§ Gregory BarkerTo ask the Minister of State, Department for International Development what the cost to the Department of office closures was in the last 12 months. [115355]
§ Hilary BennSeven offices in East Europe (Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Slovak Republic and Slovenia) closed at the end of 2002–03 financial year; this was due to the winding down of DFID programmes as a result of impending membership of the EC. These closures have generated a net saving in 2003–4 of £280,000, excluding the cost of UK staff redeployed to other programmes.
In a few cases, other DFID offices were temporarily affected by security concerns. The closures were only for a few days and any financial costs would have been minimal. Certain other offices were temporarily scaled down, incurring additional costs for temporary repatriation; the main example was New Delhi, resulting from a heightening of tensions in South Asia. These costs are not separately accounted for and could only he provided at disproportionate cost.