Following is a question by the Hon Leung Yiu-chung and a written reply by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Dr Law Chi-kwong, in the Legislative Council today (January 8):

Question:

     The Social Welfare Department (SWD) launched the First and the Second Phases of the Pilot Scheme on Community Care Service Voucher for the Elderly (CCSV Pilot Scheme) in September 2013 and October 2016 respectively, as well as the Pilot Scheme on Residential Care Service Voucher for the Elderly (RCSV Pilot Scheme) in March 2017. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(1) Regarding the First and the Second Phases of the CCSV Pilot Scheme respectively, of the following information in each of the years in which they were implemented:

(i) a breakdown of the number of service units by service type;
(ii) number of day care service places;
(iii) number of home care service places;
(iv) number of concluded cases;
(v) cumulative number of recipients of the Community Care Service Voucher (CCSV);
(vi) number of CCSV users;
(vii) number of persons who did not use any of the CCSVs issued to them;
(viii) cumulative number of persons having left the Pilot Scheme, together with a breakdown by the major reason for their leaving the Scheme as far as SWD knows;
(ix) monthly average amount of subsidies; and
(x) administrative costs incurred by the Scheme.

(2) Of the following information on the RCSV Pilot Scheme in each of the past three years:

(i) a breakdown of the number of service units by service type;
(ii) number of service places;
(iii) number of concluded cases;
(iv) cumulative number of recipients of the Residential Care Service Voucher (RCSV);
(v) number of RCSV users;
(vi) number of persons who did not use any of the RCSVs issued to them;
(vii) cumulative number of persons having left the Pilot Scheme, together with a breakdown by the major reason for their leaving the Scheme as far as SWD knows;
(viii) monthly average amount of subsidies; and
(ix) administrative costs incurred by the Scheme.

(3) Given that SWD has commissioned consultants to review the effectiveness of the two Pilot Schemes, of the timetables of the review work, whether the approach of the reviews includes public engagement exercises, and whether the review reports will be made public; if not, of the reasons for that?

Reply:

President,

     My reply to the Member's question is as follows:

(1) The first phase of the Pilot Scheme on Community Care Service Voucher for the Elderly (CCSV Pilot Scheme) was implemented from September 2013 to August 2017, while its second phase commenced in October 2016. The information of the first and second phases of the CCSV Pilot Scheme from 2013-14 to 2019-20 is as follows:

     The breakdown on number of recognised service providers (RSPs), service types and service places by year:
 

The first phase of the Pilot Scheme	Number of RSPs	Number of service places (Note)
2013-14	62	881
2014-15	62	923
2015-16	62	993
2016-17	62	998
2017-18 (as at end-August 2017)	62	998

Note: The first phase of CCSV may only be used for day care services. RSPs may separately provide home care services to CCSV users who are in need.
 

The second phase of the Pilot Scheme	Number of RSPs	Number of service places
		Day care services	Home care services
2016-17	124	2 081	2 944
2017-18	125	2 254	3 040
2018-19	153	2 815	4 861
2019-20 (as at end-November 2019)	153	2 952	5 151

     ​The breakdown on cumulative number of eligible applications processed, persons issued with CCSVs, number of persons who have used and have not used CCSVs by year:
 

The first phase of the Pilot Scheme	Cumulative number of eligible applications processed (number of persons issued with CCSVs)	Number of CCSV holders		Cumulative number of persons who have left the Pilot Scheme
		who have used CCSVs	who have not used CCSVs	who have used CCSVs	who have not used CCSVs
2013-14	1 251	539	604	34	74
2014-15	2 092	972	232	351	537
2015-16	2 919	1 177	187	784	771
2016-17	2 968	1 061	14	1 071	822
2017-18 (as at end-August 2017)	2 968	1 053	1	1 080	834

 

The second phase of the Pilot Scheme	Cumulative number of eligible applications processed (number of persons issued with CCSVs)	Number of CCSV holders		Cumulative number of persons who have left the Pilot Scheme
		who have used CCSVs	who have not used CCSVs	who have used CCSVs	who have not used CCSVs
2016-17	3 373	1 871	1 185	109	208
2017-18	6 520	3 031	1 357	831	1 301
2018-19	8 813	3 608	1 535	1 745	1 925
2019-20 (as at end-November 2019)	10 439	4 077	1 756	2 353	2 253

