Remarks by SLW on Enhanced Supplementary Labour Scheme and database on carers
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Reporter: Secretary, you mentioned that the Government will impose or set strict limits on hiring non-local workers, even in sectors with higher jobless rate, like catering. How can we ensure that the local recruits are getting priority on employment? You mentioned that since mid-June, there is an introduction of the four enhanced measures to prioritise local workers, has there been noticeable increase in the number of rejected applications? Also, I would like to ask about the pilot scheme to reach out to the elderly households, could you disclose more on how exactly the Government would collect those data and implement them to help those in need?
Secretary for Labour and Welfare: Under the Enhanced Supplementary Labour Scheme, the design of the system is based on some important principles, in which the most important one is to ensure that local workers are given the priority to get employed first. This is achieved through the four-week local recruitment exercise. Once an employer put up an application, first of all they have to recruit locally for four weeks. That is a very vigorous process. They have to interview every local worker applied for the job. Even if he or she is not employed, the Labour Department will give them a call to make sure that they have not been mistreated. If we found out during that process that the local workers have the willingness to work and somehow the employer has not been treating him or her in a fair manner, this would possibly result in the rejection of the application for importation of labour for that employer. I just want to assure you that the whole system is a very vigorous one and we are going to make sure that the local workers are fully protected and given the priority to get employed first. It is only after that the employer has proven to us that it is not able to recruit enough workers locally, then we would consider its application for importation of labour.
As for the pilot scheme to make use of big data to identify earlier on families that are at risk, we are going to roll out in the coming weeks. First of all we will focus on efforts in a smaller scale, starting with beneficiaries of the Scheme on Living Allowance for Low-income Carers of Persons with Disabilities, we are talking about thousands of families who are at higher risks. An example is if the carer has been admitted into hospital, under our new pilot scheme, a message would be given from the Hospital Authority to the Social Welfare Department signaling that the said family is now at risk, so that we can reach out to it to provide necessary respite service or home service to make sure those being taken care of is receiving proper care, to ensure that the risk is properly managed and all the necessary care has been given to them. Thank you very much.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the remarks.)
Ends/Saturday, July 5, 2025
Issued at HKT 10:25
Issued at HKT 10:25
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