XN000022-1995-05-24 — Page 70

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Shortage of funds for Employees Retraining Board

Following is a question by the Họn Pang Chun-hoi and a written reply by the acting Secretary for Education and Manpower, Miss Jacqueline Willis, in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):

Question:

Regarding the shortage of funds faced by the Employees Retraining Board, will the Government inform this Council whether :

Reply:

(a)

(b)

Mr President,

(a)

it will continue to inject funds into the Board; if so, what the amount of injection will be, if not, why not; and

consideration will be given to increasing the levy imposed on employers of imported worker; if not, why not?

In 1992, the Government injected $300 million into the Employees Retraining Fund (the Fund) to provide financial assistance for the Employees Retraining Board (ERB) to carry out its statutory functions. Apart from the Fund and its interest income, the ERB also receives levy income from the employers of imported labour under the General Labour Importation Scheme and the Special Importation of Labour Scheme for Airport Core Programme Projects.

For the financial year 1995/96, the ERB plans to spend $290 million to provide retraining programmes to displaced workers aged over 30, industrial accident victims, people with a disability and others who wish to rejoin the labour force. $239 million of these expenses will be covered from interest generated by the Fund and the levy income. The remaining $51 million will be met from the Fund itself, which balanced at $280 million on 30 April 1995.

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