دعم
HKK 013/2
RECORD OF MEETING HELD IN MR STEWART'S OFFICE ON THURSDAY, 24 NOVEMBER, AT 3.00 P.M.
Present:
Mr JAB Stewart
Mr J Heppell
Mr H R G Hurst
Mr M T Walsh
Mr W E Quantrill Mr J Thompson
No
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Head of Hong Kong & General Dept DHSS
Overseas Labour Adviser Deputy Labour Adviser C
Hong Kong & General Dept
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Mr C R Stagg
1. Mr Heppell, Assistant Secretary at the DHSS, has recently returned from Hong Kong where he has been advising the Government
He of the new social security and social welfare programmes. came to the FCO to explain developments.
2. Mr Heppell began by saying that the contributory social security scheme was the centrepiece of the Governor's new proposals. He described the scheme as being a first step from which progress could be made. It had been difficult to strike a balance between offering derisory benefits and charging excessive contributions, but the right balance was essential if the scheme was to gain public support. The example of Singapore had been raised, where a high rate of contribution to the Provident Fund was believed by many employers to be linked to a decline in investment. Mr Heppell maintained that the possibility of requiring a compulsory contribution was ruled out of his terms of reference because of the possible opposition of Communist firms. Employers, he explained, could only opt out of the scheme, against the wishes of their employees, by providing them with a private scheme better than the Government's.
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Mr Heppell said that the main emphasis of the proposals had been to offer short-term protection for workers so as to make the scheme more attractive, especially amongst the young.
If initially successful, the level of contributions could be raised and, simultaneously, the extent of the benefits increased, to include, e.g. non-means tested unemployment benefit. Government had decided not to contribute directly to the scheme but was willing to cover administrative costs and perhaps to
This inject a lump sum into the scheme at its inception. Mr Heppell considered to be a reasonably generous offer. He claimed that the new proposals took account/the differences between social security and social welfare, and that the Hong Kong Government accepted that extra spending on one should not automatically involve cuts in the other.
4. Mr Heppell accepted that means testing, although still used in the UK for supplementary benefits, was disliked by HMG, especially when it was family income, not individual income,