ENG-2016 — Page 214

Chapter 11

Social Welfare

The government is committed to assisting individuals and families in need. The scope and extent of Hong Kong's welfare services have steadily evolved over the years, with total recurrent government expenditure on social welfare increasing by about 80 per cent in the past decade.

The Labour and Welfare Bureau formulates social welfare policies and oversees their implementation by the Social Welfare Department (SWD) and the Working Family Allowance Office of the Working Family and Student Financial Assistance Agency. The Social Welfare Advisory Committee, Elderly Commission, Rehabilitation Advisory Committee and Women's Commission advise the government on welfare policies.

In 2015-16, the department's total recurrent expenditure was $57.1 billion, of which $38.8 billion, or 67.9 per cent, was for financial assistance payments, $13.4 billion (23.5 per cent) was for recurrent subventions to non-governmental organisations (NGOs), $1.7 billion (3 per cent) was for other payments for welfare services, and the remaining $3.2 billion (5.6 per cent) was for departmental expenditure.

Social Welfare Services

Services for Families

The objectives of family services are to preserve and strengthen the family as a unit, to develop caring interpersonal relationships, to enable individuals and family members to prevent personal and family problems, to support them to deal with a problem when it arises, and to provide suitable services to meet needs that cannot be met adequately from within the family.

Services for families in need are provided at three levels. At the primary level, the department tries to prevent family problems through early identification, public education, publicity and empowerment. A departmental hotline, 2343 2255, provides service information, counselling and other forms of assistance.

At the secondary level, 65 Integrated Family Service Centres and two Integrated Services Centres offer a spectrum of preventive, supportive and remedial family services.

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