Outgoing social services chief urges break-up of asylum welfare contract
Outgoing social services chief says HK$203 million asylum seeker welfare contract would be better spent with more competition involved
The outgoing head of the Council of Social Service has called for the break-up of the lucrative multi-million dollar welfare assistance contract for asylum seekers.
Chief executive Christine Fang Meng-sang said the HK$203 million contract, which is run exclusively by the International Social Service Hong Kong (ISS-HK), would be better spent if more competition was brought into the programme, including drawing on the experience of competing NGOs.
"There is one contract, but there is a possibility of breaking it [up] into smaller contracts." Fang said.
"There are corporations among NGOs sharing good practice and advancing the issues [facing asylum seekers] together in terms of advocacy, improving policies and service provision."
She said competitive bidding for services was common in Hong Kong.
Fang said bringing in more competition would foster transparency and increase scrutiny, helping to avoid the problems that appeared to hamper ISS-HK's efforts to fulfil its role in welfare management.
"There is always more room for improvement [at ISS-HK]," she said. "The stories unveiled various issues that they have to be answerable to and it is the responsibility of the government to monitor the services."