No let-up in support of the poor

With rising inflation and soaring property prices in Hong Kong, there is growing public concern over the wealth gap and whether the HKSAR Government's effort to help the poor is effective. There are signs that the poverty situation is easing.

This is according to a set of 24 multi-dimensional indicators adopted by the former Commission on Poverty (CoP) to gauge Hong Kong's poverty situation. Unlike the oft-quoted Gini Co-efficient, the CoP's mechanism differentiates between income disparity and poverty which are two distinct concepts that are not necessarily related. This is especially the case for Hong Kong today, given our ageing population and the fact that more elderly people live away from their children.

Using the CoP's benchmark, statistics show that some 759 900 people were living in poverty in 2010. While this is still a rather high number, it represents a 9.4% decrease from the 838 300 people living in poverty in 2009. It is also a marked reduction from a high of 1.027 million in 2003.

While the recent trend is encouraging, the most important aspect of these figures is that they help to identify those in genuine need of support.

Although Hong Kong's strong economic growth and improved labour market are helping to reduce the number of people in poverty, the Government will not let up its wide-ranging work on poverty alleviation.

Here are some of the ways that the Government is tackling the poverty situation head on, with a series of pragmatic, innovative and targeted measures.

Currently, over 57% of the government's recurrent expenditure is devoted to education, welfare, health and public housing. Welfare spending alone has more than doubled from $20 billion in 1997 to $42.2 billion this financial year. That represents a hefty increase of $22.2 billion or 111%.

In alleviating poverty, we adopt a three-pronged approach:
- promoting economic development to create jobs,
- equipping our labour force through education, training and retraining, and
- providing a sustainable safety net for the needy.

Importantly, all 53 recommendations made by the former CoP have either been implemented or followed up. Notable progress has been made in helping youngsters, the unemployed and the elderly, as well as in implementing district-based poverty alleviation measures.

Reducing inter-generational poverty is a key task. Apart from investing heavily in education, we pay special attention to the needs of children and youths from disadvantaged backgrounds in order to support their educational needs and promote whole-person development. The $300 million Child Development Fund has so far benefitted 2 270 children. This number is expected to increase by 5 000 this financial year with the ultimate goal of the Fund to benefit 13 600 youngsters.

Furthermore, the Comprehensive Child Development Service will be extended territory-wide by phases. Additional funding has been provided to expand the school-based After-school Learning and Support Programmes, and an Internet Learning Support Programme has also been rolled out.

Employment is vital in easing poverty and promoting self-reliance. The Government has strengthened a wide range of employment training and retraining programmes as well as employment support. The Employees Retraining Board will offer 130 000 training places in this financial year. The Labour Department will also set up a pioneer one-stop employment and training centre in Tin Shui Wai later this year. The centre will enhance employment services, including the provision of in-depth and personalised employment services to unemployed able-bodied recipients of Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) in the area.

This year also sees the introduction of two major policy initiatives in support of grassroots workers. These are the Statutory Minimum Wage which took effect from May 1 and the Work Incentive Transport Subsidy Scheme to be implemented in October. These initiatives represent a significant breakthrough in government policy direction - to intervene in the market with necessary labour protection measures without compromising Hong Kong's free market principles.

At the same time, to help ease inflation the Financial Secretary announced a series of relief measures in his Budget in February. These include a one-month extra payment to recipients of CSSA, Old Age Allowance and Disability Allowance last week, plus the payment of two months' normal rent for public housing tenants.

In addition, the Government will provide extra targeted support to those in need through the Community Care Fund. For example, a monthly subsidy will be provided for elderly people from low-income families to hire household cleaning and medical appointment escorting services; CSSA recipients who are owners of Tenant Purchase Scheme flats or living in private housing will receive a one-off subsidy; persons with disabilities and children with special needs and those waiting for subvented pre-school rehabilitation services will also receive a monthly subsidy.

Our rapidly ageing population poses another pressing need to further enhance support for the elderly. Following the release of a consultancy report on residential care services for the elderly at end-2009, the Elderly Commission announced the findings of another consultancy study on community care services last week. We will thoroughly examine the useful recommendations and map out the best way forward to carry through our policy for promoting 'ageing in place as the core, institutional care as backup'.

In the meantime, the Government will double the monthly rate of the Community Living Supplement under the CSSA Scheme to $250 and also extend the coverage of this Supplement to include recipients who are not living in institutions and are either persons with disabilities at non-severe levels, persons suffering ill-health or the elderly. This will benefit more than 190 000 people.

These are some of the recent measures taken in support of people in financial hardship. The Government will continue to leave no stone unturned and commit the necessary resources to provide support for the disadvantaged and underprivileged so that more of our citizens can escape poverty.

Ends

Ends/Monday, July 11, 2011