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Following is the transcript (English portion) of remarks by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, at a media stand-up after attending a radio programme this morning (October 18):
Reporter: I know in the programme you have already explained once about the $600 subsidy. Why have you decided to fix it at $600 and not like having sort of different figures for different people?
The Secretary for Labour and Welfare: In arriving at the $600, we have taken into account the practice in the current Transport Support Scheme -$600 across the board. And also we have conducted a survey recently and it transpired that the average expenses that an average Hong Kong employee spent on transport a month is around $400. But bearing in mind that some people living in the remoter districts may spend a little more than others, so on balance, we reckoned that a $600 across-the-board subsidy would be appropriate. And also, it would save administrative expenses in vetting individual claims on travelling expenses.
Reporter: But during the radio programme a caller was actually saying that it was unfair. What do you have to say to that?
The Secretary for Labour and Welfare: Subsidy by definition means subsidy. It is not meant to really cover the entire expenses, so we have to adopt a middle-of-the-road approach here. A practical, pragmatic recommendation is to go for $600 for everybody.
Reporter: Could you talk about the pilot scheme that would be launched early next year in Kowloon for the elderly?
The Secretary for Labour and Welfare: The Policy Address in fact attached great importance to promoting and enhancing the well-being of the elderly in Hong Kong. One of the key initiatives is actually to increase substantially the number of community home care service quota to enable our elderly citizens to age at home in the community and also to alleviate the pressure on waiting time, particularly for nursing home places. Now it takes around 40 months on the average. We will be introducing early next year a special tailor-made scheme. The whole concept is to ensure that while the elderly are waiting for a place in the nursing home, we take the service directly to where he lives, in other words, home service and that covers physiotherapy, occupational therapy, domestic services as well as meal supply and so on. And also, the objective is to help carers as well. A lot of carers are under very heavy pressure. So it is really, I would say, sort of a two-pronged objective. The whole purpose is to ensure that while waiting, the elderly also receive service at home, and helping the carers as well.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Monday, October 18, 2010
Issued at HKT 14:34
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