Speech by the Hon. Thomas C.Y. Lee, CBE, JP, Director of Social Welfare at the Legislative Council Meeting on 16.11.78
Regionalization
Sir, I am grateful to Dr. HO Kam-fai for his support of the forthcoming regionalization of the Social Welfare Department as of improving administrative and operational effieiency, and I welcome the opportunity to set his mind at rest with regard to its possible. implications on the voluntary welfare sector.
With
The first point that I would like to make is that regionaliza- tion is only one aspect of a general restructuring of the Social Welfare
Department. The operational arm of the Department is now divided into
six centralized divisions covering the various fields of service. effect from April 1st 1979, responsibility for day-to-day operation in
all these fields will be decentralized to 11 District Social Welfare
Officers, who will be responsible to four Regional Officers. This will increase administrative efficiency, as most decisions on operational
matters will be taken at district level rather than in Headquarters, and
it will allow better concentration and co-ordination of services.
ultimate aim is to enable clients to receive a comprehensive service in a welfare office under one roof. However, the Departmental Headquarters
will retain the responsibility for the planning and development of new
services, for the administration of subventions and for training, as well
as for a few services, which must continue to be administered centrally.
To enable these duties to be carried out satisfactorily in view of the
rapid increases in the size of the Department and in the scope of its
services, the Headquarters has been strengthened in the areas of planning,
development and the administration of subventions.
The
I have gone into some detail with regard to the general
restructuring of the Department in order to make it clear to Dr. Ho that
regionalization will not have the detrimental effects that he fears
on the relationship between Government and voluntary agencies. The two
particular points on which he expressed concern were that the voluntary
agencies will be subjected to a subordinate, dependent position by the
new functions of the Regional Officers and that the planning units within
each agency will have to move from the agency's headquarters to its branch
offices, thus leading to a loss of central control. As I have explained,
the Department's regionalization proposals only affect its operational side.