Social_Welfare_Annual_Report_1967-1968 — Page 53

welfare services. In addition to these, there are many purely Chinese organizations, of which the kai fong associations and the Tung Wah Group of hospitals are examples which are dedicated to meeting social needs in the educational and medical fields with which this report is not directly concerned. Various co-ordinating bodies exist to prevent duplication, to co-ordinate, to plan or to interpret to the public the need for such services. Caritas performs this function for the Catholic agencies; the Hong Kong Christian Service is active for the majority of the Protestant group, but the most comprehensive is the Hong Kong Council of Social Service which as the major role, with 79 affiliated organizations working through 45 committees and a small but growing permanent staff under an Executive Director. One of the major functions of the Council of Social Service is its information work. This is accomplished by such means as a regular news-letter, an interpretative leaflet and a Chinese periodical; the Council also offers facilities to visitors and local residents who wish to know more about welfare services. The Employment Assistance Scheme of the Council continued to provide services for both the disabled and socially handicapped people. The Council's separate divisions co-ordinate the work of the voluntary agencies in the fields of family and child care, children and youth and the rehabilitation of the disabled, and continued to work closely with the Department on a wide range of matters. The Council's survey into the social needs of Chai Wan published during the year proved a valuable guide on the design and planning of a community centre to be built with World Refugee Year funds raised locally.

137. The Social Welfare Advisory Committee provides Government with the considered opinions of prominent citizens, many of whom are active in voluntary welfare agencies. All its members, except the Chairman, are private persons who serve in an individual capacity, and are appointed by the Governor. Its terms of reference and membership are set out in Appendix 2. During the year the committee offered its advice to the government on a number of questions of policy; con- sidered applications for subventions from forty-eight voluntary organi- zations covering greatly increased activities and recommended alloca- tions totalling nearly $9,750,000 for 1968-69 (in 1958-59 the allocations were under $2.4 millions); considered twenty-one applications for per- mission to hold flag days in 1968 and advised which should be granted; and also advised on how the money raised from the Government lotteries should be spent.

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