Chief Secretary Carrie Lam and Secretary for Labour & Welfare Matthew Cheung today visited the iBakery Gallery Cafe in Tamar Park to congratulate it for winning the Corporate Citizen Award under the Spirit of Hong Kong Awards.
The award commended the cafe for employing disabled staff.
Mrs Lam encouraged the cafe to continue employing disabled people to help them unleash their full potential.
"The Social Welfare Department launched the Enhancing Employment of People with Disabilities through Small Enterprise Project with a one-off provision of $50 million in 2001-02. Through the grant of seed money to non-governmental organisations, the project supports the establishment of small enterprises and businesses to create job opportunities for persons with disabilities. The iBakery Gallery Cafe is one of the social enterprises set up by the project's seed money," she said.
The Government injected an additional $100 million into the project in 2012 to enable non-governmental organisations to set up more small enterprises to create more job opportunities for the disabled.
As of last month, $89 million in subsidies had been granted to set up 100 projects in a variety of businesses.
More than 1,000 jobs have been created, of which 741 are specially designed for the disabled.
Mr Cheung said that the department had also launched the Support Programme for Employees with Disabilities in 2013, giving employers subsidies to procure assistive devices and workplace modifications for disabled employees.
The Labour Department also runs the Work Orientation & Placement Scheme to enhance Government support for employers of the disabled.
"In addition to the Government's efforts, collaboration between the public and business sectors is also essential in facilitating the integration of persons with disabilities into the community," he said.