Budget Speech

New Arrivals and Ethnic Minorities

142.      In 2011-12, the Home Affairs Department (HAD) will be given more resources and will set up a dedicated team to strengthen and integrate the support services for new arrivals and ethnic minorities. We will make good use of district networks and the services of district organisations and non-government organisations (NGOs) to better facilitate the integration of new arrivals and ethnic minorities into the community. We will introduce three major initiatives: launching district-based integration programmes; organising activities for prospective migrants from the Mainland to help them better understand the local environment before they come to live here; and introducing services to ethnic minorities and new arrivals by arranging for those with similar backgrounds and experiences to reach out to them, and to make referrals to government departments where necessary.

143.      Since 2009, we have sponsored NGOs to run four centres to provide comprehensive support services to ethnic minorities, including counselling and referral service, interpretation service, training classes, after-school tutorial classes and various integration programmes. To date, over 50 000 participants have benefited from the services. The four centres now receive an annual sponsorship of over
$20 million.

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