Following are the speaking notes of the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Chris Sun, on welfare, poverty alleviation and children policy areas tabled at the special meeting of the Legislative Council Finance Committee today (April 19):
 
Chairman and Honourable Members,
 
     In 2024-25, government recurrent spending on social welfare is estimated to be $127.4 billion, accounting for 22 per cent of the total recurrent government expenditure of the year, first amongst all policy area groups. Compared with the revised estimate for 2023-24 of $112.4 billion, there is an increase of about $15 billion in recurrent spending on social welfare. The increase is about 13.3 per cent. Now, let me highlight how the Labour and Welfare Bureau will make use of these resources.
 
Elderly services
 
     The recurrent government expenditure on elderly services this year is estimated to reach about $16 billion, representing an increase of about 60 per cent over about $10 billion compared to five years ago (i.e. 2019-20).
 
     The Government will continue to strengthen residential and community care services for the elderly, adding 1 000 more Residential Care Service Vouchers for the Elderly (RCSV) and 1 000 more Community Care Service Vouchers for the Elderly (CCSV) starting from the second quarter this year, so that the RCSV and the CCSV will have a total of 5 000 and 11 000 vouchers respectively. Starting from the second quarter this year, the service scope of the RCSV will be extended from the existing care-and-attention places to nursing home places.
 
Cash assistance
 
     This year's Budget proposes to provide an extra half-month allowance to eligible recipients of social security payments, which will incur an expenditure of about $2,873 million and is expected to benefit about 1.66 million persons. Similar arrangements will apply to recipients of the Working Family Allowance (WFA) Scheme. It is expected that around 64 000 households will benefit from this initiative, incurring an expenditure of about $100 million. Apart from this, the Government continues to enhance cash assistance schemes, including increasing the rates of household and child allowances under the WFA Scheme by 15 per cent across the board with effect from April this year. The additional expenditure involved is expected to be about $257 million per year.
 
Enhance support for persons with disabilities
 
     In view of the ageing of users of Residential Care Homes for Persons with Disabilities (RCHDs), the Government will increase nursing staff in RCHDs to enhance care for their ageing users. The annual expenditure involved is about $121 million. To meet the needs of day training service users who are ageing or have deteriorating health conditions, we will increase service places of the Extended Care Programme in Day Activity Centres and the Work Extension Programme to enhance care for these service users. The annual expenditure involved is about $20 million.
 
     The Government will enhance the services of Integrated Community Centres for Mental Wellness, including strengthening early identification of persons with mental health needs and early intervention, and scaling up the training of social workers in community mental health service units to raise their capacity in handling complicated cases. The annual expenditure involved is over $60 million.

     We will also seek funding of about $129 million from the Community Care Fund to implement a three‑year pilot scheme from the third quarter of 2024 to provide an additional subsidy of $500 per month to employed disabled recipients of the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance as a means of encouraging their employment.
 
Enhance support for carers
 
     In the fourth quarter of 2024, the Government will invite recognised service providers participating in the CCSV Scheme for the Elderly to provide day respite services for needy elderly when there are vacant service places. The annual expenditure involved is about $24 million.
 
     The Government launched the District Services and Community Care Teams – Pilot Scheme on Supporting Elderly and Carers in March. Piloting in Tsuen Wan and Southern districts, the Care Teams will help identify households of singleton/doubleton elderly persons as well as carers of elderly persons and carers of persons with disabilities requiring support, and refer cases to the relevant social welfare service units for follow-up. The Care Teams will also assist referring needy households to install emergency alarm systems. The expenditure involved is about $9 million. Upon reviewing its effectiveness, the Government will consider extending the Pilot Scheme to other districts.
 
     In April 2024, the Social Welfare Department (SWD) set up a designated team in each of the 21 district support centres for persons with disabilities across the territory to proactively contact the carers of special school leavers six months before graduation, provide training on caring and interaction skills, arrange post-school care plans and link with community support services, and provide follow-up services for needy cases after graduation, so as to facilitate school leavers' smooth transition from school to community life. The annual expenditure involved is about $110 million.
 
     To support persons in mental recovery and their carers, the Government will strengthen peer support services in 2024, and set up four additional Parents/Relatives Resource Centres for carers of persons in mental recovery in 2025. The annual expenditure involved is about $26 million.
 
