be increased to five by 1980-81. In the voluntary sector, plans are in hand to establish hostels both! for licensees and for discharged prisoners who are considered not ready for full reintegration into the community.
Supporting Services
4.40
The increasing scope and complexity of social welfare services in Hong Kong demand a parallel effort in developing supporting services, such as planning, research, evaluation and training. The basic instrument of planning will remain the 5-Year Development Plan, which is reviewed annually under the aegis of the Planning and Evaluation Sub-Committee of the Social Welfare Advisory Committee. The capacity of the Social Welfare Department for planning and developing future services will be greatly strengthened this year. While the operational work of the Department will be based in comprehensive district offices, a team of professional officers under an Assistant Director will supplement the existing Planning Unit at Headquarters, thus enabling the establish- ment of a more co-ordinated system for the development of new policy and the construction of welfare institutions.
4.41
The restructuring of the Department also entails the creation of a new Division under an Assistant Director, whose primary responsibilities will be to co-ordinate the annual subvention exercise, and to evaluate welfare services provided by voluntary agencies. In the immediate future, one of his main tasks will be to devise, in close consultation with the Hong Kong Council of Social Service, a more satisfactory system of subvention.
4.42
One of the major constraints over the next few years is likely to be the shortage of trained social workers to meet the demands of the proposed expansion of services outlined in this White Paper. The recent review of the welfare class in the Social Welfare Department has enabled proposals to be made for a more economical use of professionally trained manpower, for example by the use of in-service trained staff in work, such as social security, where professional expertise is not essential. Negotiations are already in hand with the Universities and the Polytechnic for expanding their social work departments, and the need for an accreditation system for schools of social work in Hong Kong is being examined. In-service training is another area to which high priority will be given particularly in view of the identified need for trained staff who are not University trained social work graduates.
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