HC Deb 26 January 1984 vol 52 c698W
Sir Anthony Buck

asked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on recent reviews of local overseas allowance paid to service personnel.

Mr. Stanley

Local overseas allowance is a tax-free compensatory allowance paid to service men and women overseas, in addition to their pay, to meet the essential extra costs to them of serving abroad. LOA is assessed by using the same principles and criteria worldwide, but rates are kept under review since the extra costs to service personnel change over time, for example in response to different price movements in the United Kingdom and abroad. LOA is also adjusted for variations in exchange rates.

A number of repricing reviews, to ensure that LOA rates continue to be related to current requirements, have been carried out over the past few months. Most of these have resulted in increased rates of LOA, for example in USA, France, Italy, Portugal and Sardinia. A review in Germany has resulted in a reduction in rates which will be applied in two equal stages, the first on 1 March and the second on 1 May 1984.