Replies to LegCo questions
LCQ20: Monitor NGOs' spending of the approved grants of Operation CARE
Following is a question by the Hon Yeung Yiu-chung and a written reply by the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr Yeoh Eng-kiong, in the Legislative Council today (June 11):
Question :
It is learnt that the Government will spend $102 million on Operation CARE, whereby non-governmental organisations ("NGOs") will be commissioned to create a total of 4 500 jobs that will last for three months, for providing household cleaning and minor repair services for the elderly living alone and people with lower self-care ability. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the procedures for NGOs to apply to create such jobs and the approval criteria;
(b) of the number of applications submitted by NGOs so far, the outcome of these applications and the amount of the approved grants, broken down by the districts in which the service recipients live; and
(c) how it will monitor the NGOs' spending of the approved grants?
Reply:
(a) The Social Welfare Department (SWD) has responded promptly to the needs of the community by commissioning NGOs to launch "Operation CARE" within a short period of time. For the 2,500 jobs under the household cleansing service, a total of 71 NGO service units are involved, with 70 per cent of the work allocated to the 40 District Elderly Community Centres and the remaining 30 per cent taken up by 31 non-profit-making organisations / local organisations recommended by the District Social Welfare Officers. For the 2,000 jobs under the household minor repair service, these have been allocated to 5 non-profit-making organisations / trade unions with relevant experience or capability in recruitment and service delivery and as recommended by the Labour Department (LD). The list of organisations operating the cleansing / repair service has been uploaded onto the homepages of SWD and LD. Also, open recruitment exercises are being conducted by the relevant operators, with selection made on the basis of the working experience and skills of the applicants.
(b) "Operation CARE" has territory-wide coverage, including Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the New Territories. Of the total allocation of $102 million, the household cleansing service accounts for $49 million and the minor repair service for the remaining $53 million. In allocating the resources to the participating units, SWD has taken account of the demographic characteristics and unique needs of the districts. Please see the annex for the details.
(c) On service monitoring, SWD has drawn up a set of Service Agreements and guidelines to monitor, through the respective Planning and Co-ordinating Teams, the service performance of all participating units. The guidelines set out in detail, for compliance by the participating units, the rules governing the use of funds, including the number of staff, their wage levels and Mandatory Provident Fund, administrative costs, and provision for materials and consumables etc., together with the requirements on the completion and submission of their financial statements.
End/Wednesday, June 11, 2003
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