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Following is a question by Hon Audrey Eu and a written reply by the Secretary for the Environment, Mr Edward Yau, in the Legislative Council today (June 17):
Question:
The Environment and Conservation Fund has provided a funding of $450 million to offer financial assistance to building owners for conducting energy-cum-carbon audits and energy efficiency projects for their buildings. The Government expects that more than 1 600 projects may be subsidised, and many employment opportunities will be created. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:
(a) it knows if the Employees Retraining Board (ERB) has assessed how many relevant training courses it needs to organise, so as to provide training for workers engaged in the aforesaid trades;
(b) it has assessed the amount of resources need to be injected to assist members of the public in joining the aforesaid trades; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
(c) it had assessed last year the amount of resources need to be deployed by ERB to organise the relevant training courses to tie in with the development of green economy; if so, of the details?
Reply:
President,
(a) The Employees Retraining Board (ERB) has been in close liaison with the Environment Bureau (ENB) and the Vocational Training Council on assessing the manpower demand and training needs arising from "Energy-cum-carbon Audit" projects. As regards the "Energy Efficiency Projects", the current training portfolio of the ERB has already covered training for technicians and craftsmen in the trades of electrical workers, assistant electrical technicians, and building maintenance workers.
(b) On top of the training courses and plans mentioned in item (a), two local professional engineering institutions have been offering courses to complement with the launch of the funding scheme for energy-cum-carbon audit projects. Five courses have been conducted since earlier this year and were attended by 750 participants.
We have also liaised with various training bodies and Industry Training Advisory Committees set up in relation to the Qualification Framework, to explore the incorporation of training on energy audit, carbon audit and energy efficiency projects in the relevant courses.
(c) The green economy as promoted by the Government impinges on various sectors. Among them, the ERB anticipates that building energy efficiency would bring about immediate job opportunities for its service targets. At the initial stage, emphasis will be put on the provision of training for workers in this sector to meet the relevant manpower requirement. The ERB will maintain close liaison with the ENB and relevant departments to explore green job opportunities and provide relevant training in view of the development of other green economy initiatives. As the ERB is now working out relevant details and consulting the industry, the training details and resources required are still subject to further development.
Ends/Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Issued at HKT 13:46
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