§ Mr. Parryasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs why the Hong Kong Government have made no declaration on the application of International Labour Organisation convention No. 116 (Final Articles Revision) dated 1961.
§ Mr. LuceInternational Labour convention No. 116 is a procedural convention and as such places no obligations on ratifying states or their non-metropolitan territories.
§ Mr. Parryasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs why the Hong Kong Government have made no declaration on the application of International Labour Organisation convention No. 80 (Final Articles Revision) dated 1946.
§ Mr. LuceInternational Labour convention No 80 is a procedural convention and as such places no obligations on ratifying states or their non-metropolitan territories.
§ Mr. Parryasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs why the Hong Kong Government have made no declaration on the application of International Labour Organisation convention No. 83 on labour standards (Non-Metropolitan Territories) dated 1947.
§ Mr. LuceBy virtue of its status as a non-metropolitan territory Hong Kong cannot make a declaration on International Labour convention No. 83. This convention allow territories of member states which ratify the convention to make declarations on a number of conventions specified in a schedule to convention No. 83 whether or not the state of which they are a dependent territory has ratified the conventions. The United Kingdom has ratified convention No. 83: Hong Kong has made declarations on eight of the conventions listed in the schedule.
§ Mr. Parryasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list in the Official Report the 29 international labour conventions of the International Labour Organisation on which the Hong Kong Government have made declarations that they will apply without modification.
§ Mr. LuceThe Hong Kong Government have made declarations to apply without modifications the following International Labour conventions that have been ratified by the United Kingdom.
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Convention No. Title 2 Unemployment, 1919 5 Minimum Age (Industry), 1919 7 Minimum Age (Sea), 1920 8 Unemployment Indemnity (Shipwreck), 1920 11 Right of Association (Agriculture), 1921 12 Workmen's Compensation (Agriculture), 1921 15 Minimum Age (Trimmers and Stokers), 1921 16 Medical Examination of Young Persons (Sea) 19 Equality of Treatment (Accident Compensation) 1925
Convention No. Title 22 Seaman's Articles of Agreement, 1926 26 Minimum Wage Fixing Machinery, 1928 29 Forced Labour, 1930 32 Protection Against Accidents (Dockers), Revised 1932 42 Workmen's Compensation (Occupational Diseases) Revised 1934 45 Underground Work (Women), 1935 50 Recruiting of Indigenous Workers, 1936 64 Contracts of Employment (Indigenous Workers) 1939 65 Penal Sanctions (Indigenous Workers) 1939 74 Certification of Able Seamen, 1946 81 Labour Inspection, 1947 84 Right of Association (Non-Metropolitan Territories), 1947 *85 Labour Inspectorates (Non-Metropolitan Territories), 1947 97 Migration for Employment Revised 1949 98 Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining, 1949 105 Abolition of Forced Labour, 1957 108 Seafarers' Identity Documents, 1958 115 Radiation Protection, 1960 122 Employment Policy, 1964 124 Medical Examination of Young Persons (Under ground Work) 1965 151 Labour Relations (Public Service), 1978 * The declaration on convention No. 85, which specifically applies to non-metropolitan territories, has since been superseded by a later declaration on convention No. 81 which makes similar provisions to those of convention No. 85. The 30 conventions given above represent an increase of one over the information given in the previous reply to the hon. Member on 16 February, at column 276. The reason for this is that convention No. 42 was included erroneously in the figure given for conventions applied with modification.
§ Mr. Parryasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list in the Official Report the 16 International Labour Organisation conventions which have been ratified by Her Majesty's Government but have been modified by the Hong Kong Government.
§ Mr. LuceThe Hong Kong Government have made declarations to apply with modifications the following International Labour conventions that have been ratified by the United Kingdom:
Convention number Title 10 Minimum Age (Agriculture), 1921 17 Workmen's Compensation (Accidents) 1925 63 Convention Concerning Statistics of Wages and Hours of Work, 1938 82 Social Policy (Non Metropolitan Territories) 86 Contracts of Employment (Indigenous Workers) 87 Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise, 1942 92 Accommodation of Crews, Revised, 1949 95 Protection of Wages, 1949 101 Holidays with Pay (Agriculture) 1952 141 Rural Workers' Organisations, 1975 142 Human Resources Development, 1975 144 Tripartite Consultation (International Labour Standards) 1976 147 Merchant Shipping (Minimum Standards) 1976 148 Working Environment (Air Pollution, Noise and Vibration), 1977 150 Labour Administration, 1978 The figure of 15 conventions given above is a decrease of one on the information given in the previous reply to 531W the hon. Member on 16 February, at column 276. The reason for this is that convention No. 42 which has been applied without modification was erroneously included in the figure given in this reply.
