Lawmakers debate civil servant childcare leave to private sectors

The latest Policy Address has unveiled 11 measures aiming to boost the city's birth rates. At a Legislative Council committee meeting today, some lawmakers proposed to extend the three-day childcare leave policy for civil servants to the private sectors.

Among the raft of childbirth incentives introduced in the policy blueprint is extending 20,000-dollar newborn baby bonus and the 30,000-dollar extra cash allowances for the second or subsequent children born on top of tax concessions.

Some lawmakers ask if there are key performance indices to gauge policy effectiveness. Deputy Chief Secretary for Administration Cheuk Wing-hing says while they can't specify a concrete target for the birth rate, they aim to rein in the rate of decline of childbirths. On the possibility to extend government workers' parental leave to the private sectors, labour chief Chris Sun says the economic situation and employers' ability to shoulder the extra manpower costs also need to be considered.