§ Mr. TrotterTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer of 21 February,Official Report, column 29, how he assesses the 113W savings made to his budget as a result of reductions in Ministry of Defence personnel in embassies and high commissions in the absence of estimates of related expenditure; and if he will publish an estimate of the per capita additional net costs to his budget of a service attaché of colonel or equivalent rank in post in (a) a western European country, (b) a middle eastern country and (c) a Commonwealth third-world country.
§ Mr. GoodladSavings resulting from reductions in Ministry of Defence personnel in embassies and high commissions cannot be identified precisely. Direct savings from residential accommodation will be known but other savings arising from, for example, utilities and office space would need to be estimated pro rata after taking account of any direct support provided by the Ministry of Defence.
The additional direct annual per capita cost—residential accommodation without utilities—of a service attaché of colonel or equivalent rank in (a) Paris (b) Amman and (c) Islamabad would be about £18,700, £11,000 and £6,500 respectively. Other costs would have to be estimated in the same way as for savings.