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V. Poverty Alleviation, Elderly Care and Support for the Disadvantaged
Poverty Alleviation
109. In 2013, the Government set the first-ever poverty line. Thanks to poverty alleviation measures, the overall poor population dropped to 970 000, below 1 million for the first time, and the poverty rate fell to a five-year low of 14.5% in 2013. Our work in poverty alleviation has started to deliver results.
110. The Government is working to fully implement the poverty alleviation blueprint announced in my last Policy Address by encouraging able-bodied young people and adults to become self-reliant through employment and making better use of the social security and welfare system to help those who cannot provide for themselves. The Commission on Poverty will conduct focused studies on ways to further improve retirement protection and facilitate the upward mobility of young people from grassroots families through education, training and employment. It will help the Community Care Fund (CCF) fully fulfil its function of plugging gaps in the existing system and make good use of the Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Fund.
Low-income Families
111. To tackle working poverty, I proposed a Low-income Working Family Allowance (LIFA) last year. Annual expenditure will be around $3 billion. It is estimated that over 200 000 low-income families with 710 000 people, including more than 170 000 children and young people, will benefit from the allowance. The scheme will be implemented within 18 months from the date of funding approval by the Finance Committee of this Council.
112. Moreover, the Government will again earmark $200 million to continue the short-term food assistance service for two more years up to end-2017.
Community Care Fund
113. The CCF has launched 27 assistance programmes to help the disadvantaged, with a total commitment of over $4.7 billion and about 850 000 beneficiaries. Ten of these programmes have been incorporated into the Government's regular assistance programme. While the CCF is exploring a number of new assistance programmes, we will invite it to consider providing a one-off special subsidy for primary and secondary students on full grant under the School Textbook Assistance Scheme in the 2015/16 school year before the implementation of the LIFA.
Retirement Protection
114. The Old Age Living Allowance (OALA) was implemented shortly after I assumed office. The allowance has benefited more than 420 000 elderly people, or 40% of the elderly population.
115. After the release of the report on the "Future Development of Retirement Protection in Hong Kong" submitted by a research team led by Professor Nelson Chow last August, there have been divergent views on the issue in the community. Some supported the "demo-grant" proposed by the consultancy team, considering that "non-means-tested, universal and uniform payment level" retirement protection is the basic right of the elderly. Yet, a considerable number of people opposed any options that are non-means-tested, maintaining that public resources should be devoted to the most needy elderly people. They also raised crucial questions such as financial sustainability and "Who pays?" It is estimated that the retirement fund of the four universal retirement protection options (including that of the non-means-tested demo-grant) mentioned in the report will be exhausted between 2030 and 2050. Overseas experience shows that universal retirement protection schemes operating on the "pay-as-you-go" principle are bound to result in financial problems, entailing a long and painful financial adjustment process that usually involves extension of retirement age, reduction of retirement payment or upward adjustment to contribution rate.
116. As pointed out in the report, we cannot rely solely on the Government for universal retirement protection. It is also a shared responsibility of both employers and employees. However, public discussions reveal that both employers and employees resist additional contributions or additional taxation. We are therefore not optimistic a consensus on retirement protection financing arrangements can be reached.
117. Retirement protection is a very important social issue. In the coming few months, the Commission on Poverty will devise a framework and set out the details for a public consultation in the latter half of this year. I look forward to rational and pragmatic discussions with a view to arriving at a community consensus.
118. In exploring the issue of retirement protection, we must fully consider the adequacy, sustainability, affordability and robustness of various policy options. Hong Kong's long-term economic growth will decelerate over time due to an ageing population. The Government will face increasing fiscal pressure in the medium to long terms. If we were to deploy our financial resources to benefit all, the benefits received by elderly people in financial need would inevitably be reduced. In addition, we should take into full account the functions of the various pillars under the existing retirement protection system and explore possible necessary enhancement measures. We should also have regard to the traditional values cherished by our community, including self-reliance, focusing social resources on helping those most in need and mutual support among family members. We will continue to improve the Mandatory Provident Fund arrangements, including the introduction of a "core fund" with fee control to address the concerns over "high fee" and "difficulty in making fund choices".
119. The Government agrees that protection for needy citizens after retirement should be improved. To demonstrate our determination and commitment, I have asked the Financial Secretary to earmark $50 billion to provide for future needs.
Care for the Elderly
Elderly Services
120. The Government will adhere to our policy of promoting "ageing in place as the core". Last June, the CCF rolled out a two-year scheme on a trial basis to provide 2 000 carers from low-income families with a living allowance. In parallel, the Government will provide more subsidised residential care services through a multi-pronged approach. More residential care places for the elderly will be provided by redeveloping or expanding existing service facilities through the Special Scheme on Privately Owned Sites for Welfare Uses proposed in my Policy Addresses.
121. We will promote the concept of shared responsibility among individuals, families and the community to provide the elderly with more options. The Pilot Scheme on the Community Care Service Voucher for the Elderly has adopted an innovative "money-following-the-user" approach and followed the "affordable users pay" principle where those who can afford should pay more. The 1 200 vouchers of the first phase have all been issued. We will work out details of the next phase after the mid-term review. The Elderly Commission is actively studying the feasibility of introducing a residential care service voucher scheme and a report is expected to be submitted in mid-2015. We have earmarked about $800 million to issue a total of 3 000 service vouchers in the three years from 2015-16 to 2017-18 subject to the recommendations of the report. This will provide about 5 000 additional subsidised residential care places within the current term of the Government.
122. The Elderly Commission is pressing ahead with the formulation of the Elderly Services Programme Plan and intends to submit a report in mid-2016. Besides, the Government has injected $50 million into the Elder Academy Development Foundation.
