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Following is a question by Dr Hon Fernando Cheung and a written reply by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, in the Legislative Council today (March 26):
Question:
As revealed by the "Special Topics Report No. 48: Persons with disabilities and chronic diseases" released by the Census and Statistics Department in August 2008, about 86.8 per cent of the 347 900 persons with disabilities aged 15 and over were economically inactive, i.e. only 13.2 per cent were economically active. In addition, according to a survey report released by the Hong Kong Society for Rehabilitation in June 2013, the unemployment rate of the 1 020 adult respondents with disabilities and chronic diseases was 51.5 per cent, whilst the median monthly personal income of the working respondents and the median monthly household income of the respondents overall were only $7,900 and $11,000 respectively. Some workers of the social welfare sector hold that the aforesaid figures show that persons with disabilities have encountered great difficulties in seeking jobs and their wages are particularly low. Besides, quite a number of persons with disabilities consider that the mechanism for Productivity Assessment for Employees with Disabilities under the Statutory Minimum Wage Regime (the assessment mechanism), set up by the Government for protecting employees with disabilities, is ineffective. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the number of persons undergoing the assessment each year since the assessment mechanism was implemented in 2011, and set out in Table 1 a breakdown by type of disabilities and the level of productivity which the employees with disabilities were assessed to have;
(2) whether it has any plan to conduct a comprehensive review of the assessment mechanism and consider granting subsidies, of amounts equivalent to the differences between the wages calculated on the basis of level of productivity and the statutory minimum wage, to employees with disabilities who have undergone the assessment; if it has, of the plans and the timetable for the work concerned; if not, the reasons for that;
(3) whether it knows the respective numbers of persons with disabilities employed in the past five years by each of the following publicly-funded organisations and statutory bodies, and set out breakdowns by type of disabilities in tables of the same format as Table 2: (i) Airport Authority Hong Kong, (ii) Auxiliary Medical Service, (iii) Civil Aid Service, (iv) Consumer Council, (v) Employees Retraining Board, (vi) Equal Opportunities Commission, (vii) Estate Agents Authority, (viii) Financial Reporting Council, (ix) Hong Kong Arts Development Council, (x) Hong Kong Housing Authority, (xi) Hong Kong Housing Society, (xii) Hong Kong Sports Institute Limited, (xiii) Hospital Authority, (xiv) MTR Corporation Limited, (xv) Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority, (xvi) Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data, Hong Kong, (xvii) Securities and Futures Commission, (xviii) Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority, (xix) Urban Renewal Authority, (xx) Vocational Training Council, and (xxi) West Kowloon Cultural District Authority;
(4) whether it has any plan to require the organisations/bodies referred to in (3) to employ more persons with disabilities; if it has, of the plans and the timetable for the work concerned; if not, the reasons for that; and
(5) given the undertaking made by the incumbent Chief Executive in his election manifesto that measures to promote the employment of persons with disabilities, such as offering tax concessions to employers who employ persons with disabilities, would be explored, but no specific proposals were put forth in the Policy Addresses in the past two years, of the plan and the timetable for the work concerned?
Reply:
President,
My reply to the questions raised by Dr Hon Fernando Cheung is as follows:
(1) According to the Minimum Wage Ordinance (Cap. 608), Statutory Minimum Wage applies to able-bodied employees and employees with disabilities alike. However, the Ordinance also allows employees with disabilities to choose to have their productivity assessed and be remunerated at not lower than a rate commensurate with their productivity. The annual number of productivity assessments completed since 2011, broken down by type of disabilities and assessed degree of productivity, is at Annex A.
(2) Since the implementation of the Minimum Wage Ordinance, the Labour Department (LD) has been closely monitoring the operation of the productivity assessment mechanism. LD is now conducting a review of the mechanism which is expected to be completed in the first half of 2014. After the completion of the review, we will report the review outcome to and seek the views of the Legislative Council Panel on Manpower.
