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2 Mar 2009 : Column 1235W—continued
Democratic Republic of Congo: Peacekeeping Operations
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans he has to help strengthen the MONUC force in the Democratic Republic of Congo. [257352]
Caroline Flint: We fully support UN efforts to strengthen its peacekeeping Mission to the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC). The UK was a co-sponsor of UN Security Council Resolution 1843, which allowed MONUC's strength to be increased by over 3,000.
Since the adoption of that Resolution, we have lobbied potential troop contributing countries and led calls for the reinforcement to take place as soon as possible. The UK has identified ways in which it could lend support to MONUC, including through secondment of a small number of appropriately skilled individuals to fill key vacant posts on the MONUC staff, including the post of Deputy Force Commander.
Departmental Correspondence
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many (a) letters and (b) e-mails received by his Department had not been responded to as at 15 December 2008. [244705]
Caroline Flint: Only correspondence received by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) Ministerial Support Unit (MSU) is logged centrally. To ask every department or overseas post within the FCO how many letters and e-mails had not been responded to by a particular date would incur a disproportionate cost.
MSU records are maintained on a rolling basis so it is not possible to identify how many pieces of correspondence had not been responded to as of 15 December 2008. Furthermore, we do not differentiate between types of correspondence so are unable to break down our response into the number of letters or e-mails we receive. However, I can confirm that, in-line with Cabinet Office guidance,
of the 10,334 letters received from hon. Members in 2008, 87 per cent. were answered within 20 working days and of the 73,048 letters received from members of the public, 91 per cent. were answered within 20 working days.
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how long on average it took his Department to send a substantive response to correspondence from members of the public in the latest period for which figures are available. [255589]
Caroline Flint: Only correspondence received by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) ministerial support unit (MSU) is logged centrally. To ask every Department or overseas post within the FCO how long on average it takes to issue a substantive response to correspondence from members of the public would incur a disproportionate cost.
MSU records do not allow us to identify the average length of time taken to substantively reply to correspondence from members of the public. However, I can confirm that of the 73,048 letters received from members of the public, 91 per cent. were answered within 20 working days.
Departmental Freedom of Information
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many members of staff are employed to deal with requests under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in his Department. [255498]
Caroline Flint: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has 10 staff in its information rights team who are responsible for managing freedom of information and subject access requests under the Freedom of Information and Data Protection Acts respectively. However, a large number of staff in the FCO play a role in answering freedom of information requests and to find out exactly how many would incur disproportionate cost.
Departmental Official Hospitality
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much has been spent on (a) departmental Christmas parties and (b) staff entertainment in the last three years. [243736]
Gillian Merron: This information is not held centrally, and to provide it would incur a disproportionate cost.
Departmental Pensions
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps his Department is taking to advise staff of pension options available to them in relation to added years or additional voluntary contributions. [253273]
Caroline Flint:
Our aim is that members of the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme receive an annual benefit statement showing the pension built up to date, and also a projection of their pension on retirement if they
continue in service to scheme pension age. The benefit statement prompts the member to consider boosting their pension and provides details of the civil service pensions website where staff can obtain further information, including options for making additional voluntary contributions and a calculator to work out costs for added pension (previously added years).
For technical reasons 2009 will be the first year we issue benefits statements to all scheme members.
New entrants are informed of pension options in the employment offer and are provided with a pension information pack.
Departmental Public Appointments
Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which of the public appointments for which his Department is responsible are due to be (a) renewed and (b) filled in the next 24 months; what the (i) remit, (ii) salary, (iii) political restriction, (iv) eligibility requirement and (v) timetable for each appointment is; and what records his Department keeps in respect of such appointments. [254239]
Caroline Flint: Information on the public appointments for which the Department is responsible is published on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office website:
Vacancies may be advertised on the Cabinet Office Public Appointments website at:
The process for making a public appointment, including guidance on political activity and eligibility criteria, follows the Cabinet Office publication “Making and Managing Public Appointments”. For appointments regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments, the appointments process also complies with the “Code of Practice for Ministerial Appointments to Public Bodies”. Copies are in the Libraries of the House.
