(12) Social welfare
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The Review
113. Last year I said that Government was undertaking, a comprehensive
review of our social welfare programmes. This review was in essence
a new hard look at the adequacy of the coverage and administration of
the public assistance and infirmity and disability allowance schemes,
which could broadly be described as social security payments, and at those parts of the development programmes for social welfare, medical
and health services, and, education, which related to services for the
A White handicapped, the elderly and personal services for youth.
Paper on the handicapped will be published next week and will be
followed by Green Papers on social security payments and services
to the elderly and youth. The process of debate on the Green Papers
should be sufficiently advanced to enable the first phase of the new
arrangements to be included in the estimates for 1978/79.
Expansion of services to the handicapped
114. The proposals for services to the handicapped were published
in a Green Paper on 13th October last year and the process of debate
and consultation which followed has been completed. A White Paper
will be published this month setting out a 10-year development programme.
Since this work is of a highly specialised nature, will be carried out
not by one but several departments, and has a large measure of voluntary agency participation, special measures will be taken to co-ordinate and drive it forward, by means of a committee chaired by the Hon. Dr.
Harry Fang. The main lines of the proposals are already known to you,
/out
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