SECRET
4
Redacted under FOI Exemption S 27(1)
3. The dangers of judicial review in the UK courts could be
diminished, if not eliminated, by basing the ASS on the Governor's recommendation, rather than that of the Home Secretary.
Indeed,
paragraph 41 of the draft explanatory document at Annex A of
the OD(K) paper seems already to foresee this possibility.
4. The criteria for the ASS (eg what is to constitute a British company) will need to be considered carefully, but it should be possible to devise something which is no less objective than the criteria applicable to the rest of the package.
Occupational Groups
-
she
5. The groups whom Mr Waddington wishes to exclude account for over 2 million out of a total working population of 2.6 million. The Prime Minister has accepted the case for a Special Residual
category, provided that there is a strict numerical limit
suggests no more than 500 - and that those eligible could be
defined as "people with technical qualifications whose continued
presence can be demonstrated to the Secretary of State to be
essential to the continued successful administration of the
territory. . . ' The OD(K) paper omits the reference to the Secretary of State, which would upset the present basis of the Bill (which
rests on recommendations from the Governor).
6.
OD(K) members will need to be aware that the exclusion of over 80% of the working population of Hong Kong, while necessary in order to focus the package firmly on key personnel, will make the Governor's job more difficult than if it had been open, at least in principle, to all people in Hong Kong.