§ Mr. WyattTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the running costs of the British embassies in(a) Paris and (b) Washington. [104087]
§ Mr. HainThe running costs for Paris include all Locally Engaged (LE) staff costs of subordinate Posts throughout France. Similarly Washington costs include LE staff throughout the USA. The total staff levels are 248 for Paris, of which 44 are UK based, and 535 for Washington, of which 55 are UK based. It is therefore not possible to draw proper comparisons between the running costs of the two Embassies. However, the ratio of 5:4 UK based staff between Washington and Paris is not considered unreasonable.
It is important to look at these figures in context: the FCO employs fewer staff and costs less to run than Birmingham City Council. The cost of running the FCO in London and at its 221 posts overseas amounts to less than one-third of one per cent. (0.3 per cent.) of all Government expenditure, and less than 0.15 per cent. of UK GDP. The total FCO budget costs each man, woman and child in Britain only 5p a day.
§ Mr. WyattTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the annual running costs were of UK embassies in(a) the European Union and (b) the USA, in the last year for which figures are available. [104130]
§ Mr. HainI refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave on 14 December 1999,Official Report, column 109W, specifically the answers to parts (a) and (b).