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Following is a question by the Hon Leung Kwok-hung and a written reply by the Secretary for Education, Mr Eddie Ng Hak-kim, in the Legislative Council today (October 23):
Question:
I have received complaints from members of the public alleging that the coverage of the Block Insurance Policy (BIP) taken out by the Education Bureau for aided schools is not comprehensive, resulting in inadequate protection for the students concerned. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the number of claims made under BIP by students of aided schools, the number of cases in which compensation was awarded and the amounts of compensation involved, in the past five years;
(b) given that BIP provides compensation only in respect of permanent disablement or accidental death of students taking part in school activities, whether the Government will review if the coverage of BIP should be extended to include accidental injuries sustained by students taking part in school activities; if so, when it will conduct such a review; if not, the reasons for that; and
(c) given that compensation claims involving minors suffering from accidental injuries must be initiated by their guardians ad litem (such as their fathers or mothers) on their behalf, and the minors concerned must be represented by lawyers during legal proceedings, with the result that families with financial difficulties but ineligible for legal aid may give up due to the huge legal costs involved, whether the Government has assessed if this is fair to these families?
Reply:
President,
The Block Insurance Policy (BIP) taken out by the Government for aided schools is to offer appropriate protection for their daily operation. The BIP comprises three parts, namely the Employees' Compensation Insurance, Public Liability Insurance and Group Personal Accident Insurance. Among these, the Public Liability Insurance is a kind of liability insurance to protect schools against financial losses arising out of their actions which result in accidental injury to any person (including students); and/or accidental loss of or damage to any property in the daily operation of the schools. As for the Group Personal Accident Insurance, it is a financial consolation to students who suffer from accidental death or permanent disablement while participating in any school activities. It is a kind of additional protection for students.
(a) As a general practice, in cases where students suffer from accidental injury or death while participating in any school activities, schools will report them to the insurers under the Public Liability Insurance and Group Personal Accident Insurance parts of the BIP.
Students, parents, staff, visitors or the public are among those entitled to the Public Liability claims. The insurers have not maintained a breakdown of claimants or compensation awardees. Hence, the Education Bureau (EDB) does not have any data on Public Liability claims made by students nor the number of cases where compensation was awarded.
As regards cases of the Group Personal Accident Insurance, indemnity is given to students only when they suffer from accidental death or permanent disablement while participating in school activities. The number of indemnified cases is rather low. This reflects that schools have made good effort to take necessary precautions when organising activities for students in order to safeguard their personal safety. The numbers of Group Personal Accident cases reported by schools and indemnified cases involved in the past five years are set out below:
School Group Personal Accident Indemnified
Year cases reported(1) cases(2)
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2008/09 719 0
2009/10 902 4
2010/11 311 1
2011/12 553 0
2012/13 503 1
Note:
(1) Those are cases reported to the insurers by schools for record purposes after an accident happened to a student at school. They should not be perceived as claims made by students nor are cases where students suffer from accidental death or permanent disablement while participating in school activities.
(2) The amount of indemnity is related to the business operation of the insurers who are not to disclose the details.
(b) The indemnity under the Group Personal Accident Insurance of the BIP is for consolation purpose, not a comprehensive personal insurance for students. If students suffer from accidental injury while participating in school activities, where a school's negligence is established, the injured students may make claims under the Public Liability Insurance.
In line with the principles of effective use of public money and prudent financial management, we have made proper use of resources and provided schools with the BIP in order to offer appropriate protection for their daily operation. The EDB has announced through circulars to schools, brief explanations on the webpage and other channels that the Group Personal Accident Insurance under the BIP should not be perceived as a comprehensive personal insurance coverage for students. Parents who wish to arrange a comprehensive personal insurance coverage for their children such as life insurance, personal accident insurance, medical insurance, critical illness insurance, etc., may acquire it separately at their own costs from any insurance company.
(c) The policy objective of legal aid is to ensure that no one with reasonable grounds for pursuing or defending a legal action is denied access to justice because of a lack of means.
The Legal Aid Department (LAD) provides legal representation to eligible applicants for civil and criminal proceedings in the District Court or higher courts in Hong Kong. To qualify for legal aid, a person has to satisfy the means and merits test as provided by the Legal Aid Ordinance (LAO). According to the "means test", the financial resources (i.e. the sum total of yearly disposable income and disposable capital) of an applicant should not exceed the statutory financial eligibility limit. Legal aid application from a minor should be made through an adult such as his father or mother. As to the means test, only the financial resources of the minor will be taken into account and the financial resources of an adult applying on behalf of a minor will be disregarded.
To ensure that only those cases with reasonable grounds for taking the proceedings are granted legal aid, all legal aid applications are processed by legal aid counsel of the LAD. In assessing the merits of an application, LAD will consider the background of the case, evidence available and the legal principles applicable to the case to determine whether there are reasonable grounds for legal aid to be granted. An applicant for legal aid or an aided person who is aggrieved by any order or decision of the Director of Legal Aid made under the LAO may appeal to the Registrar of the High Court according to section 26 of the LAO. In accordance with section 26(4) of the LAO, the decision of the Registrar on that appeal is final.
Ends/Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Issued at HKT 15:26
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