From The Minister of State
Richard Luce MP
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1A 2AH
23 November 1984
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\ Thank you for your letter of 16 November on behalf of Mr Roy Spencer of 3a Homestead Road, The Peak, Hong Kong, about pensions for civil servants in Hong Kong. Mr Spencer has written in identical terms to several MPs.
It appears that despite the terms of the draft agreement between the British and Chinese Governments on the future of Hong Kong, Mr Spencer is still worried about his pension position. In fact I believe that the provisions set out in Section IV of Annex I to the agreement, which Mr Spencer quotes in his letter, are very clear and offer every reassurance to members of the Hong Kong public service.
Mr Spencer refers to his being placed on "the payroll of a Communist state" after 1997, and to his pension being paid by a Communist Government. As the agreement states, after 1997 members of the public service in Hong Kong will be employed by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), and the systems and policies current elsewhere in China will not be practised in the SAR. The agreement provides that the SAR Government will administer the public service on the same general lines as at present. It will be the Government of the Hong Kong SAR which will have the responsibility for paying pensions.
The provisions concerning the payment of pensions of serving and retired civil servants and their dependants are contained in a formal and binding international agreement. There is no reason to think that these provisions will not be observed.
Her Majesty's Government are conscious of their general responsibilities in relation to public service pensions. These are clearly to see that adequate arrangements are made in the agreement on the future of
Mr George Foulkes MP
House of Commons
LONDON
SW1A OAA
/Hong Kong
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