Written evidence from Denis Lejeune
CHANGES AT
THE FCO
As a spouse of an FCO employee (I'm also acting
as ad hoc ECO and/or visa writer), I'd like to add a word to the
"privileges cuts" crisis and other FCO changes under
way. London on a £18,000 salary is not quite what it is hyped
up to be (regardless of how thrilling day-to-day work in Whitehall
is). Now some overseas posts might be having a ball, but there's
quite a number of places that are not that great either, even
if you could earn a million GBP a year.
I can well understand that some changes are
needed, but that must be balanced out with what Britain wants
to be in 10-20 years' time. Big savings in the short term often
make for big losses in the middle/long-term, and I wonder how
many more FCO employees will accept a three-year posting in Chongqing
for example (China) on a near London salary, with one economy
return ticket on Air China per year and a pat on the back.
OK, staff from other government departments
can fill in the jobs, or the FCO could offer job placements to
young graduates (like some countries do): that way the FCO saves
money (employees are paid by other bodies or very little) and
looks good (to whoever is short-sighted).
I used to work in UK universities. A good comparison
would be to not give academic jobs to PhD holders with publications
but, in order to cut costs, recruit primary school teachers. No
doubt they are very good at the job they were trained to do, but
how seriously will they be taken by longstanding scholars from
other countries at conferences? Nice to drink with at the break,
but other than that?
Which begs the next question: what will happen
to FCO staff? They'll gravitate back to London, and Britain will
be able to pride itself on having the best domestic diplomatic
service. Yeehaa. That is, if nobody finds it cheaper to recruit
nurses or prison guards.
Our posting here expires in June 2010. I hereby
would officially like to offer accommodation and a morning cup
of tea to the authors of the proposed cuts and revisions for the
next six months. I will even pay for the Air China economy return
ticket myself (Chongqing-HK: 2 hours; 6 hours' wait in HK; HK-London:12
hours). That might not make them change their minds, but at least
next time they try they'll know what they're talking about.
11 December 2009
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