ENG-1981 — Page 183

SOCIAL WELFARE

Training

131

Through its training section - housed in the Lady Trench Training Centre - the department provides basic training in social work to untrained social work staff and refresher and staff development programmes to trained social work staff employed in the department and voluntary agencies; in-service training to social security workers and in-service basic training to child care centre workers. Some 52 courses, seminars and workshops were organised during the year.

The section also operates a demonstration nursery to provide day-care for 100 children aged two to six. It also serves as a training centre for child care centre workers.

The section contributes to social work training through the provision of field work placement and supervision to social work students from the University of Hong Kong, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Baptist College, the Shue Yan College, and the Hong Kong Polytechnic. A total of 203 students were placed in the department and supervised by the section's staff during the year. The department also provided fieldwork places for 98 students supervised by faculty staff of the training institutions.

To promote social work training, a number of grants and scholarships are available from the Social Work Training Fund, the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation and the government as well as from private donations.

Research and Evaluation

The department maintains a Research and Statistics Section to conduct various research studies for planning and reviewing the services offered by the department.

In 1981, 18 research projects were conducted of which four studies involved household interviews - a sample study of old people referred for compassionate rehousing, a sample study of cases wait-listed for institutions for the aged, a survey of household expenditure of public assistance recipients and a study of demand for child care places for disabled children aged two to five.

The Planning and Evaluation Sub-committee of the Social Welfare Advisory Committee ensures that evaluation of the effectiveness and standard of services is carried out effectively in both voluntary welfare organisations and the department as part of the administration of programmes and services.

Another function of evaluation is to ensure that funds that are allocated to voluntary welfare organisations in the form of recurrent subvention or grants from the Lotteries Fund, are used for their intended purpose. To this effect, regional staff of the department make regular visits to service units of agencies receiving subvention. Summaries of annual evaluation reports on each organisation are presented to the Social Welfare Advisory Committee for reference and these assist in considering agencies' subvention applications.

Apart from routine evaluation exercises, the department also undertakes in-depth examinations of individual welfare services, programmes or organisations, on the advice of the Social Welfare Advisory Committee. To direct and co-ordinate these evaluations, the department has a small evaluation section in its establishment. In 1981, the section completed two services and five programme evaluations.