TNAG-0703-FCO40-868-Recruitment-policy-for-Hong-Kong-use-of-Colonial-Regulation--1978 — Page 12

CODE 18-77

(HMSO 12/76)

10

Reference..........

Mr N F Green

Hong Kong & General Dept

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

K272

London SW 1

HKA 412/393

LAST

&

28 MAR 1970

HONG KONG: RECRUITMENT POLICY

1.

N

Thank you for your minute of 14 March. As I see it the problem seems more of an internal kind than one relating to external recruitment.

I must say that like you and others I do not find the Hong Kong exposition of their difficulty easy to follow and I would suspect that there is some unspecified hand putting a spoke in the wheel in their local administration.

2.

Without a clearer picture of the Hong Kong Civil Service structure organisation and procedures it is difficult to advise on this problem given the uncertainties and doubts on what constitutes a "promotion post" and the seemingly differing views on local officers. The Hong Kong telegrams tend to confuse rather than simplify the issue.

3. What must be put beyond any doubt at all is that Hong Kong cannot be allowed to operate a scheme of localisation which discriminates against expatriate permanent and pensionable officers in the Hong Kong Government service. Preference could only be given to local (Chinese) people if the expatriate pensionable officer is given compensation in the event of his having been passed over or prejudiced in relation to his promotion prospects because of a declared policy of all things otherwise being equal preference is given to a local person. Such a localisation scheme would need very

careful study and should not be encouraged at this juncture.

4.

So far as expatriate contract staff are concerned you may like to see the attached minute from Mr Sitch to me of 15 March. I consider that Hong Kong should tread very warily in this particular field. Although the expatriate contract officer may have no inherent right to promotion he clearly has some aspirations in that respect and even perhaps some expectation. I also believe that Hong Kong has in the past, and not too distant past at that, had practices which allowed contract expatriate officers to be promoted and some have in fact been so promoted. If the Hong Kong authorities now wish to change their practices then they must ensure that they do so in a way which does not prejudice unfairly existing contract staff during the periods of their current contracts.

5. This leaves open what is in fact a promotion post and as I understand it this could vary depending upon whether it was a specialist or departmental grade post or one in a general service cadre. Clearly in certain fields for example the clerical executive and administrative groups there should be and is I believe an all-service catchment area. In others, however, for example police and audit, there is a narrower field from which promotions may be made.

With professional groups the problem seems to be less straight- forward. However, taking the post in question, the Chief Quantity Surveyor in the Housing Department, it seems to me that it would be wrong to operate on a departmentally restricted basis unless the Hong Kong Government's rules and regulations are unambiguously framed so as to specify that such promotions are made from a departmental field only. Even in those circumstances it would seem to me that if a suitable officer cannot be found within the relevant