CCTV:

Improving the social welfare system with a focus on the elderly, children and people with disabilities, is crucial for the well-being of society. Over the years, what progress has been made by the MCA in this regard?

Zhan Chengfu:

Social welfare and building the social welfare system are issues of great concern to society. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the MCA has done much work in this regard. Next, I would like to invite Mr. Li Baojun, MCA spokesperson and director of the general office of the MCA, to give you a detailed introduction.

Li Baojun:

Thanks for this reporter's question. Social welfare is an important institutional arrangement to improve people's well-being. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, General Secretary Xi Jinping has given important instructions on many occasions. He has stressed acting on the people-centered philosophy of development, speeding up the improvement of the care and service system for the elderly, improving the social welfare system for the persons with disabilities and orphans, and addressing weaknesses in social welfare in rural areas. Civil affairs departments at all levels have conscientiously implemented the important instructions made by General Secretary Xi Jinping and the decisions and deployment of the Party Central Committee and promoted the development of social welfare to a new level.

First, we have continued to improve the welfare of the elderly. Old-age allowances, service subsidies for the elderly with financial difficulties, and nursing subsidies for the elderly people with disabilities are ensured at the provincial level nationwide, now benefiting 30.695 million, 4.479 million and 789,000 seniors, respectively. Moreover, 702,000 seniors have received comprehensive subsidies. Greater efforts have been made to ensure the basic needs of poor elderly people, and we have promptly brought the poor population of advanced age and incapacitated seniors in rural areas within the scope of subsistence allowances. Up to now, 14.2 million elderly people have received urban and rural subsistence allowances and 3.717 million elderly people have received extreme poverty aid, which ensures the support and assistance to everyone who needs it. We have deepened the reform of public care institutions for the elderly, vigorously developed at-home and community-based elderly care, and focused on providing services for economically disadvantaged elderly people, and those with disabilities . We have established and improved the system to support and care for the elderly left behind by their families in the countryside after their grown-up children have moved to the cities in search of employment. We have strengthened care for the elderly living alone and left behind in rural areas and helped them lead happy lives in old age. 

Second, we have deepened and expanded the welfare of children. We have gradually improved the basic living standards of orphans. Up to now, 169,000 orphans have been raised across the country, and the monthly allowance for orphans in welfare institutions and families that provide temporary care totals 1,728 yuan and 1,288 yuan per person, respectively, an increase of 77.9% and 83.1%, respectively over 2012. The Tomorrow Plan for Rehabilitation of Orphans with Disabilities has been launched, benefiting nearly 223,000 orphans. A program to support school education for orphans enabled more than 80,000 people to realize their dreams of receiving a university education. Efforts have been made to nurture orphans better. We have formulated and implemented the Measures on the Management of Child Welfare Institutions and promoted the optimization, innovation, transformation and high-quality development of child welfare institutions. We have actively explored expanding the scope of protection, bringing 340,000 de facto orphans into the coverage of state support and including rural left-behind children and children in need into the system of care and services. Up to now, there are 55,000 child welfare supervisors and 667,000 child welfare directors across the country to provide children with regular care services.

Third, the welfare of people with disabilities has been improved. The subsidy system to provide for the living expenses of disabled people in need and to pay the nursing costs of people with severe disabilities has been established. The dynamic mechanism of adjusting standards for subsidies has been developed, and all the services can be accessed on an inter-provincial basis and via the internet. So far, these two subsidies have benefited 11.81 million disabled people in need and 15.32 million people with severe disabilities. The development of the industry of rehabilitation assistive devices has been accelerated. We have piloted comprehensive innovation in the industry of rehabilitation assistive devices and community-based lease services. From 2012 to 2021, a total of 143,000 pieces of rehabilitation assistive devices were distributed to disabled people in welfare institutions in the central and western regions through the launch of the “Fukang Project.” The construction of welfare institutions for mental patients has been strengthened, and a total of 6.9 billion yuan has been allocated to build, renovate, and expand mental health welfare institutions. We have promoted community-based rehabilitation services for people with mental illnesses through services purchased by the government and guided the places where the conditions permit to provide centralized or commercial nursing care services for disabled people in need and people with severe disabilities, increasing the sense of fulfillment and happiness of disabled people and their families.

Next, the departments of civil affairs will fully grasp and put into practice the important instructions of General Secretary Xi Jinping and the decisions and plans of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, continue to improve systems, strengthen services, and raise the standards of our work, and develop a social welfare system compatible with economic and social development so as to provide strong support for groups with special difficulties to share the fruits of reform and development and achieve common prosperity.

Thank you.