     ​The breakdown on cumulative number of persons who have left the Pilot Scheme by year:
 

Reason for leaving the Pilot Scheme	Cumulative number of persons who have left the first phase of the Pilot Scheme
	2013-14	2014-15				2015-16	2016-17	2017-18 (as at end-August 2017)
Natural turnover
Will be/have been allocated with subsidised community care service or subsidised/ private residential care service	48	339				642	836	845
Deceased	24	126				227	297	298
Taken care of by family members or domestic helpers	10	117				236	259	264
Others (e.g. hospitalised, out of town)	2	32				82	102	106
Service-related
No suitable service providers/ service packages	24	274				368	399	401
Total	108	888				1 555	1 893	1 914

 

Reason for leaving the Pilot Scheme	Cumulative number of persons who have left the second phase of the Pilot Scheme
	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20 (as at end-November 2019)
Natural turnover
Will be/have been allocated with subsidised community care service or subsidised/ private residential care service	137	847	1 584	2 097
Deceased	76	483	919	1 189
Taken care of by family members or domestic helpers	40	375	545	614
Others (e.g. hospitalised, out of town)	24	225	357	421
Service-related
No suitable service providers/ service packages	40	202	265	285
Total	317	2 132	3 670	4 606

     As the service mode, places, items, combinations, numbers of service users and time slots for service provision are not the same for the two phases of the Pilot Scheme and each RSP, the Social Welfare Department (SWD) does not have information related to the monthly average amount of subsidy granted to each RSP and the related administrative costs.

(2) In the past three years, the breakdown on cumulative number of RSPs and service places under the Pilot Scheme on Residential Care Service Voucher (RCSV) for the Elderly (the RCSV Pilot Scheme) by year:
 

Year	Number of RSPs	Number of service places
2017-18	86	4 691
2018-19	104	5 394
2019-20 (as at end-November 2019)	118	5 816

     ​The breakdown on cumulative number of eligible applications processed, persons issued with RCSVs, RCSV users and persons issued with RCSVs but have not used them by year:
 

Year	Cumulative number of eligible applications processed (number of persons issued with RCSVs)	Cumulative number of RCSV users	Cumulative number of persons issued with RCSVs but have not used them
2017-18	353	325	28
2018-19	1 163	978	185
2019-20 (as at end-November 2019)	1 867	1 617	250

     ​The breakdown on cumulative number of persons who have left the Pilot Scheme and reasons for leaving the Pilot Scheme by year:
 

Reason for leaving the Pilot Scheme	Cumulative number of persons who have left the Pilot Scheme
	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20 (as at end-November 2019)
Elderly persons having no immediate need for residential care services	0	10	21
Taken care of by carers of family members, domestic helpers, etc. or community care service	1	29	71
Deceased	19	106	233
The preferred RSP was full/no suitable RSPs	3	15	50
Chose to wait for subsidised residential care places	4	18	27
Refused to accept the co-payment arrangement	1	10	18
Others (e.g. long-term hospitalisation, out of town, chose not to leave the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance Scheme, etc.)	2	11	16
Total	30	199	436

     ​As the service places and the duration for accommodating RCSV holders are different for each RSP, the SWD does not have information related to the monthly average amount of subsidy granted to each RSP and the related administrative costs.

(3) The SWD has commissioned consultants to conduct evaluation of effectiveness on the second phase of the CCSV Pilot Scheme and the RCSV Pilot Scheme. In the process of evaluation, the consultants have collected the views of stakeholders through interviews, focus group discussions, telephone surveys, questionnaires, etc. The SWD and the consultants are conducting comprehensive analysis on the data and views collected in the studies. Upon the completion of the evaluation reports, the SWD will study the content of the reports and consider the way forward for the two pilot schemes.

Ends/Wednesday, January 8, 2020
Issued at HKT 15:40

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