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Following is a question by the Hon Tam Heung-man and a reply by the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today (January 31):
Question
Two kinds of allowances, namely the Disability Allowance (DA) and the Old Age Allowance (OAA), were provided to eligible persons under the Social Security Allowance Scheme administered by the Social Welfare Department (SWD). In her direct investigation report published in November last year, the Ombudsman found many loopholes in the DA scheme, resulted in allowances being erroneously paid. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) whether it has, in response to the aforesaid report, formulated concrete measures to improve the DA scheme; if it has, of the details of such measures; if not, whether and when it will formulate such measures;
(b) whether it has conducted internal investigations into whether the erroneous payment of allowance involved maladministration by government officers and instituted disciplinary proceedings against the officers concerned; if it has, of the progress of the investigations; if not, the reasons for that; and
(c) given that loopholes have been found in the DA scheme, whether SWD has reviewed if there are inadequacies in the OAA scheme as well; if it has, of the outcome of the review; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
Madam President,
The Disability Allowance (DA) under the Social Security Allowance (SSA) Scheme includes Normal Disability Allowance (NDA) and Higher Disability Allowance (HDA). DA is non-contributory and non-means tested. It is designed to provide a monthly cash allowance to Hong Kong residents who are severely disabled to meet their special needs arising from disability.
(a) The Ombudsman has completed a direct investigation into the Social Welfare Department's (SWD) system for processing DA cases and published a report on November 16, 2006. A number of recommendations were made with regard to the dissemination of information to applicants, mechanisms for approving applications, and mechanisms for detecting errors. The Ombudsman also requested the SWD to submit a progress report in this regard within six months. The SWD is now following up on the Ombudsman's recommendations and working on the implementation details. The progress report will be submitted to the Ombudsman within the timeframe as requested.
Since DA is paid in advance, overpayment is unavoidable due to unreported changes or late reporting of changes particularly in cases involving hospitalisation of severely disabled persons who understandably cannot report promptly to the SWD. Currently, the SWD has put in place various cross-checking mechanisms, periodic case reviews and random checks to detect unreported changes to minimise the chances of overpayment.
As DA payments are public money funded entirely by general revenue, the SWD will seek to recover the overpaid amount when cases of overpayment come to light in order to safeguard public funds. In working out the repayment arrangements, the SWD takes into consideration the financial situation of the recipients concerned to ensure that the repayment will not lead to undue hardship.
The SWD will continue its efforts to minimise the chances of overpayment and will continue to keep under review its services to DA recipients, including the processing and handling procedures as well as internal workflow.
(b) For overpayment cases obviously caused by human errors, the Administration will conduct internal investigation and institute disciplinary proceedings against the officers concerned.
Two cases concerning erroneous payment of allowance due to the negligence of the SWD staff were quoted in the Ombudsman's report. One of these cases involved erroneous payment made to an NDA recipient who had passed away years ago while the other involved NDA erroneously paid to a Normal Old Age Allowance (NOAA) recipient. The SWD has completed the internal investigation into these two cases and already instituted appropriate disciplinary proceedings against the officers concerned.
(c) The SSA Scheme also includes the Old Age Allowance (OAA), which comprises NOAA and Higher Old Age Allowance (HOAA). The OAA is designed to provide a monthly cash allowance to Hong Kong residents aged 65 or above to meet their special needs arising from old age. It is non-contributory. To be eligible for the allowance, the total income and assets of NOAA applicants aged 65 to 69 and their spouses must not exceed the prescribed limits whereas HOAA applicants aged 70 or above are not subject to a means test.
The applicant or his/her relative/friend can make an application directly to a social security field unit near to his/her place of residence by phone, by fax, by e-mail, by post or in person. An application may also be made through a referral to the SWD by another government department or non-governmental organisation. The applicant can also download the application form from the SWD homepage and return the completed application form, together with photocopies of relevant supporting documents, to the social security field unit by mail or in person. Upon the receipt of the application, the SWD will arrange an interview with the applicant and cross-check the information given by the applicant. Same as processing DA applications, the SWD will also conduct data matching with other government departments and organisations to detect any unreported changes to the information provided.
The well-established mechanism for OAA payments has been working in an effective manner. We do not see a need at this stage to conduct a review in this regard.
Ends/Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Issued at HKT 13:44
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