Mr Day, HKD
Grateful if you could arrange dental reply to be sent
The Hon. Francis Maude MP
House of Commons,
Westminster.LONDON.
Dear Sir,
for
a
V.Ewan
"Crosswinds"
GE
24 Budworth Road.Oxton.Birkenhead Merseyside.L43 970 5th October 1990
9/10. GPS)/Earl of Cauthness
1. GARY (Mar)
2 MR JIONE
%% land uke to see the Seah
ir
A letter from you to Mrs Edwina Currie MP on matters of concern to the Association of Expatriate Civil Servants of Hog Kong was recently reproduced in the magazine
and which I have now read. I regret the necessity to write but if your letter is left unchallenged it would be right for you to assume your beliefs were correct. This is not the case.
have
First, SPOS. You believe the majority presumably oversears vivil servants from all Territories) regard the arrangements as satisfactory.I dont know how you arrived at this belief but I for one have never been asked what I think of SPOS arrangements and I know many others who have bot been asked. For the record the administrative arrangements are probably satisfactory but the amount of supplement it provides is certaainly not. As I and many others have not given views or been asked what they think of SPOS would you please tell me how you arrived at your belief.
Secondly, the resilience of the $HK/$US link. This may be a suitable linkfor HK as a trading territory but pensioners should not be affected by such policy. They should not have to face the worry at the end of each month as to how much their pension will be, just because they decided to return to their hne country for retire rt. Of the 77 monthly pension receipts I have experienced since retiring to th- IK after 29 years service in Hong Kong only 10 receipts have bettered the 'Personal Exchange Rate PER 'awarded me on my retiremnt and these occurred six years ago. The PER is the only base figure I believe I can usefully use for such comparisons and calculations.
Contrary to your belief the fluctuations in the exchange rate have caused hardship and drastic changes in basic and modest life styles of many Hong Kong pebsioners listing in the UK. That is fact. When compared with UK counterparts, which you do in your letter, you believe Hong Kong pensioners are certainly doing ressonably well.I have not heard any hue and cry in the national media which would certainly arise if UK pensioners, or for that matter serving public figures and civil servants, received 12% less for their August pension or monthly salary than they received four months ago in April. I have received 12% lessand in terms of cash it amounted to about $230.00 which I just cannot aford and which has caused me difficulty.SPOS for August amounted to about $30.00. With respect, on what facts and information did you arrive at your belief that Hong Kong pensioners continue to do reasonably well "etc.?
The fact is that something is very wrong with the system of both payment of Hong
Kong pensions in the UK and the amount of support SPOS provides. It is of the utmost importance that people of importance such as yourself, who are in a position to bring about changes for the better, are fully aware of the actual situation as it affects many Hong Kong pensioners and hat changes are made without further delay. If you are no longer dealing with this subject matter may I request that it be passk /ed to the responsible person.
Yours faithfully,
F.M.WATSON.