7 July 1992
Mr M J C Waters
Government Secretariat Lower Albert Road HONG KONG
STAFF IN CONFIDENCE
1
Foreign & Commonwealth
Office
London SWIA 2AH
Telephone: 071-
210 8032
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HMOCS OFFICERS: POSTS IN OTHER DEPENDENT TERRITORIES
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Man/File
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1. Thank you for your letter AP 293/61/3-C(92) of 2 June. sorry for the delay in responding; I have needed to consult other interested departments for views.
2. We have over the past 15 years or so placed a considerable number of Hong Kong HMOCS officers in Governorships and other positions in other DTS. We recognise that their exerience is of value and in general the expertise which Hong Kong HMOCS officers bring is unique, in that Hong Kong remains in the last cadre of any size with DTS experience.
3. However, it is the FCO's duty to put the interest of the particular DT first. As we begin to get more DS officers coming through the system with DTs experience, they may well be strong candidates for DT appointments. Therefore, we believe our policy should be to take each job on a case-by-case basis and consider a list of candidates against them.
4.
We do, however, have a great deal of sympathy for the Hong Kong HMOCS officers and we would have no objection to alerting you to forthcoming jobs in the DTS. However, if we do so, you should be aware that there is a policy, agreed by Ministers, that the FCO should build up its own cadre of expertise within its ranks and that the applications of Hong Kong HMOCS officers will be considered alongside any applicants from the DS with experience of DT work and before we contemplate going outside that circle.
RESTRICTED
STAFF IN CONFIDENCE
/5.
Finally,