TNAG-1073-FCO40-1323-Policy-of-the-Government-of-Hong-Kong-on-education-including-1981 — Page 78

for a subvented place will not have to pay more in fees than they do at present. Appendix 9A shows how this sliding scale would affect the cost of sending a child from a 6-person family living in public housing to a child care centre or a kindergarten.

9.12

It is envisaged that the maximum assistance given should approximate to the anticipated average level of fees in the non-profit-making sector of each service which would be approximately $220 per month for child care centres and $90** per month for kindergartens. These figures will need to be reviewed from time to time in the light of changes in the levels of fees in the non- profit-making sectors. The Director of Education already has powers to control fees in kindergartens. It is intended to provide the Director of Social Welfare with similar powers in respect of child care centre fees.

9.13

It is proposed that all assessments of family entitlements to fee assistance should be undertaken by the Social Welfare Department, which would then pay all or part of the approved fees for eligible applicants directly to the institution concerned. The institution would be responsible for verifying that the children continued to attend; the Social Welfare Department in respect of child care centres and the Education Department in respect of kindergartens would institute checks against abuse.

Financial assistance for residential child care centres

9.14

The financial scheme proposed to assist parents meet the fees of day care centres and kindergartens would not be appropriate for residential child care centres given that most of the children in these centres would be either abandoned children or orphaned. The Government proposes only limited development of residential care, with admission into the centres being restricted to those in real need of such care, as defined in paragraph 2.8. It is therefore intended to continue to subvent residential child care centres on the present basis of an agreed per capita cost.

Further assistance for child care centres

9.15

It is more expensive to run a child care centre for disabled children than for normal children because a higher staff : children ratio is required. At present both ordinary child care centres accepting disabled children and special child care centres for more severely disabled children are provided with 1 member of staff for every 6 disabled children. Although under the proposed fee assistance scheme, child care centres will no longer be directly subvented, it is proposed that the Government should still provide direct financial assistance to meet the expenditure arising from this additional staff requirement. These proposals will ensure that, family income being equal, the fees paid in respect of disabled children are the same as those for other children.

9.16

The Government intends to continue to provide assistance in land allocation, accommodation, reimbursement of rents and rates and in the fitting out costs for child care centres run by approved non-profit-making agencies. These forms of assistance were introduced to encourage the provision of a greater number of child care centre places by non-profit-making organisations.

** estimated average at current rates after implementation of the improvements

proposed in this Green Paper

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