202 Social Welfare
At year-end, there were 13 stand-alone aided child care centres providing 697 places. Child care centres and those day nurseries that were converted to kindergarten-cum-child care centres continued to provide full day child care services. During the year, these centres also gave occasional or extended hours of child care assistance to support families with child care needs through the provision of 505 occasional child care places and 1 244 extended hour places.
The Duty Lawyer Service was commissioned to run the Legal Representation Scheme in October 2003. The scheme is for children and juveniles involved in care or protection proceedings who are deprived of liberty and detained in a gazetted place of refuge under the Protection of Children and Juveniles Ordinance. It was extended on June 30, 2005, to cover children/juveniles taken directly to the juvenile court by the Police without any period of detention at a gazetted place of refuge before the court hearing, and those likely to be detained in a gazetted place of refuge on the recommendation of a social worker of the department.
Social Security
The Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) Scheme and the Social Security Allowance (SSA) Scheme form the mainstay of Hong Kong's social security system. They are supplemented by three accident compensation schemes: the Criminal and Law Enforcement Injuries Compensation Scheme, the Traffic Accident Victims Assistance Scheme, and Emergency Relief. There are 37 Social Security Field Units and two centralised offices administering these schemes across Hong Kong.
The CSSA Scheme
The CSSA Scheme is non-contributory but means-tested. The scheme provides cash assistance to people suffering from financial hardship, enabling them to meet basic needs. Applicants should satisfy the stipulated residence requirements. At year- end, there were 298 011 CSSA cases benefiting 539 963 people, compared with 295 694 cases and 542 017 people in 2004. Total expenditure on CSSA during the year amounted to $17.71 billion, representing an increase of 0.2 per cent over the previous year.
The eligibility requirements under the Portable CSSA Scheme were relaxed in August providing elderly people who have received CSSA for not less than a year the option of retiring to Guangdong or Fujian Province.
With effect from November, a monthly community living supplement is payable to severely disabled CSSA recipients who are medically certified to be 100 per cent disabled or in need of constant attendance and who are not living in institutions in recognition of the heavier expenses they may incur while living in the community.
Intensified Support for Self-reliance Measures
The department continued to implement the comprehensive package of employment-related services and intensified measures under the Support for Self- reliance Scheme during the year to help able-bodied unemployed CSSA recipients and other socially disadvantaged groups. In October, it commissioned more NGOs to begin the third batch of 35 Intensive Employment Assistance Projects to provide
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