TNAG-0876-FCO40-1086-Development-of-social-welfare-policy-in-Hong-Kong-1979 — Page 119

布政司署

香港下亞

畢道

本署檔號 OUR REF.: SS L/M 34/79

R+R

**** Your Ref.:

J2.5

Sear Patrick,

23

GOVERNMEnt secRETARIAT

LOWER ALBERT ROAD

HONG KONG

26th April .1979..

HKK 234/1.

INDEX

No

2 MAY 1979

J2.5 1

:

International Year of the Child

Please refer to a Parliamentary Question by Robert Parry on 21st March 1979 (Question 6 in your telegram No. HK 291 of 14th March) and the Undersecretary of State's reply that "there is no specific programme of action to mark the International Year of the Child in Hong Kong". Unfortu- nately some readers in Hong Kong have interpreted the Undersecretary's condensed reply to mean that nothing is being done in Hong Kong.

2.

As we said in our telegram No. 383 of 16th March, a number of developments in the social services field which will take place during 1979 will benefit children and young people. These include:

(a) extension of universal and compulsory education

to the 14th birthday (and to 15 in 1980);

(b)

(c)

an increase of 3,700 in the number of places in special schools for the handicapped, bringing the total to 23,500, together with improvements to the subsidy system to widen the range of services available in these schools;

new legislation to extend the controls on the employment of young people, to assist in the implementation of (a) above;

(a) considerable expansion in School Social Work among

children; and

Mr. P.J. Williamson,

Hong Kong and General Department,

Foreign and Commonwealth Office,

London SW1A 2AH,

UNITED KINGDOM

(e) /