Reference.
CONFIDENTIAL
(MA)
Alau Scott - madren
MR STEWART'S VISIT TO HONG KONG, 2-16 OCTOBER: TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION
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CODE 18 - 17
MONDAY 4 OCTOBER
Meeting with the Governor, Chief Secretary and Secretary for Administration to discuss reporting procedures
1. Topics for discussion:
i. Existing reporting procedures (a copy of the list of
papers currently supplied by the Hong Kong Government is attached), including bi-monthly Branch Progress Reports - may they now be shown to eg the OLA, Economists etc?; Exco papers (we receive memoranda as well as the agenda and minutes of Exco meetings) etc etc.
ii. The monitoring of the Planning Paper (a copy of your letter of 16 September to the Governor is attached).
iii. The idea of appointing a "Political Adviser (UK)"
yes
Sepautt
(paragraphs 9-10 of your submission of 9 September, inching
copy attached, refers).
iv. Two-way secondments (copies of the Governor's letter
of 5 August enclosing a list of "consultants" and of your letter of 15 September to the CSD/ are attached).
Meeting with Mr Higginson, Councils Branch in the Secretariat
2. Mr Higginson acts as Secretary to Exco and has overriding responsibility for the organisation of Legco's work. You could ask him how he sees the newly enlarged Legco functioning. Does he think that it will take longer to transact business? Will the new members be able to play an effective part? Will the present practice of close and informal consultation between Officials and Unofficials continue now that Legco is much larger?
3
Mr Higginson coordinates the replies at the Hong Kong end to the telegrams we send about PQs. Apart from the fact that we are seldom able to give Hong Kong much time in which to reply (a/problem to which there is no answer), Mr Higginson thought, when I saw him in July, that the procedure for handling PQs was working pretty well. You
may like to check that this is still his view.
Meeting and Lunch with Mr Williams, Secretary for Administration
4. I did not meet Mr Williams in Hong Kong. He does not normally come to our notice and Mr Davies, Secretary for Security, tells me that Mr Williams' job (the organisation of government (Mr Scott, Secretary for the Civil Service, deals with conditions of service)) is a nebulous one. You could ask Mr Williams about relations between the Secretariat on the one hand and departments on the other.
Ir Willians. will coordinate cell nepartin
Per menitans process
CONFIDENTIAL
Jells
/Meeting