************************************************************
The Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, said tonight (May 1) that as Hong Kong's social welfare sector has grown by leaps and bounds in the past three decades, the Government's recurrent spending on social welfare had increased by nearly 48-fold from $813.6 million in 1980/81 to an estimated $39.7 billion in 2010/11.
Speaking at the 30th anniversary dinner of the Hong Kong Social Workers' General Union, Mr Cheung said that social workers had to move with the times in face of the rapid socio-economic changes in Hong Kong.
He said, "In this regard, the Lotteries Fund Advisory Committee agreed to allocate $1 billion for setting up the Social Welfare Development Fund to support training and capacity enhancement initiatives of NGOs so that social workers can respond to ever-changing service demands swiftly.
"The Development Fund is crucial to the future development of the staff and service of NGOs. I call on NGOs to submit their plans to the Social Welfare Department before the application deadline of phase one ends on June 30 this year."
On long-term social welfare planning, Mr Cheung said that the Chief Executive had tasked the Social Welfare Advisory Committee to launch a study on the development of a sustainable social welfare system in Hong Kong. The committee is collecting views from welfare organisations and relevant stakeholders over more than three months until the end of July. The consultation paper has already been distributed to various parties.
"I am confident that, through this consultation, a consensus on various issues can be forged to provide the Government with strategic directions for formulating the blueprint of long-term social welfare planning in Hong Kong," Mr Cheung said.
Ends/Saturday, May 1, 2010
Issued at HKT 20:11
NNNN
