TNAG-0703-FCO40-868-Recruitment-policy-for-Hong-Kong-use-of-Colonial-Regulation--1978 — Page 4

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5. We are not clear on what basis you consider some posts to be promotion posts and others transfer posts.. Clearly in the general grades such as Administrative or Executive, the catchment area must be all-service. In others, such as police and audit there will be a much narrower field. With the professional groups the position is less clear. Taking the post in question, Chief Quantity Surveyor in the Housing Department, it seems over-restrictive to seek to promote officers on a strictly departmental basis, unless your regulations are unambiguously framed so as to specify that such promotions are made from a departmental field only. Even in these circumstances we would have reservations about throwing the post open to the public before a service-wide trawl had been undertaken.

6. We certainly appreciate the difficulty outlined in paragraph 2 of your telegram under reference. But the chances of this happening must be very slight: there are surely very few people appointed to grades which have not yet been localised who can be considered to be "suitably qualified" for appointment or promotion to posts in grades that are susceptible to localisation.

WE Quantrill

Hong Kong & General Department