Assist working families in childbearing
 
     Over the next three years starting this year, the Government will set up 10 more aided standalone child care centres in phases, providing nearly 900 additional places for day child care services; and starting from this April, increase the Child Care Centre Parent Subsidy. The SWD will also extend the After‑School Care Programme for Pre‑primary Children to cover all districts in Hong Kong, and the service places will increase to nearly 1 200. Starting from this April, the incentive payment for home‑based child carers of the Neighbourhood Support Child Care Project will be increased; and starting from the fourth quarter this year, the number of service places will be doubled to about 2 000 with a view to doubling the number of beneficiaries to 20 000. The various initiatives above will involve an annual expenditure of about $408 million.
 
Child protection
 
     The Government is fully co-operating with the Legislative Council in the scrutiny of the Mandatory Reporting of Child Abuse Bill and looks forward to the early passage of the Bill and the implementation of the mandatory reporting regime for early identification and intervention into child abuse cases. Various measures are in the pipeline to dovetail with the mandatory reporting regime coming into effect. Relevant additional full-year provision by the Government is about $186.5 million.
 
     The SWD is progressively implementing the recommendations of the Committee on Review of Residential Child Care and Related Services, including increasing the number of service places, substantially increasing the incentive payment for foster families, and strengthening the support and training for foster families. Relevant additional full-year provision by the Government is about $178.4 million.
 
Government Public Transport Fare Concession Scheme for the Elderly and Eligible Persons with Disabilities
 
     The Financial Secretary has announced in the 2024-25 Budget that the Government will review the mode of operation of the Scheme with a view to maintaining its financial sustainability. The Government has stated that there is no intention to cancel the Scheme or change the existing beneficiary groups. We anticipate that the review will be completed within this year.
 
     Chairman, this concludes my opening remarks. Members are welcome to raise questions.

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     Here is an item of interest to swimmers.

     The Leisure and Cultural Services Department announced today (April 19) that due to big waves, the red flag has been hoisted at Hung Shing Yeh Beach in Islands District. Beachgoers are advised not to swim at the beach.

     Two red tides have been sighted over the past week, the Inter-departmental Red Tide Working Group reported today (April 19).
      
     On April 18, staff of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department spotted two red tides at Deep Water Bay Beach and Repulse Bay Beach on Hong Kong Island. The red tides still persist and no associated fish deaths have been reported as of today.
      
     A spokesman for the working group said, "Both red tides were formed by Noctiluca scintillans, which is commonly found in Hong Kong waters and is non-toxic."
      
     The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) urged mariculturists at Lo Tik Wan, Sok Kwu Wan and Po Toi fish culture zones to monitor the situation closely and increase aeration where necessary.
      
     Red tide is a natural phenomenon. The AFCD's proactive phytoplankton monitoring programme will continue to monitor red tide occurrences to minimise the impact on the mariculture industry and the public.

     Following is the English translation of the opening remarks by the Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry, Professor Sun Dong, at the special meeting of the Legislative Council Finance Committee today (April 19):

Chairman and Members, 

     Promoting Hong Kong's innovation and technology (I&T) development and accelerating Hong Kong’s high-quality development is one of the focus areas of this year's Budget. The Budget also announced devoting more resources to chart Hong Kong in moving full steam towards our vision of an international I&T centre. I will give an overview of the relevant key measures in the Budget along four directions.

(1) Consolidating Hong Kong's research and development (R&D) strengths and promoting technology industry development

