The Chief Executive, Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, chaired the last meeting of the Poverty Alleviation Committee of the current government, summarizing the results of poverty alleviation work.
She said that since taking office, the current expenditure on social welfare covering social security plans and various welfare services has increased by 71% in five years, from 65.3 billion yuan to 111.8 billion yuan, the highest increase of all previous governments.
During the tenure of Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, recurrent expenditure on social welfare increased by 71%.
(File photo/Photo by Zheng Zifeng)
Policies lift 1.1 million people out of poverty
Carrie Lam said that from 2020, facing the unprecedented challenge of the new crown epidemic, the government has launched a number of one-off counter-cyclical measures on the basis of the regular cash policy to stabilize the economy and employment environment.
She pointed out that according to the 2020 poverty population figures released in November last year, after taking into account all cash and public housing benefits, the poverty population has dropped significantly from 1.65 million before the policy intervention to 550,000, lifting about 1.1 million people out of poverty and reducing the poverty rate 15.7 percentage points, the poverty alleviation effect is very obvious.
Carrie Lam said, "The Commission on Poverty is an important partner of the SAR Government in promoting assistance to disadvantaged groups. Apart from providing valuable advice to the Government, it also provides funding through the Community Care Fund and the Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Fund to support projects with a filling function or pilot project nature. , which fully reflects the cooperation between the people, business and government and public participation.”
The commitment of the Community Care Fund has increased by 193% in the past five years.
(File photo/Photo by Ou Jiale)
The number of projects funded by the Care Fund and the New Social Fund has increased significantly
In addition to reviewing the current government measures, members also listened to the progress of various projects, including from July 2017 to the present, the Community Care Fund has launched 23 new aid projects, and the commitment has increased to about 20.8 billion yuan, an increase of 193%, and a total of 1.23 million people. Benefited, the cumulative increase of 80%.
In addition, since July 2017, the number of projects funded by the Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Fund has increased by 319, an increase of nearly 300%, the total funding has increased by 260 million yuan, an increase of more than 500%, and the number of beneficiaries has increased by 260,000, an increase of more than 700% .
In addition, the Census and Statistics Department also reported the latest survey on persons with disabilities. Except for persons with intellectual disabilities, there were 534,200 persons with disabilities in Hong Kong in 2020, with an overall prevalence rate of 7.1%.
The Office of the Government Economic Adviser and the Census and Statistics Department will use the relevant results to compile the "2020 Report on Poverty Situation of Persons with Disabilities in Hong Kong". Based on the "Poverty Line" analytical framework set by the Committee, it will analyze in detail the poverty situation of persons with disabilities living in domestic households. The report is expected to be published in the second half of this year.
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