X
SP Day Esq
RESTRICTED
MANAGEMENT IN CONFIDENCE
British Trade Commission
Hong Kong
Mr. Coxc
For approval. Mr.
Mom's
thought that subject to your views this letter should, best issue p
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by me.)
from him (ppcl
twoodary
107 August 1992
Fire, thanks
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BRITISH NATIONALITY SCHEME
1. I am very sorry that you have not had an earlier reply to your letter of 9 June to Nigel Cox. This was mislaid because of an administrative foul-up in my section. Thre is no excuse, I can only apologise.
You raised a number of points about your responsibilities in the Governor's Steering Committee on the British Nationality Scheme. I will try to angiver there in the same order that
2.
3.
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you
You are quite right in thinking that you do not represent the British Government in any official capacity on the Steering Committee. As you say your role is not to represent either the Home Secretary or the Secretary of State. The Steering Committee is an advisory body to the Governor and your predecessor was invited to participate in it in order to reassure British Companies that their interests would be taken into account. But Minister also saw advantage in having an HMG presence on a Committee which would otherwise consist solely of Hong Kong-orientated people. So in that latter, unofficial sense, Mr Heap's description is not altogether incorrect.
4. We were unaware that the Advisory Committee on British undertakings had been formally disbanded. We are certainly in favour of keeping it in/existence for the reasons you give. However we assume this need only be on an ad hoc basis as we understand the members of the Committee were dismayed at the amount of work involved, and may not relish the prospect of frequent meetings.
5.
A set of guidelines for the Committee was indeed drawn up in consultation with our legal Advisers. I attach a copy. Our Legal Advisers considered this the best insurance against judicial review of the Governor's exercise of discretion under the British Nationality (Hong Kong) Act 1990. I agree that the deliberations of the Committee should be kept confidential but I expect that the existence of the Committee itself is
let.day.BTC
JEB
RESTRICTED
MANAGEMENT IN CONFIDENCE