******************************************************
Following is a question by the Hon Frankie Yick and a written reply by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, in the Legislative Council today (January 8):
Question:
Since January 2013, the Social Welfare Department (SWD) has commissioned 26 non-governmental organisations to implement the Integrated Employment Assistance Programme for Self-reliance (IEAPS). IEAPS aims to encourage and assist able-bodied Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) recipients aged 15 to 59 to secure employment, by providing one-stop integrated employment assistance services and introducing the Work Exposure Services so as to help improve CSSA recipients' chances of securing employment. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the total number of participants in IEAPS since its introduction and, among them, the respective percentages of those who have secured employment and those who have left the CSSA net;
(b) of the respective current average working hours per day and total working hours per week of each IEAPS participant, as well as the average number of months of continuous work; and
(c) whether SWD has recorded the attendance rates of IEAPS participants, and whether it has set a minimum requirement of attendance rate; whether it has put in place a mechanism to penalise participants for absence from work without reasons or for having an attendance rate lower than the minimum requirement (if any); if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
My reply to the question raised by the Hon Frankie Yick is as follows:
(a) Since the launch of the Integrated Employment Assistance Programme for Self-reliance (IEAPS) in January 2013 up to the end of November 2013, 11 752 able-bodied Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) recipients participated in the IEAPS. Amongst them, 3 450 (29.4%) have secured employment and 828 (7.1%) have left the CSSA net.
(b) Able-bodied CSSA recipients who have secured full-time employment (i.e. paid employment with working hours no less than 120 per month and earnings not less than $1,845 per month) will not be required to join the IEAPS. According to the record of Social Welfare Department (SWD), these recipients were working 176 hours per month on average. SWD does not keep information on the average working hours per day or per week, nor the average number of months of continuous employment of the participants.
(c) Under IEAPS, able-bodied CSSA recipients have to receive the employment assistance services provided and arranged by the non-governmental organisations operating the IEAPS projects, including attending the interviews regularly, developing action plans to seek employment and receiving Work Exposure Services, etc. If unemployed able-bodied CSSA recipients fail to participate in any service without good reasons, SWD will consider suspending CSSA payments. The suspension period will at least be 14 days.
Ends/Wednesday, January 8, 2014
Issued at HKT 12:45
NNNN
