TNAG-2375-FCO40-3450-Hong-Kong-nationality-UK-passport-scheme-British-Nationalit-1991 — Page 45

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VELSH OFFICE

2 5 APR 1991

LONDON

The Rt Hon David Hunt MP

The House of Commons LONDON SW1

Jee David,

2 Downs Road

Westbury-on-Trym Bristol BS9 3TX

Telephone (0272) 621023

14th March 1991

I am writing to you about the plight of Hong Kong Civil Servants who are worried about their future after 1997 and the problems they are facing with the British Nationality Selection Scheme. As you know, applications closed recently and the British Government may feel that the response to the scheme was poor, in view of the fact that under 70,000 applied.

I have just returned from Hong Kong where I met a number of my former Hong Kong Chinese Colleagues and found there are a number of problems with the scheme. As a former chairman of the Staff Side of the Hong Kong Senior Civil Service Council, I have been able to hear the views of local colleages who might be reluctant to voice their opinions to others.

The major problem is that no one applied unless they felt they had a real chance of success. Thus, there is a large number of people who would have applied and wish to benefit from the scheme but did not feel they had enough points. A large many are professionals in the Civil Service aged over 45 whose salaries tend to be below that of their colleagues who work in the private sector, some of which firms have connections with the United Kingdom. They are, of course, worried that after 1997 they will have been tainted' by working for the British and to apply and fail under the scheme may be seen to be further evidence of their lack of commitment to China. I consider that not enough places in the scheme have been reserved for Civil Servants who are not in the Disciplined Services. This may have been because the points system was designed by the Hong Kong Civil Service and it would be difficult to show favouritism to itself.

Hong Kong Civil Servants feel themselves to be in a very vulnerable position and I feel very strongly that those over 35, who will have given many years service to the British Crown, should be given special consideration. Their passports should allow them right of abode in the United Kingdom.

I am also very concerned with the position of my former colleagues who are Solicitors, Land Executives, Land Inspectors and Chartered Surveyors who work in the Buildings and Lands Department. The scheme limits applications within certain occupational groups and it would appear that these Civil Servants find themselves to be in a particularly over-subscribed group. As it seems that gaps in under-subscribed groups cannot be utilised by over-subscribed groups, the scheme will be limited to below

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