Policy Address

(E) Build a Caring and Inclusive Society

193. I attach great importance to building a harmonious and stable community, one that is caring and inclusive, providing targeted assistance to the underprivileged and families in need. Social welfare tops public expenditures of all policy portfolios, with more than $300 million spent on social welfare each day. This underlines the Government's emphasis on social welfare.

Targeted Poverty Alleviation

194. The Government has adopted the strategy of targeted poverty alleviation by directing resources to those most in need. This approach is well-received by the community. We will focus on the following key areas:

  1. expanding the Strive and Rise Programme – We will launch the third cohort of the programme this year to recruit 4 000 mentees. We will also encourage youth leaders of the Alumni Club to organise activities for self-development, enhance training for mentors and related initiatives;

  2. extending the Pilot Programme on Community Living Room (CLR) – We will set up three additional CLRs next year in areas clustered with SDUs. They are expected to benefit about 1 300 target households, serving about 200 000 attendances a year. Including the four CLRs already launched, they are expected to serve about 3 050 SDU households, drawing about 470 000 attendances a year;

  3. enhancing the School-based After-School Care Service Scheme – Beginning this school year, the number of primary schools covered by the Scheme will increase from 50 to over 110, enabling students in need to stay at school outside school hours for care and learning support, allowing their parents to take up jobs. Subject to actual utilisation and outcome of the scheme, we plan to encourage more schools to participate in the scheme, without capping the number of places, in the 2025/26 school year; and

  4. subsidising elderly recipients of the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) to reside in residential care homes for the elderly (RCHEs) in the Guangdong Province – We will launch a three-year pilot scheme next year to subsidise elderly CSSA recipients retiring in Guangdong to reside in designated RCHEs in the Guangdong Province. Each eligible elderly person will receive a monthly subsidy of $5,000, subject to a quota of 1 000.