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Following is a question by the Hon Lau Wong-fat and an oral reply by the Secretary for the Civil Service, Miss Denise Yue, in the Legislative Council today (December 7):
Question:
Will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the current number of pensioners who are in receipt of a monthly pension from the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region; of the average amount of government expenditure incurred for pension payments in each month since the beginning of this financial year;
(b) of the annual changes in the number of pensioners who are in receipt of a monthly pension and the related government expenditure in the past 10 years; and
(c) whether it knows, among all the pensioners who are in receipt of a monthly pension at present, the number of those residing in Hong Kong; the number of those residing outside Hong Kong and where they are currently residing, as well as by what means they receive their monthly pensions?
Reply:
President,
For the first part of the question, according to the Treasury's records, as at October 31 this year, there were 102 565 retired civil servants and judicial officers in receipt of pensions under the Pensions Ordinance (Cap. 89), Pension Benefits Ordinance (Cap. 99) and Pension Benefits (Judicial Officers) Ordinance (Cap. 401). For the first seven months of the current financial year ended October 31, the Government's average monthly recurrent expenditure on pensions (including lump sum pension gratuities and monthly pension) was $1,636 million.
As for the second part of the question, the number of retired civil servants and judicial officers in receipt of pensions under the three pieces of pension legislations mentioned above and the Government's actual recurrent pension expenditure in the past ten years are set out in Annex 1.
As for the third part of the question, according to the Treasury's records, as at October 31 this year, there were 94 217 retired civil servants and judicial officers in receipt of pensions under the three pieces of pension legislations mentioned above who had a correspondence address in Hong Kong, Macao or Mainland China, while the number of those having an overseas correspondence address was 8 348. The relevant information is set out in Annex 2. The vast majority of pensioners receive their pension through autopay by the Treasury into their Hong Kong bank accounts. A small number of pensioners collect their pension in cash at designated post offices in Hong Kong. There is also a small number of pensioners who receive their pension through telegraphic transfer by the Treasury to their Mainland bank accounts or demand draft mailed to their correspondence addresses in the Mainland, or through a paying agent designated by the Government to their overseas bank accounts.
Ends/Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Issued at HKT 15:58
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