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HKK 013/548/1
Mr Male
Mr Cortazzi
Cort
CONFIDENTIAL
"Original a H&KO13/5uf/5
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HONG KONG:
CRITERIA FOR EXTENDED PUBLIC ASSISTANCE
1. I think that you will be interested to see Mr Hurst's LAG▲ minute of 7 October and Mr Lipsey's of 8 October commerting AGS B, Con mine of 5 October.
LAG
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2. You will have seen that, as agreed with us beforehand, the Governorjin his statement to the Legislative Council on 6 October, said that the extension of public assistance to 15-55 year old able-bodied persons (not just males) would be subject to such criteria as a residence qualification and a defined period of unemployment, but did not say what time limits he had in mind. We do not yet know whether the Governor elaborated on the criteria at his subsequent press conference; nor has the Governor yet submitted the fuller case for his proposed criteria that he had in mind to send when he spoke to If we do not hear further from the Governor by the time,* say, of Mr Stewart's return from Hong Kong, I think that we should remind him of our interest.
me.
3. In the meantime, we in the department have now seen the minutes of a meeting of the Executive Council on 28 September, at which the proposal to extend the public assistance scheme was agreed. I attach the relevant extract from the minutes of the meeting. As you will see, the Executive Council has already "advised" that the residence qualification for the receipt of the new form of public assistance should be three years (point (c) in the Conclusions of the meeting). In speaking to me the Governor made only a passing reference to the discussion in the Executive Council (paragraph 2 of my minute), and I have not hitherto appreciated that the question of criteria hàs been taken as far as it evidently has been. It appears that the question would have to be re-submitted to the Executive Council if a change were to be made in the time limit for the residence qualification. There is no mention in the minutes of the Executive Council's meeting of a defined period of unemployment being a criterion
I imagine that the proposal for receipt of public assistance. that the period should be two months follows from point (d) of the Executive Council's Conclusions.
I have
4. If the Governor sticks to his proposals, and we are not satisfied by whatever fresh arguments he may produce noted what Lord Goronwy-Roberts and Mr Cortazzi have written on my minute of 5 October - the points in Mr Hurst's minute should be
CONFIDENTIAL
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