As for the suggestion to provide wage subsidy to employees with disabilities with their productivity assessed, it should be carefully examined as it will involve major policy considerations with far-reaching implications on public finance. We have no plan to implement this suggestion at present.
(3) The numbers of persons with disabilities employed in these 21 organisations are set out in Annex B.
(4) and (5) The policy objective of the Government in assisting persons with disabilities in attaining employment is to enhance their abilities, develop their talents and potential, and ensure that they have equal access to participation in productive and gainful employment in the open market. The Government itself will set an example and work with the private sector and non-governmental organisations to provide more employment opportunities for them. Since July 2012, this term of Government has already rolled out various new and enhanced initiatives to promote the employment of persons with disabilities.
Since June 2013, the Selective Placement Division of the LD has put in place enhanced measures under its "Work Orientation and Placement Scheme" (WOPS). An eligible employer who employs a person with disabilities with employment difficulties, and provides him/her with training, support and a mentor in the first two months of employment, is entitled to a maximum allowance of $5,500 per month during the period. Afterwards, the employer may continue to receive an allowance being offered under WOPS, which is equivalent to two-thirds of the monthly salary of the employee (subject to a ceiling of $4,000 per month) for a maximum period of six months.
If the mentor appointed by the aforesaid employer has successfully assisted an employee with disabilities in retaining the employment after the first two months, the cash award granted to him/her will be extended from one month of $500 to two months, i.e. a total of $1,000.
The Social Welfare Department (SWD) has also enhanced the "On the Job Training Programme for People with Disabilities" and the "Sunnyway - On the Job Training Programme for Young People with Disabilities" since July 2013 by increasing the job attachment allowance and job trial wage subsidy under both schemes. The job attachment allowance has been raised from $1,250 to $2,000 per month, and the cap of job trial wage subsidy has been raised from $3,000 to $4,000 per month with the maximum subsidy period extended from three months to six months.
SWD has also implemented the "Support Programme for Employees with Disabilities" since June 2013 to provide subsidies to employers of persons with disabilities for procuring assistive devices and carrying out workplace modification works. This will help persons with disabilities secure open employment and enable employees with disabilities to work more efficiently. An employer may receive a maximum subsidy of $20,000 for each employee with disabilities.
In tandem, the Labour and Welfare Bureau (LWB), in collaboration with the Rehabilitation Advisory Committee, Hong Kong Council of Social Service and Hong Kong Joint Council for People with Disabilities, launched the "Talent-Wise Employment Charter and Inclusive Organisations Recognition Scheme" (the Scheme) in September 2013 to mobilise the Government, private sector, public and subvented bodies to make collective efforts to promote the employment of persons with disabilities through a host of sustainable measures commensurate with their modes of operation.
Measures to be implemented by participating organisations of the Scheme may include: employing persons with disabilities and formulating corporate policies and measures on employment of persons with disabilities; publishing periodically in corporate publications/publicity materials on the number of employees with disabilities and on measures or indicators pertaining to the employment of persons with disabilities; providing a barrier-free working environment and assistive devices for employees with disabilities; participating in various on-the-job training and support programmes for persons with disabilities; using products or services provided by rehabilitation social enterprises and suppliers employing persons with disabilities; building an inclusive workplace through assisting persons with disabilities in mastering job skills and adapting into the work environment; setting aside shops or stalls for social enterprises or self-employed persons with disabilities to operate their businesses, etc. The participating organisations will be required to review the effectiveness of their measures, report progress to LWB annually and introduce additional measures as and when appropriate.
We are mobilising various sectors, including government subvented organisations and statutory bodies, to actively participate in the Scheme. At present, some 180 organisations have participated in the Scheme, including some of the organisations mentioned in part (3) of the question.
Apart from the above, the Special Needs Groups Task Force under the Commission on Poverty will continue to explore other feasible and effective measures to further promote the employment of persons with disabilities.
Ends/Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Issued at HKT 18:15
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