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As to the issue or renewal of a certificate of exemption, the fee will be increased by nine per cent from $720 to $785.
The spokesman noted that the proposed fee revision will only have a very mild impact on the operating costs of hotels and guesthouses. It is estimated that the share of licence fees in the operating costs will increase slightly from 0.06 per cent to 0.09 per cent.
"Under the new scale, there is no question of the hotel industry subsidising the guesthouse industry or vice versa," he added.
Details of the new fee scale are set out in the Hotel and Guesthouse Accommodation (Fees) (Amendment) Regulation 1996, which was gazetted today.
End
Re-integrate disabled into community
The basic objective of rehabilitation services is to develop the potentials of all persons and to enable them to work and live as independently as possible in the community, the Director of Social Welfare, Mr Ian Strachan, said today (Friday).
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the Shau Kei Wan Half-way House of the Society for the Rehabilitation of Offenders, Mr Strachan said integration of the disabled including the ex-mentally ill into the community was the corner-stone and ultimate goal of rehabilitation policies in Hong Kong.
"To achieve this goal, the Government with the support of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) is rapidly expanding services to promote and establish community rehabilitation services, such as sheltered employment and residential facilities to assist the disabled in their re-integration into community life.
"A half-way house provides care, supervision, support and counselling services for the discharged mental patients who due to various reasons require transitional care and re-adjustment prior to re-entering normal life in Hong Kong," Mr Strachan said.
He said the Government at present funded a total of 25 half-way houses with 937 places operated by NGOs and there were also expanded supported employment placements provided to assist them to re-integrate into the community after their hospitalisation or discharge.