TNAG-1363-FCO40-1809-Hong-Kong-Hansard-reports-and-minutes-of-the-meetings-of-the-1985 — Page 109

Supplementary to question No. 3 in the

Legislative Council on 6 November 1985

Mr. HUI Yin-fat: Sir, in view of the reply just given by the Secretary for

Health and Welfare it seems that Government is giving higher priority to

extension plans than improvements to the quality of the existing services

which have been delayed repeatedly. Sir, may I ask the Government that a

certain degree of assurance be given that the improvement of quality of

existing services be given higher priority when funds are available in the

near future?

Secretary for Health and Welfare: Sir, I can give an assurance that this

#ill be carefully considered when we know exactly how much money we are

provided with in the budget next year,

Welfare to do this.

I will ask the Director of Social

Mrs. Rosanna TAM: Sir, may I ask the Government since there are sufficient

revenue for salary adjustments why can't the Government speed up the process

to an acceptable level of giving such adjustments to subvented voluntary

welfare agencies for the sake of fairness and good working morale?

Secretary for Health and Welfare: Sir, I accept that this year there was an

unfortunate delay in deciding precisely how much money to allocate to category

2 services. This problem has been carefully thought through and I hope that

next year we will not have the same problem.

Mr. Stephen CHEONG: Sir, as a complete novice to the social welfare field,

could the Secretary for Health and Welfare be kind enough to elucidate whether

or not the quality of existing service is totally dependent on the funds

available?

Secretary for Health and Welfare:

to some extent it depends on

Sir, quality is always an elusive item but

the level of staff provided in the different