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The list of Charitable Fund-raising Activities in public places in November 2008 issued with Public Subscription Permit (PSP) can be downloaded here.

The list of Charitable Fund-raising Activities in public places in December 2008 issued with Public Subscription Permit (PSP) can be downloaded here.

Applications are invited for the following categories of grants under the Hong Kong Paralympians Fund. 

(a) Development of target sports (2009-10);
(b) Employment facilitating grant for retired athletes with disabilities (2009-11);
(c) Subsistence grant to athletes (2009-10).

The deadline for (a) and (b) is 16 December 2008 (Tuesday) and deadline for (c) is 2 January 2009 (Friday).

Detailed information and application forms can be downloaded from SWD Website:
http://www.swd.gov.hk/en/index/site_pubsvc/page_rehab/sub_listofserv/id_hkpf/

Enquiries can be made to Rehabilitation and Medical Social Services Branch, Social Welfare Department at Telephone: 2892 5345; Email Address: srm8@swd.gov.hk

The Committee on Services for Youth at Risk has held the 39th meeting on 17 September 2008 (Wednesday). You may download from here:

1.  Agenda of the 39th meeting 
      Acrobat Document
2.  Minutes of the 38th meeting held on 29 March 2007 
      Acrobat Document

To prepare for the implementation of a licensing scheme to regulate the service quality of all residential care homes for persons with disabilities (RCHDs), SWD has been working on a Code of Practice for RCHDs, which will set out all the requirements for compliance by RCHDs and will form part of the future statutory licensing mechanism.  An existing Code of Practice was issued in March 2002, serving as a guide on the minimum standard of service for existing RCHDs.  The standards are not mandatory as the existing Code does not have legislative backing.  Between April and June 2007, SWD conducted four consultation sessions to collect views from groups of parents of persons with disabilities (PWDs), NGOs and private RCHD operators on the future requirements for RCHDs with reference to the existing Code.  In general, the parties consulted were of the view that there was a need to review the existing Code, taking into account the practical situations of RCHDs and the changing needs of PWDs.

SWD subsequently set up a Working Group on RCHDs in July 2007 to review the existing Code.  Members of the Working Group include representatives from PWDs, parents groups, subvented RCHDs, private RCHDs, as well as the academia and the Hong Kong Council of Social Service.  The Working Group convened six meetings during the period from July 2007 to January 2008, and organized two consultation sessions in December 2007 to gather further views from the rehabilitation sector and other stakeholders.

Having consolidated the views from all parties, we have submitted the revised requirements to the Labour and Welfare Bureau for their consideration; and having further sought the views of the Rehabilitation Advisory Committee and relevant government departments, we have come up with the draft revised Code as attached.

To collect further views from the rehabilitation sector and relevant parties (including NGOs, parents groups, self-help groups and private RCHDs, etc.), SWD has sent out invitations for them to attend two consultation sessions to be held by the end of November 2008.

Draft Revised Code of Practice for Residential Care Homes for Persons with Disabilities (Chinese only)

An English version of the Code will be available after the consultations.

"The Jockey Club IT Scheme for People with Visual Impairment" (7th round) and "Central Fund for Personal Computers" (19th round) now accept applications.  The deadline for both the Scheme and Fund is 8 December 2008.

Eligible organisations, educational institutes and individual persons with visual impairment may apply for "The Jockey Club IT Scheme for People with Visual Impairment" whereas "Central Fund for Personal Computers" is for eligible persons with disabilities engaging in self-employment or supported employment service.

Detailed information and application forms can be downloaded from SWD Website:
http://www.swd.gov.hk/en/index/site_pubsvc/page_rehab/sub_listofserv/id_itforpeople/; or
CyberAble.net: http://www.cyberable.net .

Enquiries can be made to Rehabilitation and Medical Social Services Branch, Social Welfare Department:

"The Jockey Club IT Scheme for People with Visual Impairment"
Telephone: 2892 5652; Email Address: srm3@swd.gov.hk; Fax: 2119 9035;

"Central Fund for Personal Computers"
Telephone: 2892 5156; Email Address: srm5@swd.gov.hk; Fax: 2119 9035

The Rehabilitation and Medical Social Services Branch has issued an invitation letter dated 20 October 2008 to NGOs operating rehabilitation services and service operators of community-based support projects to invite them for submission of proposals on community-based support projects for PWDs and their families.

