XN000022-1996-03-30 — Page 2

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Transcript of the Chief Secretary's media session

Following is a transcript of the Chief Secretary, Mrs Anson Chan's media session at the Central Government Offices this (Saturday) afternoon:

Chief Secretary: I have nothing to add to my remarks on the transitional legislature. But, the whole question of the transition of civil servants and how to straddle 1997 is in my view a very important matter. I very much hope that when Mr Lu Ping comes to Hong Kong in April there will be an opportunity for the two of us to meet so that we can discuss this and other transitional issues.

End

Social security payment to be increased in April

Members of the public receiving payments under the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) and Social Security Allowance (SSA) schemes will collect more money from April 1.

The revision is made possible following an inflation-related increase of seven per cent in the payment rates under the CSSA and SSA schemes approved by the Finance Committee of the Legislative Council, a spokesman for the Social Welfare Department said today (Saturday).

Apart from these increases, it has been scheduled to seek the Finance Committee's approval on April 12 for implementing a package of improvements to the CSSA scheme arising from the recent review of the scheme.

If approved, the new improvements will take retrospective effect from April 1.