Replies to LegCo questions
LCQ20: Assistance to children in need
Following is a question by the Hon Abraham Shek and a written reply by the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today (February 8):
Question:
A social service organisation has estimated that some 2 000 children are
undertaking various menial work, such as cleaning, refuse collection and
scavenging in dustbins for saleable items, in dirty and even hazardous
environments in order to help their families make ends meet. In this connection,
will the Government inform this Council:
(a) whether it will provide subsidies to these children so as to free them from
such menial work;
(b) how it cares for the physical and mental health of these children;
(c) as many of these children come from families receiving payments under the
Comprehensive Social Security Assistance Scheme, whether it will consider
increasing such payments; and
(d) how the Commission on Poverty will tackle this problem at the district
level?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) The Administration pays special attention to the development of children and
will provide assistance to cater for their special needs in various areas. The
principle of according priority treatment to the needs of our children has been
well embedded in social security policies through the Comprehensive Social
Security Assistance (CSSA) Scheme. Under the CSSA Scheme, children are provided
with higher standard rates than other able-bodied recipients. They are also
provided with a range of special grants pertaining to their education and
school-related needs (Please refer to (c) of the reply). In addition to cash
assistance, CSSA recipients are given free medical services in all public
clinics/hospitals. As at end of 2005, the number of CSSA recipients aged below
18 was 151 870, which corresponded to 28% of the total recipients.
Non-CSSA families with financial difficulties may apply for medical fee waiver
on a one-off basis or for a prescribed period. It is our policy that no children
should be deprived of medical services because of lack of means. In regard to
education, it is our policy that no students should be deprived of education due
to financial difficulties. At present, the Student Financial Assistance Agency (SFAA)
administers a number of means-tested financial assistance schemes to provide
assistance to needy students at various levels in the form of school textbook
assistance, home-school travel subsidies, tuition fee remission, grant and
loans, etc. as appropriate.
In addition, child employment is regulated by law in Hong Kong. The Employment
of Children Regulations made under the Employment Ordinance (Cap. 57) prohibit
the employment of children aged under 13 and impose stringent restrictions on
the employment of children aged 13 but below 15 in non-industrial establishments
with a view to ensuring that they can enjoy full time education and protecting
their safety, health and welfare. The Regulations also prohibit the employment
of children in any industrial undertaking.
(b) The Administration has all along been committed to developing a
comprehensive network of services, many of them highly subsidised, to take care
of our children's developmental needs. We have developed a continuum of
preventive, supportive and remedial welfare services for families in order to
provide targeted assistance to help families in need. For instance, working
parents in need of child care services for young children, or after school care
service for their school-age children can receive highly subsidised childcare
and after school care services from the Social Welfare Department or
non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
The Administration is also committed to meeting the needs of children at
different developmental stages and ensuring that they are adequately protected
and cared for. There is an extensive network of 61 Integrated Family Service
Centres (IFSCs) over the territory to provide them with a range of support
services, from developmental programmes to intensive counselling. Social workers
of IFSCs adopt a pro-active approach to reach out to the needy, including
children in vulnerable circumstances or those who are new immigrants. They
establish networks with various parties such as social security field units,
Maternal and Child Health Centres, Student Health Service, schools, etc. to
facilitate the referral of children in need of welfare services to IFSCs for
early identification of problem and timely intervention.
With regard to education, children in Hong Kong can enjoy 9-year free education.
The Education and Manpower Bureau has also earmarked a recurrent provision of
$75 million per annum starting from the 2005-06 financial year to enable schools
to provide school-based after-school learning and support programmes, in
collaboration with NGOs, so as to increase students' learning effectiveness,
broaden their learning experiences outside classroom, and raise their
understanding of the community and sense of belonging.
To support needy students to participate in extra-curricular activities
organised by the schools, the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust has set up a
Life-wide Learning Fund with a sum of about $140 million in 2002 for a period of
5 years. Primary 4-6 or Secondary 1-3 students who are eligible for CSSA or
full-rate grant from the Student Financial Assistance Agency are eligible to
apply. During 2002-2004, each year some 60 000 eligible students from more than
1 100 schools received assistance through the scheme.
(c) Through the CSSA Scheme, the Administration provides a safety net which
especially meets the needs of children. These measures include:
* providing higher standard rates for children than for able-bodied adults,
ranging from $1,280 to $1,930 per month per child ($130 to $320 higher);
* providing children with special grants relating to study, covering expenditure
items such as school fees, meal allowance for students, transport expenses,
public examinations fees, selected items of school-related expenses such as
books, stationery, school uniforms, miscellaneous and minor one-off expenses. A
child attending lower secondary school may receive up to $3,810 in a school year
to meet the selected items of school-related expenses;
* exempting Hong Kong residents aged below 18 from the residence requirement for
CSSA. This enables children from a new arrival family to be eligible for CSSA
regardless of the length of residence of the family; and
* providing an additional monthly supplement of $225 to single parent families
to recognise the special difficulties which single parents face in bringing up a
family.
The Director of Social Welfare (DSW) would exercise his discretion under the
CSSA Scheme to assist children in need having regard to the situation of each
family.
We will continue to closely monitor the movement of the Social Security
Assistance Index of Prices (SSAIP) and adjust the rates annually to take account
of price changes. Based on the movement of the SSAIP, the Financial Committee of
the Council approved the upward adjustment of the standard payment rates of the
CSSA (including those for Children) by 0.4% to take account of inflation on
December 16, 2005. The new rates have been effective from February 1, 2006.
Since then, the estimated average monthly CSSA payments for 3-person and
4-person households without income are $7,753 and $9,118 respectively.
(d) Tackling intergenerational poverty is one of the work priorities of the
Commission on Poverty (CoP). The Task Force on Children and Youth under the CoP
has examined the wide range of existing services and programmes to ensure that
children and youth from disadvantaged families or with special needs can be
identified, have access to appropriate support and opportunities for balanced
and healthy development. The Task Force will continue to work closely with
relevant bureaux and departments at both central and district levels in this
direction. Separately, the CoP Task Force on District-based Approach is working
with the Home Affairs Department to allocate additional funding to fund
sustainable district initiatives, including those which help to tackle
intergenerational poverty and promote community building.
Ends/Wednesday, February 8, 2006
Issued at HKT 14:53
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