2
Me Mari
To allay civil servants' fears about security of the pension, the Staff Side has proposed to the Government that an independent trust fund for civil service pension should be set up to serve as an insurance against any economic fluctuations in future. Expenditure on civil service pension would only be drawn from this trust fund when the Government's recurrent expenditure account could not live up with the pension payments. To reduce the commitment of the future SAR Government, the Staff Side has also proposed that the Government should pay off all civil servants at their retirement by commuting their pension in steps of five percent, up to a maximum of 100%.
The British Government has an obligation towards Civil Servants in the security of pension payment in the run-up to 1997 and beyond 1997. The Staff Side hopes that the British Government will lend its support to the above proposals which are of paramount importance to help stabilize the civil service in the face of serious wastage problem.
Turning to the British Nationality (Hong Kong) Bill which grants full British passports to 50,000 Hong Kong families, it seems to us that the Bill might not be able to retain civil servants as it originally envisaged since it has not been well received by the Chinese Authority. The Staff Side would like to urge the British Government to continue to look for other ways to restore the confidence of civil servants in the future of Hong Kong.
An efficient civil service is vital to the smooth transition to 1997 and we would like to see that the pay and conditions of service of the civil servants remain sufficiently attractive as to retain and motivate staff of the right calibre to stay behind and serve the people of Hong Kong.
Yours faithfully,
(FUNG Siu-ming)
Staff Side Chairman
Model Scale 1
Staff Consultative Council
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