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Pensions (Special Provision) Bill 1995
Following is the speech by the Secretary for the Civil Service, Mr Michael Sze, in moving the second reading of the Pensions (Special Provisions)(The Hong Kong Institute of Education) Bill 1995 in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):
Mr President,
I move that the Pensions (Special Provisions) (Hong Kong Institute of Education) Bill 1995 be read for a second time.
The Bill is technical in nature. It seeks to provide for two pension arrangements for staff of the Education Department transferring to the Hong Kong Institute of Education on 1 September 1995. The arrangements constitute part of the bridging-over package for the civil servants concerned.
The first is the "mixed service pension" arrangement which is designed to enable civil servants to preserve their pension rights after transferring to the Institute. Their total length of service for the purpose of pension calculation will thus be the sum of their service with the Government and the Institute.
The second is the "frozen pension" arrangement which is designed to give civil servants the alternative of joining the Institute's superannuation scheme after transfer. The pension earned during their government service will thus be frozen and payable when they retire from the Institute.
Since September 1994, when it took over the four Colleges of Education and the Institute of Language in Education, the Hong Kong Institute of Education has been staffed by civil servants on one-year secondment from the Education Department. Lecturing staff have now indicated whether they wish to join the Institute or return to the Education Department. More than half will join it. The Institute has been and is recruiting staff to fill these expected vacancies when the secondment period ends, as planned, on 31 August 1995. The provisions in the Bill if enacted wi!! come into operation before 1 September 1995 so that the staff who choose to join the Institute can opt, before their formal transfer on that date, for one of the two pension arrangements provided to preserve their pension rights.
Thank you, Mr President.
End/Wednesday, May 17, 1995