Memorandum from Sir Peter Ricketts KCMG,
Permanent Under Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office
When I appeared before the Committee on 21 October,
I was asked to provide further material on the following:
— the new Residence for the Ambassador
to the Holy See;
— the arrangements regarding the payment
of tax for FCO staff seconded to the EU Commission;
— Social diversity in the Foreign and Commonwealth
Office; and
— the costs of overseas posts.
Question 56 (Mr Bacon): Holy See Residence
The former Residence, Villa Drusiana, was originally
given up in order to move the Ambassador into an owned property
on the Villa Wolkonsky compound, which houses the Residence of
our Ambassador to Italy and other staff accommodation. The Vatican
had advised us that they would be content with this arrangement.
After we had served irrevocable notice to quit Villa Drusiana
the Vatican informed us that they were no longer willing to accept
that the Villa Wolkonsky compound should provide the Residence
of our Ambassador to the Vatican.
A suitable replacement property was found at
a total annual cost (rent, rates, community charge and parking)
of
201,064: significantly less than the annual lease
on the Villa Drusiana which had increased to
300,000 from 1 April 2006. The new Residence is more
centrally located in Rome and thus easier to get to and it also
has ample car parking attached (which was a problem at the old
location). The central location, and a new outsourced system of
catering, staff headcount, has led to a dramatic increase in the
use of the residence for representational purposes while at the
same time reducing costs significantly. For example, in the most
recent calendar year for which figures are available (2008) over
1,500 people were entertained at the residence. This represents
a threefold increase on the numbers entertained at the old residence,
but on a budget which is 60% less than the 2005 figure in purchasing
power terms. One innovation made possible by the move has been
a series of dinners to mark the Queen's Birthday instead of the
traditional large Reception. This has attracted more senior guests
while at the same time reducing expenditure.
Question 75 (Mr Davidson): Taxation arrangements
for FCO staff seconded to the EU
All FCO staff on secondment from the FCO to
EU Institutions remain on the FCO payroll and pay UK tax. On occasion
some staff have taken special unpaid leave to take up jobs in
EU institutions, and in these cases they fall under the tax regime
of the relevant part of the EU institution for which they are
working. But in these cases they are not FCO employees and are
not working for the British Government.
Question 108 (Mr Davidson): Social Diversity in
the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
There is a legal requirement that we must monitor
the gender, ethnicity and disability status of our staff. We are
not legally required to monitor their regional/social/educational
background, or indeed other elements of diversity such as sexual
orientation or religion, but we would obviously like to be helpful.
We are working with the Cabinet Office as they consider this question
of monitoring other aspects of diversity.
We are getting the message out to local communities,
schools and universities UK-wide that the FCO welcomes people
from all parts of UK society. We have identified a range of measures
to help the FCO create a more inclusive culture, attract and retain
talent from the widest available pool and better represent modern
Britain.
We actively seek to recruit staff from all regions
of the UK. Over the next year we plan to attend regional careers
fairs in Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow and
London. In addition we plan to attend university careers fairs
in Bath, Bristol, Cambridge, Durham, Edinburgh, London, Nottingham,
Manchester and Oxford. The Diplomatic Service is also promoted
annually by the Cabinet Office's Fast Stream at universities and
schools fairs across all regions of the United Kingdom.
To attract broader talent we have launched two
new recruitment initiatives. The Partner University Programme,
partners the FCO with 10 of the UK's best performing universities
with the aim of attracting high-calibre undergraduates from ethnic
minority and low income backgrounds. In 2008 59 students applied
and 21 students were selected to take part. The Band D external
recruitment campaign brought a range of diverse skills into the
organisation at Team Leader level including project /financial/change
management and hard language skills.
There are certain minimum educational qualifications
required for entry to the FCO. The level required for recruitment
to our A1 Band is two GCSEs or Standard Grades, for our A2 Band
it is five GCSEs or Standard Grades, and all other Bands require
an undergraduate degree. Apart from some technical jobs where
relevant qualifications are required eg finance, no account is
taken of educational background in choosing people for posts.
