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21.!' 1993
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12
HONG KONG CONSULATE GENERAL STEERING COMMITTEE MINUTES
(MEETING HELD ON 2 JULY 1993)
Chairman: Mr Hum
Summary
1.
The meeting concluded that construction of the new Consulate-General building in Hong Kong should go ahead on the basis of current plans, once Treasury approval had been received. Mr Hum asked Hong Kong Department to put up a submission to Mr Goodlad in this sense.
2.
RFD reported on Treasury queries about the terms of the British Council's inclusion in the building and undertook to work with the British Council representative and OED on a response to the Treasury.
3. The Steering Committee noted that the British Chamber of Commerce had now been formally offered space in the new building on the premise that their inclusion could be organised within the terms of the Private Treaty Grant and that the BCC agreed to pay a fair rent for the space occupied. The Committee invited Mr Savage (OED) to pursue discussions in Hong Kong on the terms of inclusion of the BCC in the Consulate-General.
Detail
AGENDA ITEM 1
To consider whether the construction of a new Consulate-General should go ahead on the basis of current plans.
4.
Mr Hum said that the Management Review Staff (MRS) Report was now circulating in draft. He did not intend to discuss the detail at this meeting he had offered to chair a separate meeting if the MRS and Departments would find this helpful. This meeting would concentrate on the single question of whether construction at the Consulate-General should go ahead on present plans. If yes
decisions would be taken in much slower time on how to manage the passport issuing load, in the anticipated peak period after 2002.
5.
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At Mr Hum's request, Mr Morris (HKD) went over the background. On the basis that it would be prudent to have a further look at staffing requirements before building started, the MRS had been asked to review this whole question. Only in one area had their review raised questions with implications for the design plans for the building. In examining recommendations on staffing of the passport section, they had questioned whether the right balance had been struck in estimating staffing and space required for passport issuing, given the cyclical (10 year) nature of the work: on present plans the space allocated for passports in the building might be underused in the less
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