STAFF IN CONFIDENCE
7 January 1992
HKA CIE/1
BY FAX
Ms Teresa Tse
Civil Service Branch
Government Secretariat
Lower Albert Road
HONG KONG
Dear Ms Tse,
File
Hoat
Foreign & Commonwealth
Office
London SWIA 2AH
Telephone: 071-
REFERRALS OF APPOINTMENTS TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE
1.
33
HKS (1991)
32
HKBO16/1 (1991)
I am
Thank you for your letter of 24 September 1991. sorry for the delay in replying, but, as I explained in my letter of 16 October 1991, we wished to consult our Legal Advisers on the issues raised.
2.
-
We are content with the proposed amendments set out in Annex II of your letter. Of course, the amendment to CSR 103 (1) does not reflect the actual practice the Chief Secretary's power to appoint Secretaries must be read in the light of the Foreign Secretary's letter to the Governor of 3 June 1991 which concerns posts for which the Secretary of State's approval is required under CR19. But, as we have agreed, there are good reasons for removing the reference to the Secretary of State in the CSR. We also note that there is over-lap between the powers of the Chief Secretary and those of the Secretary for the Civil Service.
3.
We note that both the CSR amendments and the Gazette notice provide for cascading overlaps of powers of appointment, eg the Chief Secretary can approve the appointments not only of Secretaries, Government Secretariat, but also to all offices up to that level ie those to which the Secretary for the Civil Service or more junior officers also have power of appointment. Similarly the Secretary for the Civil Service is also given wider powers than under the present CSR. (whereby he only has authority for "all other appointments", ie those which are not delegated to Departmental or General Grade Authority (or reserved to the Secretary of State)). We wonder whether from a 1997 point of view it might not be better to avoid such overlaps, which could conceivably be used to centralise power in an undesirable way. But there may be other considerations of which we are not aware?
MVSABC
STAFF IN CONFIDENCE