     We are dedicated to consolidating Hong Kong's R&D strengths, supporting the midstream transformation and realisation of research outcomes with a view to advancing the development of technology industries. With regard to artificial intelligence (AI), the Budget allocated $3 billion to launch a three-year AI Subsidy Scheme to support local universities, research institutes and enterprises etc. to leverage computing power of Cyberport's AI Supercomputing Centre; strengthen cyber security and data protection of the Centre; and launch promotional and educational activities, etc. As for microelectronics, the Hong Kong Microelectronics Research and Development Institute will be established within this year to support the R&D of third generation semiconductors. On life and health technology, from the $10 billion earmarked, we will allocate $2 billion to support the InnoHK research clusters to establish presence in the Loop and another $200 million to provide assistance to start-ups engaging in life and health technology in the Hong Kong-Shenzhen I&T Park (HSITP) in the form of incubation and acceleration programmes, etc., thereby facilitating the setting up of the InnoLife Healthtech Hub in HSITP. Furthermore, we will launch a $3 billion Frontier Technology Research Support Scheme to assist the eight University Grants Committee (UGC)-funded universities, on a matching basis, in setting up research facilities and conducting research projects led by leading local and international researchers and provide a maximum of $16 million annual funding to the Technology Transfer Office of each UGC-funded university. These measures will further enhance Hong Kong's I&T ecosystem and better realise our basic technology research capabilities in making breakthroughs out of the blue.

(2) Developing I&T infrastructure and promoting "new industrialisation"

     The Loop development is of great significance to Hong Kong's high-quality development. We will continue to support the development of HSITP. First three buildings will be completed progressively by end of this year, and construction of the other five buildings will commence after relocation of the isolation facilities in an orderly manner.

     For "new industrialisation", the Government will launch the $10 billion New Industrialisation Acceleration Scheme (NIAS) within this year to fund enterprises in life and health technology, AI and data science, and advanced manufacturing and new energy technology that invest no less than $200 million in setting up new production facilities in Hong Kong on a matching basis of 1 (Government):2 (Company), subject to a funding ceiling of $200 million per enterprise. Enterprises that participate in NIAS may receive subsidies under the Research Talent Hub to engage research talent, and, on a pilot basis, engage a small number of non-local technical personnel under the Technology Talent Admission Scheme.

(3) Developing digital economy and promoting the community's digital transformation

     Digital economy has become a new driving force for economic development. As a new key production factor, data links different industries and sectors, empowering enterprises to enhance efficiency, boost their competitiveness and create fresh business opportunities. Since March this year, Cyberport has invited the first batch of small and medium enterprises to apply for the $500 million Digital Transformation Support Pilot Programme to acquire ready‑to‑use basic digital solutions including electronic payment. The Government will also launch a $300 million "Corporate Digital Identity" platform to facilitate the conduct of online business transactions and services. In addition, the Government has commissioned an expert group to undertake study on how to develop a robust data trading ecosystem in Hong Kong, etc.

     Furthermore, in order to promote digital inclusion, the Government will allocate $100 million under the Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Fund to provide training on digital technologies and technical support to elderlies aged 60 or above in Hong Kong in the coming three years, which is expected to benefit at least 50 000 elderlies. The first batch of programmes is expected to commence in the fourth quarter this year at the earliest. We have also implemented various Cross-boundary Public Services measures, including setting up of the first Hong Kong Cross-boundary Public Services self-service kiosk in Guangzhou in February 2024, and are planning to set up self-service kiosks in more Mainland cities of the Greater Bay Area (GBA) to facilitate residents and enterprises in the GBA to access Hong Kong government services.

(4) Nurturing I&T start-ups and talent

     With regard to nurturing I&T start-ups, the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation will launch the Co-acceleration Programme to pool the efforts of the I&T industry to nurture I&T start-ups with high potential as regional or global enterprises. In addition to existing measures on nurturing and attracting talent, the Government will also allocate an additional funding of $134 million to continue subsidising publicly-funded primary schools for two academic years under the "Knowing More About IT" Programme to enhance primary school students' interests in information technology and its application. These measures will be conducive to pooling together and nurturing Hong Kong's I&T talent.

Conclusion

     Our country has always been offering strong support for Hong Kong's I&T development. Generally speaking, various measures for promoting the I&T development are gradually taking effect. The Government will continue to invest and build up a vibrant I&T ecosystem. We have full confidence in the I&T development in Hong Kong. I would like to express my gratitude to all Members again for the support to the I&T development in Hong Kong all along. I appeal for the continual support of Members and the public for the work of the Innovation, Technology and Industry Bureau. Thank you, Chairman.

     Hongkong Post announced today (April 19) that, as advised by the postal administration of the United Arab Emirates, due to the impact of severe weather, mail delivery services to the United Arab Emirates are subject to delay.