ENG-1990 — Page 218

SOCIAL WELFARE

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To prevent abuse of the various schemes, a special team investigates cases of suspected fraud or difficulties encountered in recovery of overpayment. During the year, the team completed investigations into 355 cases.

Social Security Appeal Board

The Social Security Appeal Board is an independent body comprising non-official members appointed by the Governor. It considers appeals from individuals against decisions by the Social Welfare Department concerning public assistance, special needs allowance and traffic accident victims assistance payments. During the year, 84 appeals were heard by the board. Of these, one was related to public assistance, 82 to special needs allowance, and one to traffic accident victims assistance.

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Services for Offenders

The Social Welfare Department has several statutory duties in the field of services for offenders. These duties are to put into effect the directions of the courts on the treatment of offenders through social work methods. The overall aim is to rehabilitate offenders through probation supervision, the Community Service Orders Scheme, residential training for young offenders and after-care services.

Probation applies to offenders of all age groups. It allows offenders to remain in the community under the supervision of probation officers and subject to prescribed rules set by the courts. Community participation in the rehabilitation of offenders has been promoted through the Volunteer Scheme for Probationers in which volunteers from many walks of life are selected to provide probationers with personal and moral support, as well as direct services such as tutoring and guidance on the use of leisure time.

The Community Service Orders Scheme which started in January 1987 is another community-based treatment with punitive and rehabilitative aims. It requires an offender of or over the age of 14 and convicted of an offence punishable by imprisonment, to perform unpaid work of benefit to the community and to receive counselling and guidance from a probation officer. The scheme has been successfully implemented at three magistracies and will be extended to the remaining seven magistracies once resources are available.

In April 1987, a Young Offender Assessment Panel was set up jointly by the Social Welfare Department and the Correctional Services Department. The panel comprises professional staff from the two departments and provides magistrates with a co-ordinated view on the most appropriate programme of rehabilitation for convicted young offenders aged between 14 and 25. Its services were extended to all magistracies in the year.

The Social Welfare Department operates seven residential institutions with a total capacity of 712 places, each with a slightly different training programme to cater for the needs of the residents. Educational, pre-vocational and character training are provided to assist juvenile offenders to return to the community as law-abiding citizens. The Begonia Road Boys' Home and Ma Tau Wei Girls' Home are combined remand-and-probation institutions for juvenile offenders and youths in need of statutory care and protection. The establishment of Pui Chi Boys' Home in 1984 helped to alleviate overcrowding in the probation section of the Begonia Road Boys' Home by catering for a younger age group of under 14. Similarly, the Pui Yin Juvenile Home, in operation since February 1986, has contributed to improving conditions at the remand sections of the Begonia Road Boys' Home and Ma Tau Wei Girls' Home. The Castle Peak Boys' Home is a reformatory school