The Government will improve elderly services with an emphasis on both the quality and quantity of care while adhering to the policy objective of promoting “ageing in place as the core, with institutional care as back‑up”.

Support ageing in place

Chief Executive John Lee’s Policy Address outlined ways to strengthen support for elderly persons to age in place. Some of these include regularising the Pilot Scheme on Community Care Service Voucher for the Elderly in the third quarter of 2023. Also, 16 new neighbourhood elderly centres will be established in the next five years while services will be expanded in the fourth quarter of 2023 to cover areas such as retirement planning and promotion of gerontechnology.

Meanwhile, the Hospital Authority’s Integrated Discharge Support Programme for Elderly Patients will be expanded and the number of beneficiaries who can be referred to home support services will increase from about 9,000 to 11,000, so as to support more discharged elderly patients to recover at home.

Enhance support for carers

From October 2023, the Government will regularise the allowance for carers of elderly persons and persons with disabilities under the Community Care Fund and raise the amount of subsidy.

Lift the quality and quantity of RCHEs

Mr Lee talked about how the Government is working hard to increase the number of subsidised service places at elderly care homes, with a target to provide an additional 6,200 places by end‑2027, an increase of 20%. He pledged that more Residential Care Homes for the Elderly (RCHEs) would be built in the coming years. The Government will put forward proposals early next year to provide more incentives to encourage developers to build elderly service facilities in their private development projects. Additionally, Mr Lee said the Government will undertake a holistic review of the skill and qualification requirements of residential care home staff, to establish professional standards and a career progression path. The Labour & Welfare Bureau will also launch a special scheme next year to allow the importation of care workers for RCHEs.

Protecting children

On the subject of child welfare, Mr Lee said the Government will set up a mandatory reporting mechanism for child abuse cases by introducing a bill to the Legislative Council in the first half of 2023. There will also be training for relevant practitioners to facilitate their early identification and reporting of child abuse cases.

Empowering women

Women can expect more support from the current-term Government, including an increase in funding for organising activities to promote female development. A Women Empowerment Fund will be set up to subsidise community projects that support women in balancing work and family commitments, and unleashing their potential.

Ethnic minorities

To further enhance official support for ethnic minorities, the Government will recruit more ethnic minorities for appointment as employment assistants and general assistants in the Labour Department, and set up a service centre on a trial basis to provide emotional support and counselling for ethnic minorities.

Care teams in 18 districts

Mr Lee said the Government will set up care teams and will devise governance structures and operational arrangements, while providing some of the resources required and set Key Performance Indicators. The 18 districts in Hong Kong will be delineated into sub‑districts to engage local organisations and groups to form care teams to include young people and ethnic minorities in community building.

Targeted poverty alleviation

Mr Lee said the current‑term Government adopts the strategy of targeted poverty alleviation by directing resources to those most in need. The Task Force to Lift Underprivileged Students out of Intergenerational Poverty, led by the Chief Secretary for Administration, targets more than 2,000 junior secondary students (particularly those living in sub‑divided flats) with mentorship, personal development planning and financial support. Mr Lee has also asked the Chief Secretary for Administration to restructure the Commission on Poverty to study and identify any other target group for poverty alleviation.

Employees’ remuneration

Labour rights is another priority for Mr Lee and he outlined several measures in his Policy Address. Among those include inviting the Minimum Wage Commission to study how to enhance the review mechanism of the statutory minimum wage. Reviews on the arrangement relating to the employment of non‑skilled workers under government outsourced service contacts will also be done. Meanwhile, procedures of the Protection of Wages on Insolvency Fund, will be enhanced.

Additionally, Mr Lee noted that many sectors are now seeing a shortage of manpower. To encourage the public to enrol in training and enter the workforce, the Government will invite the Employees Retraining Board to consider raising the daily rate of retraining allowance and providing allowances for half‑day courses for implementation by the first quarter of 2023.