Adminstrative Region. This is simply not the case. Article 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 conditions of service no less
favourable than before".
As far as security of pensions is concerned, payment of pensions is now a statutory charge on general
revenue. Both the Joint Declaration and the Basic Law also
contain very clear assurances about the continued payment of
pensions after 1997. There is no reason to believe that
this undertaking will not be honoured by the future SARG.
Pension payments represent only a very small percentage of
annual recurrent expenditure, and the Hong Kong Government
has every confidence that future pension payments can be
met.
Nevertheless, the Hong Kong Government are considering
whether any further measures can be taken to address the concerns expressed by your members and other civil service
staff associations. While full funding of pensions has been
ruled out for financial reasons, careful consideration is
being given to other possibilities, including partial
funding of pensions, higher commutation of pensions and the
establishment of a provident fund.
Thirdly, the question of pay parity for all the disciplined services. I can assure you that we and the Hong Kong Government attach great importance to the role of the Disciplined Services in maintaining the stability and
security of Hong Kong in the crucial years up to 1997. The
additional salary increase recommended for Junior Police
Officers in the recent pay review for the rank-and-file in
no way detracts from this.
I understand that the Standing Committee on
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