SOCIAL WELFARE
(CSSA) Recipients 1999, the 1999/2000 Household Expenditure Survey on CSSA Households (jointly conducted with the Census and Statistics Department), the Longitudinal Study of CSSA Unemployed Recipients, the Follow-up Survey on Re- employed CSSA Job Searchers, the Survey on Employment Situation of 1999 Social Work Graduates and the 2000 Survey of Street Sleepers.
Subvention and Service Monitoring
Recurrent subvention and capital grants were given to 181 NGOs for the provision of social welfare services in accordance with government policies. Funding allocation was administered by the SWD on the advice of the Subventions and Lotteries Fund Advisory Committee.
With a view to improving the social welfare subvention system, the SWD introduced a package of measures to streamline the funding arrangement and to enhance the monitoring of service performance. NGOs were invited to opt for a lump sum mode of subvention which enables flexible deployment of the subvention in delivering welfare services to meet the changing community needs in a timely manner. At the end of the year, 95 NGOs had decided to opt for the new funding arrangement. The performance monitoring aspects of the reform have been implemented progressively since 1999-2000 under the Service Performance Monitoring System. Under the system, service performance is to be assessed on the basis of a set of well defined Service Quality Standards (SQS) and Funding and Service Agreement (FSA) developed for each specific service. In 2000, FSAs for all services were put in place and 10 SQSS were implemented.
In 2000, the SWD launched a pilot project of inviting the private sector to bid for the operation of the new meal teams. Tenders were awarded to nine operators, including eight NGOs and a commercial caterer. The department's Contract Management Unit is closely monitoring the performance of the contractors.
Information Technology
The SWD's home page was revamped in May. With its interactive and user-friendly interface, the new home page provides a direct and convenient channel for the public. to gather up-to-date information on welfare services. Text-only versions are provided in the home page to facilitate information browsing by the visually impaired.
The SWD has completed the development of a Computerised Social Security System. This new system, which was implemented on schedule on October 3, supports comprehensively the processing of social security benefits and generating of management information for policy analysis and reviews.
Community Building
Several government departments and NGOs contribute towards the community- building programme which serves to foster among the people of Hong Kong a sense of belonging, mutual care and civic responsibility.
Community-building efforts involve providing purpose-built facilities for group and community activities, the formation of citizens' organisations, encouraging community participation in the administration of public affairs, solving community problems and improving the quality of community life in general. The Home Affairs Bureau has policy responsibility for the programme and the Home Affairs
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