MANACZ (2)
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Background
(a) General
1.
The
Hong Kong's civil service, with a current strength of 175,000 (including approximately 25,000 police), is a key factor in the continued stability and smooth administration of the territory. Joint Declaration provides that after 1997 civil service pay, conditions, and pensions will remain no less favourable than before. Nevertheless, as with the population as a whole, the civil service shows periodic signs of concern about its future under the SAR
Government.
(b) Localisation
2.
The vast majority of the civil service has been progressively localised over many years. Under the provisions of the Joint Declaration the Hong Kong SAR Government may not employ foreign nationals as heads of branches or major departments after 1997. Hong Kong's continuing localisation policy, which has been in force since the 1960s, takes this into account so as to avoid a damaging
break in the continuity of the civil service in 1997. However the Joint Declaration also provides for the continued employment of British and other foreign nationals at all other levels of the civil
service after 1997.
(c) Pensions and Compensation
3.
Under the terms of the Joint Declaration the SAR Government
will remain fully responsible for the payment of all Hong Kong civil service pensions after 1997. The Hong Kong Government introduced a new pension scheme from 1 July 1987. The scheme was designed to modernise existing provisions, to introduce improved benefits for staff, but also to reduce the size of Hong Kong's long-term pensions bill (which would otherwise increase very substantially next century). In view of the post-1997 pension liability, the new code was agreed with the Chinese in the JLG before impementation. The scheme has been generally welcomed by staff, but it remains too
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