Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Chris Sun, at a media session after attending a radio programme this morning (November 19):
Reporter: Mr Sun, what do you make of suggestions that importing workers does not help solve Hong Kong's manpower shortage, and how has the progress been in attracting talents overseas? Secondly, how can authorities ensure better safeguards for employees? And any updates on Mirror concert accident investigation?
Secretary for Labour and Welfare: On our all-out efforts to attract talents to Hong Kong, we are quite confident with the new scheme, what we called the Top Talent Pass Scheme, plus the enhancement to the existing schemes, we should be able to meet the key performance indicator we set up for ourselves, i.e. from next year onwards until 2025, we should be able to attract at least 35 000 talents every year to fill the manpower gap in the local market.
As for the special scheme for the importation of care workers for residential care homes, right now we are in the stage of knocking out the details. The principles are clearly set out. For us, the basic starting point is we are going to accord priorities to local workers, but given all our efforts, if we are still unable to fill the shortage, we have to consider importing a suitable number of outside workers to help. In that direction, we are going to extend the scheme from currently just applying to private residential care homes to include subsidised residential care homes as well. We would also look into the ratio between local workers and imported workers. Thirdly, we will work towards streamlining the process of application.
As for the Mirror concert incident, we are taking actions on our side regarding the employer concerned as well as the occupant of the venue under two Ordinances. One is on employees' compensation, the other is on occupational safety and health.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
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