Between bands A to SMS1 staff are promoted on merit through assessment
centres and promotion competitions. Appointments in these grades
are decided by competence based interview chaired normally by
the line manager. Over time, as the diversity of the office increases
so will the diversity of our senior management. Some measures
we have taken to broaden the mix of staff internally include opening
all senior jobs to competition from across Whitehall.
From my own contact with our new entrants, I
know that they do increasingly represent modern Britain in terms
of regional background and in other ways. In the absence of comprehensive
data, I did a straw poll among 31 recent recruits to our Fast
Stream programme. A significant majority came from State schools
(19 against 11 from private schools and one from a religious school).
Six were from Scotland, including four from Glasgow.
Question 42 (Mr Bacon): Costs of Overseas Posts
I have attached to this letter as an annex a
table which shows the costs for each of the Foreign and Commonwealth
Office's (FCO) British diplomatic missions overseas for the financial
year 2008-09. These figures represent the combined income, excluding
that from property sales which would otherwise distort the return,
eg Madrid, and expenditure totals for each mission, but do not
include central overhead and programme costs. Where a negative
figure is shown in the table, this indicates that the mission
generates more income than it costs to run. This net income from
issuing visas is returned to UKBA and does not fund the FCO. Staff
numbers at each Post are also listed, although some posts listed
are only manned seasonally, by staff employed locally or by Honorary
Consul. Some have also now closed although there are residual
estate costs.
30 November 2009
Annex
2008-09 COSTS
OF OVERSEAS
POSTS
Post | Total not including central overheads,
Programmes and Proceeds From Sale of
Capitalised Assets
| Staff Numbers |
| Baghdad | £29,965,383
| 65 |
| Kabul | £26,376,466 |
116 |
| UKMis New York | £22,478,210
| 88 |
| Paris | £17,018,913 |
176 |
| Berlin | £14,733,604 |
98 |
| Tokyo | £13,321,765 |
144 |
| Washington | £12,817,750
| 223 |
| Brussels UK Rep | £10,906,955
| 131 |
| Peking | £9,227,459 |
238 |
| Rome | £8,554,413 |
108 |
| Madrid | £7,027,605 |
112 |
| Brasilia | £6,933,971 |
150 |
| Khartoum | £6,888,789 |
241 |
| Warsaw | £5,928,649 |
76 |
| Nairobi | £5,759,236 |
150 |
| Vienna Embassy | £5,371,835
| 51 |
| Athens | £5,320,477 |
73 |
| Erbil | £5,110,129 |
3 |
| Ankara | £5,054,948 |
94 |
| Hong Kong CG | £4,918,549
| 106 |
| Basra | £4,807,907 |
12 |
| Singapore | £4,746,511
| 82 |
| Moscow | £4,626,384 |
198 |
| Mexico City | £4,332,602
| 85 |
| Copenhagen | £4,295,678
