CHAPTER I
REVIEW OF THE YEAR
SOCIAL welfare services in Hong Kong have now reached the stage where it is possible to turn from the provision of basic services to meet emergency situations towards effective planning of resources to provide services to meet the needs of the community as a whole.
2. Priority was given to the preparation of a five year plan for social welfare which is intended to bring together the conclusions of Government and those in the voluntary sector on what social welfare development should be in terms of actual programmes. It is envisaged that preparation of the five year plan will be completed soon and it is hoped that it will take effect from the beginning of the finan- cial year 1973-74. The Social Welfare Planning Committee which was established to prepare the five year plan consists of representatives from the voluntary sector as well as members of the Social Welfare Department. In view of the importance of joint planning by the Govern- ment and the voluntary sector it is intended that this Planning Com- mittee should continue on a permanent basis as a means of providing effective on-going consultative machinery for social welfare, operating under the general aegis of the Social Welfare Advisory Committee. This machinery will include an annual review of the five year plan, and its continuing extension year by year.
3. The introduction of a revised public assistance scheme in April 1971 was a major achievement in the development of welfare services. The scheme provides assistance in cash to individuals and families in order to bring the income and other resources of the recipient up to a certain prescribed level. A new Public Assistance Division was set up to cope with the expansion in work associated with the revised scheme. During the first year of its operation 17,958 families received assistance which amounted to $11,987,749.92. A detailed account of the scheme is given in Chapter VI.
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