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Following is a question by the Hon Leung Che-cheung and a reply by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, in the Legislative Council today (December 5):
Question:
Quite a number of the retired elderly people have relayed to me that they cannot benefit from most of the current welfare measures for the elderly as they have not reached the age of 65. Since they no longer have any income, their life after retirement is harder than before. Some of them wish to rejoin the workforce so as to improve their livelihood and lead a more gratifying life, but the Government provides no support for re-employment of the elderly. On the other hand, the Labour and Welfare Bureau and the Elderly Commission have, since 2007, implemented the Elder Academy Scheme to encourage lifelong learning and continued contribution to society among the elderly. Regarding the measures for promoting respect for the elderly and fostering a sense of worthiness among them, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) given the different minimum age requirements for the target beneficiaries of various current elderly welfare measures (eg the age eligibility requirements for the concessionary rate of the admission fee for public swimming pools, the $2 transport fare concession scheme as well as the vaccination subsidy scheme for the elderly, and the elderly health care vouchers are 60, 65 and 70 respectively), of the factors taken into consideration by the Government in setting the minimum age requirements for the target beneficiaries of various elderly welfare measures; whether it will review the age requirements for those measures and standardise them at the age of 60; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
(b) whether it will formulate a policy for assisting the re-employment of the retired elderly aged 60 to 64, such as providing subsidies or tax concessions to private enterprises and public organizations employing the elderly; and
(c) of the number of elderly people who participated in the Elder Academy in the past five years, and whether the number had reached the original target set by the authorities; of the measures taken by the Government to encourage lifelong learning and participation in volunteer work among the elderly?
Reply:
President,
My reply to the question raised by the Hon Leung Che-cheung is as follows:
(a) The Government's overall objective is to provide appropriate assistance and concessions to meet the needs of our citizens, and ensure the proper use of public resources. Since the nature, aim and target recipients may vary across various assistance and concession schemes, different age requirements and eligibility criteria may apply. Such arrangement is also applicable to the formulation of the various welfare schemes for the elderly. We have no plan to standardise the age requirements under the various schemes.
(b) On employment support, the Labour Department (LD) has all along been providing a comprehensive range of employment services free of charge to help job seekers find work. Special counters have been set up in all job centres of LD to provide priority registration and referral service for job seekers aged 50 or above. At the same time, LD implements the Employment Programme for the Middle-aged to encourage employers to employ job seekers aged 40 or above. Participating employers will be paid a training allowance at $2,000 per month for a period of three to six months if they employ these job seekers and provide them with on-the-job training.
Meanwhile, according to the Inland Revenue Ordinance (Cap. 112), all outgoings and expenses including expenditure incurred on the employment of labour, to the extent to which they have been incurred by the taxpayer in the production of chargeable profits, are all allowed as deductions in calculating the taxpayer's assessable profits.
(c) To promote lifelong learning among the elderly, the Labour and Welfare Bureau (LWB) and the Elderly Commission (EC) have been jointly implementing the Elder Academy (EA) Scheme since 2007. In the 2012-13 school year, there are altogether 110 EAs in primary and secondary schools and tertiary institutions throughout the territory. In the past five years, the EAs had provided about 54,000 learning places for elders in total. In 2009, the Government allocated $10 million to set up the Elder Academy Development Foundation for the sustainable development of the EA Scheme. Apart from subsidising the establishment of EAs, the Foundation had also allocated funds in the past three years to support the promotion, curriculum development and extra-curricular activities of the EA Scheme. Work in this regard will continue.
Apart from the EA Scheme, LWB has been collaborating with the EC to promote active ageing at the community level. Since its inception in 2008, the Neighbourhood Active Ageing Project (NAAP) has been encouraging people of different ages to serve as volunteers to care for elders. In addition to reaching out to hidden elders and promoting the message of care and love for the elderly, the NAAP provides an opportunity for elders to act as volunteers and use their talents to serve the community. A new phase of the NAAP was launched in April this year, and 69 district projects are being carried out in different parts of the territory. The new phase aims at fostering harmonious family relations and enhancing neighbourhood support networks, which ties in with the "Love And Respect Thy Elders" Campaign of the Family Council.
As at the end of October 2012, more than 136,000 persons aged 60 or above had registered as volunteers with the Social Welfare Department, accounting for 12.7% of the total number of volunteers so registered. LWB and the EC will continue to promote a sense of worthiness amongst our elders and encourage them to actively take part in community affairs.
Ends/Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Issued at HKT 12:32
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