ESQAAN
CONFIDENTanz
Mr Paul
PS/Mr Maude
I submit a draft reply
Mr Peter Bottomley Esq MP
House of Commons
London SWLA OAA
M V Stone
14 February 1990
Your Private Secretary on 5 January enclosing a letter from Mr McIntyre of Hong Kong who is concerned about the future of expatriate police officers in the Hong Kong Government.
Mr McIntyre raises a number of questions relating to the arrangements that will be made for members of Her Majesty's Overseas Civil Service (HMOCS) pensions.
Let
me first of all make some general points about the future of expatriate officers in Hong Kong.
The Sino British Joint Declaration on the future of Hong Kong is very clear on the question of career prospects. It states that: "after the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, public servants previously serving in Hong Kong in all Government Departments including the Police Department, Members of the Judiciary, may remain in employment and continue their service with pay, allowances, benefits an conditions of service no less favourable than before".
will be no
This is a categorical assurance that ther loss of career for expatriate officers as a result of the transfer of sovereignty in 1997. The Hong Kong Government have however introduced a limited compensation scheme to cover a small number of expatriate officers whose promotion is affected by localisation (ie the policy of bringing on before 1997 local officers into senior posts in the administration) or who are asked to retire early.
Mr McIntyre asks six questions which I shall deal with seriatim:
(a) We are not convinced that the special circumstances