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Following is a question by Dr Hon Elizabeth Quat and a written reply by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, in the Legislative Council today (November 18):
Question:
It is learnt that quite a number of dual-income parents have an acute demand for child care and after-school care services. Although the authorities have allocated additional resources for the provision of such services in recent years, the service places are still in short supply and service recipients are confined to grass-roots families. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) in each of the past 10 years, (i) of the respective numbers of non-profit-making organisations which provided child care and after-school care services, and (ii) the number of places, the number of applicants, the queuing time and the fees charged for each of the services (with a breakdown of (i) and (ii) by District Council district);
(2) in each of the past 10 years, (i) of the number of schools which provided after-school care services, and (ii) the number of places, the number of applicants, the queuing time and the fees charged for the services (set out the names of schools as well as a breakdown of (i) and (ii) by District Council district);
(3) given that subsidised child care and after-school care services are available for application only by recipient families under the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance Scheme and families receiving full rate grant or half rate grant under the School Textbook Assistance Scheme, whether the authorities will consider relaxing the eligibility criteria to include new arrival families, single-parent families and low-income families; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
(4) given that quite a number of dual-income parents cannot pick up their children after school every day because of work, whether the authorities will consider improving the existing after-school care services provided in schools, including extending their service hours to cater for the needs of dual-income parents; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
(5) given that in the past 10 years, the Social Welfare Department did not operate any child care centres in new towns such as Ma On Shan, Tseung Kwan O, Tin Shui Wai and Tung Chung, resulting in a prolonged lack of such services for young couples living in those new towns, whether the authorities will consider including child care centres as necessary infrastructure when planning new towns in future; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
(6) given that the fee levels and quality of child care and after-school care services provided by private organisations vary greatly, whether the authorities will step up the regulation of such services; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
(7) as there are comments that while the Labour and Welfare Bureau is currently responsible for formulating policies relating to child care services, the day-to-day regulation is under the purview of the Social Welfare Department and the Education Bureau respectively, coupled with the lack of co-ordination among those policy bureaux and government department, and the effectiveness of such services has been affected as a result, of the authorities' improvement measures to rationalise the situation?
Reply:
President,
In consultation with the Education Bureau (EDB), my reply to the seven parts of the question raised by Dr Hon Elizabeth Quat is as follows:
(1) and (2) As regards child care services, information on the numbers of places and service charges in the past 10 years (i.e. from 2005-06 to 2014-15) is at Annex 1. The Social Welfare Department (SWD) does not have information on the numbers of applications and the waiting time of various types of child care services. In 2014-15, there were 132 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) providing child care services. SWD does not have information on the relevant numbers in past years and the numbers by district.
On the After School Care Programme (ASCP), SWD has kept information on the numbers of NGOs providing such services by district and the numbers of places in the past nine years (i.e. from 2006-07 to 2014-15), as detailed at Annex 2. SWD does not have information on the number of applications, waiting time and service charge in respect of the ASCP.
In addition, schools and NGOs participating in the School-based After-school Learning and Support Programmes (the School-based Programmes) run by EDB are provided with funding for organising school-based and district-based after-school activities respectively for the disadvantaged students to facilitate their whole-person development and personal growth. In the 2015/16 school year, the total funding provision for the Programmes is about $240 million, with the provision for school-based and district-based after-school activities about $120 million each. The respective numbers of NGOs and schools participating in the Programmes in the past 10 school years are at Annex 3 and Annex 4 respectively.
EDB has also provided funding to schools and NGOs for organising extended after-school activities for primary one to secondary three students from low-income families under the Community Care Fund - After-school Care Pilot Scheme. The Scheme runs from the 2012/13 to 2015/16 school years and seeks to enable students to consolidate their classroom learning and relieve parents of the pressure of getting their children to do homework. In the 2015/16 school year, over $32 million has been allocated to 29 NGOs as well as 60 primary and secondary schools participating in the Scheme. It is expected that the Scheme will benefit about 10 400 students. The respective numbers of NGOs and schools participating in the Scheme in the past four years by district are at Annex 5 and Annex 6 respectively. Low-income families participating in the after-school activities offered under the School-based Programmes and the Community Care Fund - After-school Care Pilot Scheme basically do not need to pay any fees.
(3) Children from low-income families receiving full-day child care services may apply for the Kindergarten and Child Care Centre Fee Remission Scheme from the Student Finance Office of the Working Family and Student Financial Assistance Agency. SWD has all along been providing fee waiving or remission to needy families for other child care services (including the Occasional Child Care Service (OCCS), the Extended Hours Service (EHS), the Mutual Help Child Care Centre (MHCCC) and the Neighbourhood Support Child Care Project (NSCCP)). When assessing the eligibility for the fee waiving or remission of child care services, the income of the applicant and his/her family members of the same household will be taken into account. Service units providing child care services may also exercise discretion in processing the applications of families with social needs. Besides, SWD provides the Fee Waiving Subsidy Scheme (FWSS) for ASCP for low-income families. Apart from the consideration of financial condition, ASCP operators also may, with reference to the families' special needs, exercise discretion to provide ASCP places with fee waiving or remission for children. The present mechanism has already taken care of the needs of different kinds of families (including new-arrival families, single-parent families and low-income families).
