TNAG-0585-FCO40-718-Employment-of-children-in-Hong-Kong-1976 — Page 244

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Mr

Stewart 1.8.3. Straoa 1/4 Maye 6

Mr Maye

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FLAG A

CHILD LABOUR IN THE UK AND HONG KONG

1. Mr Male may recall asking me to look into an article, based on a Soviet newspaper report, in "The Times" of 2 June, Attached about child labour practices in the UK.

FLAG C

2. Mr Hurst, the Deputy Overseas Labour Adviser, subsequently referred the article to the Department of Health and Social Security, which is concerned with the application of legislation covering the part-time non-industrial employment of children below the compulsory school leaving age. I now attach a copy of a letter, FLAG B R8 dated 23 August, which Mr Hurst has received from the DHSS and,

for the purposes of comparison, an extract from the Hong Kong

Labour Department's Annual Report for 1974/75 on the employment of young persons and children. Paragraph 7 of the DHSS's letter rebuts some of the allegations made in the Soviet newspaper report about the employment of children in the UK. As for a comparison between the UK and Hong Kong, Mr Hurst has pointed out that there are significant differences over the employment of children and young persons. In particular, children of 14 and 15 years of age in Hong Kong may be employed in industrial undertakings whereas they may not in the UK.

Altacied

7 September 1976

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D.F. Milla

D F Milton

Hong Kong Department K 247 2334381

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