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Following is a question by the Hon David Li Kwok-po and a written reply by the Secretary for Home Affairs, Mr Tsang Tak-sing, at the Legislative Council meeting today (November 25):
Question:
With the continuing efforts of the Government to facilitate the formation of owners' corporations by owners of older residential buildings, plus the steady growth in the number of new private residential developments, there is a growing demand for professional building management services in Hong Kong. In this regard, will the Government inform this Council whether it offers any assistance, either through its retraining programmes or other means, for individuals to gain professional building management knowledge; if so, of the number of persons so supported in each of the past five years, and whether it knows their success rate in finding employment within the building management sector upon completion of the courses?
Reply:
President,
The Government has always been promoting quality building management through the provision of a sound statutory framework and support services, in order to assist owners in properly discharging their management responsibilities. The District Building Management Liaison Team of each District Office is tasked to give advice and support to owners on general building management matters. In addition, the Home Affairs Department organises about 390 educational and publicity activities every year to promote proper and effective practices in building management.
The Employees Retraining Board provides property management courses of both general and technical nature. These courses include the Certificate in Standard Security & Property Management, the Certificate in Advanced Security & Property Management, the Certificate in Clubhouse and Recreation Assistant Training, the Diploma in Clubhouse and Recreation Management, the Certificate in Property Facility Management, and the Certificate in Supervisory Property Management. Enrolment is open to Primary Six to Form Five school leavers. Total in-take for the first two of the above courses has reached about 96,000 since April 2004 and the average placement rate among the graduates is 82%. As to the other four newly developed courses, 1,700 have been admitted since their inception at the end of 2008. Since the placement period for some classes of the courses has not ended, the respective placement rates are not yet available.
In addition, the Department of Building and Real Estate of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University offers degree programmes related to building management. The relevant data is set out in the Annex.
Ends/Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Issued at HKT 14:00
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