CONFIDENTIAL
Mr
cóx
(Minute)
Mi
19/0
HMOCS: LETTERS FROM MEMBERS
1.
Dr Harkin and I have now studied all 208 of the letters received from HMOCS members. The attached sheet summarises the comments (the figures are not quite accurate but give a clear impression of priorities). The Minister may wish to note the following points which I would add as a gloss to the summary.
2.
The letters are almost unanimous in condemning our proposals as, variously; inadequate, unacceptable, derisory or insulting. While the great majority make the same points (see below) there is little evidence of widespread copying of a "master" draft letter. There are a number of very obvious cases of the same form of letter being used in the Marine Department and in some sections of the police force - but I would estimate that the total number of letters in this category is between 30 and 40.
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3. The four most common points made in the letters are that:
there should be the right to retire with immediate payment of pension and compensation.
- there should be sterling safeguards for pensions and/or pension guarantees.
there should be separate arrangements for compensation and inducement or incentive payments.
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the compensation factors used should be based on those used in previous schemes.
4. The police officers as a group seem particularly to have been upset by our proposal. In addition to the above four points police officers also stated that:
they could not serve a communist regime/had given an oath to The Queen.
- it was quite wrong to blackmail/coerce civil servants to work for the SARG.
- the proposals flew in the face of HKG's localisation policy (this was a point also made by other non-Administrative Officer HMOCS members).
- the deadline for comments was totally unrealistic (HKG have acknowledged that the internal posting system in the police meant that our proposal only reached some police officers on or a couple of days before the deadline. Mr Cox and Mr Fish apologized to HMOCS representatives for this).
5.
Few respondents commented in any detail on our proposals. Of those who did, the following points were most frequently
made:
the picking of the 1991 average exchange rate was arbitrary and unfair. Various alternatives were suggested, the most
SISADP
SLM
CONFIDENTIAL