16. Training

Training and Development

To sustain the professionalism and expertise of its staff and to develop them throughout their careers, the department took significant efforts on staff training and development.  It basically pursues a competency-based strategy which is, where appropriate, supplemented by personal development programmes for individual staff.

Office of Training and Development

The Office of Training and Development (OTD) of the Excise and Operation Support Branch is responsible for organizing or coordinating training and development programmes for members of the Customs & Excise Service as well as the Trade Controls Grade officers.  It also implements training policies determined by the Department’s Training Steering Committee, which is chaired by the Deputy Commissioner.  In brief, it is responsible for cross‑formation training and development while individual major formations are responsible for organizing formation‑specific training.

Training and Development Activities

The department formulates its human resources development strategies on the basis of the competency requirements of its staff who are tasked to fulfilling specific departmental functions.  OTD organized a wide range of training programmes in 2005 and 2006 to enhance the core competencies and functional competencies of officers (Appendix 13). Training and development activities were principally designed in accordance with the training roadmap for officers at individual grades and ranks.

For benchmarking international best practices and providing officers with exposure opportunities, the department sent 185 officers to attend different training and attachment programmes hosted by academic institutions, customs organizations and law enforcement administrations on the Mainland and in New Zealand, Fiji, Australia, Italy, Belgium, Southeast Asian countries, the United Kingdom and the United States in 2005 and 2006.

The respective increases in passenger flow between Hong Kong and the Mainland and the business contact between the department and various government organizations on the Mainland require officers at various levels to be proficient in Putonghua. The department organized Putonghua courses at three different levels (elementary, intermediate and advance) for all mid‑ranking officers and above.  It also tailor-made job-related Putonghua courses for frontline officers.

For gearing up staff for advancement, the department actively implements a schematic development arrangement whereby senior and mid-level managers are systematically developed through a designated training roadmap.  In 2005 and 2006, 13 Assistant Superintendents (8 Assistant Superintendents and 5 acting Assistant Superintendents) and 4 Chief Trade Controls Officer attended the in‑house Customs Management Development Course.  Moreover, 8 senior officers were sent to renowned overseas training institutes, and 32 officers attended executive training or visits on the Mainland.

Continuous Learning and Development

Continuous learning is important to staff who need to keep abreast of and to adapt themselves to the changes that are relevant to the business of the department.  Apart from providing conventional classroom‑type training, the department also employs various means in supporting continuous learning and promoting a culture of continuous learning.  These include: establishing totally 11 self-learning centres at various office locations, each having a collection of reference publications, and one or more workstations that can access the Internet as well as the central document repository and e-Learning portal of the department; facilitating officers to register and have access to the cyber learning websites hosted by the Civil Service Training and Development Institute locally and the World Customs Organization (WCO) headquartered in Brussels; and providing staff with financial support for attending vocational or management training run by outside parties.

Also acting as a driving force for continuous development, the department holds annual Promotion Qualifying Examinations for Inspectors and Customs Officers.  This is one of the measures taken in sustaining the high level of customs professionalism.  So far, 341 Inspectors and 1 674 Customs Officers have passed the examinations.

OTD has also completed a review on the strategic role played by the self-learning centres in continuous learning and development.  It will devise changes or make improvements in the light of the review findings, and propose the same to the senior management for endorsement.

Regional Training Centre of the World Customs Organization

The department is one of the designated regional training centres in the Asia‑Pacific Region.  Officers of OTD regularly attend capacity building meetings held in various Asian countries as well as by the WCO in Brussels.  One Senior Inspector and one Senior Trade Controls Officer who attended a WCO training workshop in June 2006 became accredited trainers thereafter.

In March 2005, the department hosted a regional seminar on the Framework of Standards to Secure and Facilitate Global Trade that was attended by officers of customs administrations in the Asia‑Pacific Region. With the completion of the renovation of the training school, more regional training activities will be organized in the second half of 2007.

Mutual Training Assistance

Sharing of invaluable expertise among counterparts in the global customs community is one of the ways to build up professionalism.  In many of the cooperation agreements established with other customs administrations, the department has fostered a framework whereby mutual training assistance is to be provided to each other whenever possible.  In 2005 and 2006, the department sent 139 officers to attend training and attachments to other customs administrations.  It also provided training of various kinds to 132 visiting customs officers.

Cultural Sensitivity and Self-learning Package on Japan

In order to enhance officers’ awareness towards cultural diversity of air passengers, every year the Airport Command organizes cultural sensitivity programme for its frontline officers at the Airport.  In 2006, the Command invited representatives from the Japan Consulate and The Japan Airlines Ltd. to deliver talks to officers on the cultural characteristics and practices of the Japan Customs.  Besides, the Command commissioned the Japan Society of Hong Kong to organize training workshops on Japanese language for its officers.  Based on the materials of the talks and the training workshops, the Command has produced a self-learning package with demonstration of Japanese language in the forms of VCD and MP3 for distribution to its frontline officers.  The programme has enhanced the officers’ ability in communicating with Japanese visitors and greatly facilitated the Customs clearance process.

Work Improvement Team

To upkeep the momentum of change and drive for improvement, the Airport Command joined hands with a consultant company to devise the programme of Work Improvement Team (WIT) for frontline officers in early 2006.  The programme aims at providing a platform for frontline officers at all levels to participate in gearing up proposals for improving work or solving problems identified in the course of daily operation. 

Under the programme, officers in different divisions were nominated to form WITs and the consultant  organized six one-day training workshops for the members of the Teams on WIT concept.  In mid 2006, two pilot teams completed their pilot studies with significant proposals on streamlining working procedures and enhancing work efficiency drawn up.  After the pilot run, the WIT programme has been put into full implementation at the Airport on an on-going basis in a bid to foster a continuous improvement culture in the workplace and to promote esprit de corps among frontline officers through group dynamics.

Occupational Safety and Health

An efficient department stems from a high standard of occupational safety and health. It is our policy to provide safe and healthy working environments for our staff and to ensure that all potential risks to safety and health are minimized and properly controlled. In 2005 and 2006, a number of occupational safety training courses such as “Basic Safety Management”, “Basic Accident Prevention” and “Basic Occupational Health”, were conducted to provide safety managers with basic safety management knowledge. To further our commitment in occupational safety and health, we are devising an “Occupational Safety and Health Plan” to set out a holistic framework on safety management system of the department.