§ Lord Kennetasked Her Majesty's Government:
What qualifications and what experience of international relations are required of the three private sector members of the new Ambassadors Remuneration Committee.
§ Baroness Chalker of WallaseyAmong the qualities which the three private sector members of the remuneration committee will bring to their task are wide experience in setting senior pay in both the private and public sector; and an understanding of the work of the Diplomatic Service and the demands placed on its senior ambassadors. The fact that one of their number is also the Chairman of the Senior Salaries Review Body and of the Remuneration Committee on Permanent Secretaries' pay will help ensure that the awards to senior ambassadors are in balance with those to permanent secretaries.
§ Lord Kennetasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether the businessmen and their firms will be precluded from offering retirement jobs to the ambassadors whose salaries they determine.
§ Baroness Chalker of WallaseyNo. However, like their counterparts in the Home Civil Service, ambassadors are bound by the business appointments rules. Each application for a post-retirement job is treated on its merits under these rules.
§ Lord Kennetasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether ambassadors retired from relevant posts will have their pensions reduced or increased if a particular failure or success in relations with the country to which he or she used to be accredited is deemed by the Ambassadors Remuneration Committee to have been his or her responsibility rather than that of the ambassador actually in post, and if not, why not.
§ Baroness Chalker of WallaseyThe Remuneration Committee has no direct responsibility for pensions.
3WAPension benefits are, however, based on remuneration received in the final years of service.
§ Lord Kennetasked Her Majesty's Government:
Who is responsible for measuring the objectives of embassies and whether those responsible for such definitions will be advising the Ambassadors Remuneration Committee on the measurability and the successful implementation of the objectives.
§ Baroness Chalker of WallaseyIt is for the ambassador to assess annually how his or her Mission has performed against the objectives agreed with the supervising Command in London. These assessments and any comments made by the Command will be made available to the Remuneration Committee.
§ Lord Kennetasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether it is now their assumption that the contribution of a particular ambassador to policy advice can be evaluated and financially quantified during his or her actual tenure of a particular post and on what experience this assumption is erected.
§ Baroness Chalker of WallaseyPolicy advice is one of a number of factors which the Remuneration Committee will take into account in making proposals on the pay of individual ambassadors. Taken together, the factors listed in the terms of reference will provide the committee with a sound basis for making its proposals.
§ Lord Kennetasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether it is the implication of the current private sector appointments to the Ambassadors Remuneration Committee that businessmen are singularly suited to judging the effectiveness of ambassadors and their embassies in providing policy advice, and that they now consider that Britain has only business interests abroad.
§ Baroness Chalker of WallaseyThough the promotion of British commercial interests is a key objective, it does not follow from the appointment of eminent businessmen to the remuneration committee that Britain has only business interests abroad.