COUNSELLING and guides to job interviews are to be made available to disabled people. Governor Chris Patten yesterday promised them a new package to help them seek employment. At a ''summit meeting'' called by the Governor, Mr Patten announced a programme to boost the employment prospects of handicapped people in the coming year. ''We plan to put more resources into education about disabilities and the handicapped,'' he said. ''We are going to put more resources into counselling and produce booklets to help the disabled at interviews, and to help those who will work with the disabled to realise their potential,'' he said. The Government will allocate $3 million to the Labour Department in the next financial year to promote the employment of the disabled - $2 million on public education and $1 million on boosting the manpower of the department's selective placement division, which matches the disabled with employers. While about 600 out of the territory's 250,000 employers are on a government list of those willing to employ disabled people, Mr Patten called for a voluntary programme among listed companies to hire more of them. ''I would advise employers to set out in their annual reports a full statement on the policy of employing the disabled,'' he said. Employers' groups said handicapped employees were very loyal and worked for low pay. They hoped the Government could provide more incentives to employers. ''We believe that the Government should consider tax benefits or partial reimbursement to companies for additional costs incurred for supporting the employment of handicapped persons,'' said Mark Leese, chairman of the Employers' Federation of Hong Kong,at yesterday's conference. Disabled groups attending the summit also said they felt the Government could do more. ''This summit demonstrates the Governor's determination to tackle the employment problems of disabled people in Hong Kong,'' Rehabilitation Alliance chairman Peter Chan Fuk-sing said. ''But the Government should show its commitment by hiring more disabled people in the civil service,'' he said.
