cess of joint consultation. Some forty officers of the Department sit on the management and other committees of various agencies, act as consultants and also advise these agencies of relevant departmental policies. But the main avenue of communication is through bodies which themselves co-ordinate a group of welfare services. Caritas and the Hong Kong Christian Council, for instance, co-ordinate the welfare activities of many Roman Catholic and Protestant Church organizations respectively.
104. The most comprehensive body, however, is the Hong Kong Council of Social Service which provides a convenient vehicle of com- munication with over 80 affiliated member agencies. The Council, which began in 1947 with a small group of concerned people has been reorganized and strengthened and has emerged into a position of increased respect and standing. There are now separate divisions dealing with rehabilitation, children and youth, family service and child care. Each division has sought to rationalize the way in which agencies work towards the meeting of various needs, investigating new areas of needs, avoiding duplication of services and raising standards of work. The Department is represented on the Council's Executive Committee and lends the support of its officers on many of its other committees.
105. It is through this form of regular communication that the Department has been able to plan and carry out joint programmes. There are co-ordinated summer programmes for children and youth, joint discussions have taken place in connection with the preparation of a five year development plan for social welfare, and there has been as full a consultation as possible about the new public assistance scheme which the Department will be operating within the next year.
ADVISORY AND STATUTORY COMMITTEES
106. The Social Welfare Advisory Committee is, by its terms of reference, the advisory body to Government on all matters of social welfare policy. The Director of Social Welfare is Chairman ex officio of the Committee. Its members are prominent private citizens actively associated with voluntary welfare work; they are appointed in their individual capacity by the Governor. During the year the Committee advised Government on a number of important issues including matters relating to financial assistance and to non-profit-making day nurseries. It also considered applications for Government subventions and recom- mended disbursements amounting to $11.6 millions, applications for
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