§ Mr. Nicholas WintertonTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on Her Majesty's Government's policy on the256W purchase, and use of, official cars for United Kingdom ambassadors and high commissioners serving overseas; what make of cars have been purchased over the past 12 months for ambassadors, high commissioners and other senior diplomatic staff overseas; and to which individual diplomats they have been supplied. [90951]
§ Mr. Hoon1. Flag cars are provided for official use of Ambassadors and High Commissioners and are not specifically assigned to individual diplomats.
2. Government policy is to advertise our requirements for flag cars in the Official Journal of the European Commission and to set up framework contracts with successful bidders against which individual cars are purchased as the need arises. The FCO currently has framework contracts, negotiated in 1996, with Rolls Royce, Jaguar, Rover and Land Rover.
3. The makes of flag car purchased during the last 12 months are Rolls Royce, Jaguar, Rover and Land Rover, Volvo, Opel, Ford and a Grand Marquis in Caracas. Details, including the Missions to which the cars have been allocated, are shown in the attached list. The few cars purchased outside the existing framework contracts are used in countries where European cars cannot be properly maintained.
BACKGROUND NOTE
1. The FCO has, in the last 12 months, bought the following 45 flag cars:
2. 1 X Rolls Royce, 15 X Jaguars, 6 X Rover 800s, 2 X Volvos, 1 X Opel saloon cars, 6 X Land Rover Discoverys and 12 X Range Rovers. A Grand Marquis was bought for Caracas and a Ford Mondeo for Ascension Island, as neither UK nor European cars could be supported in those countries.
3. The Embassies and High Commissions concerned were:
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Model Post Volvo V70 Almaty Rover 825 Amsterdam Rover Sterling Anguilla Jaguar Ankara Discovery Antananarivo Ford Mondeo Ascension Island Range Rover Asuncion Jaguar 4.0 Athens Jaguar Xj8 L Atlanta Volvo S80 F Barcelona Range Rover Beirut Jaguar S Type Bordeaux Jaguar Xj8 3.2 Brussels Grand Marquis Caracas Discovery F Casablanca Range Rover Dhaka Rover 820 Sil Gothenburg Rolls Royce Hong Kong Jaguar Johannesburg Range Rover Kampala Range Rover Kingston Range Rover Lagos Jaguar Xj8 3.2 Ljubljana Range Rover Lusaka Rover Sterling Luxembourg Discovery Madras Jaguar Xjv8 Madrid Discovery Managua
Model Post Rover 820 Milan Range Rover Montserrat Jaguar Sov Nicosia Rover 825 Si Oporto Jaguar Oslo Jaguar Xj8 Peking Jaguar F Rome Range Rover Sana'a Jaguar Xj8 Sofia Jaguar Stockholm Opel Omega Strasbourg Range Rover Tegucigalpa Jaguar Sov The Hague Discovery Victoria Range Rover Vilnius Range Rover Yaounde Discovery F Yerevan