Page 12

Page 12

!

- 2

union candidates to the Legislative Council through Mutual Aid committees and advisory boards. He also thought there was much merit in the suggestion that the relationship between the Executive Council and tho, Legislative Council in Hong Kong should be redefined. The distinction between the functions of the two bodies seemed to him to have become blurred with the years.

4. In the social field Lord Goronwy-Roberts said that Hong Kong's housing record was good and the use of publicised targets was very helpful here. This was also true of the education and health fields; but he could see the case for a new stated target in education for the early 1980s.

· 5.

Turning to labour matters, Lord Goronwy-Roberts said that he had two points. First, he wished to see further progress in the application of ILO Conventions; and in order to monitor this he would like to examine progress made every six months. Secondly, he noted the proposals for future labour legislation in the redrafted version of the Planning Paper: it would be presenta- tionally very useful here to be able to announce a timetable for this programme as soon as possiblo, ̧

6. Lord Goronwy-Roberts said that the introduction of unemploy- ment benefits was a matter to which he attached importance. Presumably this would be easier now that the recession was past. Sir Denys Roberts agreed and added that, in his view, Hong Kong had been fortunate to get through the recent recession without unemployment benefits as such for those between the ages of 18 and 55. Lord Goronwy-Roberts said that he thought the lesson was how important it was to make adequate provision now against the possibility of further economic recessions in the future. He said that there could be no objection in principle to social security benefits being met from current taxation rather than from a contributory scheme. However, he thought it would be preferable to avoid the term "public assistance". Sir Denys Roberts agreed that some new term could be found but stressed that the important concept in Hong Kong was that such transfer

Page 12

Page 12

1

Page 12

J

Share This Page