TNAG-0280-FCO40-316-Visit-of-Parliamentary-under-Secretary-of-Foreign-and-Common-1970 — Page 87

CONFIDENTIAL

NOTE NO.12

Visit cr Parliamentary Under-Secretary,

Mr. Royle, to Hong Kong, October, 1970

Level at which Fromotions of Staff should be referred to the Secretary of State for approval.

Up to 1963, promotions above the point of incorporation (which was about one third of the way up the professional time-scale) ere referred for the Secretary of State's approval, but in 1963, the level was raised to posts immediately above the normal time-scale and this has been the practice ever since. This means that promotion to, for example, Senior Administrative Office, Senior Crown Counsel, require approval from London.

2. In July 1969 the Hong Kong Government suggested that in future they should refer to the Secretary of State for approval only promotions to posts of Administrative Officer Staff Grade B2 and equivalents, and above. This suggestion was made to achieve greater efficiency in the despatch of Government business both in Hong Kong and in London by cutting out unnecessary work.

3.

When this proposal was first considered in the FCO the view was tamen that the superscale posts which lie between the top of the professional and administrative scales, and Administrative Officer Staff Grade B2, were appointments over which it was important that the Secretary of State's control should be seen to be retained. The Ministry of Overseas Development, on the other hand, considered that, subject to certain reservations, the proposals of the Hong Kong Goverment should be accepted. In the event that Ministry fell into line with the FCO view and on 10 September, 1970, the Hong Kong Government were informed that we con- sidered that the Secretary of State should retain his right of approval for appointments and promotions to all superscale posts. At the same time, it was suggested that specific approcal should be sought for appointments to the following

/posts

CONFIDENTIAL