93
CODE 18-77
Reference
Ong. 84/01
2. Finance Department is of course continuing to look at the various points which ought to be made if and when either officials or Ministers in the two departments get together to discuss OD/Treasury relations. But one point which I am sure we ought not to lose sight of is that a good deal of the present delegation from the Treasury in respect of bilateral capital aid (limited though that is) is dependent on the existence of an agreed CPP (Office Procedure II C- 3.01.1 refers), and we must therefore be careful to ensure that any arrangement resulting in a welcome reduction in the number of CPPs and their limitation to "key" countries goes hand in hand with appropriate rewording (in agreement with the Treasury) of the present delegation for bilateral capital aid.
K G Fry
Finance Department
18 October 1978
cc Mr Pearson
Mr Kirkness (0/r) Mr Fry
Mr Woolverton
Mr Fogarty
COUNTRY POLICY PAPERS
You asked in your minute at (93) how we stand over the new system of Country Policy Papers. I am afraid we have run into trouble.
2.
In brief we have not yet been able to settle the overall coverage of CPP's. Earlier on the FCO said they doubted the wisdom of curtailing the programme. This was taken up by the Treasury in their letter at (90) and their position is as follows:-
(a) Although they have some sympathy with the FCO they agree
to concentration on the larger country programmes with regular reviews at frequent intervals;
(b)
3.
(c).
They also want some less laborious system than the CPP for reviewing all the smaller programmes; they ask how we do this now; and how the FCO, DOT and themselves could be brought into the process;
They want flexibility in the main system so that additions can be made to the annual programme if necessary and for this purpose they suggest attaching the list of prospective CPP's as an annex to the aid strategy paper.
Various aspects of these proposals are considered in minutes from Mr Fry's of 2 October onwards: and the complication of the Minister's proposed meeting with the Chief Secretary on general ODM/Treasury relationships has been brought in. I can see why but