§ Mr. Skeetasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many people work for the British Council in Romania; and what is the size of the council's annual budget and the trend of expenditure over the past decade.
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§ Mr. OnslowThere are two London appointed officers and three locally engaged staff at the British Council office in Romania. The Council's country budget for 1982–83 is £222,000. I regret that figures for the whole of the past decade are not readily available. The trend over the past five years has fluctuated. In 1978 there was a minor increase of expenditure of 0.3 per cent. over 1977 figures. In 1979 there was a 5 per cent. decrease, and this pattern continued with a 22 per cent. decrease in 1980. 1981 saw an improvement with an 11 per cent. increase. It is too early to predict a pattern for 1982, but expenditure is not expected to increase in real terms. The 22 per cent. decrease in 1980 was a result of under-utilisation of the quota provisions by the Romanians.