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LCQ15: Child care services
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    Following is a written reply by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, to a question by the Hon Frederick Fung on the child care services in the Legislative Council today (March 5):

Question:

    Accidents of children being left at home alone are not uncommon in Hong Kong.  The United Kingdom (¡§UK¡¨) formulated a 10-year child care strategy as early as 2004 to enable all families with children under the age of 14 to have access to an affordable, flexible and high quality child care service by establishing children's centres in all local communities, and at the same time enabling parents to balance work and family life, in order to raise the quality of life.  In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a) given that in reply to a question raised by a Member of this Council at the Legislative Council meeting on 7 November last year, the Secretary for Labour and Welfare said that the overall utilisation rates of child care centres subvented by the Social Welfare Department and of those operated by kindergartens under the purview of the Education Bureau in 2006-2007 were 91% and 62% respectively, whether the authorities have conducted studies to find out the reasons why those child care centres still have spare capacity, whether the provision of and the publicity for child care services are adequate in districts with more accidents of children being left at home alone, and whether the existing child care services can satisfy the needs of parents; if they have, of the outcome of the study;

(b) whether it has assessed the social and economic benefits to be brought by the enhancement of child care services (especially the impact on women and children, such as whether it will increase the motivation for women to participate in the labour market, whether the percentage of poor children can be reduced because parents are able to go to work, and how quality child care services will affect the growth of children, etc.);

(c) apart from providing financial support for mutual help child care centres, foster homes and some small group homes so as to increase child care services, whether it will consider further enhancing the existing child care services (e.g. allocating additional resources to mutual help child care centres to recruit more staff and improve the quality of services, substantially increasing the number of child care places with fee assistance, providing 24-hour child care services and increasing child care services for children aged between zero and two) ; and

(d) whether it will consider making reference to UK¡¦s successful experience and according priority to providing comprehensive, affordable, flexible and high quality child care services in districts with more poor children or the districts mentioned in (a)?

Reply:

Madam President,

    Parents have the primary responsibility to look after their young children.  To assist parents who cannot take care of their children temporarily because of work or other reasons, the Administration subsidises non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to provide a wide range of day child care services.  These services include standalone child care centres, kindergarten-cum-child care centres and the more flexible Mutual Help Child Care Centre (MHCCC) services.  To support parents who are unable to take care of their young children because of unforeseen circumstances or long working hours, the Social Welfare Department (SWD) also subsidises some of the above centres to operate extended hours service and occasional child care service.

¡@¡@At the same time, parents can also choose to make use of the After School Care Programme for children aged 6 to 12 which is operated by NGOs on a self-financing and fee charging basis.  Families in financial difficulty may apply for different service subsidies or fee waiver.

¡@¡@Our response to the four parts of the question is as follows:

(a) According to the latest information, the average utilisation rate of standalone child care centres subsidised by SWD from April to December 2007 was 94%, while that of child care centres co-located in kindergartens in September 2007 was 70%.  Both are slightly higher than the figures in 2006-07, indicating that there is a continuous need for these services and that the supply and demand are fairly stable.

¡@¡@Details of the various day child care services are set out in the service pamphlets produced by SWD¡¦s district offices, which are distributed at service units such as the 61 Integrated Family Service Centres across the territory.  Parents may also obtain such information through SWD¡¦s telephone hotline or from the department¡¦s website.

¡@¡@SWD will continue to monitor closely the demand and supply of different child care services, so that they may meet the practical needs of parents while ensuring the proper use of public money.

(b) Government-subsidised child care services seek mainly to meet the practical needs of parents.  Before using such services, parents should have assessed the implications on their families.  As the needs and circumstances of each family vary, we cannot quantify the social and economic benefits brought about by child care services. 

(c) SWD has been subsidising MHCCCs to strengthen their operation in the evenings, at weekends and on holidays since January 2008.  SWD has also started subsidising foster homes and some small group homes to provide non-residential day care service since October and December 2007 respectively.

¡@¡@In the 2008-09 Budget, the Financial Secretary has further proposed to provide funding totalling $45 million in the next three years to strengthen day foster care services and promote various types of child care services that offer greater flexibility.

¡@¡@In this regard, we will promote more flexible neighourhood mutual-help day child care services, including supervised child minding service, in districts with greater demand for such services.  The services will be provided in phases through NGOs or district organisations.  We will also make use of their premises to provide the services.  The operating hours of these services will be more flexible than our regular ones, and can cover evenings, weekends and holidays.  Fees can be waived for families in financial difficulty.

¡@¡@Moreover, the Administration also assists the community in establishing neighbourhood mutual help networks through the Community Investment and Inclusion Fund (CIIF).  In the past five years, the CIIF has provided over $110 million to fund more than 140 projects.  About one-third of these projects have an element of child care or after-school care services on a neighbourhood mutual aid basis.

¡@¡@At present, the more flexible child care services, including day foster care service and some MHCCCs, already provide extended service up to 10:00 p.m.  The extended operating hours should be able to meet the needs of most parents who require child care services due to work commitments.  As regards the proposal to provide 24-hour child care services, we consider that parents are the best carers for their children.  From the perspective of child welfare, leaving children to excessively long hours of child care services may not be in their best interest.  For those parents who are unable to take care of their children for an extended period of time, we suggest that they should approach social workers to work out a comprehensive child care plan, including different types of residential child care services.

¡@¡@Regarding crˆoche services for children aged under 2, more than 1 510 subsidised or private full-day and half-day places are available across the territory.  These places are not yet fully utilised.  In planning its services, SWD will consider introducing different forms of child care services targeting children of different age groups.

(d) At present, a wide range of day child care services are available throughout Hong Kong.  In planning these services, SWD and NGOs will make reference to the supply and demand of the services in different districts.  They will also pay particular attention to the needs of districts with more children in poverty.  Apart from using the child care services in their local districts, parents may also make use of services in the neighbouring districts in accordance with their needs.

Ends/Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Issued at HKT 14:40

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