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Following is a question by the Hon Starry Lee Wai-king and a written reply by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, in the Legislative Council today (March 30):
Question:
Under the Portable Comprehensive Social Security Assistance Scheme ("PCSSA Scheme"), eligible elderly persons may apply for permanent retirement in Guangdong Province or Fujian Province and continue to receive Comprehensive Social Security Assistance ("CSSA") payments. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the number of elderly recipients under the PCSSA Scheme, the total amount of CSSA payments involved and the number of new cases in each of the past three years;
(b) of the respective numbers of elderly persons who had withdrawn from the PCSSA Scheme and returned from the aforesaid two provinces to Hong Kong for permanent residence and continued to receive CSSA payments in the past three years, and whether it knows the reasons for their withdrawal from the Scheme;
(c) of the number of abuse cases under the PCSSA Scheme uncovered by the authorities in the past three years, as well as the details of abuse and the amount of payments involved; and
(d) whether it has planned to extend the PCSSA Scheme to other provinces such as Hainan Province, etc.; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
The Administration introduced the Portable Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (PCSSA) Scheme in 1997 to enable elders aged 60 or above on Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) to continue to receive CSSA if they chose to retire in Guangdong Province. Since August 2005, the PCSSA Scheme has been extended to Fujian Province, with a corresponding change of its name in Chinese.
My reply to the four parts of the question raised by the Hon Starry Lee is set out below:
(a) The number of CSSA elders participating in the PCSSA Scheme, the expenditure on CSSA payment to them and the number of new cases in each of the past three years are provided at Annex 1.
(b) The number of elders who left the PCSSA Scheme, chose to return to and live in Hong Kong and continued to receive CSSA, and the reasons for their withdrawal from the Scheme, in each of the past three years are provided at Annex 2.
(c) At present, the Social Welfare Department (SWD) has appointed the International Social Service Hong Kong Branch as its agent to assist in implementing and monitoring the PCSSA Scheme. Through this agent, SWD reviews and verifies on a regular basis the information on recipients so as to ascertain their continued eligibility for CSSA under the PCSSA Scheme.
SWD has set up a Special Investigation Section which specialises in the investigation of suspicious CSSA cases and refers suspected fraud cases to the Police for follow-up action. In the past three years, there was no PCSSA case referred to the Police for reason of suspected fraud.
(d) We have no plan to further extend the coverage of the PCSSA Scheme to others parts of the Mainland since this Scheme already covers Guangdong Province and Fujian Province, which are the hometown of the vast majority (about 95%) of elders on CSSA. We believe that the existing Scheme is able to meet the needs of CSSA elders who choose to retire on the Mainland.
Ends/Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Issued at HKT 14:10
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