📋 Tender Overview
Following is a question by the Hon Chau Siuchung and a written reply by the Secretary for Security Mr Tang Pingkeung in the Legislative Council today October 21
Question
Regarding the manpower in the security services industry and the importation of security practitioners will the Government inform this Council
1 of the numbers of persons employed to perform security work in each of the past three years and this year to date with a breakdown by the type of security work they did ie Category A B C and D security work
2 of the current number of valid Security Personnel Permit SPP holders with a breakdown by the age group of the holders and the category of SPPs they hold
3 of the respective numbers of SPPs issued by the Police Licensing Office of the Police Force to new applicants in each of the past three years and this year to date with a breakdown by the age group of the applicants
4 from the introduction of the Enhanced Supplementary Labour Scheme ESLS on September 4 2023 to the announcement of the review findings and enhanced measures of ESLS on June 15 2026 by the Government and from June 16 2026 to the present of the respective numbers of applications for the importation of security personnel received approved and rejected under ESLS by the authorities each month with a breakdown by the category of security work to which the posts belong among the aforesaid approved cases of the number of imported workers who have arrived in Hong Kong and
5 as some members of the industry have pointed out that the relaxation under ESLS allowing imported workers to work at business locations in no more than five districts has substantially enhanced employers flexibility in work arrangements which may encourage security and property management companies to apply more actively for the importation of security practitioners of the measures put in place by the authorities to ensure the employment priority for local workers including whether they will consider establishing a mechanism whereby a job category will be included in a more stringent Tier 2 vetting mechanism under ESLS if its imported workers exceed a certain proportion of the total number of practitioners if so of the details if not the reasons for that
Reply
President
According to the Security and Guarding Services Ordinance Cap 460 the Ordinance the Security and Guarding Services Industry Authority is responsible for formulating issuing criteria and conditions for security personnel permits SPPs while the Police Licensing Office PLO is responsible for issuing SPPs to individuals performing security work
At present SPPs are classified into four categories namely A B C and D according to different types of security work Category A is applicable to guarding work provided for a single private residential building which does not require the carrying of arms and ammunition Category B is applicable to guarding work provided for any persons premises or properties which does not require the carrying of arms and ammunition Category C is applicable to guarding work which requires the carrying of arms and ammunition and Category D is applicable to the installation maintenance and repairing of a security device or the designing of a system incorporating a security device for any particular premises or place
Having consulted the Labour and Welfare Bureau the reply to the question raised by the Hon Chau Siuchung is as follows
1 and 2 The number and age distribution of security personnel currently holding valid SPPs ie SPPs of Category A B C or D are set out in Table 1
Table 1 Current number and age distribution of holders of various categories of SPPs
Age
SPP Category
Total
A
B
C
D
1820
3 767
3 764
7
8
3 775
2130
25 765
25 751
194
550
26 273
3140
31 036
31 021
308
1 429
32 334
4150
57 114
57 082
255
2 103
58 991
5160
108 962
108 933
143
2 005
110 697
6170
115 523
109 162
1 049
116 309
7180
19 213
98
19 290
Above 80
946
2
949
Total
362 326
335 713
907
7 244
368 618
Some SPP holders may simultaneously hold SPPs of more than one category
The upper age limit for performing Category B security work is 70
The upper age limit for performing Category C security work is 60
The number of security personnel holding valid SPPs and employed to perform security work including fulltime parttime and temporary positions over the past three years and this year up to September is set out in Table 2 Regarding employed personnel the PLO does not maintain statistics broken down by type of security work ie Categories A B C or D or age group
Table 2 Number of persons employed to perform security work
Year
Total
2023
155 599
2024
160 970
2025
160 292
2026
up to September
161 399
According to section 13 of the Ordinance a security company or an employer of security personnel shall within 14 days after the commencementtermination of the employment give written notice to the Commissioner of Police of the names of the employees and of the date on which the employment commencedceased The PLO has compiled the statistics based on the information collected
3 The number and age distribution of new applicants issued with SPPs by the PLO in the past three years and this year up to September are set out in Table 3
Table 3 Number and age distribution of new applicants issued with SPPs
Age
Year
2023
2024
2025
2026
up to September
18 20
1 260
1 622
2 160
2 373
21 30
4 194
5 293
6 362
5 761
31 40
4 996
5 857
7 287
5 611
41 50
10 352
11 557
13 964
9 521
51 60
15 987
18 184
22 917
16 553
61 70
9 940
11 601
15 428
11 344
71 80
597
590
768
1 497
Over 80
55
48
61
53
Total
47 381
54 752
68 947
52 713
4 The Labour Department LD has implemented the Enhanced Supplementary Labour Scheme ESLS since September 4 2023 Up to September 2026 applications for importing 17 742 security guards were received from employers and approvals
