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The Steering Committee on Population Policy (SCPP), chaired by the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mrs Carrie Lam, held its ninth meeting this morning (April 26).
Following the end of the public engagement exercise on population policy in late February, the Social Sciences Research Centre of the University of Hong Kong was commissioned to conduct an independent analysis of the views received, which is now almost finished. The SCPP was briefed on the preliminary analysis results at the meeting, noting that the relevant report would be ready in the second quarter of 2014.
Taking into account the above-mentioned preliminary analysis results and past meeting discussions, the SCPP has identified several policy areas which require follow-up actions. These include:
(1) Articulating a clear economic and social vision to guide the future development of Hong Kong;
(2) Formulating a blueprint for a sustainable land supply to cope with the future demand arising from housing, employment, and other social and economic development needs, and fostering a quality living environment to encourage family formation, improve people's quality of life and attract foreign investors and talents;
(3) Exploring the improvement of child care services and retraining courses targeting the needs of women, as well as encouraging the business sector to widely adopt family-friendly measures in workplaces to assist women to maintain a balance between family and work;
(4) Advocating longer working years for the general working population and examining whether the current systems and regulations would impede the delay of retirement. At the same time, subject to the results of the current consultation on extension of service years of civil servants, consider raising the retirement age of new recruits in future to set an example;
(5) Better assisting new arrivals to integrate into society, and enhancing employment support services for persons with disabilities and ethnic minorities, in order to build up a more inclusive society;
(6) Enhancing the positioning of vocational education, consolidating the curriculum of self-financing post-secondary programmes, and making better use of the Continuing Education Fund, etc, on the basis of the 2014 Policy Address, so as to minimise the skills mismatch and enhance the quality of manpower;
(7) Enhancing the migrant admission schemes, and actively getting in touch with and recruiting talents via the economic and trade offices overseas and in the Mainland;
(8) Continuing to consider enhancing the existing labour importation mechanism to respond to manpower demand in the labour market in a more effective manner without jeopardising the interests of local workers;
(9) Considering the enhancement of support for young families and promotion of positive family values; and
(10) Building an age-friendly community and assisting the elderly to participate in volunteer work with a view to promoting "Active Ageing".
The SCPP noted that relevant bureaux and departments would start their internal studies on possible measures and would submit concrete proposals to the SCPP in due course.
In addition, the SCPP noted that the new round of Manpower Projection to 2022 of the SAR Government is in the final processing stage. The Projection will assess the general trend of future manpower requirements and supply in Hong Kong at the macro-level and is expected to be completed and announced in May.
Ends/Saturday, April 26, 2014
Issued at HKT 15:04
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