TNAG-2817-FCO40-4063-Future-of-Hong-Kong-Sino-British-Joint-Liaison-Group-sub-gro-1993 — Page 43

cuts in other programmes, such as education and health, which few would welcome.

So the United Kingdom is adopting policies de- signed both to contain pressure on costs and to use finite resources to best effect.

'Firstly, we have significantly reduced the running costs of our social security scheme. Secondly, we have changed state pension rules to enable individu- als to provide for part of their pension outside the state scheme as I explained earlier. And thirdly, we have used non-contributory benefits and targeted them on particular client groups to help focus re- sources on those in greatest need. Fourthly, we are designing social security policies to achieve a balance between providing for needs and ensuring that in- centives to work are maintained and indeed im- proved, and any financial disincentives minimized. An example is “in-work " benefits for families or the disabled with low wages, where entitlement is gradu- ally withdrawn as wages increase, thus gradually pre- paring individuals to support themselves.

All these measures make a useful contribution to containing the costs of social security. But social se- curity policies cannot succeed on their own. As the Report acknowledges they depend for their success on the wealth generated by growth in the economy and employment. In this context. I would like to. stress the importance of the right macroeconomic policies which create the conditions for economic growth, particularly by holding down inflation, and the need to relieve employers of unnecessary regu- lation particularly because this helps to encourage individuals to create their own employment and it encourages small businesses to expand.

Whether in the context of the ILO, or for the United Kingdom in the context of the European Community, it is vitally important that new burdens. are not placed on the shoulders of employers without. proper account being taken of the implications those burdens may have for competitiveness and therefore for jobs. It is almost always the case that whenever new forms of social protection or new social security safeguards for workers are proposed, those putting them forward do so out of a genuine concern to im- prove the conditions of those who work. The ILO has a proud tradition in this respect. But particularly in countries where basic standards are already in place and enforced, we need to be extremely careful that in adding to them, we do not undermine the very jobs that we are trying to protect.

And so I suggest that both at the national and the international level we must continue to search for imaginative solutions which will allow us to continue to provide support for those in need while increasing their incentives and their capacities to become self- sufficient, without placing an unbearable burden on employers. on the present economy or indeed on fu- ture generations of contributors. I commend the ILO's efforts to find fresh solutions to the complex problems involved in this task both through the de- bate at this Conference and through its technical cooperation programmes.

In that context I am delighted to say that the United Kingdom has been able to play a role itself in helping the ILO provide technical assistance to other countries in this field. I feel sure that sharing experi- ence between countries can offer practical solutions to the difficult problems which we all face in the so- cial security field and in other areas of common con-

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cern within the ILO's mandate. It therefore seems particularly appropriate that the ILO's whole ap- proach to technical cooperation is being examined at the Conference this year. The United Kingdom Government believes that it is important for the ILO to ensure that its own objectives and procedures keep pace with the changing requirements of the modern world, and that in particular its technical cooperation is targeted cost-effectively where it is most needed and where the ILO is best qualified to help. We recognize that far-reaching reforms are al- ready under way. The United Kingdom Government will strongly support a continuing programme of re- form to introduce those further improvements still necessary to equip the ILO to discharge its role ef- fectively into the twenty-first century.

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