Auditor Slams Sloppy Youth Exchange Programmes

The Director of Audit has slammed the Home Affairs Bureau over its sloppy handling of funding for youth exchange and internship programmes, saying most of the tours are to the mainland, and in one case the bureau paid up even though only one person joined an exchange.

The report said the government now funds seven exchange and internship programmes and most of them are to the mainland. It recommended that the bureau explore more countries for youth exchange activities so as to further broaden young people's horizons.

About HK$128 million were spent on the programmes in the financial year between 2016 to 2017 – a 384 percent jump from five years ago.

The government spending watchdog said in the four years between 2012 to 2016, only 24 out of 726 projects were conducted overseas, or 3.3 percent.

The number rose to 9.2 percent after an exchange programme to Belt and Road countries was introduced in the 2016/17 financial year.

But the auditor discovered that the monitoring of the programmes is riddled with problems.

In one case, officials approved a sponsorship of about HK$40,000 to an organisation that was running an exchange tour to Hunan province three years ago.

The organisation said 28 people would join the three-day trip – but in the end only one person did. Despite this, the organisation went ahead with the trip, and the bureau coughed up HK$5,500.

The auditor said it's "less than satisfactory" that the bureau had not set a minimum number of participants for the Funding Scheme for Youth Exchange to the Mainland.

The report also noted that follow-up reports from these organisations who receive funding and the records of community work undertaken by those who join such exchanges are also unsatisfactory.