13
between 65 and 69, who have not previously been eligible.
All those aged 70 and over will be eligible for the new
higher rate of Old Age Allowance without having to declare
their income.
S.caps
le
24.
Mr. Hui referred to the need for manpower
planning, for the implementation of agreed manning ratios
with the
in welfare services and better training opportunities.
Manpower planning is a very inexact science at the best of
times and fluctuations in the resources available from
year to year make it even more difficult to produce
accurate forecasts of the number of social workers who can
be recruited. After several years in which the number of
social work graduates exceeded the vacancies in the
pepartment and the agencies, this year the increased
provision of funds has meant that there are not enough
trained social workers to fill all the posts. Hence the
need to retain the scheme for recruiting graduates in
other subjects and giving them post-graduate in-service
training in social work.
35. So far as training programmes are concerned, I am
sure that Members will be pleased to hear that the Royal
Hong Kong Jockey Club has recently donated $6 million to
the Social Work Training Fund, which will enable the Pund
to sponsor more in-service training for social workers.
یا