Select Committee on Foreign Affairs Written Evidence


Further memorandum submitted by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Letter to the Permanent Under Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office from the Chairman of the Committee, 29 July 2003

  Thank you for your reply to my request for further information on matters related to the 2003 Departmental Report. These will be very useful in compiling our final report.

  The Committee was disappointed, however, that you were unable to fulfil your promise to send us a copy of the cost/benefit analysis used to inform the decision to sell the current San Francisco Residence. If it is really thought necessary for the analysis to remain confidential, I would be grateful if you could send the Committee a full copy of the document, which we shall use to inform our deliberations but refrain from publishing.

Chairman of the Committee

July 2003


Letter to the Chairman of the Committee from the Permanent Under Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 27 August 2003

  Thank you for your letter of 29 July in response to my own providing further information on the 2003 Departmental Report. I am glad you found it useful.

  On the question of providing the discounted cash flow analysis for comparing the options in San Francisco, the main concern is that any public reference to our figure could reduce our ability to obtain the best price from the sale of the current residence. In particular the analysis includes assumptions on the current value of the Pacific Heights property. However, in view of the Committee's wish to see the calculations, I have decided on this occasion to provide the papers you requested on the basis that the Committee will treat them as if they were classified "Restricted" and will not allow them to enter the public domain. I would be particularly disappointed if Ministers or my colleagues were to receive further letters from members of the public interested in the case drawing on either the figures or the methodology provided to the Committee.

  I therefore enclose a copy of the comparison between the purchase of the new property at Presidio Heights and retention of the present residence[10]. There is also an analysis of the rented option but in practice the team were unable to find a rented property suitable for use as a Residence. The figures should be treated as a tool to help decision-makers rank options.

  You might also be interested to know that as part of their normal audit function, the NAO have examined the process followed by the FCO in purchasing a new residence for the Consul General in San Francisco. They were satisfied that the decision to sell and the purchase of the replacement had been handled properly.

Sir Michael Jay KCMG,

Permanent Under Secretary of State,

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

August 2003






10   Not printed. Back


 
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