TNAG-2168-FCO40-3105-House-of-Commons-Foreign-Affairs-Committee-inquiry-into-Hong-1990 — Page 227

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year and that beneficiaries should be allowed to defer settlement in

the United States until the year 2002. Taken together, these

measures could add substantially to the impact of our scheme.

24. The Committee recommended that Section 4(5) of the British

Nationality Act 1981 should be used more generously in the future (paragraph 4.21). But as the Committee themselves pointed out, the

then Home Secretary made clear at the time of the introduction of

the BNA 1981 that Section 4(5) was intended to be used sparingly.

The Government have decided to cater for the needs of public

servants and the private sector by means of the British Nationality

(Hong Kong) Bill. There is thus no obvious need to make more generous use of Section 4(5) in respect of public servants, although

it will still be available for use at the Home Secretary's

discretion, in appropriate cases.

25. The Government have accepted the Committee's recommendation

that war widows should be given assurances that they can come to

Britain at any time (paragraph 4.22). The Home Secretary announced

on 19 April, that widows of former servicemen who served in the

defence of Hong Kong during the second World War under the

Government of Hong Kong, will be admitted to the UK at any time on

the same terms as spouses of people settled here, provided that they

are still resident in Hong Kong, have not remarried and do not have

citizenship of another country other than China.

26. The Committee took the view that the Government have an

obligation to provide British citizenship to non-Chinese BDTCs in Hong Kong (paragraph 4.23). The Government considered very

carefully whether to make separate provision for these people in the

scheme but decided not to do so. They will be eligible to apply

under the scheme and their applications will be considered on their

merits. In addition, the Hong Kong (British Nationality) Order 1986

makes provision for children and grandchildren of former BDTCs born

after 1997 to acquire British Overseas citizenship if they would

otherwise be stateless. As the Committee noted, the Government gave

a specific assurance to Parliament in 1986 that if any solely

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