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Following is a question by the Hon Chan Yuen-han and a written reply by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, in the Legislative Council today (June 29):
Question :
The Disability Allowance (DA) Scheme aims to assist severely disabled Hong Kong residents in meeting the special needs arising from their disabilities. In addition, the Social Security Appeal Board (Appeal Board) under the Social Welfare Department (SWD) is responsible for processing appeals lodged by individuals who are not satisfied with the decision of SWD in respect of welfare assistance (including DA). On the other hand, an Inter-departmental Working Group on Review of the Disability Allowance (the Working Group) was set up by the Labour and Welfare Bureau in February 2013 to follow up the issue of allowing persons with loss of one limb to apply for DA and related matters. This year's Policy Address stated that the Working Group had completed its work, and the Government would progressively implement the various proposals put forward by the Working Group, including removing the reference to "100% loss of earning capacity" from the medical assessment form so that persons with loss of one limb may apply for DA. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it has projected, upon the progressive implementation of the proposals put forward by the aforesaid Working Group, the number of persons with disabilities (PWDs) who will lodge complaints with the Appeal Board as their applications for DA were rejected in the past; if it has, of the number of the persons concerned;
(2) of the number of applications for DA rejected by the authorities in each of the past three years; among such cases, the number and percentage of those cases whose applicants lodged appeals with the Appeal Board;
(3) of the number of cases, in the past three years, in which the Appeal Board overturned SWD's decisions after hearing the cases;
(4) given that at present, when the Appeal Board processes cases involving medical assessment made by doctors of public hospitals or clinics, arrangements will be made for the applicants to receive medical assessment again, but quite a number of PWDs are of the view that such an arrangement does not help their cases to be processed in a fair manner, whether the authorities will reform the appeal mechanism, including introducing the assessment of social factors and making comprehensive considerations; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
(5) given that the Ombudsman released in October 2009 its Direct Investigation Report on Granting of Disability Allowance and Processing of Appeals by Social Welfare Department and made a number of suggestions, whether the authorities have followed up such suggestions; if they have, of the details and whether they have accepted all of the suggestions; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply :
President,
To follow up on the subject of allowing people with loss of one limb to apply for the Disability Allowance (DA), as mentioned by the Chief Executive (CE) in his Manifesto, and related issues, the Labour and Welfare Bureau (LWB) set up in February 2013 a working group entitled "Inter-departmental Working Group on Review of the Disability Allowance" (the Working Group). The CE announced in his 2016 Policy Address that the Working Group had completed its work and the Government would implement the recommendations put forward by the Working Group.
The LWB, together with relevant departments and the Hospital Authority (HA) which participated in the Working Group, attended the meetings of the Legislative Council (LegCo) Panel on Welfare Services on February 15, 2016 and May 3, 2016 to brief Panel Members on the outcome of the review and the Government's plans to implement the Working Group's recommendations. In the light of the views expressed by some organisations and individuals attending the meeting on May 3, 2016 regarding the proposed amendments to the Medical Assessment Form (MAF), LWB indicated at that meeting that it would temporarily defer incorporating the proposed amendments to the MAF, while focusing on the implementation of the other recommendations of the Working Group. The Working Group's recommendations that would be implemented include, among others, standardising the arrangements for the use of rehabilitation and mechanical devices (e.g. prosthesis) by DA applicants in medical assessment.
My reply to the Hon Chan Yuen-han's question is set out below.
(1) Medical assessment for the DA is conducted in accordance with the assessment criteria and arrangements applicable at the time when an applicant is being assessed. Under the existing mechanism, individual applicant who objects to the decision of the Social Welfare Department (SWD) in respect of eligibility and payment of the DA may lodge an appeal to the independent Social Security Appeal Board (SSAB) within four weeks from the date of notification of the relevant decision. SWD has not estimated the number of appeals to be received after the progressive implementation of the recommendations of the Working Group. Recommendations of the Working Group will only come into effect on the date of implementation and thereafter but will not have any retrospective effect.
(2) and (3) Included in the attached table are the number of DA-related appeals received by SSAB, the number of DA-related appeals decided by SSAB and the number of DA-related appeals allowed by SSAB in the past three years.
(4) Under the existing appeal mechanism of the DA, upon receiving an appeal involving medical assessment, SSAB and HA will arrange the appellant to undergo another round of medical assessment. The assessment will be conducted by the Medical Assessment Board (MAB) which is responsible for social security appeals. Members of MAB comprise doctors from both public and private medical institutions. MAB will conduct the assessment with reference to the appellant's disabling condition, results of previous medical assessment, the appellant's submissions, etc., and MAB will submit a report to SSAB. SSAB, which comprises members from the community, medical and health sector, business sector, etc., will, after receiving the assessment report, make a decision on individual appeal. At present, SWD has no plan to change the above mechanism.
(5) The Ombudsman published the Direct Investigation Report (DIR) on "Granting of Disability Allowance and Processing of Appeals by Social Welfare Department" in October 2009. The Working Group noted that SWD, together with LWB, the Department of Health (DH), HA and the Efficiency Unit under the Chief Secretary for Administration's Office, set up an SWD Working Group in November 2009 to follow up on the Ombudsman's recommendations in the DIR. SWD is currently coordinating the implementation of measures proposed by the SWD Working Group, such as amending the notification to applicant to specify the reason for rejecting his/her DA application; and enhancing the coordination and communication among SWD, DH and HA, etc.
One of the recommendations of the Ombudsman is to amend the MAF, with a view to, among others, removing the reference to "loss of 100% earning capacity". The Ombudsman also expressed views on the assessment criterion of "working in the original occupation and performing any other kind of work for which he/she is suited" (work-related criterion) as included in the MAF. One of the Working Group's recommendations is to amend the MAF, and the proposed amendments include, among others, removing the reference to the "loss of 100% earning capacity" and the work-related criterion. The Rehabilitation Advisory Committee has also supported the proposed amendments. As mentioned above, in the light of the views expressed by some organisations and individuals at the meeting of the LegCo Panel on Welfare Services on May 3, 2016 on the proposed amendments to the MAF, the implementation of the proposed amended MAF will be temporarily deferred. The Government will focus on implementing the other recommendations of the Working Group.
Ends/Wednesday, June 29, 2016
Issued at HKT 14:20
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