TNAG-1610-FCO40-22132-Minutes-and-Hansards-of-the-Legislative-Council-of-Hong-Kong-1987 — Page 296

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Supplementary to Question No. 3

in LegCo Meeting on 8.4.87

Mr. CHEONG-LEEN : Sir, could the good offices of CNTA be sought

to make the information available in this reply to all district

boards, as I get the impression that a number of district board

members feel, from their own feedback, that the Social Welfare

Department is not adopting a sufficiently flexible attitude in

this respect?

Secretary for Health and Welfare: Sir, I will ensure that this

is done.

Mr. TAM (in Cantonese) : Sir, to some elderly people who live

in Hong Kong alone Old Age Allowance is the only source of

their income. Some of the dependants or relatives of these old

people are in China so

so these elderly people sometimes have to

go back to China in order to be better taken care of.

care of. In view

of this, will the Government consider eliminating the

these elderly people can be

restriction

of 90 days SO that

taken care of outside Hong Kong?

Secretary for Health and Welfare : Sir, as I explained in my

main answer, the Old Age Allowance like all our social security

schemes, is not funded on a contributory basis. The allowance

is intended to help elderly people who are residents of Hong

Kong and I do not think that we could, on the present basis,

justify continued payment to people who

to people who have left Hong Kong

more or less permanently.