8
14.
I should add
accumulated pension
that,
while statements of
rights are not issued, the Civil
Service should have no doubt about the payment of
pensions and gratuities. Section IV of Annex I of that
legally binding agreement, the Joint Sino-British
Declaration, provides that the future SAR Government will
pay all civil service pensions and gratuities, including
those already in payment in 1997. It also provides that
all pensions and gratuities payable to retired civil
servants ΟΙ to civil servants dependants will be on
terms no less favourable than before, and that they will
be paid irrespective of the beneficiary's nationality or
place of residence.
1
Contract Terms for Civil Servants
15.
Dr Henrietta Ip suggested that the Government
should promote the use of gratuity-bearing contract terms
for civil service employment. I should say at the outset
that the normal terms of employment in the Hong Kong
Civil Service are permanent and pensionable. In common
with most other civil services, in the British tradition
at least, the Hong Kong Civil Service is a career
service, based on the twin concepts of captivity and
security. It is self-evident, at least in my view, that
employment on permanent and pensionable terms is an
essential pre-requisite for the maintenance of the
impartiality and freedom from sectional pressures of the
Civil Service.