I believe it is unnecessary to set
up an outside review body,
Staffing overseas
3. The question of the extent to which
career members of the Diplomatic Service
should be employed in administrative posts in
the dependent territories is one of the
subjects currently under examination.
There
are already in the Diplomatic Service some
200 officers who have had experience of
serving in dependent territories and many
of these have served in HMOCS or similar
services before joining the Diplomatic Servicej
It would be natural for the Diplomatic Service
to continue to make use of this experience
and we shall still do so where this is
appropriate. But there are many complicating
factors. There are considerable variations
in the terms of service under the different
governments and more important the type of
officer required in an administrative job in
a dependent territory is quite often very
different from the one required for normal
diplomatic functions. We need to retain
flexibility in the deployment of our United
Kingdom based manpower, but I can assure the
Noble Lord that his point will be fully taken
into account.
The machinery in London
40
The part of the FCO dealing with
dependent territories has in the past worked
in close association with those concerned with
economic and social development in the Ministry
of Overseas Development. I am confident that
the merger of the ODM with the 500 will make this
/co-operation
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