Departmental Public Expenditure
Mr. Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs with reference to the answer of 23 June 2008, Official Report, column 75W, on departmental public expenditure, what his Department's forecast (a) net euro and (b) net US dollar exposure for the financial years (i) 2007-08 and (ii) 2008-09 was; and what revisions were made to those forecasts in light of foreign exchange movements. [243846]
David Miliband: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) forecasted net euro and net US dollar exposure as follows:
(i) The FCO's net euro and US dollar exposure in 2007-08 was:
(a) Euro: €274 million
(b) US dollar: $917 million.
During this year all foreign currency requirements were met through making separate “spot” deals for each individual invoice, subscription payment or funds transfer to cover running costs at overseas posts. Variations from budget estimates caused by exchange rate fluctuations were compensated by the Treasury's Overseas Price
Movements mechanism, and no central forecast of foreign currency requirements was made.
(ii) The forecast net euro and US dollar exposure for 2008-09 was:
(a) Euro: €180 million
(b) US dollars: $767 million.
This comprised our commitments for subscriptions to international organisations and UN peacekeeping missions and overseas posts' estimates of the sums required for their running and other costs given at the beginning of the financial year.
Following approval from HM Treasury to forward purchase this exposure, contracts were placed with the Bank of England for the period July 2008 to March 2009. We agreed these would be limited to 80 per cent. of the total, in recognition of the possibilities that estimates might not be completely accurate, and/or that due to the weakness of sterling, the full amounts might not be affordable.
In total, the following amounts were forward purchased for the period July 2008 to March 2009:
(a) Euro: €102 million
(b) US dollars: $559 million.
In the light of exchange rate movements, the budgets for 2008-09 needed to be revised as follows:
(a) HM Treasury were asked for an additional £5 million towards International Subscriptions.
(b) We identified that across all currencies a further £90 million would be needed by budget holders from within the FCO's own resources in order to maintain the purchasing power for overseas posts and pay additional peacekeeping costs.
Mr. Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment has been made of foreign exchange movements on subscriptions to international organisations paid through his Department’s budget. [243941]
David Miliband: The information requested is as follows:
| (a) Subscriptions to each international organisation in 2008-09 | |
| Subscription | £000 |
| Source: FCO Supplementary Estimates 2008-09, 27 January 2009 | |
(b) Subscriptions to each i nternational o rganisation in 2009-10
The projected costs for 2009-10 are around £146 millions but are uncertain. In negotiating with international organisations as they set their budgets for 2009-10, the FCO will endeavour to limit budget increases to zero real growth. The fall in the value of the Sterling will have an impact on subscriptions paid in US Dollars and Euros. The FCO shares the burden of exchange rate movements on international subscriptions with the Treasury under the arrangement whereby HM Treasury funds 60 per cent. of any increase above a baseline of £102 million. Our foreign currency forward purchase contracts do include an element for our international subscription costs intended to help offset any further falls in the value of the Sterling.
Mr. Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the total cost to his Department was of subscriptions to international organisations in 2007-08; what the cost was with regard to each international institution; and what the total cost is projected to be in 2008-09. [243942]
David Miliband: The information requested is as follows:
| (a) Subscriptions to each international o rganisation in 2008-09 | |
| Subscription | £000 |
Mr. Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment his Department has made of the effect on its budget and activities in 2009-10 of the Treasury’s decision to withdraw support for the overseas price mechanism. [258208]
David Miliband: We continue to operate the Overseas Price Mechanism internally to maintain the purchasing power of our overseas posts’ local budgets. The decline in the value of the sterling created a potential funding pressure of £60 million in the 2008-09 financial year (as of December 2008). At current exchange rates we expect an additional pressure of up to £30 million to continue our activities at current levels in 2009-10. This does not include the pressure on international subscriptions and peacekeeping. The impact of this shortfall has been minimised through delayed activity, by making additional efficiency savings, and implementing a strategy of forward purchasing of foreign exchange.
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