TNAG-2428-FCO40-3530-Hong-Kong-Her-Majesty-s-Overseas-Civil-Service-(HMOCS)-poli-1992 — Page 136

23/10/92

11:01

OVERSEAS DEV ADM

NO. 010

002

Pa

HICA 233/

Reference

From: D S FISH

(Ext 3444)

570

Date: 23 October 1992

Mr M Stone

Hong Kong Department/FCO

HONG KONG: HMOCS

We spoke earlier about the latest draft of the letter from the Secretary of State to the Chief Secretary.

1.

2.

I said that I thought paragraph 6 should be redrafted to take out reference to 22:1 and 30:1 which is not, in any case, a formal Treasury proposal; and to omit the "no scope" reference which I doubt the Secretary of State would endorse. Perhaps something along the following lines would do:

Given the current strength of the Hong Kong dollar against Sterling, the HMOCS Association will press very strongly for a safeguard of at least 12.5:1. We have proposed that the trigger should operate at 16:1 which would allow for a 30% reduction in benefits before the

safeguard came into play. This would provoke a major outcry from the HMOCS officers but I believe that we can defend 16:1 on the grounds that Hong Kong salaries are generally significantly higher than those in UK public service and that our proposal represents a reasonable balance between the interests of the officers and those

of the UK taxpayer.

D S FISH

Overseas Pensions Department 23 October 1992