The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
Locally
employed contractors working for DFID would receive the same level
of care as
locally
employed civilians working for the MOD or the military: emergency
care in theatre
at UK
medical facilities.
141.
On 18 July, as
part of a wider bid to the Treasury to cover additional
Iraq‑related
costs
incurred by the FCO in financial year 2003/04, Mr Straw
requested £20.2m to
improve
security for FCO staff and UK secondees to the CPA in
Iraq.92
He
advised
Mr Paul
Boateng, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury:
“To meet
our duty of care to staff, we need to provide armoured
vehicles,
armed escorts
and a communication system for UK civilian secondees to
CPA.
This expenditure
is unprecedented, unforeseen and cannot be funded by
reprioritisation,
nor I understand, in part from the money we have received
for
CPA econdees’
costs.”
142.
Mr Boateng
approved the majority of Mr Straw’s request on 9
September.93
143.
Mr Straw’s
request and the Treasury response are addressed in more
detail
in Section
13.1.
144.
On 10 July,
the AHMGIR agreed that:
•
Secondments
to the CPA should be maintained at “approximately the
current
level”, but
matched more closely to requirements, with more specialist
than
policy
staff.
•
Secondments
should be extended from three months to six.
•
Ministers
and Sir Andrew Turnbull should help identify and release
suitable staff
from
departments, including a senior oil expert and senior
economist.
•
The UK
“effort” in CPA(South) should be increased “as required”,
including
through the
appointment of a “suitably strong UK figure” to
replace
Ambassador
Olsen.
•
The UK
should continue to send small numbers of staff to other
CPA
145.
The IPU
prepared more detailed proposals for the AHMGIR on 17
July.95
It
based
its
recommendations on the principle that the UK should seek to exert
influence at
“all levels”,
from national input provided by the Prime Minister’s Special
Representative
to working
level appointments in selected policy areas. The IPU
recommended:
•
filling
gaps, including at a senior level in UK coverage of Security Sector
Reform
(SSR), the
economic ministries and the oil ministry;
92
Letter
Straw to Chief Secretary to the Treasury, 18 July 2003,
‘Iraq‑Related Costs’.
93
Letter
Boateng to Straw, 9 September 2003, ‘Iraq Reserve
Claim’.
94
Minutes, 10
July 2003, Ad Hoc Group on Iraq Rehabilitation
meeting.
95 Annotated
Agenda, 17 July 2003, Ad Hoc Group on Iraq Rehabilitation meeting
attaching Paper Iraq
Policy
Unit, 14 July 2003, ‘Ad Hoc Ministerial Meeting: 17 July, (Annex C)
Future Staffing of the CPA’.
268