| 50 |
| Berne | £4,198,554 |
33 |
| The Hague | £4,174,365
| 47 |
| Buenos Aires | £4,098,300
| 66 |
| Brussels Embassy | £4,052,875
| 69 |
| Stockholm | £3,740,423
| 52 |
| Lashkar Gar | £3,738,413
| 28 |
| Brussels UK Del | £3,582,363
| 38 |
| Budapest | £3,580,748 |
54 |
| Lisbon | £3,562,122 |
49 |
| Nicosia | £3,545,347 |
66 |
| Tel Aviv | £3,505,860 |
52 |
| Seoul | £3,462,196 |
80 |
| Sao Paulo | £3,395,780
| 46 |
| Bucharest | £3,395,398
| 55 |
| Helsinki | £3,387,591 |
41 |
| Caracas | £3,314,990 |
43 |
| Beirut | £3,306,733 |
20 |
| Geneva CG | £3,265,913
| 34 |
| Abuja | £3,251,058 |
236 |
| Jakarta | £3,249,842 |
87 |
| Oslo | £3,217,558 |
38 |
| Bogota | £3,213,170 |
100 |
| Prague | £3,164,021 |
60 |
| Amman | £3,072,255 |
109 |
| Sana'a | £3,055,430 |
100 |
| Sofia | £3,037,748 |
42 |
| Addis Ababa | £2,996,870
| 159 |
| Jerusalem | £2,976,815
| 62 |
| Baku | £2,880,295 |
42 |
| Osaka | £2,811,485 |
26 |
| Santiago | £2,753,287 |
49 |
| Belgrade | £2,748,896 |
67 |
| Kinshasa | £2,728,009 |
75 |
| Kingston | £2,721,879 |
76 |
| San Francisco | £2,683,145
| 29 |
| Kuala Lumpur | £2,625,435
| 116 |
| Algiers | £2,561,412 |
49 |
| Jeddah | £2,552,825 |
35 |
| Accra | £2,540,837 |
325 |
| Rabat | £2,535,273 |
75 |
| Brussels JMO | £2,500,848
| 123 |
| Geneva UK MIs | £2,458,891
| 23 |
| Lima | £2,293,292 |
52 |
| Milan | £2,240,310 |
30 |
| Sydney | £2,219,142 |
23 |
| Dublin | £2,217,968 |
55 |
| Bangkok | £2,203,741 |
159 |
| Luanda | £2,146,309 |
40 |
| Zagreb | £2,075,435 |
35 |
| Tripoli | £2,007,063 |
90 |
| Bridgetown | £1,958,671
| 38 |
| Tbilisi | £1,952,407 |
32 |
| Kiev | £1,943,186 |
62 |
| Muscat | £1,919,941 |
64 |
| Karachi | £1,915,823 |
81 |
| Havana | £1,911,153 |
51 |
| Boston | £1,880,014 |
23 |
| Kampala | £1,875,026 |
76 |
| Abu Dhabi | £1,855,021
| 96 |
| Damascus | £1,803,481 |
37 |
| Almaty | £1,771,486 |
13 |
| Johannesburg | £1,735,799
| 25 |
| Gibraltar | £1,734,463
| 17 |
| Toronto | £1,707,443 |
26 |
| Pristina | £1,696,768 |
41 |
| Cairo | £1,672,626 |
138 |
| Harare | £1,594,329 |
67 |
| Houston | £1,588,219 |
24 |
| Montevideo | £1,575,925
| 23 |
| Valletta | £1,570,804 |
26 |
| Chisinau | £1,543,719 |
28 |
| Ottawa | £1,525,778 |
67 |
| Sarajevo | £1,507,393 |
36 |
| Munich | £1,494,983 |
20 |
| Freetown | £1,491,416 |
239 |
| Dusseldorf | £1,458,180
| 71 |
| Vilnius | £1,453,939 |
25 |
| Port of Spain | £1,453,286
| 30 |
| Lusaka | £1,418,244 |
37 |
| Guangzhou | £1,413,052
| 81 |
| Tallinn | £1,408,526 |
31 |
| Dar Es Salaam | £1,406,782
| 55 |
| Bratislava | £1,399,594
| 25 |
| Chongqing | £1,369,939
| 36 |
| Shanghai | £1,363,175 |
88 |
| Cape Town | £1,357,021
| 39 |
| Ljubljana | £1,356,602
| 17 |
| Maputo | £1,354,739 |
33 |
