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Arrival Arrangements
5.
It is usual for a senior member of the Post's staff to meet the Committee on arrival and, if appropriate, escort them to their hotel. Committees generally welcome the opportunity for an Embassy briefing, by a senior member of Post, early on in their programme.
Administration
Your
6. You will see from the enclosed administrative guidance notes that all expenditure incurred on behalf of the Committee, including travel costs, where travel arrangements (minibuses etc) are made by Posts, is recoverable from the House. accountant should enter the amounts spent on a separate schedule headed "House of Commons" with, in the authority column, visit by Trade & Industry Committee to
•
•
(place) on....
• •
(date)".
It is important that all costs for Committee visits are processed through the Post account as quickly as possible.
7. The ultimate responsibility for deciding on hotel accommodation rests with the Clerk, whose job it is to consult, on the basis of Post's advice, with the Chairman. It follows therefore that we should avoid being saddled with any criticism from discontented Committee Members. Unless the hotel has a proven track record, it is always useful if someone can visit it in advance to confirm its acceptability.
8.
Finally, for the moment, would you please note that we should be grateful for a report after the visit. But please let me know if I can be of any further help in the meantime.
9. I am copying this letter with enclosures to James Smith-Laittan at the BTC in Hong Kong. I am also copying all the enclosures to Phil Davies on the Taiwan desk at the DTI, with whom I have already spoken. Clearly the visit to Taiwan will need to be handled in a different way given the fact that we have no diplomatic post there; I hope Mr Davies will agree to act as a liaison point between the FCO and the Anglo-Taiwan Trade Committee offices in London and in Taipei.
Yous sicer
QG Eyre Wilson
Parliamentary Relations Unit
CC:
J Smith-Laittan, Hong Kong) P Davies, DTI
) with encs.
FED
HKD
R Hoare
PS/GH Hong Kong
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) with Clerk's letter only
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