TNAG-0103-FCO40-139-Briefs-and-background-notes-for-Lord-Shepherd-1967 — Page 119

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D. Social Welfare

28. The population "explosion" of the last 15 years has involved very

considerable public expenditure on keeping up with the vital needs in the

fields of medical services, housing, education and water supplies and very

little has been provided from public funds for social welfare services.

Indeed it has been the Hong Kong Government's view that it would not

have been realistic (and it is still not realistic today) to plan for

the establishment of fully comprehensive social welfare services, much

less the social security services that are associated with the

"Welfare State". This was the conclusion of a White Paper on "Aims

and Policy for Social Welfare" approved by the Legislative Council in

May, 1965.

29. As set out in the White Paper, the Hong Kong Government conceives its

role (and that of its Social Welfare Department) as the study and

assessment of social welfare needs and the provision of help and leadership

to the substantial efforts of voluntary organisations in this field.

30. To this end the Department of Social Welfare promotes the growth

of "self-help" and voluntary service (which figure largely in the

Chinese tradition) and the training of staff for social work. More

directly it is responsible for:-

(a) child welfare through the provision of nurseries,

play centres, homes for neglected or abandoned children;

(b) the probation service (including juvenile

correctional institutions);

(c) relief of destitution;

(d) the rehabilitation of the destitute and handicapped.

31. Very substantially, however, social welfare services depend on the

efforts of the many local and international organisations (religious

and otherwise) operating in Hong Kong; these efforts are coordinated by

the Hong Kong Council of Social Service with which the Department of

Social Welfare maintains close contact.

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