§ Mr. Matesasked the Secretary of State for Defence how many officials in his Department are employed in assessing terms, pay, conditions of service, and allowances for both Civil Service and civilian members of the Department serving overseas; how often these conditions of service are reviewed; and what is the cost to the Exchequer of making these assessments.
§ Mr. William Rodgers:I cannot give meaningful figures for staff numbers and costs since much of the work is undertaken by staff concerned with pay, allowances and conditions of service generally and not with the overseas aspects separ- 288W ately. The pay of United Kingdom members of the Armed Forces and home civil servants, and many of their conditions of service, are the same whether they serve in the United Kingdom or abroad. There are, however, a number of allowances relating specifically to service overseas, notably local overseas allowance for the Armed Forces, which is normally reviewed every three years, and foreign service allowance for civil servants, which is fully revised every three to four years.