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In Quarterl
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1648A
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Mr William ( 12. 11 Die OFICE
INDEX
Miss J M Forsyth
HM Treasury
Parliament street
LONDON SW1
Duggan LND HOME
Queen Anne's Car Lenox, SWITAL
Direct For 1-213 7292
TO ME REGISTRY NO. 31 Switchboard: 01-213 3000
- 7 SEP 1979
I make to to Head afte
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discission will no demais
Min Forsyth
VIETNAMESE REFUGEES
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seems une dephonahk and would only involve FLO policitatio
the quarterly
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acursory bommittee meeting But perhaps we should eballinge abjective (e) in
book the found on alyecture (August 1979 Cuner A as set out and agreed that the Fco stast A:
able to attend the Executive
bommittee meetings
it is a tart which could
the dos
as necessary. Wos Yuss 4.9
CO-ORDINATION AND PLANNING ARRANGEMENTS
·
Guss
3.8.
The general conclusion of our meeting on 20 August was that the most promising solution to the problem of strengthening the co-ordination arrangements for the Vietnamese refugee programme lay in creating a special co-ordinating group with a full-time secretariat. We also discussed the possibility that there should be a "national co-ordinator" as Chairman of the co-ordinating group and we saw some advantage in this. At the same time, we agreed that it would require some
delicate handling, particularly if the sensitivities of BCAR were not to be bruised.
Since the meeting, I have had a number of informal discussions with the voluntary refugee organisations and with Lady Pike on behalf of the WRVS. We have been able to thrash out what I think will be a co-ordinating structure which will be acceptable both to the refugee organisations themselves and to the other major voluntary groups active in the field. I attach a note which sets out the main cutlines of this structure which we would like to clear with our Ministers and send to the voluntary refugee organisations for their formal agreement in the course of next week.
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8
The proposals do not differ greatly from those canvassed at our meeting and foreshadowed in Geoffrey de Deney's letter of 15 August. They are designed to produce a co-ordinating committee and secretariat which is seen to be relatively independent of the operational refugee organisations and which has sufficient managerial "muscle" to co-ordinate effectively and ensure that the voluntary bodies
The secretariat co-operate as they ought to.
most of which we hope will be provided by the Home Office will in practice be accountable to the executive co-ordinating committee and its Chairman. It remains for discussion whether the members of the secretariat will be found from retired Home Office people or be seconded direct (or a mixture of the two). This will clearly influence the arrangements that will need to be made for salaries etc. We are anxious, however, not to undermine too fundamentally the position of ECAR and it may be that we shall seek to attach the staff for "bread and rations" purposes to that organisation.
The main difference between the proposals discussed at our meeting and those contained in the attached note lies in the size of the proposed co-ordinating committee. We see considerable advantage, in the light of cur discussions with the voluntary bodies, in keeping this as small as possible. We think that the need for a wider and more general foren can be met by the proposed device of an advisory committee which will embrace local authority associations as well es Government Departments. For more day-to-day purposes, I hope that you and other departments will agree that the Home Office could be left to carry the Government banner (on the understanding, of course, that if a particular issue arose in which a department had a substantial interest, we could always arrange for attendance
1
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.