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CONFIDENTIAL
INDUSTRIAL TRAINING
39. The Government has set up the Hong Kong Training Council to conduct and update manpower surveys and plan the training needs of the industrial, commercial and service sectors of the economy. The Council is serviced by the Industrial Training Division of the Labour Department. The Council has appointed 10 industry training boards to deal with the problems of major industries and 5 committee. dealing with matters common to more than one industry, eg. apprentic ships and instructor training. There are two statutory training authorities to provide training courses for the construction and clothing industries respectively. Each has set up its own training centre financed by imposing levies on the value of construction work carried out and the export value of clothing items. The Apprenticeship Unit of the Labour Department has also devised apprenticeship schemes for implementation by selected industries.
40.
The Training Council has recently agreed to submit proposals to make it a statutory body responsible for running all training schemes under one Ordinance and for administering a general levy imposed to finance the training scheme now in operation in the clothing industry as well as those proposed or contemplated for other manufacturing industries. The rate of levy is to be kept as low as possible: if it is based, as has been proposed, on the present ad valorem tax collected by the Director of Trade, Industry and Customs on goods imported, goods re-exported and goods nanu- factured in and exported from Hong Kong, the rate of levy would be in the region of 0.025%. I understand that even as a statutory body the Council would continue to be serviced by the Labour Department.
41. There is a widely acknowledged need in Hong Kong for the basis of its export-orientated economy to be diversified and for the quality of its manufactured products to be upgraded. An important factor in achieving this will be the availability of manpower. An important feature of the Council's proposals is that the levy scheme will be simple to administer and that the revenue collected will enable the Council to respond effectively to the manpower training needs of industry which are increasingly expected to have a growing technological content. For these reasons I support the Council's proposals and the provision of such training facilities, or attachments, in the United Kingdom as may be requested in respect of the Council's (or Labour Department's) staff.
INTERNATIONAL LABOUR CONVENTIONS
42. The annual exercise into the extent to which the British Government may make improved declarations on behalf of the Hong Kong Government in respect of the application to Hong Kong of Inter- national Labour Conventions has proceeded satisfactorily since 1976 when three declarations were registered. An additional five Conventions were the subject of improvement in 1977 and it should be possible to maintain this rate of progress for 1978 and 1979
/especially as
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CONFIDENTIAL
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