Replies to LegCo questions

LCQ5: Women in poverty

Following is a question by the Hon Frederick Fung and a reply by the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today (June 21):

Question:

Regarding the problem of women in poverty and measures to assist women from low-income families to get employment, will the Government inform this Council whether:

(a) it will conduct surveys to ascertain the reasons for housewives not taking up employment, and of the measures available to help women who are willing to work after childbirth to rejoin the labour market;

(b) it will consider setting up one-stop service centres for women in various districts to provide mutual support services for housewives to enhance their confidence in securing employment, and to provide special support services for women from low-income families, including emotional and employment counselling, childcare services and gynaecological check-ups, etc; and

(c) the Commission on Poverty will look into the problem of women in poverty and make recommendations in this regard?

Reply:

Madam President,

(a) The Government has not conducted any surveys specifically to identify the reasons for housewives not taking up employment. For women who are willing to rejoin the labour market, the Labour Department provides a wide range of free employment assistance and counselling services to job-seekers through a network of 10 job centres, the Telephone Employment Service Centre and the Interactive Employment Service on the web. Other services include the Job Matching Programme to help job-seekers having problems in finding employment, the Employment Programme for the Middle-aged for people aged 40 or above, including women, as well as the Work Trial Scheme for the long-term unemployed and those who have repeatedly failed in job seeking.

As regards training, the Government launched the $5-billion Continuing Education Fund in June 2002 to provide financial subsidies for local residents aged 18 to 60 as an incentive for them to pursue continuing education. Of the 273 000 applications received so far, 58% are from women. In addition, to assist persons in need who would like to take on new or enhanced skills, the Employees Retraining Board offers 140 courses and over 106 000 training places.

(b) In addition to the above services, we have provided a continuum of preventive, support and remedial services to individuals and families in need on a one-stop basis through the 61 Integrated Family Service Centres located across the territory. Various childcare services are provided for children aged under six. The means-tested Kindergarten and Child Care Centre Fee Remission Scheme offers subsidy to parents in need. Extended hours services and occasional childcare services are also available outside normal working hours to meet their needs. We also assist in the setting up of mutual help child care centres and, by way of subsidy to families in need, provide the supervised child-minding service and day foster care service on a pilot basis.

In respect of women's health, the Maternal and Child Health Centres (MCHCs) of the Department of Health, in collaboration with the Obstetric Department of public hospitals, provides postnatal mothers with physical checkups, experience sharing in support groups and individual counselling. Moreover, various woman health services are provided in the three Woman Health Centres and 10 MCHCs to address the health needs of women at various life stages. Since July 2005, the Health, Welfare and Food Bureau has introduced a pilot Comprehensive Child Development Service in some selected communities to provide support for children aged 0 to 5 and their families (including women in need). The service focuses on early identification and intervention, and aims to provide appropriate services in a timely manner through multi-disciplinary collaboration to achieve better alignment of the delivery of health, education and social services at district level.

It is clear from the above that a wide range of services has been provided for women in need. We therefore consider that there is no need to duplicate resources to separately set up a one-stop women services centre.

(c) Since its establishment early last year, the Commission on Poverty has initiated a number of studies and researches into poverty and explored ways to provide appropriate assistance for the less privileged, including women, in our society.

The problem of women in poverty is attributable to multifaceted factors, and the relevant government bureaux and departments have, under their respective purviews, been providing all necessary assistance to the people in need. These include the services related to employment, training, family support, childcare, health and medical issues as mentioned in the replies to questions (a) and (b) above. On the other hand, the Women's Commission (WoC), as a high-level central mechanism to handle women issues, has been playing a strategic role in promoting the Government to take into account the perspectives and needs of both men and women when formulating policies and programmes. The WoC has also reviewed from time to time the impact of different government policies and services on women and made recommendations for the relevant bureaux and departments to execute and take follow-up actions. In the past, the WoC has reviewed employment-related services provided by the Government, including employment services, vocational training, retraining for employees, adult and continuous education as well as relevant welfare and support services. The WoC will continue to discuss these issues with the bureaux and departments concerned.


Ends/Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Issued at HKT 12:55

NNNN