TNAG-2442-FCO40-3549-Hong-Kong-Civil-Service-appointments-and-promotions-1992 — Page 37

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SENIOR APPOINTMENTS

1.

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You asked on a copy of Hong Kong telno 343 whether there were special arrangements for clearing appointments to the top-most jobs in Hong Kong.

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Perhaps it would be easiest to refer to the jobs listed in the Secretary of State's letter to the Governor of 3 June 1991- attached. As far as I am aware the only position that requires formal consultation by law is that of the Director of Audit (but unfortunately Volume 9 of our laws is not here at present so I cannot check). All the other posts are (obviously) covered by the Secretary of State's letter. As for the Chief Justice, I was under the impression that his appointment was referred to The Queen. But I can find nothing in the Letters Patent or the Supreme Court Ordinance which differentiates between him and other Supreme Court Judges: whom the Governor appoints in accordance with LPXIV. Perhaps Miss Brooks could advise if I am wrong.

3. It has been the practice of Hong Kong to seek our advance approval for appointments to positions of Chief Secretary, Financial Secretary, Attorney General, Chief Justice and High Court Judges. I suspect they do this because it is not their practice to make long term "acting" appointments to these jobs. Our internal practice is to refer to the Secretary of State appointments to the posts of Chief Secretary, Financial Secretary, Attorney General and Chief Justice. Other appointments we have tended to deal with either at your level or at AUS level, depending on whether we think there is any sensitivity.

4.

Therefore, if our main objective is to keep an eye on the most senior appointments, the current practice, if maintained, would do. I am aware of the five year forecast of senior staff postings which the Civil Service Branch does. It is a useful exercise which I think they take fairly seriously, certainly in the departments. If our real aim is to see how Hong Kong are intending to bring on locals, I think this would be useful and might be a suitable compromise.

5.

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As I have minuted elsewhere, I do not believe that Hong Kong are going back on their localisation policy. think they are appointing locals wherever they think they can get away with it. Appointments/promotions in the admin grade

TICAET

CODE 18-77

CONFIDENTIAL