Redacted
CONF IDENT IAL
under FOI exemption
27(1)
B.
comprising Liz Grimaey (Read of the Bill Team), Jeremy Page and myself will visit Hong Kong (probably for the week beginning 12 Pebruary) to finalise the details. We would intend to produce an agreed scheme which could be submitted to Ministers for approval on,
or allowing for matters of detail to be cleared up by exchange of
telegrams) shortly after our return. As the Home Office letter notes, the drafting of the primary legislation for the Bill will proceed in parallel with work on the selection scheme; instructions for Counsel to be ready by mid-February. Assuming no problems with
the translation of the agreed scheme into secondary legislation,
this timetable should enable us to table by Easter as Ministers
intend, The Secretary of State has said that we must aim to have
Royal Assent before the end of July. HKG and Home Of Eice officia ls
are well aware of the urgency of the matter.
Reopening the Numbers Issue
4. The KG team were very concerned by the problem of incorporating all the outstanding commitments within an overall kimit of 50,000 and warned that it was not realised in Hong Kong that the 225,000 was merely illustrative, and not the master figure. They made several appeals for "flexibility" and strongly recommended that if a number must appear on the Bill it should be the 225,000
maximum. The 50,000/225,000 circle might then be squared in a
number of ways. One suggestion Donald Tsang made, (as set out in the attached annex) would be to net off the disciplined services and
the "sensitive service scheme"
from the main scheme. In so doing it would be possible to produce a figure for the main acheme of 50,000 and yet not exceed the estimated total of 225,000; (according to the latest
survey based on the 1986 census, it would appear that the maximum relevant multiplier for this exercise "should be" 3.1). alternative they suggested a more liberal application of section 4(5) to cater for disciplined and "sensitive" services.
As an
5. Either idea of course would breach Cabinet's decision that all
recipients under the scheme should fall within the 50,000 ceiling. The UK team undertook to bring these concerns to Ministers
CONFIDENT IAL
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.