fa
107
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1A 2AH
8 November 1990
HKB 026/34
RECEIVER
SA
ISTON
Dew Mt Lee. Me
2 1 NOV 1990
DESK OFFIC INDCA
PA
JOINT REQUESTS OF FOUR DISCIPLINED SERVICES
Lord Caithness has asked me to thank you for your letter of 20 September about various issues of concern to members of the Disciplined Services Consultative Council. Lord Caithness was glad to have had the opportunity to meet you and other representatives of the Disciplines Services Consultative Council while he was in Hong Kong and to hear your views at first hand.
Firstly, the question of right of abode in the UK. You suggest that the quota of 7,000 places reserved for the Disciplined Services under the nationality package is too small. Given the overall ceiling on numbers, we do not accept that this figure is ungenerous. On the contrary, the number of assurances reserved for members of the Disciplined Services is proportionately much higher than that for the rest of the community or for the Public Service as a whole.
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Article
Secondly, pensions. You say that the Basic Law does not contain any guarantee that civil servants will continue to be employed by the Government of the Hong Kong Special. Administration Region. This is simply not the case. 100 of the Basic law clearly states that "public servants serving in all Hong Kong Government departments, before the establishment of the Special Administrative Region, may all remain in employment and retain their seniority with pay, allowances, benefits and conditins of service no less favourable than before".
As far as security of pensions is concerned, the payment of pensions is now a statutory charge on general revenue. Both the Joint Declaration and the Basic Law also contain very
Mr Lee Chong-Chee
Staff Side Chairman
Disciplined Services Consultative Council
Room 139 CGO, East Wing
Lower Albert Road
Hong Kong
/clear assurances