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The Chief Secretary for Administration, Mrs Carrie Lam, and the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, together with members of the Preparatory Task Force on the Commission on Poverty, held a consultation session this morning (August 15) with former members of the Commission on Poverty (whose terms of office were from 2005 to 2007) and members of the Steering Committee on Child Development Fund.
During the meeting, participants expressed views on various fronts on work to alleviate poverty, including perspectives on different poverty problems in Hong Kong, experiences in fostering tripartite collaboration, strategies and highlights for policies on alleviating poverty, delineation of responsibilities and co-ordination on Government efforts in alleviating poverty, and the structure and composition of the re-established Commission on Poverty.
Mrs Lam said, "We thank the former Commission on Poverty for laying a sound foundation by putting forward some 50 recommendations to support the underprivileged from different backgrounds. We are glad to learn that the Steering Committee on Child Development Fund has been putting the recommendations of the former Commission on Poverty into practice by making efforts to reduce intergenerational poverty over the years. The Commission on Poverty being re-established by the Chief Executive will make reference to the views and profound insights of this meeting's participants."
Mrs Lam and Mr Cheung then attended a forum on the topic of "Expectations Towards Commission on Poverty" hosted by the Hong Kong Council of Social Service to listen to views expressed by representatives from social services organisations and their service users on a basket of issues. The topics included intergenerational poverty and social mobility, unemployment and working poverty, and poverty among the elderly, as well as views on district poverty and issues concerning other underprivileged groups.
Mrs Lam said, "Re-establishing the Commission on Poverty can help deal with different poverty issues from a policy approach. We understand the issue of poverty touches on the ambits of different bureaux and departments. We need to absorb wisdom from the community and take into consideration the needs of individual districts. As the Chief Secretary for Administration, I will make all-out efforts in planning and co-ordinating the work of different bureaux and departments in order to effectively rationalise policies and integrate resources to implement the work in alleviating poverty."
Members of the Preparatory Task Force on the Commission on Poverty Mr Law Chi-kwong, Ms Christine Fang and Mr Ho Hei-wah also attended these two meetings.
Ends/Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Issued at HKT 19:58
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