In addition, the Government, in 2015, injected $400 million into the Partnership Fund for the Disadvantaged, with $200 million earmarked as dedicated fund to provide more after-school learning and support programmes for primary and secondary school students from grassroots families to facilitate their whole-person development. SWD received 89 eligible applications in the first round of invitation, involving a total commitment of business contribution of over $50 million. The overall funding for the after-school learning and support programmes will amount to $100 million if they are all matched with the dedicated fund. Among them, over 70 programmes have commenced from the start of the 2015/16 school year, whereas the rest are also expected to commence within the 2015/16 school year. It is estimated that about 20 000 primary and secondary school students from grassroots families (including new-arrival families, single-parent families and low-income families) would benefit from these programmes.
Besides, since the 2014/15 school year, EDB has been providing funding as an incentive to schools with a utilisation rate of grant at 80 per cent or above under the School-based Programmes, and has increased the discretionary quota for schools from 10 per cent to 25 per cent so that they can support other needy students who do not meet the eligibility requirements of the Programmes, for example, students from new-arrival, single-parent or working-parents families. Schools and NGOs participating in the Community Care Fund - After-school Care Pilot Scheme also have a discretionary quota of 25 per cent.
(4) There are various ASCP sessions from Monday to Friday. In general, the morning session runs from 8am to 1pm; the afternoon session from 1pm to 6pm; and the late afternoon session from 3 or 4pm to 7 or 8 pm. To strengthen the support for those parents who work longer, irregular hours and work at weekends, or those who intend to join the work force so as to improve the financial condition, SWD has since December 2014 provided additional resources to some ASCP operators to provide additional fee-waiving and fee-reduction quotas in the territory and extend the services hours on weekday evenings, Saturdays, Sundays and non-school days. The hours of extended service are generally from 3pm to 9pm. from Monday to Friday; eight hours' day service on Saturdays and Sundays; and 10 hours' day service on non-school days.
EDB has been encouraging schools to extend their service hours to cater for the needs of students and parents. After-school activities organised by schools participating in the School-based Programmes usually end at 5.30pm or 6pm. The After-school Care Pilot Scheme implemented by the Community Care Fund since the 2012/13 school year aims at encouraging schools and NGOs to extend the duration of their existing after-school support services. Schools participating in the After-school Care Pilot Scheme normally extend their after-school support services to 6 p.m. or 7 p.m.
(5) To respond to the community demand for child care services, from 2015-16 onwards, the Government will increase by phases the provision of Extended Hours Services places at aided child care centres (CCCs) and kindergarten-cum-child care centres (KG-cum-CCCs) in districts with high demand (including new towns), increasing the total provision of places from about 1 200 by 5 000 to about 6 200 places. The Government expects to provide about 100 additional aided long full-day child care places for children aged below 3 in Sha Tin in 2018-19. Besides, the Government invites NGOs participating in the Special Scheme on Privately Owned Sites for Welfare Uses to, when making use of their land for redevelopment, expansion or conversion, consider establishing work-based CCC as appropriate. Two NGOs have responded positively by proposing to provide a total of about 100 self-financing places. The Government will also explore, on a pilot basis, the feasibility of providing about 100 NGO-operated child care places for staff members in the proposed Government Complex in Tseung Kwan O.
In respect of medium and long-term planning, the Government will commission a consultancy study in 2015-16 to advise on the long-term development of child care services.
(6) At present, the registration and operation of standalone CCCs and CCCs attached to KG-cum-CCCs have to comply with the Child Care Services Ordinance (Cap. 243) and Child Care Services Regulations (CCSR) (Cap. 243A), and are under the regulatory control and regular inspection by SWD's Child Care Centres Advisory Inspectorate and EDB's Joint Office for Kindergartens and Child Care Centres respectively. As stipulated in the CCSR, CCCs should collect the service charge according to the approved level of inclusive monthly fees. The operating organisations cannot increase the inclusive monthly fees without obtaining prior written approval from the Director of Social Welfare.
On the other hand, since the ASCP service operated under SWD's FWSS for ASCP is provided by NGOs on a non-profit and self-financing basis, and the scope of services provided (including service hours and meal arrangement, etc.) may be different. The service operators can set a reasonable service charge in accordance with the operating cost of the service and the financial status of the service users. SWD's District Social Welfare Offices maintain close liaison with the ASCP centres in the districts to review the service provision and to ensure service quality.
(7) In respect of pre-primary service, SWD and the then Education Department (EDB at present) jointly formed the Working Party on Harmonisation of Pre-primary Services in 2000, which advised the Government on matters related to harmonisation of pre-primary services. Upon consultation with sector representatives and adoption of the recommendations from the Working Party, the harmonisation measures have been implemented since 2005. Moreover, SWD has been maintaining close liaison with EDB to discuss and co-ordinate after-school care services.
Ends/Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Issued at HKT 18:11
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