CONFIDENTIAL
Reference...
Sorry:d-
hass.
Mr Stewart o.r.
PROPOSED MERGER OF THE GENERAL SECTION ETC OF G & GD WITH HKD
1. I have marked the drafts of two submissions on the transfer of the Gibraltar Internal Section from G & GD to SED for you to
see on your return.( on HKK 41554811 attached).
2.
I now attach a copy of Mr Unwin's minute of 10 January to the Chief Clerk, attached to which is a final version of the draft submission on the administrative aspects of this transfer. The draft submission itself does not, I think, call for any comment by us, though you will wish to note the references to HKD in paragraphs 5 and 6. More important, however, is the statement in paragraph 3 of Mr Unwin's minute to the Chief Clerk that HKD's "present workload hardly justifies their existence as a separate department until they absorb the "rump" of Gibraltar and General Department". Mr Unwin did not consult me, in your absence, before making this statement. I appreciate that a four-man unit, such as HKD at present, amounts to a very small department and must look odd structurally. It is not, however, alone in this respect: SWPD is the same size as HKD. What strikes me as questionable, however, is the assumption that HKD does not have enough work to do to justify being retained as a separate department. Whether or not HKD absorbs the "rump" of G & GD, which would, as I see it, function as a pretty self-contained section within the department, I have understood that our Under-Secretaries have taken the view that HKD, as presently constituted, has more than enough work to keep it occupied. Indeed, I understood that Mr Male spoke to Mr Unwin sometime ago about the need to strengthen HKD in order that it could carry out its present tasks. You may therefore wish to show Mr Unwin's minute to Mr Male.
3. You should know that POD, in the person of Mr Rennie in
Mr Dain's section, has told Mr Smith, Senior Economic Adviser, and me, that he would like to have a firm date for the proposed transfer of an economist to HKD "in view of other connected moves at Grade 5 level". I have confirmed with Mr Rennie that POD are of the view that this move could take place without waiting for the proposed merger of the "rump" of G & GD with HKD, since it involves no net addition to the establishment (or, at least, to the establishment of the Economists Department and HKD taken together). I therefore told Mr Smith that he may go ahead with clearing the proposed transfer of an economist with Mr Hayes with a view to its being put into effect following your return subject, of course, to any further thoughts you may have on the matter.
11 January 1977
D.F. Milton
D F Milton
CODE 18-7
CONFIDENTIAL