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Mr Cortazzi
Han Chys.
18/vii
PS/Lord Goronwy-Roberts
CC: Parliamentary Unit
Reply to issue
HONG KONG: HOUSE OF LORDS PQ ON CHILD LABOUR
1.
RE
7.
0.51
21 Julīb
HKK 210/2
Lord Brockway has put down a Written Parliamentary Question to ask Her Majesty's Government how many prosecutions for child labour there have been in each of the last three years, how many resulted in convictions, and what have been the highest, lowest and average fines upon conviction.
2.
Lord Brockway takes a close interest in Hong Kong affairs;
on 1 April 1976 he initiated a debate on the social, economic and
political future of Hong Kong, in which he was critical of a number of aspects of administration in Hong Kong, in particular corruption. It is not clear what has prompted this Question on child labour or, indeed, Lord Brockway's Oral Question on the same subject which is for answer on 19 July and on which I will be submitting 15 separately.
3. Although there was considerable criticism last year about child labour in Hong Kong (sparked off for the most part by a pamphlet entitled "Child Labour in Hong Kong" by Robin Porter issued by the Hong Kong Research Project), little attention has been focussed on this subject recently. This was in fact due, we think, to the evi- dently unscientific use of the Hong Kong Government's own statistics and may also be due to the efforts made by the Labour Department in Hong Kong to stamp out child labour and to prosecute offenders. The Labour Department's Inspectorate regularly inspects and investigates any illegal practice or violation of the regulations regarding the employment of children. These include special campaigns, the most recent of which was carried out between 24-26 February when surprise visits were paid by Labour Inspectors to over 5,450 factories. Twenty-seven factories were found to be illegally employing a total of 28 children under 14 years.
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I submit a draft reply, based on information supplied by the Hong Kong Government (Hong Kong telegram No 703 of 13 July). The
OLA
concurs.
14 July 1976
R
15/7
Bistalle
PL O'Keeffe
Hong Kong Department