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Following is the speech by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, at the Hong Kong Jockey Club Community Day opening ceremony today (April 21):
Brian (Mr T Brian Stevenson, Chairman, Hong Kong Jockey Club), Winfried (Mr Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, Chief Executive Officer), Alfred (Professor Alfred Chan, Chairman, Elderly Commission), CH (Dr CH Leong, Member of the Executive Council and former Chairman of Elderly Commission), members of the Board of Stewards, distinguished guests,
I feel deeply honoured to be invited to address this 8th Hong Kong Jockey Club Community Day. The Community Day has become an important annual fixture to mark the successful partnership between the Hong Kong Jockey Club and its Charities Trust on the one hand and the Government as well as the many non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the welfare sector on the other.
Today's event not only provides an opportunity for the Club and the Government to reinforce this long-standing collaborative relationship, it also celebrates the generous donation of a substantial $110 million from the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust to supplement the Social Welfare Department's Improvement Programme of Elderly Centres (Improvement Programme). To all members of the Board of Stewards of the Jockey Club, let me say that the Government and our needy senior citizens are very grateful and appreciative.
The elderly centre service is one of the essential community support services at the district or neighbourhood level in facilitating our growing elderly population to "age in place" and pursue "active ageing". These twin principles underpin our elderly care policies.
To intensify our effort in translating these cardinal principles into reality, the Government will allocate $900 million under the Lotteries Fund to implement the Improvement Programme starting this year. The Improvement Programme seeks to enhance the physical setting and facilities of about 250 elderly centres over the territory. Some 200 000 elders who are users of these centres will benefit. I am happy to see among the audience today senior representatives of some NGOs which operate these centres.
The Improvement Programme will enable these elderly centres to purchase new standard equipment and facilities. By giving these centres a facelift and a new lease of life, we aim to encourage more elderly citizens to pursue continuous learning and exercise more, and to draw out more "hidden elders" to use the services of these centres and thus integrate into the community.
I applaud the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust for its generosity in donating a hefty $110 million to the programme. The Jockey Club Elderly Facilities Modernisation Scheme will enable the NGOs concerned to procure much-needed non-standard furniture and equipment under four important themes, namely (1) promotion of health; (2) promotion of continuous learning; (3) prevention of dementia/cognitive impairment; and (4) strengthening carer support and home safety demonstration.
The donation will address the diverse needs of a new generation of elders and further support them to age in place. Users of the elderly centres can enjoy modern and state-of-the-art facilities such as new rehabilitative equipment and new information technology products like Tablet PC. They will also have access to more resource kits for cognitive training as well as tools and equipment relating to home safety.
In the face of a fast ageing population, enhancing elderly care services is and will continue to be a key focus on the Government's policy agenda.
In the current financial year (2012-13), recurrent government expenditure on elderly services alone (excluding public housing and public health services) will amount to some $5 billion. This compares with the total recurrent spending of $44 billion earmarked for the entire social welfare policy area. In other words, 11 per cent of total recurrent social welfare spending will go to the elderly. If social security payments (ie Comprehensive Social Security Allowance, Old Age Allowance and Disability Allowance) are taken into account, this sum rises to a hefty $23.4 billion, representing 53 per cent of the total recurrent spending on social welfare.
We are taking some bold and visionary steps to address the needs of our elderly population. Apart from the Improvement Programme, we will launch the $2 Public Transport Concession Scheme in the second half of this year. About 1.1 million people, including 980 000 elders and 130 000 persons with disabilities, will benefit. Together, these two initiatives will incentivise more senior citizens to get out and about, participate in community activities and lead a fuller and richer golden age. This is what active ageing is all about.
To further promote the Government's policy objective of "ageing in place", we will also launch a ground-breaking pilot scheme on community care service voucher for the elderly in two phases starting from 2013-14. This seeks to test the new funding model of "money-follows-user" and promote the development of the community care market, whereby the Government provides subsidy directly to the service users instead of the service providers. The first phase will target elderly people with moderate impairment. They will each receive a single value voucher worth $5,000 per month, with the Government contributing between $2,500 and $4,500 depending on their financial capacity.
To close, let me reiterate my heartfelt gratitude and appreciation to the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust for its generous and timely donation. My thanks also go to all the representatives of NGOs, elderly and charity groups who are present today for your unstinting support, hard work and understanding over the years. Our close partnership contributes to making Hong Kong a truly caring, compassionate, cohesive and elderly-friendly community.
Thank you.
Ends/Saturday, April 21, 2012
Issued at HKT 13:07
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