XN000022-1996-12-18 — Page 57

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Number of vacancies

Grades

Professional grades

Technical and inspectorate grades Housing management grades

General grades and other staff

23

184

74

159

Within the next three months, 262 new recruits are expected to report for duty. Assuming no further vacancies arise during this period, the actual number of vacancies will be reduced to 178, or 1.2% of total establishment.

(b)

(c)

The vacancies arise from normal turnover of staff. The 3% vacancy rate is within the normal limit, and is not a cause for concern.

In order to speed up the process of recruitment, the Housing Department will also conduct walk-in or phone-in interviews, and intensify its publicity efforts, such as advertising through the Housing Authority home page of the Internet. Closer contacts with the Local Employment Service of the Labour Department and the Construction Industry Training Authority will also be maintained.

Rights and benefits for employees on overseas duty trips

Following is a question by the Hon Leung Yiu-chung and a written reply by the Secretary for Education and Manpower, Mr Joesph W P Wong, in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):

Question:

At present, many employees recruited locally are often required to work in Mainland China and Southeast Asian countries for long or short periods. However, the employers may not have obtained from the governments of these countries work permits for their employees before requiring them to work in the countries concerned. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)

which of the above countries currently require foreign workers to obtain work permits before they are allowed to work in the countries. concerned;