Following is a question by Dr the Hon Ngan Man-yu and a written reply by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Chris Sun, in the Legislative Council today (May 7):

Question:

     The Social Welfare Department (SWD) subsidises non-governmental organisations to provide Supported Employment Training for Persons with Disabilities (SET), which arranges skills training, job attachment, vocational training and counselling for persons with disabilities (PWDs) who are not yet ready for open employment, as well as assists PWDs in finding suitable jobs and provides them with ongoing support. In addition, employers offering job trials can be granted a monthly wage subsidy of up to $4,000 for a maximum period of six months, with a view to encouraging employers to offer jobs to PWDs. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(1) of the respective numbers of applicants for and actual participants in SET in the past two years, together with a breakdown by type of disability and special educational need (e.g. visual impairment, hearing impairment, physical disability, specific learning disability, intellectual disability, etc), age, academic qualification, etc; whether it has reviewed the coverage of the SET and diversity of its participants;

(2) of the number and percentage of the SET participants who had successfully secured employment in the open market and stayed on stable employment for more than six months in the past two years; whether it has studied the differences among the successful job-seeking rates of participants with different types of disabilities after job attachment and job trials; how the SWD evaluates the effectiveness of the SET (e.g. whether it has achieved the expected objectives), and whether it has put forward improvement measures to address areas lacking in effectiveness;

(3) given that the SET provides a monthly wage subsidy of up to $4,000 to encourage employers to offer job trials to PWDs, whether the SWD has assessed if such subsidy can offset the actual costs incurred by employers (e.g. training, support facilitating adaptation to the workplace); of the number of employers participating in offering job trials in the past two years; whether the SWD has plans to provide support measures other than provision of financial incentives (e.g. employers' education, guidance on and technical support for redesigning job duties) to enhance employers' incentive to offer long-term employment and support workplace inclusion; and

(4) given that according to the information of the SWD, service operators are required to provide no less than 12 months of post-placement service to the SET participants, of the details of such post-placement service, including the number of participating operators, the number of professional placement officers as well as their qualifications and backgrounds (e.g. social workers or counsellors), and the number of persons who have accepted and refused the post-placement service; whether it has assessed the specific effectiveness of such post-placement service in facilitating stable employment of the participants; whether the SWD has plans to review the contents and implementation of such post-placement service, such as extending the service period, increasing manpower or optimising service mode, so as to further enhance the employment stability of PWDs?

Reply:

President,

     The Social Welfare Department (SWD) subvents non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to operate sheltered workshops, integrated vocational rehabilitation services centres, integrated vocational training centres, Supported Employment Training for Persons with Disabilities (SET), etc, to provide vocational rehabilitation and training services, so that persons with varying needs and degrees of disabilities who are not able to take up open employment can receive appropriate vocational rehabilitation services in a specially designed training environment.

     To optimise the use of resources, streamline operations and enhance service efficiency, the SWD, without involving additional resources, integrated the Supported Employment, On the Job Training Programme for People with Disabilities and Sunnyway – On the Job Training Programme for Young People with Disabilities into SET in April 2024 to provide a series of tailor-made training (including work skills training, employment counselling, job attachment, job trial and post-placement service) to assist persons with disabilities in seeking suitable jobs upon completion of job attachment and strengthen their capabilities in sustaining employment in the open job market. In response to the Member's question, our reply is as follows:

(1) The number and age profile of service users of SET in the past 2 years are at Annexes 1 and 2 respectively. The SWD does not maintain information on the number of applicants, types of disabilities and academic qualifications.

(2) The SWD enters into Funding and Service Agreements (FSAs) with service operators, specifying target service users, essential service requirements, service output and service outcome, and evaluates the service operators' performance and the effectiveness of service in accordance with the prevailing Service Performance Monitoring System. The number of service users of SET who had successfully secured employment for more than 6 months and the success rate in the past two years are at Annex 3. The SWD does not maintain information on the types of disabilities of the service users concerned.

(3) Apart from providing a monthly subsidy of not more than $4,000 for a maximum period of six months to employers offering job trials to persons with disabilities, the service units also maintain contact with employers and provide post-placement service and support, with a view to increasing the opportunities for persons with disabilities to secure and sustain employment, adapt to the work environment and integrate into the community, thereby promoting workplace inclusion. The SWD does not maintain information on the number of employers participating in job trials. The subsidy to employers is an incentive but not linked to employers' expenses. The SWD does not have information on the costs incurred by the employers concerned in offering job trials to persons with disabilities.

     In addition, the SWD provides employers with a one-off subsidy under the Support Programme for Employees with Disabilities for the procurement of assistive devices or workplace modifications to help employees with disabilities perform their duties in the workplace and enhance their work efficiency. Employers may apply for a maximum subsidy of $40,000 for each employee with disabilities.

(4) At present, there are 29 NGOs operating SET, which are required to provide service users with post-placement service of not less than 12 months to support service users, their family members and carers, as well as employers and their staff, with a view to increasing the opportunities for service users to secure and sustain employment, adapt to the work environment and integrate into the community.

     FSAs on SET stipulate that registered social workers are the essential staff for the service. Subject to compliance with the provisions of FSAs, NGOs may flexibly deploy their resources to achieve the service output and outcome specified in FSAs. The SWD does not maintain information on the number of relevant posts and their qualifications and background, as well as the number of service users who have received/refused post-placement service. In 2024-25, all service operators of SET met the specified service output standard(Note). The SWD will review the relevant service content and outcome from time to time.

Note: The service output standard refers to not less than 80 per cent of service users having received no less than 12 months' post-placement service in a year.

Ends/Wednesday, May 7, 2025
Issued at HKT 12:06

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