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Following is a written reply by the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Mr Gregory So, to a question by the Hon Kwok Wai-keung in the Legislative Council today (April 16):
Question:
Last year, the Financial Secretary (FS) announced the setting up of the Task Force on Manpower Development of the Retail Industry (Task Force) to study the outlook of the retail industry and its manpower problem. After concluding its work, the Task Force submitted a report to the Government in December last year. In his 2014-2015 Budget, the FS indicated that the Government had accepted the Task Force's recommendations and would allocate $130 million for their implementation. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) given that the Task Force has recommended multi-pronged strategies (i.e. adopting good people management policies in the workplace; providing recruitment, employment and placement services more targeted at the retail industry; strengthening vocational education and training on retail and promoting retail work experience for students; raising the retail industry's image; and managing manpower demand through enhancement in productivity) to tackle the manpower tightening problem in the retail industry, of the following details in relation to the specific measures put in place by the authorities for implementing the various strategies (set out in tables of the same format as the table below by strategy):
(i) name of the measure;
(ii) the government department(s) responsible for implementing the measure;
(iii) service quota (if applicable);
(iv) period of implementation (including the start and the end dates);
(v) amount of government funding;
(vi) anticipated results; and
(vii) evaluation indicators; and
Strategy:
(i) (ii) (iii) (iv) (v) (vi) (vii)
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(2) whether it will consider reinstating the Task Force in two years' time and review the effectiveness of the measures in (1) in alleviating the brain drain problem in the retail industry; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
My reply to the two parts of the question is as follows:
(1) Provide information of each strategy in specified format as follows:
See Appendix.
(2) The Government will monitor the progress and effectiveness as set out in the attached tables, closely follow the manpower supply and demand in the retail industry, and consult stakeholders where necessary.
Ends/Wednesday, April 16, 2014
Issued at HKT 13:45
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