ENG-2007 — Page 184

136 | Employment

The criterion for joining the Employees Retraining Scheme was relaxed in December to cover all eligible workers aged 15 or above with education attainment at sub-degree or below. The move opens the way for more people to receive training or retraining.

The ERB is also carrying out a review of its role and responsibilities in order to widen the scope of its training and retraining services and to enhance their quality.

The ERB offers a wide variety of full-time and part-time courses provided by a network of more than 50 training bodies. The major courses cover job search skills, specific skills for different industries and general skills (computer and vocational languages). New courses catering to the training needs of the expanded target groups are being developed to improve the trainee's job prospects and to help the retrained person keep his or her job.

In order to strengthen the Employees Retraining Scheme and to foster the spirit of lifelong learning, the ERB runs two Retraining Resource centres, one in Cheung Sha Wan and the other at Lok Fu, to provide a wide range of self-learning facilities, job market information and other supporting services to graduate retrainees.

The Integrated Scheme for Local Domestic Helpers, an initiative formally launched in May 2002, provides a one-stop service for job matching, job referral and follow-up services for employers and graduate retrainees of domestic helper courses. A Special Incentive Allowance Scheme for Local Domestic Helpers was introduced by the Labour Department in June 2003 to promote the services of local domestic helpers and to address the mismatch in supply and demand. Under the scheme, retrainees who have passed the domestic helper course are given an incentive allowance if he or she needs to work across districts or during odd hours. By the end of 2007, about $48 million had been paid out to 11 756 workers receiving the allowance.

An ERB service, introduced in 2002 for carrying out standardised assessment of the skills of workers retrained as domestic helpers, has now been extended to assessing the skills of workers who took other ERB courses, including courses on personal care work, healthcare massage, hotel room attendant work, hotel public area cleaning work, post-natal care, infant care, child care and home care for the elderly.

Continuing Education Fund

A $5 billion Continuing Education Fund was launched in June 2002 to subsidise adults who wish to pursue continuing education and training courses in specified sectors/domains. Eligible applicants are reimbursed 80 per cent of their fees, up to $10,000 per person, on successful completion of a reimbursable course or module forming part of the course. Over 414 800 applications had been received by the end of 2007.