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Speech by Secretary for Health and Welfare on budget debate

Following is the speech by the Secretary for Health and Welfare, Mrs Katherine Fok, on budget debate in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):

Mr President.

I have good reason to be pleased with this year's Budget and most Members have also welcomed the increasingly significant proportion of Government's spending which is being channelled to the health and welfare sectors. Since 1991/92, the proportion of total government spending given to these sectors has grown from just under 16% to over 18%. Of the $37 billion allocated for health and welfare next year, $22.1 billion is for health and $14.9 billion is for welfare. Although one Member queried the precise level of increase this represents over last year, I can confirm that these figures represent in real terms, that is over and above inflation, increases of 7.7% for health and a massive 24.1% for welfare.

These are significant increases reflecting the priority the Administration is placing in particular on upgrading our welfare services and support. But they are increases we can afford. Taxes are not being increased to pay for these improvements; we can afford them while remaining in line with our longstanding expenditure guidelines.

I note one Member has urged us to proceed more gradually. I hope what I have just said will reassure him and others that. while we are engaged in a necessary expansion, especially of our welfare services, we are doing so in a responsible and affordable way.

Another Member was concerned that after 1997 we should not continue to rely on the Lotteries Fund for recurrent welfare expenditure. I would like to repeat our assurance, first given in 1992 when we sought Finance Committee's approval for the $2.3 billion injection into the fund, that the General Revenue Account will absorb this expenditure after 1996/97. We do not see any difficulty in this. Indeed, we have already taken this into account in our current live year forecast (1994/95 to 1998/99).