CE’s speech in providing “The Chief Executive’s 2025 Policy Address” to LegCo (12)
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(G) Labour Support and Protection
247. In the face of sped up commercial change and ever-evolving technological advancement, our labor force should constantly obtain brand-new abilities to remain abreast of financial advancement and take emerging chances. We will make sure the work concern of regional employees and battle unlawful work carefully. To boost the competitiveness of Hong Kong’s labor force and increase the size of the skill swimming pool, we will reform the Employees Retraining Board (ERB) and optimise the Re-employment Allowance Pilot Scheme. We will likewise enhance labour security, consisting of safeguarding digital platform employees, and boosting occupational security and health (OSH).
Make Sure Employment Priority of Local Workers
248. As our population continues to age, Hong Kong deals with a decreasing labour force. Importing labour on a proper scale assists alleviate workforce lacks and serves Hong Kong’s total interests. We will release steps to make sure the work top priority of regional employees and fight the abuse of the Enhanced Supplementary Labour Scheme (ESLS). Beginning tomorrow, when using to import waiters/waitresses and junior cooks under the ESLS, companies are needed to:
(i) Extend the regional recruitment procedure from 4 weeks to 6 weeks, throughout which they should when a week go to an on-site task reasonable arranged by the Labour Department (LD).
(ii) Implement the manning ratio requirement ²³ more rigorously such that it is determined based upon posts being made an application for, however not on all posts engaged by a company. To put it simply, a company using to import a waiter/waitress and a junior cook should have currently used 2 regional full-time waiters/waitresses and 2 regional full-time junior cooks.
249. The above steps intend to fight abuse in a targeted way, concentrating on task classifications with more imported employees, while making sure organizations with authentic problems in regional recruitment are enabled to import supplemental labour in an organized way to prevent service closures and civilian casualties to existing staff members.
250. In addition, the Labour and Welfare Bureau (LWB) has actually simply started a mid-term upgrade of the Manpower Projection with concentrate on evaluating information of markets with a bigger variety of imported labour. The upgrade will be finished in 2026. The LWB will accord top priority to evaluating the appropriate information, and offer its findings on pertinent parts ahead of time.
Boost Actions to Combat Illegal Employment
251. The Government will step up efforts to fight prohibited work, develop a devoted hotline for reporting prohibited employees, and enhance intelligence collection and inter-departmental joint enforcement operations to protect the job opportunity of regional employees.
Reform the Employees Retraining Board and Strengthen Local Skills Training
252. In the last Policy Address, I revealed the reform of the ERB. The goal is to help members of the labor force, from all backgrounds and academic achievements, to improve their abilities and competitiveness on a constant basis, to fulfill the requirements of financial and commercial advancement in Hong Kong.
253. Considering that early this year, the ERB has actually improved such services as training and profession preparation, and laid out a preliminary reform roadmap for the next 3 years. The ERB will reinforce its market consultative system, and determine need for and spaces in core abilities in a targeted way to develop a skills-based training structure. It will team up with college organizations and guide other training bodies in establishing courses of numerous types and levels to fill the ability spaces. In future, the ERB will likewise release micro-credential courses acknowledged by markets to provide higher versatility to students, and make excellent usage of innovation to use varied and versatile modes of knowing. When the ERB settles the complete execution by the end of this year, the Government will modify the Employees Retraining Ordinance appropriately.
Optimise the Re-employment Allowance Pilot Scheme
254. The LD released the three-year Re-employment Allowance Pilot Scheme in July in 2015. The plan has actually been favored, with over 50 000 individuals and more than 27 000 positionings tape-recorded since August this year. The LD will continue to gather and look at details and information on the individuals and positionings of the plan, carrying out a mid term evaluation in the very first quarter of next year, in addition to the Employment Programme for the Elderly and Middle-aged, to check out procedures promoting silver work.
Set the First Minimum Wage Rate According to the New Annual Review Mechanism
255. The Government has actually accepted the brand-new system of embracing a formula for carrying out the yearly evaluation of the Statutory Minimum Wage (SMW) rate proposed by the Minimum Wage Commission. The very first SMW rate obtained under the brand-new system is anticipated to work on 1 May 2026.
Secure Digital Platform Workers
256. The frequency of digital platforms, such as those supplying food and items shipment services, has actually brought benefit to the general public and produced task chances. The Government will enhance the work injury payment system for digital platform employees through legislation, and continue to make excellent usage of the Tripartite Committee for the Digital Platform Industry to talk about concerns of issue to the stakeholders.
Boost Occupational Safety and Health
257. We saw a 30% drop in the variety of deadly building and construction mishaps in 2024 compared to 2023. The LD will continue to step up evaluation and enforcement, promo and promotion, in addition to education and training, to develop a more powerful OSH culture and lower mishaps. The department will likewise make great usage of ingenious innovations and AI, such as utilizing drones to improve assessment and proof collection, and support the market in establishing innovation items that improve OSH.
(H) Social Welfare
Targeted Poverty Alleviation
258. The Government will continue its deal with targeted hardship relief by directing resources to those most in requirement. Pertinent procedures consist of:
(i) Enrich activities of the Strive and Rise Alumni Club with $10 million financing from the HKJC, supplying youths with training and experience that incorporate Hong Kong popular culture and conventional Chinese arts; and inject $180 million into the Child Development Fund to continue carrying out jobs promoting the long-lasting advancement of upper main trainees from disadvantaged neighborhoods, and even more improve various components of the jobs by making use of the effective experience of the Strive and Rise Programme, with a view to decreasing intergenerational hardship.
(ii) Set up 6 extra Community Living Rooms (CLRs). Together with the 9 CLRs currently released, they are anticipated to benefit about 7 000 SDU homes, serving over 1.4 million presences.
