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Following is a question by the Hon Ip Kwok-him and a reply by the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mrs Carrie Lam, in the Legislative Council today (June 5):
Question:
Earlier, the Family Planning Association of Hong Kong (FPAHK) released its findings on "Family Planning Knowledge, Attitude and Practice in Hong Kong Survey 2012". The survey findings reveal that the motivation of married couples or cohabitants of Hong Kong for childbearing in 2012 was the highest over the past two decades. While a majority of the women respondents set their ideal parity at two children, their average actual parity continued to decline over the past decade, down to 1.24 children in 2012. FPAHK concludes that "[t]argeted incentives such as financial allowances and parental support would help motivate couples to consider having more children." In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the respective measures introduced by the relevant policy bureaux and departments to encourage local women to give birth, since the Government published the first Task Force on Population Report in 2003; whether the authorities have evaluated the effectiveness of such measures; if they have, of the assessment results; if not, the reasons for that;
(b) as the Government had pointed out in the Steering Committee on Population Policy Progress Report 2012 published in May 2012 that "[t]he Government will continue to explore measures to encourage local women to give birth", of the measures explored by the authorities last year to encourage childbearing; and
(c) whether it knows which of the member states of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development have in place a policy to encourage their nationals to give birth by means of cash allowances; whether the Government will consider making reference to overseas practices and introducing childcare allowances so as to encourage childbearing?
Reply:
President,
My consolidated reply to parts (a) and (b) of the question is as follows:
The Report of the Task Force on Population Policy (the Report), published in 2003, pointed out that some countries with low fertility rates had adopted pro-natalist policies to promote childbirth but their effectiveness was not clear. It also said that "we believe it is not appropriate for the HKSARG to adopt policies to promote childbirth, a matter very much of individual choices. We should, however, review existing policies to see if they discourage childbirth." Noting that the child allowance for the first two children was $30,000 while that for the third to the ninth child was halved under the then salaries tax system, the Report recommended the Government to grant the same level of child allowance for all children at $30,000. This recommendation was subsequently implemented in the 2003-04 financial year. Later, the Government introduced in 2007-08 an additional child allowance in the year of birth. Over the years, the basic child allowance and the additional child allowance in the year of birth have been raised gradually to $63,000 in 2012-13.
To further lessen the burden of taxpayers on child-raising, the Financial Secretary proposed in the 2013-14 Budget to increase both the basic child allowance and the additional child allowance in the year of birth from the current $63,000 to $70,000 for each child. To implement the proposal, the Administration submitted to the Legislative Council (LegCo) on May 8 the relevant bill, which is being scrutinised by the Bills Committee.
Although the Government has not introduced any specific pro-natalist policy measures, we have attached increasing importance to promoting family-friendly policies. The Labour Department has been encouraging the organisations in the public and private sectors to implement family-friendly employment practices. We encourage the employers to, having regard to their individual circumstances and employees' views, provide various family-related leave benefits (for example, marriage leave and parental leave) and adopt flexible working arrangements (for example, five-day week and flexible working hours) which would help employees fulfill both work and family responsibilities. In addition, the Government consulted the LegCo Panel on Manpower in January 2013 on the proposal to provide statutory paternity leave and is moving full steam ahead with the preparatory work for the legislation.
The Government as an employer also takes the lead in promoting family-friendly practices. The five-day week arrangement has been introduced into the civil service by phases since July 2006 to improve the quality of family life of civil servants. Apart from providing maternity leave on full pay for female civil servants, the Government started to provide, from April 1, 2012, eligible government employees five working days of paternity leave on full pay on each occasion of childbirth.
We understand that child care services and after-school care are matters of concern to parents. The Social Welfare Department has been supporting parents to take care of their children through a variety of child care services, for example, subvented child care centres and the Neighbourhood Support Child Care Project. Families meeting the means test and the "social needs" test may have their fee waived or halved for the services. On the other hand, the School-based After-school Learning and Support Programmes by the Education Bureau and the After-school Care Pilot Scheme supported by the Community Care Fund help needy primary and secondary students participate in after-school learning and extra-curricular activities. They also help alleviate the burden of dual earner parents.
Over the past 10 years, the number of live births per 1 000 women has increased from 901 in 2003 to 1 204 in 2012. However, it is difficult to assess if the recent increase in fertility rate was directly related to any individual measures and the impact of any standalone measures. This is because the decision of having children is affected by complex factors and personal considerations. Researches also point out that, apart from Government policies, external factors such as social and economic environment also affect birth rates.
On part (c) of the question, according to the information we gathered, among the 34 member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 21 are providing cash allowances in various forms to encourage childbirth. The list of countries is set out in the attached table and I shall not read them out one-by-one. We notice that birth-related allowance is only part of these countries' measures to support families. Other measures also include long-term family allowances, subsidised child care services, tax allowances etc.
The HKSAR Government revamped the Steering Committee on Population Policy (SCPP) in December last year. Having studied the Progress Report of SCPP published in May 2012 and other relevant information, SCPP has identified a number of priority areas, one of which is "to strengthen family, encourage marriage and childbirth" in order to make good use of Hong Kong's existing population and labour force. Overseas experiences show that policies to strengthen families and encourage childbirth often involve a range of measures that cut across various policy areas. The Central Policy Unit is conducting studies in this respect. But we need to appreciate that any policy involving Government giving out cash allowances or requiring employers providing increased employee benefits would involve substantial public money and increased operating costs for enterprises. Therefore, we need to handle the subject with great care. If the proposed measures are not effective in encouraging childbirth, their disadvantages may outweigh advantages.
SCPP plans to release a consultation document in September this year to set out facts and figures and seek the public's views on a range of subjects, including how to encourage childbirth. The "Family Planning Knowledge, Attitude and Practice in Hong Kong Survey 2012" by the Family Planning Association of Hong Kong revealed that Hong Kong women had a stronger desire for childbearing in recent years. As compared with the survey results in the past, more mothers-to-be also considered government support useful in encouraging childbirth. The public consultation exercise to be launched in September can, on this basis, help us collect the public's views on various subjects.
Thank you, President.
Ends/Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Issued at HKT 18:07
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