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Following is a question by the Hon Cheung Kwok-che and a written reply by the Acting Secretary for Home Affairs, Ms Florence Hui, in the Legislative Council today (May 29):
Question:
In reply to the questions raised by Members of this Council in respect of the Estimates of Expenditure 2013-2014, the authorities indicated that upon review, the performance of the Care and Support Networking Team (CSNT) operating in West Kowloon was considered satisfactory. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the items of services included in and the criteria adopted for the aforesaid review;
(b) of a breakdown, by the criteria referred to in (a), of the actual performance of CSNT in the aforesaid review and the relevant statistics;
(c) given that the service contract for CSNT has been extended from July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2015, of the funding allocation and staff establishment for each of the contract years; and
(d) whether the authorities have any plan to provide CSNTs in other districts?
Reply:
President,
(a)&(b) The Social Welfare Department (SWD) reviews the non-governmental organisation's (the NGO's) service performance in its operation of the Care and Support Networking Team (CSNT) for marginal groups and its compliance with the service provision standards under the Service Performance Monitoring System, on which a total of eight indicators of service outputs and service outcomes specified in the Funding and Service Agreement (FSA) are mainly based.
The NGO responsible for running the CSNT complied with all the service performance requirements in the FSA during 2009-2012, and smoothly provided a variety of services to meet the target individuals' needs. In July 2012, considering that the NGO's performance was satisfactory, the SWD extended the service contract for the CSNT to June 2015. The CSNT's yearly performance in terms of actual figures is as follows:
Indicators \ Years 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12
1. Total number of target 465 414 415
vulnerable individuals
newly reached in a year
(Agreed level at 400
per year)
2. Total number of target 355 310 411
vulnerable individuals
successfully referred
to other services in a
year
(Agreed level at 200
per year)
3. Total number of cases 207 290 272
handled in a year
(Agreed level at 200
per year)
4. Total number of groups 13 10 10
organised in a year
(Agreed level at 10
per year)
5. Percentage of target 99% 100% 99%
vulnerable individuals
having their urgent
needs met in a year
(Agreed level at 80%
per year)
6. Percentage of cases 96% 93% 96%
reported to have
improved network with
the community in a year
(Agreed level at 80%
per year)
7. Percentage of unemployed 42% 37% 45%
cases successfully
engaged in employment,
retraining, etc. in a year
(Agreed level at 35%
per year)
8. Percentage of street 78% 75% 75%
sleepers successfully
accommodated in a year
(Agreed level at 50%
per year)
(c) The estimate for the CSNT for 2013-14 is $1.75 million, as compared with the revised estimate of $1.69 million in 2012-13. The NGO running the CSNT may deploy the provisions and manpower allocated under the Lump Sum Grant Subvention System in a flexible manner to ensure its service quality and to meet the service demand.
(d) The SWD reviews community development services in various districts in the light of the changing welfare needs, with a view to providing well-suited services to the community. At this point of time, we have no intention to launch similar projects in other districts.
Ends/Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Issued at HKT 11:24
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