TNAG-0971-FCO40-1190-Resettlement-of-Vietnamese-refugees-from-Hong-Kong-in-the-UK-1980 — Page 179

E.R.

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possible for the Home Office, with the agreement of the

voluntary agencies, to build an even stronger structure for

co-ordinating the expanded Vietnamese programme. This was provided in the shape of the Joint Committee for Refugees from Vietnam and its associated Advisory Council. I was very glad

indeed that Sir Arthur Peterson was able to accept the

Home Secretary's invitation to become Chairman of the Committee. We were also very pleased to be able to make available Home Office staff to service the Joint Committee and to provide the necessary practical facilities to enable it to function. In

this new machinery, each of the voluntary agencies can preservo its own identity and personality but at the same time contribute to, and benefit from, a common fund of experience.

The developing role of B.C.A.R.

In response to these developments D.C.A.R. has had to make very

considerable adjustments to its role and scale of operations.

It has become, at least for the time being, a large-scale

operational organisation. This change has required imagination,

flexibility and hard work from those concerned and I should like to pay my own tribute to the leadership of Kenneth Lee and Nora Horley-Fletcher in the past year, and to your staff. I

/know myself