TNAG-1325-FCO40-1737-Future-of-Hong-Kong-Parliamentary-debates-1984 — Page 237

PUBLIC SERVICE

We are fully aware of the concerns of civil servants in Hong Kong.

I would like to pay tribute to the members of the Hong Kong public

service, who have continued during these uncertain times to show an

admirably responsible attitude to their work and to the people whom

they serve. They are naturally worried about the security of their

jobs and the preservation of their conditions of service after 1997.

I can assure them that it is our aim to reach an agreement with the

Chinese that maintains the maximum possible degree of continuity in

this vital area.

I am aware that some civil servants in Hong Kong have expressed

their concern as to the security of their pensions after 1997. Civil service pensions are a charge to the revenue of the Hong Kong

Government. They have always been met. There is no reason to

beleive that the Government of Hong Kong will not continue to carry

out its obligations after 1997.

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I understand that the 1973 Overseas Pensions Act gives the

Government the power to make administrative schemes to pay pensions to expatriate officers who had served in dependent territories which had moved to independence.