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The following is issued on behalf of the Community Care Fund Secretariat:
The Chief Secretary for Administration and Chairman of the Steering Committee on the Community Care Fund, Mrs Carrie Lam, said today (November 21) that the Community Care Fund (CCF) will continue to provide assistance to the needy after its integration into the Commission on Poverty.
The Steering Committee on the CCF held a meeting today to review the work of the Fund after operating for nearly two years and discuss its way forward. Apart from the members of the Steering Committee, the co-opted members of the sub-committees also attended today's meeting.
With the establishment of the Commission on Poverty, the CCF will be integrated into the Commission, under which a CCF Task Force will be set up.
At the meeting today, Mrs Lam thanked the members of the Steering Committee and the co-opted members of the four sub-committees for their contributions to the Fund, and introduced to them the direction of the work of the Commission.
The Commission will implement the existing CCF programmes and come up with new projects to continue providing suitable economic assistance to the underprivileged and grass-roots families. It will also maintain the CCF's leading role in assisting the Government to study whether effective pilot programmes implemented by the Fund could be incorporated into the Government's regular assistance and service programmes.
At today's meeting, the Steering Committee also endorsed a new assistance programme providing an extra subsidy to persons with severe physical disabilities who are from low-income families, living in the community and not receiving Comprehensive Social Security Assistance. The subsidy will support them in renting respiratory support medical equipment to enable them to continue residing in the community.
Since the establishment of the CCF in early 2011, the members of the Steering Committee and the sub-committees have provided a lot of valuable advice and comments, and many of the ideas were put into effect as various assistance programmes of the Fund. Including the programme endorsed today, a total of 18 CCF programmes on education, home affairs, medical and welfare areas have been launched.
Ends/Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Issued at HKT 16:24
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