XN000022-1973-11-28 — Page 4

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Wednesday, November 28, 1973

He said a one-line-vote for social welfare subventions is to be

introduced in the year 1974/75 which would mean that the allocation of

subventions to individual voluntary agencies will become the responsibility

of the Director of Social Welfare acting on the advice of the Social

Welfare Advisory Committee.

The procedures for allocation of grants from

the Lotteries Fund will also be improved.

Mr. Li said with the establishment of the overall policy and

strategy for social welfare in the White Paper and the Five Year Plan and

with the implementation of projects proceeding satisfactorily, it is now

possible to focus attention on particular areas of difficulty which

require inter-departmental co-ordination.

One such area, he said, concerns the future needs of the elderly

on which a working party had recently published a report.

He said a number of valuable comments had been received revealing

a great degree of support for action in this field over a wide front and

when these had all been digested, the government would be able to bring

forward firm proposals about the future provision of services in this field.

Another area in which co-ordination was necessary, he said, was

the rehabilitation of the disabled.

Mr. Li said much preliminary consultative work had already been

undertaken between government departments and voluntary agencies in this

field. The Ad Hoc Working Group on Rehabilitation has produced a very

useful working paper summarising a large number of concepts and recommendations

discussed by representatives of the government and the Hong Kong Council of

Social Service.

This paper,