Hong Kong begins legislative process to increase gov’t appointments to social workers’ licensing body
Hong Kong Free Press
Hong Kong has begun the legislative process to increase the proportion of government-appointed members in a social workers’ licensing body, less than two weeks after an official said changes were needed to “better protect national security.”
Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun described the proposed amendments to the Social Workers Registration Board in a meeting in the Legislative Council chamber on Wednesday. The board is tasked with approving the licenses of the city’s social workers, who Sun said have “social responsibilities towards [their] clients” and are obliged to honour the rule of law.
The bill recommends giving government-appointed members – who do not have to be social workers – a majority in the board. Authorities proposed expanding the board from 15 to 27 members, and increasing the number of government-appointed members from six to 17.
The proposed amendments also included having two government officials instead of one on the board. Currently, the director of social welfare is an ex officio member of the board.
The number of social workers on the board elected by their peers would remain unchanged, at eight. With the increase in the number of board members, this means that elected members would go from commanding more than half the board to having around a third of the seats.
Delivering the bill’s second reading, Sun said the proposed changes would bring diversity to the board so that “different voices” can be reflected.
“Appointing more members from other professions and prominent personalities from different sectors of the community will bring in a broader, more diverse and balanced participation in the board to provide the checks and balances required for ensuring that the public interest will be safeguarded,” the welfare chief said in Cantonese.
‘Hasty’ amendments
The proposed amendments were raised following Sun’s Facebook post earlier this month slamming the Social Workers Registration Board for failing to establish a mechanism barring those convicted of national security offences from becoming registered social workers, even after an amendment was passed in July 2022 preventing such appointments.
Sun also said the board had voted a social worker onto a panel of reserve members for a disciplinary committee even though she faced a rioting charge in court at the time.
He did not name names, but local media outlets suggested that he was referring to Jackie Chen, a social worker who is facing a retrial after being acquitted of a rioting charge linked to a pro-democracy protest in Wan Chai in August 2019. Chen was cleared in 2020, but the Court of Appeal ordered a retrial, which is expected to begin in December.
After authorities first announced last Tuesday that they would move to make changes to the licensing body, Ng Yut-ming, the board’s chairperson, said he was disappointed by the “hasty” amendment.
He said the revamp may not protect professional autonomy due to a higher proportion of government-appointed members, according to RTHK.
The Hong Kong Social Workers’ General Union said on Facebook on Sunday that the overhaul reflected that the authorities “did not trust social workers.”
“It is a repudiation of the social work value,” the union said.
‘Prompt removal’ of offenders
Besides changing the make-up of the licensing board, the government also proposed measures that would allow the board to “deal with cases of registrations by social workers who have committed serious offences.”
Sun said that the registration of social workers were renewed annually under the current mechanism, meaning that when a social worker has committed a serious offence, their case would only be reviewed upon their renewal.
But this practice “cannot ensure that the interest of clients would be protected,” Sun said.
The amendments, if passed, would enable “prompt removal” of social workers convicted of serious offences. The welfare chief added, however, that the government did not intend to bar all ex-offenders from being social workers.
The bill also proposed requiring all board members to take an oath affirming that they would uphold the Basic Law and bear allegiance to Hong Kong.
Per the Legislative Council’s procedures, lawmakers will discuss the bill in a House Committee meeting on Friday before it is returned to the Legislative Council chamber.
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