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The Chief Secretary for Administration, Mrs Carrie Lam, chaired the eighth meeting of the Commission on Poverty (CoP) in its second term this afternoon (September 7).
Today's meeting reviewed the updated 2014 poverty line and the preliminary analysis and data of the poverty situation in Hong Kong in 2014. The updated analysis was devised based on the analytical framework adopted by the CoP in its first term in 2012 after thorough deliberations. Using the poverty data for 2014, the Government Economist briefed members at the meeting on the households below the poverty line in terms of their social, economic, housing and district characteristics. Members took note of the findings. Taking into account members' comments raised at the meeting, the Government Economist will finalise the detailed analysis of the 2014 poverty situation. The relevant data will be announced at the CoP Summit to be held on October 10 this year.
Members were also briefed by Professor Paul Yip of the Department of Social Work and Social Administration at the University of Hong Kong on his poverty research in Hong Kong. The research has covered a wide range of areas, including the characteristics of districts with a high concentration of the poor population, impacts of public housing policies on the level of household savings, and the relationship between distribution of welfare services and the poor population. The findings are useful for the CoP to further deliberate on poverty issues in Hong Kong.
In addition, the CoP noted the programme of this year's CoP Summit. Apart from the publication of the updated poverty line in 2014, promoting youth upward mobility will be the theme of the coming CoP Summit. An expert from the United Kingdom will give a keynote speech at the Summit and join a panel discussion with representatives from different sectors in Hong Kong on youth mobility. In addition to members of the CoP and its four task forces, representatives from the political, business and academic sectors, think tanks, non-governmental organisations, concerned groups and more will be invited to attend the Summit to give views on poverty alleviation strategies.
In the coming few months, the CoP will meet more frequently to make preparations for the public consultation on retirement protection to be launched at the end of this year. The next meeting scheduled for September 23 will discuss matters relating to the public consultation on retirement protection.
Ends/Monday, September 7, 2015
Issued at HKT 19:18
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