth study of strategies and measures that address various forms of poverty. Therefore, we are very pleased that the academics have shared with us their views on local poverty issues over the years and the relevant experiences overseas. We also hope that they will continue to provide their valuable opinions, which will help the Government to decide on its policies based on evidence and to put forward concepts for comprehensive and consistent strategies," Mrs Lam said.
Ends/Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Issued at HKT 20:56
NNNN