Application form with a service proposal of no more than 15 pages (A4 with font size at 12 and in 5 hard copies and 1 soft copy), should be sent on or before 10 November 2008 (Monday), 5:00p.m. to the following address :

Rehabilitation and Medical Social Services Branch
(Attn : Ms Annisa MA, SS(RM)3)
Social Welfare Department
Rm 901, Wu Chung House,
213 Queen’s Road East, Wan Chai, Hong Kong

Only ONE project proposal is accepted for each applicant.

Late application will not be accepted.

For access to the Invitation Letter (copy), Guide to application and Application Form, please download here :

- Invitation Letter (copy)
- Guide to application and Application Form

The Rehabilitation and Medical Social Services Branch has issued an invitation letter dated 17 October 2008 to 15 HBTS operators for their participation of re-engineering exercise to set up District Support Centres for Persons with Disabilities (DSCs/PWD).

To strengthen the support to persons with disabilities (PWDs) and their families living in the community and to provide one-stop district-based community support service to PWDs, SWD is going to set up 16 DSCs/PWD through re-engineering of 19 regional teams of HBTS.  The 15 NGOs operating 19 HBTS teams will each pool the resources of the HBTS to form a total of 16 DSCs/PWD which is a premises-tied service.  Additional resources will also be provided to each DSC/PWD for the operation of the centre.  DSCs/PWD will commence service on 1 January 2009.

15 HBTS operators could attend the briefing session on 21 October 2008 (Tuesday) at 9:15a.m. at Conference Room 1, 9/F, Wu Chung House, Wan Chai, Hong Kong.

Operation plan of no more than 20 pages (including annexes, A4 size with font size at 12 and in 2 hard copies) should be sent to the following address on or before 21 November 2008 (Friday), 5:00 p.m. :

Rehabilitation and Medical Social Services Branch
(Attn: Ms Annisa MA, SS(RM)3)
Social Welfare Department
Rm 901, Wu Chung House
213 Queen's Road East, Wan Chai, Hong Kong.

For access to the Invitation Letter (copy), full set of the Service Specification and related Annexes of the project, please download here:

- Invitation letter (copy)
- Service Specification
- Annexes of service specification
- Information to be included
- Proforma of phased implementation

At the Chief Executive's Question and Answer Session of the Legislative Council held on 16 July 2008, the Chief Executive announced a package of relief measures, which included the provision of a one-off grant for education-related expenses of $1,000 for needy students.  Students from kindergarten to secondary education who are eligible in the 2008/09 school year for the flat-rate grant for school-related expenses under the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) Scheme and kindergarten students who are eligible for fee assistance under the Fee Assistance (FA) Scheme for Child Care Centres in the same school year will benefit from the one-off grant. 

Beneficiaries are not required to make application for the one-off grant.  Applicants of the CSSA cases eligible for the one-off grant will receive the one-off grant on 15 October 2008 through the existing payment arrangement (i.e. normally through bank payment credited to the designated bank account).  Applicants of the FA cases eligible for the one-off grant will receive a crossed cheque amounting to $1,000 by post issued on the same day.

The Social Welfare Department (SWD) launched a pilot project of BIP (Pilot Project) from January 2006 to March 2008.  The Pilot Project consisted of two parts :  Part I was conducted by a non-governmental organisation, the Hong Kong Family Welfare Society (HKFWS) and Part II by the SWD.  The HKFWS programme was completed and the report has been finalized.   For the SWD programme, an interim report has been prepared.  SWD will continue to collect follow-up data after 12 months of completion of the project and the final report will be issued when the final evaluation results are available. 

          - Final Report of Batterer Intervention Programme (Hong Kong Family Welfare Society) (attached)

          - Interim Report of the Batterer Intervention Programme (Social Welfare Department) (attached)

The list of Flag Day Organisers from April 2008 to March 2009 can be downloaded here.