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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
to apply. It may be the case that in the same estate the families who reach the 17 sq. ft., there may be 50 families. Then who, out of these, has priority to win this particular vacant room, for example, situated on the 7th floor of Block 5? Then the closeness to that room of the same density has the priority which I explained to you. The first priority is given to those on the same side, or in the same block or on the same floor and so on.
MR. SALES: -Mr. Chairman, now we understand, thank you very much.
MR. BERNACCHI:--And to make a personal statement, I would request Mr. SALES to read the original answer which is before him that "Eligible families will be invited to apply and allocation will be made on the principle of the degree of overcrowding and the closeness of applicants' rooms to the empty rooms." What could be simpler?
MR. SALES: -Mr. Chairman, I thank Mr. BERNACCHI, but he must forgive us because, according to Standing Orders, replies are given orally and we were listening to Mr. Hu giving us an oral reply. (Laughter).
MR. BLAKER :--Mr. Chairman, I am not entirely clear as to whether that parallel degree of overcrowding that would qualify them equally and from them would be chosen the closest. Does that apply to those in that estate? What would happen, for example, if there were people more overcrowded in another estate? Would they have a prior claim?
CHAIRMAN: If there is a short answer to that, Mr. BLAKER, I will let the Commissioner for Resettlement make it. Otherwise I'll pass to the next question.
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:-The short answer is that this applies to internal decantation only.
MR. BERNACCHI:-Which, I think I am right in saying that there is a standard, different for each estate, for internal decantation. 17 sq. ft. in one estate, perhaps 20 sq. ft. in another estate, perhaps 16 sq. ft. in another estate.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, for purposes of clarification, is there a "competition" in giving supplementary answers? (Laughter).
CHAIRMAN: -----One would imagine so, Mr. CHEONG-LEEN.
MR. HU:-Mr. Chairman, I think Mrs. ELLIOTT has more questions. (Laughter).
MRS. ELLIOTT-I was not going to ask any more questions. I was only going to say that the Senior Appointed Member seems to be out of touch with resettlement. I think Mr. Hu's answer was very lucid.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
(2) MRS. E. ELLIOTT asked the following question:-
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(a) How many creches/nurseries exist for children between infancy and kindergarten age in resettlement estates, and what is the total capacity?
(b) Are all available places taken up?
(c) For how many hours a day is each individual child
catered for in these establishments?
(d) What are the fees per child?
(e) Are any of the above organizations run directly by the
Government Social Welfare Department?
(f) How many of these organizations are Government sub-
sidized?
THE CHAIRMAN, in the absence of the Director of Social Welfare, replied as follows:
In the absence of Mr. RowE, I will give the answer to this question which is in six parts—(a) to (f). The answers are as follows:
(a) There are 24 child care centres situated in and near Resettlement Estates. They have a total capacity of 3,173 places, including 3 creches with 88 places (for infants aged between birth and two) and three day nurseries in the Estate Welfare Buildings each having a capacity for a hundred children. I should add that although these nurseries operate within or near Resettlement Estates they cater to the needs of the population living both in the Estates and in the surrounding areas.
(b) No. Average attendance over the past three months has been in the region of 2,429, which represents 84.5% of the total number of places.
(c) Each child is looked after in these centres for about
nine hours a day.
(d) All 24 centres are non-profit-making and they charge fees varying between a minimum of $10 a child a month and a maximum of $30 a child a month. Children from poor families are normally admitted on a reduced fee.
(e) No.
(f) Of the 24 centres 14 are in receipt of subventions
from Government.