TNAG-0828-FCO40-1036-Dependent-Territories-Senior-Appointments-Board--1979-1979 — Page 80

Chief Clerk

ADMINISTRATION IN CONFIDENCE

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/ 10. 51

2 1 MAY 1979

DESK OF RICE-

INDEX

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DEPENDENT TERRITORIES SENIOR APPOINTMENTS BOARD (DTSAB)

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626

62

1. We had a word on the telephone about the future of the DTSAB. You asked when and by whom it was established and what its terms of reference were. I attach a note by the head of my Staffing Section which covers these points. I mentioned that my predecessor had sought to abolish the DTSAB at the end of 1977, but that the PUS and the then Chief Clerk had decided it should be retained for the time being. The papers are attached to Mrs Gregory's minute.

2.

The meeting of the Board arranged for 4 June will (if it takes place) be the first since November 1977. There is material enough for a worthwhile meeting. There are three Governorships to be filled (Belize, the Falkland Islands and Montserrat), and the Board will be given a choice of candidates in each case: we are not merely seeking rubber-stamp endorsement of decisions already taken.

3. It is unlikely that the Board will need to meet again for at least another year.

A decision on the succession to Sir M MacLehose

will need to be taken this autumn, but the DTSAB's rôle will,

I suspect, be purely formal. I think myself that it would now make sense to wind up the DTSAB and submit Governors' appointments to the appropriate Diplomatic Service Selection Boards. It would be a matter for decision whether all such appointments should be dealt with/the No 1 Board or whether there should be a division of labour between the No 1 and No 2 Boards (if the latter, arrangements would have to be made to obtain Ministerial approval separately). In either case, I am sure that it would be right for preparatory work and briefing to be undertaken jointly by my department's Staffing Section and POD. It might also be necessary to co-opt additional members of the No 1 or No 2 Boards when Dependent Territories' appointments were being discussed. One awkward question would be what to do about the former Governor slot on the DTSAB currently occupied by Sir D Trench.

15 May 1979

Copy to: Mr Cortazzi

Rukungen

RJT McLaren

Hong Kong & General Department

ADMINISTRATION IN CONFIDENCE