XN000022-1997-01-22 — Page 17

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(b)

(c)

(d)

In addition, the Employees Retraining Board (ERB) offers a wide range of courses to help displaced workers acquire new or enhanced vocational skills which will facilitate them to find alternative employment. Many training bodies also provide placement services for retrainees. As an added incentive to CSSA recipients who are unemployed to receive retraining and actively look for work afterwards, any retraining allowance they receive is disregarded when determining their CSSA entitlements.

The Labour Department and ERB maintain close liaison at both policy making and working levels. The Commissioner for Labour is a member of the ERB. She actively participates in formulating the retraining policy and monitoring the effectiveness of the Employees Retraining Scheme. At the working level, the LES and EPB maintain close ties in the referrals of job seekers for retraining. Leaflets introducing the Employees Retraining Scheme and monthly prospectus of the retraining programmes are distributed at all the nine LES centres and the Job Matching Centre of the Labour Department. For those CSSA recipients who are actively looking for jobs but require retraining to improve their job search skills and those who wish to acquire new vocational skills, they will be referred to the ERB and accorded priority in enrolling in suitable courses to enhance their employability.

The Employees Retraining Scheme (ERS) is primarily designed to help the unemployed to re-enter the labour market through retraining, irrespective of whether they are CSSA recipients or not. Hence, retrainees are not required to provide information as to whether or not they are CSSA recipients.

The Administration will consider the possibility of requiring CSSA recipients eligible for receiving ERS retraining to enrol for ERB courses.