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Following is a question by the Hon Lee Wing-tat and a written reply by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, in the Legislative Council today (April 6):
Question:
The Government will make reference to the Hong Kong Planning Standards and Guidelines ("HKPSG") when it plans for the use of various land sites and the construction of community facilities. HKPSG recommend the provision of 760 half-day and 210 full-day places of nursery classes and kindergartens for every 1 000 children in the age group of three to under 6, one whole-day primary school classroom for every 25.5 children in the 6 to 11 age group, one whole-day secondary school classroom for every 40 young persons in the 12 to 17 age group; and also, one Integrated Children and Youth Services Centre should be provided for every 12 000 children/young persons in the 6 to 24 age group, one Integrated Family Service Centre for every 100 000 to 150 000 persons and one General Clinic/Health Centre for every 100 000 persons. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) whether the authorities have considered the relevant principles of gender mainstreaming in formulating HKPSG; if they have, of the principles considered and the relevant standards formulated; if not, the reasons for that;
(b) regarding Maternal and Child Health Centres and Woman Health Centres, which provide services to women, as well as Child Care Centres which provide occasional child care service, of the number of these types of community facilities and the respective service quotas available for women and children in each of the 18 local administrative districts;
(c) whether the authorities have formulated any planning guidelines and standards in respect of the community facilities mentioned in (b), eg. the ratio of Maternal and Child Health Centres as well as Woman Health Centres to the female population; if they have, of the relevant planning guidelines and standards; if not, the reasons for that; whether the authorities are aware of the relevant guidelines and standards adopted by the Mainland and overseas countries when planning for these community facilities;
(d) of the current number of women aged 25 or above in each of the 18 local administrative district (broken down by age group each covering 5 years);
(e) of the current number of married women aged 25 or above in each of the 18 local administrative district (broken down by age group each covering 5 years);
(f) of the current number of infants and children aged zero to 3 years in each of the 18 local administrative districts;
(g) of the current number of households, in each of the 18 local administrative districts, with household income less than the median household income of the corresponding household size; among them, the number of households with infants and children aged below three; whether the authorities will consider setting up more Child Care Centres to provide occasional child care service in districts with a larger number of poor families and a greater need for such service, or enhancing the provision of occasional child care service in these districts; and
(h) whether the existing facilities meet the standard of providing one Integrated Family Service Centre for every 100 000 to 150 000 persons, and the respective numbers of persons served by the Integrated Family Service Centres in various districts at present?
Reply:
President,
(a) According to the Development Bureau, the provision standards for community facilities such as schools and social welfare facilities as stipulated in the Hong Kong Planning Standards and Guidelines are formulated mainly on the basis of the overall population. The standards provide guidance on the reservation of land and the locational factors of facilities according to the relevant policy requirements. In case the relevant policy bureaux/departments determine that the policy of gender mainstreaming should be incorporated as a consideration in their study of issues relating to the provision of facilities under their purview, and if that will affect the reservation of land and locational factors, that consideration can be suitably reflected in the relevant standards and guidelines.
(b) According to information provided by the Food and Health Bureau, the Family Health Service under the Department of Health provides a comprehensive range of health promotion and disease prevention services for children from birth to five years and women at or below 64 years of age through a network of 31 Maternal and Child Health Centres (MCHCs) and three Woman Health Centres (WHCs) distributed among 18 districts. MCHCs provide services in accordance with the service demand. There is no service quota.
In 2010, the number of attendance for the various services provided by MCHCs were as follows:
Child Health Service: 616 000
Maternal Health
(antenatal & postnatal) Service: 152 000
Family Planning: 128 000
Cervical Screening: 99 000
(Note: The figures are rounded up.)
The three WHCs located in Chai Wan, Lam Tin and Tuen Mun and 10 MCHCs provide woman health service for women aged 64 years and below. The number of enrolment quota provided for woman health service each year is 22 000. In 2010, the number of enrolment was 19 000.
The distribution of the 31 MCHCs and three WHCs is at Annex 1.
To support families which cannot take care of their young children temporarily because of work or other reasons, the Social Welfare Department (SWD) provides subvention to non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to run various kinds of child care services for needy families. The department also strives to increase the flexibility of such services. Besides providing regular care services through independent child care centres (CCCs) and kindergarten-cum-child care centres (KG-cum-CCCs), SWD has also proactively introduced child care services of occasional nature which are more flexible in both service modes and hours, including the Occasional Child Care Service and Extended Hours Service provided at CCCs and KG-cum-CCCs, as well as Mutual Help Child Care Centres and the Neighbourhood Support Child Care Project, etc. The numbers of service places of the various child care services of occasional nature in each district are at Annex 2.
(c) The planning of MCHCs has always been guided by the needs of the target population and the principle of easy accessibility. As the birth rate fluctuated over the past few decades, MCHCs were opened or closed depending on the demand of its services.
As for the establishments of three WHCs in the mid-1990s, the purpose was to provide more choice of women health services in the market and planning was not guided by the needs of the population in the districts.
On child care services, SWD also conducts service planning in accordance with the service demand and operation in each district.
The Administration does not have information about the guidelines and standards adopted by the Mainland and overseas countries for planning for the above community facilities.
(d) According to the results of the General Household Survey conducted by the Census and Statistics Department in 2010, the numbers of females aged 25 and over categorised by District Council District and age group are at Annex 3.
(e) According to the results of the General Household Survey conducted by the Census and Statistics Department in 2010, the numbers of married females aged 25 and over categorised by District Council District and age group are at Annex 4.
(f) According to the results of the General Household Survey conducted by the Census and Statistics Department in 2010, the number of persons aged below three categorised by District Council District are at Annex 5.
(g) According to the results of the General Household Survey conducted by the Census and Statistics Department in 2010, the number of domestic households with monthly household income less than the median monthly household income of the corresponding household size, and of which, households with at least one member aged below three categorised by District Council District are at Annex 6.
SWD has been closely monitoring the service demands and operation of the various child care services to ensure that the services can meet the demands of different districts. There are still vacancies in the various services. SWD has not received any report of needy children having to wait for the service/not provided with service because of insufficient service places. Under the Neighbourhood Support Child Care Project, service operators may increase the number of home-based child care places in addition to the minimum requirement set by SWD in order to meet the demand for temporary child care service in their districts.
(h) At present, there are altogether 61 Integrated Family Service Centres (IFSCs) over the territory. Each IFSC serves a well-defined geographical boundary. There is no overlapping in service boundary. The standard of each IFSC serving a population of around 100 000 to 150 000 is being met. The distribution of IFSCs in the administrative districts of SWD and the number of population to be served in each district is at Annex 7.
Ends/Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Issued at HKT 12:36
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