| Melbourne | £1,353,296
| 15 |
| Belmopan | £1,330,558 |
31 |
| Georgetown | £1,291,889
| 23 |
| Tunis | £1,256,422 |
54 |
| Hanoi | £1,232,990 |
39 |
| Skopje | £1,204,644 |
36 |
| Guatemala City | £1,199,978
| 22 |
| Rangoon | £1,195,957 |
93 |
| Luxembourg | £1,166,540
| 12 |
| Rio De Janeiro | £1,155,716
| 43 |
| Bandar Seri Begawan | £1,143,493
| 23 |
| Barcelona | £1,065,212
| 17 |
| St Helena | £1,062,972
| 3 |
| Malaga | £1,038,869 |
10 |
| Riga | £1,038,142 |
28 |
| Pyongyang | £1,006,541
| 10 |
| Suva | £985,427 | 20
|
| Tashkent | £973,123 |
64 |
| Panama City | £959,175
| 19 |
| Tehran | £958,108 |
149 |
| Miami | £938,830 | 15
|
| Taipei BTCO | £928,663
| 54 |
| Dushanbe | £925,878 |
38 |
| Lille | £911,327 | 11
|
| Vancouver | £903,414 |
14 |
| Phnom Penh | £869,593 |
29 |
| Geneva UK Del | £864,874
| 6 |
| Kigali | £853,860 |
27 |
| San Jose | £849,442 |
20 |
| Port Moresby | £844,923
| 15 |
| Strasbourg | £840,952 |
10 |
| Grand Turk | £830,370 |
6 |
| Yaounde | £814,218 |
48 |
| Quito | £793,277 | 24
|
| Atlanta | £786,231 |
9 |
| Vienna OSCE | £783,957
| 13 |
| Yerevan | £765,887 |
19 |
| La Paz | £744,289 |
20 |
| Ashgabat | £739,414 |
17 |
| Naples | £732,472 |
10 |
| Plymouth | £713,111 |
5 |
| Reykjavik | £695,189 |
10 |
| Santo Domingo | £694,948
| 14 |
| Vienna UK Mis | £691,691
| 10 |
| Lilongwe | £689,496 |
44 |
| St Petersburg | £647,684
| 28 |
| Tortola | £646,109 |
6 |
| Tristan Da Cunha | £626,074
| 1 |
| Anguilla | £623,546 |
5 |
| Stanley | £615,386 |
4 |
| Lyon | £611,473 | 10
|
| Dakar | £577,021 | 35
|
| Podgorica | £576,437 |
8 |
| Brisbane | £568,051 |
9 |
| Holy See | £551,965 |
5 |
| Auckland | £533,450 |
10 |
| Victoria | £514,377 |
9 |
| Honiara | £505,691 |
11 |
| Windhoek | £504,707 |
22 |
| Grand Cayman | £504,390
| 6 |
| Montreal | £502,324 |
6 |
| Vientiane | £497,808 |
1 |
| Ibiza | £479,582 | 4
|
| Al Khobar | £476,166 |
9 |
| Perth | £463,647 | 7
|
| Ekaterinburg | £457,251
| 11 |
| Asmara | £456,338 |
10 |
| Ho Chi Minh City | £453,042
| 29 |
| Bordeaux | £446,025 |
6 |
| Banjul | £444,605 |
72 |
| Alicante | £407,858 |
9 |
| Port Louis | £407,377 |
22 |
| Astana | £406,779 |
25 |
| Bangalore | £404,313 |
17 |
| Tenerife | £401,001 |
5 |
| Palma | £378,666 | 6
|
| Florence | £371,692 |
7 |
| Marseilles | £363,048 |
6 |
| Portimao | £355,777 |
7 |
| Gaborone | £343,293 |
18 |
| Alexandria | £324,870 |
17 |
| Ascension Islands | £316,411
| 1 |
| Abidjan | £290,092 |
6 |
| Las Palmas | £279,402 |
4 |
| Castries | £265,010 |
4 |
| Orlando | £262,311 |
6 |
| Tirana | £253,690 |
36 |
| Hamilton | £248,275 |
3 |
| Casablanca | £245,482 |
20 |
| Ulaanbaatar | £232,803
| 13 |
| Conakry | £205,352 |
4 |
| Doha | £202,409 | 43
|
| Bilbao | £196,013 |
4 |
