Replies to LegCo questions
LCQ15: Promoting employment of persons with disabilities
Following is a question by the Hon Emily Lau and a written reply by the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today (March 29):
Question:
In reply to a question raised on May 4 last year, the Secretary for Health,
Welfare and Food (SHWF) advised that the authorities had issued a letter to 369
subvented organizations in 2003 to encourage them to implement measures to
promote the employment of persons with disabilities (PWDs), and 21 of them had
set internal indicators in regard to the employment of PWDs. The SHWF also
advised that ongoing efforts would be made to encourage more organisations to
carry out such work. In this connection, will the Executive Authorities inform
this Council of:
(a) the internal indicators set by the 21 organizations mentioned above, and the
respective numbers of PWDs currently employed by them;
(b) the current number of subvented organizations which have set the relevant
internal indicators; and
(c) the progress made in encouraging subvented organizations to employ PWDs and
whether new measures have been drawn up in this respect?
Reply:
Madam President,
On the recommendation of the Sub-committee on Employment of the Rehabilitation
Advisory Committee (the Sub-committee), the Health, Welfare and Food Bureau (HWFB)
wrote to 369 Statutory Bodies and Government Subvented Organizations in May 2003
to encourage them to formulate recruitment policy and employment indicator for
people with disabilities (PWDs).
HWFB conducted a tracking survey in early 2004. The survey findings revealed
that 85 of these organisations had formulated policies for the recruitment of
PWDs, and 21 of them had also set up employment indicators for PWDs. The
employment indicators set by these organisations ranged from 0.1% to 33%, and
most were in the range of 1% to 2%. The total number of PWDs employed by these
21 organisations was 926.
HWFB submitted the findings of this tracking survey to the Sub-committee for
discussion in August 2004. Since there was a general increase in the number of
Statutory Bodies and Government Subvented Organisations adopting the measures as
compared with the findings of a similar survey conducted in 2002, the
Sub-committee considered the tracking survey capable of helping to promote the
employment of PWDs by these organisations, and recommended the Administration to
continue to conduct similar surveys in the future.
HWFB will conduct another tracking survey this year, with a view to encouraging
Statutory Bodies and Government Subvented Organisations that have not formulated
recruitment policy and employment indicator for PWDs to do so. In parallel, we
will also recommend those already reached their indicators to consider raising
the indicators and publishing in their annual publications the number of PWDs
they have employed. We will submit the findings of the survey to the
Sub-committee for discussion.
Ends/Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Issued at HKT 13:16
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