The Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam; the Secretary for Innovation and Technology, Mr Alfred Sit; the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Mr Christopher Hui; and the Acting Secretary for Home Affairs, Mr Jack Chan, today (May 21) met and exchanged views with 70 appointees appointed to government advisory committees through the Member Self-recommendation Scheme for Youth (MSSY) at the Government House, the Cyberport, the Central Government Offices and the Youth Square respectively. During the exchange, they learnt about the appointees' experience in participating in the work of the committees.
To provide more opportunities for young people to participate in policy discussions, the current-term Government launched the Pilot Member Self-recommendation Scheme for Youth in late October 2017 for young people aged between 18 and 35 and committed to serve the community to self-nominate themselves to join the Government's advisory and statutory bodies (ASBs). From 2018 onwards, the Scheme has been regularised and extended to cover more advisory boards and committees.
Every recruitment under the MSSY has seen overwhelming response. So far, five phases of the MSSY have been launched with over 8 200 applications being received. The application of the latest MSSY Phase V ended in mid-March this year and the relevant assessment is now underway. In addition to the seats open for recruitment under the MSSY, the Government has invited those applicants attending the interviews to authorise the Home Affairs Bureau to include their personal particulars in the Central Personality Index database so that relevant bureaux and departments may retrieve the information for reference during their selection of candidates for appointment as members of ASBs. Since the implementation of the MSSY, about 480 posts are held by young people who have been appointed to ASBs directly or indirectly through the Scheme. With the concerted effort of Directors of Bureaux and Secretaries of Departments, the ratio of youth members in these bodies has increased from 7.8 per cent in end-2017 when the MSSY launched, to 15.4 per cent in end-2021. The target of 15 per cent set by the current-term Government has been successfully achieved.
Mrs Lam said, "Young people are the most energetic and creative demographic in our society who possess the greatest potential to drive the community forward. We are pleased to talk to several dozen youth members appointed to government advisory committees under the MSSY today. We are impressed by these young people from all walks of life for their enthusiasm to inject new ideas during policy making, and their commitment to promote a stable development of the society.
"I hope the MSSY will continue to attract talents through regularly offering seats of committees on policy areas of greater interests and concerns to young people, thus enabling more young people with a commitment to serve the community to join the Scheme and to realise their full potential."
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