18.
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Not all that we propose to do in this area needs new money. We are also actively engaged in seeking new ways of redeploying existing resources to provide new services and to recognise the changing priorities for services. An important part of re-examining the way in which we spend the public's money on welfare services will be the major study we have just started on the way we subvent non-governmental organizations (NGO's) who provide services on our behalf. I can assure Mr Hui Yin- fat, amongst others. that this Review will be conducted with the fullest possible involvement of the NGO's. It is in the interest of both Government and the NGO's that we get these arrangements right so that services to those who need them are provided in a cost effective and professional way.
Social Security Assistance
Many members raised the issue of what we should be doing to ease the problems faced by growing numbers of elderly persons. With the recent debate over the most appropriate form of retirement protection system, it is understandable that attention has focussed in parallel on the most appropriate forms and level of social security assistance available for elderly persons. Members have pointed out that there will be some in lower income groups who may not necessarily receive adequate financial support in their old age from the mandatory privately managed provident fund (the MPF) system. Hence, calls for higher levels of payments for elderly persons under the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (the CSSA) scheme or under the Old Age Allowance scheme.
The Review we are conducting of CSSA arrangements will be thorough and fair. It will examine all aspects of this scheme, including, for example, the way in which 'absence rules' are applied. We fully intend to complete and implement it in the shortest possible timeframe. But the need for data from the Household Expenditure Survey places real constraints on how fast the Review can progress. Although the results of the Review will become available only late in the preparations for the 1996/97 budget, we shall do all we can to ensure funding is made available to start to implement in that financial year most of the changes recommended. That is why the Financial Secretary has agreed that some finds should be reserved for this purpose before the Review is completed.
Our aim will be to ensure that all elderly persons genuinely in need of financial support are given that support through the CSSA system. We do not believe that the Old Age Allowance system is the appropriate vehicle for providing financial support to elderly persons in need because it is not means-tested. Some Members have called for substantial increases in this allowance and Mr McGregor has also suggested that it should become means-tested. Any substantial increase in the allowance without a means-test would create a heavy burden on the taxpayer and use up funds which could be better spent on direct services or CSSA payments channelled to those in need.