| Kaduna | £186,941 |
0 |
| Monrovia | £180,134 |
1 |
| Calgary | £171,166 |
3 |
| Denver | £167,566 |
2 |
| Bahrain | £133,094 |
45 |
| St John's | £128,664 |
0 |
| Venice | £123,885 |
2 |
| Banja Luka | £112,826 |
4 |
| Oporto | £112,374 |
1 |
| Kathmandu | £93,073 |
111 |
| Tangier | £89,764 |
2 |
| Hyderabad | £84,256 |
5 |
| Atyrau | £74,608 | 2
|
| Monterrey | £71,309 |
4 |
| Port Harcourt | £61,262
| 1 |
| Bujumbura | £51,341 |
1 |
| Corfu | £41,971 | 3
|
| Funchal | £36,737 |
1 |
| Heraklion | £35,416 |
3 |
| Lahore | £35,043 | 1
|
| Durban | £30,101 | 4
|
| Chiang Mai | £28,880 |
1 |
| Guadalajara | £28,277 |
2 |
| Salonika | £25,664 |
1 |
| Bamako | £24,562 | 1
|
| Izmir | £22,608 | 5
|
| Nassau | £22,300 | 0
|
| Phuket | £16,044 | 0
|
| Kingstown | £15,348 |
76 |
| Rhodes | £14,280 | 2
|
| Recife | £13,825 | 2
|
| Porto Alegre | £13,342
| 2 |
| Pattaya | £12,338 |
0 |
| Djibouti | £11,579 |
0 |
| Curacao | £10,716 |
0 |
| Genoa | £10,362 | 0
|
| Zakynthos | £7,257 |
1 |
| Juba | £6,723 | 0
|
| Kos | £6,677 | 2 seasonal
|
| Port Elisabeth | £6,104
| 1 |
| Azores | £5,820 | 0
|
| Asuncion | £5,691 |
0 |
| Patras | £5,667 | 0
|
| Nuku'Alofa | £5,039 |
0 |
| Vienna UK Del | £4,734
| 12 |
| Port Au Prince | £4,588
| 1 |
| Cagliari | £4,230 |
0 |
| Cali | £3,525 | 1
|
| Vigo | £2,656 | 1
|
| Paramaribo | £2,430 |
0 |
| Cartagena | £2,390 |
1 |
| Bissau | £2,143 | 0
|
| Ahmedabad | £1,955 |
2 |
| Pune | £1,854 | 0
|
| Dallas | £1,521 | 0
|
| Seattle | £1,472 | 0
|
| Medellin | £1,450 |
1 |
| Kandahar | £1,325 |
0 |
| Curitiba | £1,198 |
0 |
| Antananarivo | £787 |
1 |
| Amsterdam | £707 | 15
|
| Maseru | £594 | 0
|
| Fukuoka | £549 | 0
|
| Mbabane | £363 | 0
|
| Antwerp | £329 | 0
|
| Adelaide | £304 | 0
|
| Eilat | £227 | 0
|
| Nagoya | £66 | 0
|
| Kano | £60 | 0
|
| Aden | £50 | 0
|
| Douala | £40 | 0
|
| Tegucigalpa | £18 |
0 |
| Stuttgart | - £188 |
0 |
| St George's | - £366 |
0 |
| Dili | - £1,057 | 0
|
| Varna | - £5,980 |
0 |
| Pretoria | - £7,588 |
169 |
| Minsk | - £8,894 |
19 |
| New York CG | - £80,035
| 96 |
| Chicago | - £410,297 |
24 |
| Dhaka | - £516,705 |
273 |
| Colombo | - £919,603 |
102 |
| Kolkata | - £973,085 |
44 |
| Manila | - £1,193,041
| 95 |
| Los Angeles | - £1,231,761
| 49 |
| New Delhi | - £1,267,267
| 402 |
| Kuwait | - £1,372,816
| 84 |
| Lagos | - £1,449,438 |
323 |
| Dubai | - £1,470,006 |
101 |
| Wellington | - £1,853,119
| 49 |
| Istanbul | - £3,108,523
| 121 |
| Riyadh | - £3,406,903
| 105 |
| Canberra | - £6,701,961
| 100 |
| Islamabad | - £8,911,240
| 423 |
| Bombay | - £9,521,078
| 158 |
| Madras | - £12,805,774
| 107 |
| |
|
The headcount numbers shown in the table include staff in
place to support other Departments operating on the FCO platform.
|
