2.
As Hon. Members will appreciate the
proposed scheme differs from the sort of social
insurance scheme found in many countries since
it will be up to employees whether they join or not. Moreover such a scheme does not exist in a community
with such complete non-contributory social security
coverage as Hong Kong. The demand for it is therefore difficult to predict.
In view of the
novelty of the scheme there can be no question of
an early decision. First of all care must be taken to establish an actuarial basis and secondly demand for the scheme must be tested. If these hurdles
are successfully taken the necessary legislation will need to be prepared, which I should hope
would certainly be before the end of 1980.
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