Human Resources in Care Services
123. Last year, I announced that the Government had earmarked funding to introduce a "first-hire-then-train" Navigation Scheme for Young Persons in Care Services to provide 1 000 places in the coming few years. The Scheme aims to encourage young people to join the workforce of elderly and rehabilitation care services. Enrolment is expected to open in the second half of this year.
Healthcare Services
124. The annual voucher amount under the Elderly Health Care Voucher Scheme was doubled to $2,000 last year. The number of elderly people using the vouchers increased to 640 000, with an annual expenditure of some $550 million. The CCF will expand its Elderly Dental Assistance Programme progressively in the second half of 2015 to cover elderly persons who are OALA recipients, starting with those aged 80 and above in the first phase involving about 130 000 elderly people.
Support for the Disadvantaged
Families and Children Most in Need of Support
125. The Government will increase the number of professional social workers in Integrated Family Service Centres and Integrated Services Centres to provide early identification and intervention and strengthen the support for families and children who are vulnerable to domestic violence and have other welfare needs, at-risk pregnant women, mothers with postnatal depression, and children with developmental problems and their family members. We will also increase the number of residential places in small group homes to provide temporary accommodation and emotional support for children and young people who have been abused or affected by domestic violence or other family problems.
Mental Patients and Ex-mentally Ill Persons
126. We will enhance support in four aspects for mental patients based on the preliminary recommendation of the Review Committee on Mental Health:
(i) Increase the number of psychiatric beds in Siu Lam Hospital, with a view to clearing up cases of severe intellectual disability on the waiting list in the coming three years;
(ii) Strengthen the manpower of the psychiatric healthcare team and introduce peer support to the Case Management Programme for patients with severe mental illness. In addition, the Social Welfare Department will explore the implementation of a pilot project under the Lotteries Fund for trained ex-mentally ill persons to serve as peer supporters to provide support and encouragement for others in rehabilitation;
(iii) Launch territory-wide public education and publicity campaigns; and
(iv) Increase the manpower of social workers in all Integrated Community Centres for Mental Wellness and provide them with appropriate training.
Students with Special Educational Needs
127. We will strengthen the support for children with special needs and their families in four aspects:
(i) Early identification. The Department of Health (DH) will strengthen the manpower of the multi-disciplinary healthcare teams of the Child Assessment Centres to provide early assessment and professional diagnosis;
(ii) Early intervention. Some 1 400 additional places for subvented pre-school rehabilitation services will be provided within the current Government's term. Low-income families may apply for subsidy to obtain outside services for their children who are on the waiting list for subvented services so they can receive pre-school rehabilitation services as soon as possible. Moreover, we will launch a pilot scheme through the Lotteries Fund to invite operators of subvented pre-school rehabilitation services to provide on-site rehabilitation services, so as to benefit children with special needs who are studying in kindergartens, or kindergarten-cum-child care centres as early as possible;
(iii) Enhanced support for students. We will invite the CCF to consider launching two programmes, including a cash grant for ordinary schools with relatively more students with special educational needs (SEN) and financial needs so that a designated teacher can be deployed to co-ordinate matters relating to SEN support, and enhance the academic expenses grant for post-secondary students with SEN and financial needs; and
(iv) Enhanced support for parents. We propose increasing the number of social workers in the existing subvented Parents/Relatives Resource Centres to improve parents' ability to take care of their children with special needs, particularly young children.
Persons with Disabilities
128. The Government will continue to enhance residential care services and day training and vocational rehabilitation services for persons with disabilities. We will allocate more resources to hostels for moderately mentally handicapped persons and long stay care homes to reinforce the care and support for ageing service users. We will also launch a pilot scheme through the Lotteries Fund to give better support to persons with autism and their parents or carers.
Ethnic Minorities and New Arrivals
129. To enhance support for non-Chinese speaking (NCS) students to learn Chinese, the Education Bureau (EDB) has provided the Chinese Language Curriculum Second Language Learning Framework (Learning Framework) with supporting learning and teaching materials for secondary and primary schools. An Applied Learning Chinese Language Course (for NCS students) pegged to the Qualifications Framework has also been provided at the senior secondary level starting from this school year in phases. We will enhance school-based professional support and provide professional training programmes for teachers, and have implemented the Professional Enhancement Grant Scheme and significantly increased the additional funding for schools to facilitate implementation of the Learning Framework and creation of an inclusive learning environment in schools.
130. The service centre proposed to be established in Kwai Tsing last year has come into operation and ethnic minorities have been recruited to provide further support.
131. In 2015-16, the Employees Retraining Board will offer 1 300 and 800 places in dedicated training courses for new arrivals and ethnic minorities respectively to enhance their employment opportunities.
132. We will extend the Expectation Management Programmes implemented in Shenzhen and Guangdong Province to Fujian Province in July this year to help prospective settlers acquire a better understanding of the circumstances in Hong Kong before they decide to live here.
Building Community Networks
133. The Community Investment and Inclusion Fund plans to deploy resources in the next few years to build mutual help networks among residents of new PRH estates. Four projects are expected to be rolled out in 2015 in estates completed or redeveloped in recent years.
Social Welfare Planning
134. We are actively following up some 60 projects under the Special Scheme on Privately Owned Sites for Welfare Uses to help social welfare organisations provide additional social welfare facilities, particularly for the elderly and rehabilitation services, through in-situ expansion or redevelopment. The Government is now examining the revised proposals submitted by the organisations. Five projects are expected to be completed by 2017-18, providing about 100 places for subsidised elderly service and 450 places for subsidised rehabilitation service in total.
(To be continued)
Ends/Wednesday, January 14, 2015
Issued at HKT 12:31
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