§ Mr. Parryasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs why 16 conventions of the International Labour Organisation ratified by Her Majesty's Government are applied by the Hong Kong Government with modifications; and what modifications are applied.
§ Mr. LuceThe decisions to apply 15 conventions with modifications have been made because the Hong Kong Government feel that the standards laid down in the conventions are not appropriate for social, economic or political reasons. The majority of the conventions are applied in substance and the modifications are of a technical nature only. Details of the modifications to individual conventions are as follows:
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No. 10 Minimum Age (Agriculture) Children aged 13 who have completed form 111 of secondary education are permitted to work in agricultural undertakings under certain conditions designed to protect their health, welfare and morals. No. 17 Workmen's Compensation (Accidents) An employer is not liable to pay the medical expenses of an injured employee who is incapacitated for less than three consecutive days. No. 63 Statistics on wages and hours of work Indexes on time rates are not collected. No. 82 Social Policy (Non-Metropolitan Territories) There is no statutory requirement for wage records to be kept by employers in the prescribed manner. No. 86 Contracts of Employment (Indigenous workers) The convention's application is limited to manual workers. No. 87 Freedom of Association and the right to organise The consent of the public authority is required for affiliation of trade unions with international associations. Federations of trade unions may consist only of trade unions engaged in the same trade or industry, and union officials must be habitually engaged in the trade with which the union is directly concerned. No. 92 Accommodation of crews Consultation between shipowners and trade unions is not mandatory and there is no statutory complaints procedure for trade unions. No. 95 Protection of Wages There is no statutory requirement that the competent authority must ensure that the value attributed to allowances in kind is fair and reasonable, and the maintenance of records in the approved form is not mandatory. No. 101 Holidays with pay (Agriculture) The application of the convention is restricted to manual workers and non-manual workers on a monthly salary of dollars 8,500 or more. No. 141 Rural Workers' Organisation The convention is applied with the same modifications which are applied to convention No. 87 No. 142 Human Resources Development Vocational guidance is generally not available to adults. No. 144 Tripartite Consultation Some representatives of both employers' and employees' organisations are directly appointed to the tripartite consultative body. No. 147 Merchant Shipping (Minimum standards) Two-yearly medical examinations of seafarers are not mandatory. No. 148 Working Environment (Air pollution, noise and vibration) Agriculture, animal husbandry, fishing, forestry and marine transport are excluded from the application of the convention.
No. 150 Labour Administration The scope of labour administration in Hong Kong does not extend to self-employed workers. The figure of 15 conventions given above is a decrease of one on the information given in the previous reply to the hon. Member on 16 February. The reason for this is that convention No. 42 which has been applied without modification was erroneously included in the figure given in this reply.
§ Mr. Parryasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs for what reason the Hong Kong Government reserve their decision on 21 conventions of the International Labour Organisation ratified by Her Majesty Government.
§ Mr. LuceTwelve of the conventions on which decisions are reserved deal with social security matters. Hong Kong does not apply these because of the structure of its social security system. Social considerations preclude the application of other conventions and the subject matter of some conventions has little or no significance for Hong Kong.
§ Mr. Parryasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the 21 conventions of the International Labour Organisation ratified by Her Majesty's Government but reserved by the Hong Kong Government.
§ Mr. LuceThe 21 International Labour conventions which we have ratified and on which the Hong Kong Government have made declarations to reserve their position are as follows:
Convention number Title 24 Sickness Insurance (Industry), 1927 25 Sickness Insurance (Agriculture), 1927 35 Old Age Insurance (Industry etc.), 1933 36 Old Age Insurance (Agriculture), 1933 37 Invalidity Insurance (Industry etc.), 1933 38 Invalidity Insurance (Agriculture), 1933 39 Survivors' Insurance (Industry etc.), 1933 40 Survivors' Insurance (Agriculture), 1933 44 Unemployment Provision, 1934 56 Sickness Insurance (Sea), 1936 68 Food and Catering (Ships' Crews), 1946 69 Certification of Ships' Cooks, 1946 70 Social Security (Seafarers), 1946 99 Minimum Wage Fixing Machinery (Agriculture), 1951 100 Equal Remuneration, 1951 102 Social Security (Minimum Standards), 1952 114 Fisherman's Articles of Agreement, 1959 120 Hygiene (Commerce and Offices), 1964 133 Accommodation of Crews (Supplementary Provisions), 1970 135 Workers Representatives, 1971 140 Paid Educational Leave 1974