(iii) Enhance the School-based After School Care Service Scheme by uncapping the variety of locations to broaden assistance for main trainees and moms and dads in requirement.
(iv) Roll out the “Co-build a Caring Society Funding Scheme” to motivate household workplaces associated with humanitarian endeavours to offer resources carrying out jobs that benefit the disadvantaged groups.
(v) Provide time-limited money rewards, on a pilot basis, for families leaving the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) Scheme and qualified for the Working Family Allowance, to promote self-reliance.
(vi) Publish the Report on Impact of Targeted Poverty Alleviation Strategy in Hong Kong in mid-2026.
Take care of the Elderly
259. The Government will continue to comply with the concept of promoting “ageing in place as the core, with institutional care as back-up”Eleven procedures will be presented:
Ageing in Place
(i) Increase the overall variety of Community Care Service Vouchers for the Elderly by 4 000 to 16 000.
(ii) Set up 3 brand-new Neighbourhood Elderly Centres to reinforce assistance at the district level. They are anticipated to serve some 3 000 seniors every year.
(iii) Lease out recently constructed federal government well-being centers on a pilot basis to enable service operators higher versatility in using daycare and assistance services for the senior under various financing modes.
(iv) Enhance the Integrated Discharge Support Programme for Elderly Patients to offer social well-being service assistance for released seniors in requirement.
Reinforce Residential Care Services
(v) Provide about 700 brand-new subsidised property care service locations.
(vi) Increase the overall variety of Residential Care Service Vouchers for the Elderly by 1 000 to 7 000.
(vii) Subsidise qualified serving health employees of property care homes to register in the brand-new expert diploma program for Health&& Care Practitioners, supporting devoted experts and promoting the advancement of the sector.
Improve Elderly Care Arrangements in the Greater Bay Area
(viii) Launch a pilot plan by the end of this year to subsidise senior CSSA receivers picking to retire in Guangdong to live in designated domestic care homes for the senior (RCHEs) in the province, consequently improving their lifestyle. Each qualified senior will get a regular monthly aid of $5,000, based on a quota of 1 000.
(ix) Expand continually the Residential Care Services Scheme in Guangdong. Beginning with October, the variety of Mainland RCHEs taking part in the plan will increase from 15 to 24, while the variety of cities covered will increase from 6 to 8.
(x) Launch a two-year pilot plan by the end of this year to share part of the medical expenditures that Hong Kong senior individuals of the Residential Care Services Scheme in Guangdong require to bear upon their own under the National Basic Medical Insurance Policy.
(xi) Facilitate Hong Kong senior receivers retiring in Guangdong and Fujian Provinces by supplying the choice to get Government help straight through their savings account with designated Mainland banks ².
Assistance Carers
260. Carers play an essential function in supporting seniors and individuals with impairments (PWDs). When carers are offered with suitable assistance to ease physical and psychological tension, they are much better able to look after seniors and PWDs. Existing steps consist of supplying allowance for carers from low-income households, improving reprieve services to provide carers a break, establishing a 24-hour hotline manned by social employees, introducing a one-stop details entrance, and arranging massive promotion and public education activities.
261. The Government will allocate a yearly persistent expense of $500 million to present a series of steps to boost assistance for carers, consisting of:
(i) The Government has actually introduced the very first stage of the Carer Support Data Platform, which at first links the information of the SWD, the HA and the HKHA, and gradually link the information of more federal government departments and public organisations to broaden the Carer Support Data Platform.
(ii) Upon gaining from the HA that a high-risk carer has actually been hospitalised, the SWD will organize outreach to the care receivers and provide emergency situation assistance according to their requirements.
(iii) We have actually combined the information of the HKHA and the SWD to recognize high-risk carers of seniors and carers of PWDs, in addition to singleton or doubleton senior homes doing not have adequate neighborhood assistance, and release Care Teams to perform sees.
(iv) We will continue carrying out the District Services and Community Care Teams– Scheme on Supporting Elderly and Carers for 3 years by welcoming Care Teams to actively offer assistance for and pay check out to high-risk households, and helping homes referred by Care Teams in setting up and utilizing the emergency situation alarm system as needed.
(v) We will set up a smart mishap detection system for 300 high-risk families.
(vi) We will continue the execution of the Support for Carers Project for 3 years, with a view to offering training for frontline residential or commercial property management workers in helping carers in requirement.
(vii) We will boost the existing AI chatbot function of the Information Gateway for Carers.
Assistance Persons in Rehabilitation
Develop Guidelines on Rehabilitation Products
262. The Government will work together with university groups to develop standards for customers of rehab items, with electrical wheelchairs, electrical wise beds, and robotic exoskeletons as pilot products. The standards will set out fundamental technical and functional requirements of rehab items, to help the senior, PWDs and their carers in picking appropriate items.
Supply Additional Rehabilitation Services for Persons with Disabilities
263. The Government will reinforce rehab services for PWDs by including 80 locations under the Bought Place Scheme for Private Residential Care Homes for PWDs, 220 locations at Special Child Care Centres, 100 locations at Day Activity Centres (DACs), and 50 locations at Hostels for Severely Mentally Handicapped Persons.
Broaden Support for Ageing Persons with Disabilities
264. Aging PWDs deal with extra difficulties in their life. The Government will, beginning with the 2nd quarter of 2026, gradually present one-stop assistance and care services at hostels for significantly and reasonably psychologically disabled individuals, and increase the variety of prolonged care locations at hostels co-located with DACs/integrated occupation rehab services centres. These procedures will launch about 700 day rehab training locations, supplying day training for PWDs residing in the neighborhood and relieving the pressure on carers.
²³ The ratio of full-time regional workers to imported employees is 2:1.
TWO The appropriate step is likewise specified under Chapter V “(C) Development of the GBA”
(To be continued.)