*
Immigration and Nationality Department
Lunar House 40 Wellesley Road Croydon CR9 2BY
Telephone 081-760 1228
(GTN 3822)
HKD 213
RECEIVER
A R Paul Esq
DESA OFFICE).
Hong Kong Department
Foreign & Commonwealth office
Whitehall
London
Dear Alan
SW1A 2AF
HOME OFFICE
ind
менадате,
To note.
WA
© Enter
Your reference
Our reference
17 JUL 1991
Br 2 weeks Date if nothing
DEPENDENT TERRITORIES WORK PERMIT QUOTA
17
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33
Aur Clare,
SAAD,
vicus fl?
J20/6
IMG/85 13/57/1 27 June 1991
W√7. MA Mortis
I could buy this. But what about SAAD?
Thank you for your letter of 14 May about your Department's proposals for the future of the Dependent Territories Work Permit Quota. I am sorry that I have not been able to send you an earlier reply, but as you know we have had to consult Ministers.
The Home Secretary is prepared to accept the gradual reduction of the quota on the basis that the quota as a whole is phased out. We take your point about the possible economic consequences of abolishing the quota for St Helena and can agree to the reduction taking place at a a slower rate than for Hong Kong. However we do not think that only the Hong Kong quota should be reduced in the first two years, which you suggested as a possibility. Apart from anything else there are distinct presentational advantages vis-a-vis Hong Kong in making reductions across the board from the outset.
Secondly, we are concerned that the five-year phasing period is over generous. The Home Secretary is strongly of the view that phasing out should start this year, 1991. He believes that the last permits should be issued in 1994, and that this year's announcement should include details of the abolition arrangements. The sort of phasing he has in mind is set out in the annex to this letter.
Finally, the Home Secretary thinks it would be unhelpful, to say the least, to announce an intention to review the ending of the quota system at the same time as we announce the Government's plans for phasing it out. To do so would invite pressure groups, from Hong Kong in particular, to keep alive the debate about the size of future quotas and their maintenance beyond 1994. It might also create the expectation that, if the review concluded that territories faced a problem, we would maintain or even increase the quota. We would be happy to take part in an inter- departmental review of the effects of abolishing the quota but the Home Secretary takes the view that the existence of this review should not be announced for the present. I should add
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