TNAG-2437-FCO40-3539-Authority-for-retirement-of-civil-servants-in-Hong-Kong-prio-1992 — Page 24

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HKA 233/7

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Miss Brooks

Legal Counsellor

AUTHORITY FOR RETIREMENT: LIMITED COMPENSATION SCHEME

1. Thank you for your minute of 22 October. I have now had a response from Hong Kong about the questions which you raised.

2. In paragraph 1 of your minute you asked whether the Special Branch Compensation Scheme covered a person who is retired on the grounds that it is undesirable for him to continue in the service. Neither the Exco paper nor the rules applying to the scheme (copies attached) use the word "undesirable"; it is however clear from paragraph 7 of the Exco paper that the Scheme is intended to cover persons whose continued service would be undesirable either for HKG/HMG or for themselves.

3.

Hong Kong have also confirmed that they are content with the proposed clause (i) of your draft Regulation 93 of the Colonial Regulations. They would, however, like to make an addition to the first sentence of Regulation 93 so that it would read as follows:-

"In the case of an officer in Hong Kong, including an officer selected for appointment by the Secretary of State or enrolled in Her Majesty's Overseas Civil Service by the Secretary of State, the Governor of Hong Kong may retire an officer for the following reasons:

#1

This wording is designed to cover all possible circumstances eg an overseas officer could have been selected for appointment on agreement terms by the Crown Agents and subsequently converted to permanent and pensionable terms. He could then have been enrolled as a member of HMOCS by the Secretary of State, but he would not have been selected for appointment by the Secretary of State.

4.

Hong Kong have suggested that it would be better if the Governor had the general authority to delegate as appropriate without naming any specific posts, as these could vary in the run up to 1997, particularly as regards the Special Branch Scheme. They also mentioned that they may need this power of delegation to be included in Regulation 93, as was the case with Regulation 54 (5). I would be grateful for your advice on how to proceed.

5. I have not been able to find any past papers showing that we have sought the Secretary of State's approval for the Governor to delegate the power to retire officers in the past, apart from the attached submission which seeks approval for the Governor to delegate his power to dismiss an officer on disciplinary grounds or to require him to retire under

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