§ Mr. James Johnsonasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement regarding his talks with the Icelandic Foreign Minister, Mr. Einar Agustsson on Thursday 11th December in Brussels, concerning the fisheries dispute between the United Kingdom and Iceland.
§ Mr. HattersleyI had talks with Mr. Agustsson, the Icelandic Foreign Minister, in Brussels on 11th and 12th December. I once again made it clear to him that Her Majesty's Government wished to 533W solve the fisheries dispute between our two countries by negotiation and that we were willing to be flexible in order to reach a compromise solution and to resume discussions anywhere, at any time and at any level. Mr. Agustsson undertook to report what I had said to his Government.
§ Mr. McNamaraasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on his discussions with the Icelandic Foreign Minister on the present fishing dispute.
§ Mr. HattersleyI would refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Kingston upon Hull, West (Mr. Johnson) on 15th December 1975.
(1) (2) (3) Salary (gross) Allowances (including entertainment expenses) Boarding School allowances £ £ £ Ambassador … … … … … 18,675 56,931 Nil Minister … … … … … … 12,410 21,187 1,218 Counsellor … … … … … … 10,340 10,917 858 First Secretary … … … … … 6,844 8,090 409 Second Secretary … … … … … 4,940 4,927 710 The figures reflect the averages of amounts actually in payment to all Diplomatic Service staff in these grades.
The figure for the Ambassador in column (2) includes a substantial figure for the running expenses of the Residence.
Under Section 369 of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1970 the allowances shown in columns (2) and (3) of the table when paid to staff overseas are not liable to income tax. The grossing up of these allowances is therefore hypothetical and I regret that the figures are not available.
Bonn Paris Rome Brussels £ £ £ £ Ambassador … … … … … — — 2,378 — Minister … … … … … 607 1,218 2,634 — Counsellor … … … … … 1,665 858 1,588 889 First Secretary … … … … … 193 409 529 327 Second Secretary … … … … … 227 710 — 875
§ Mr. Norman Lamontasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs why the average allowances for school fees at Ambassador,