15.1 | Civilian
personnel
be
unreasonable for the FCO to expect them to make their own
assessment as to the
risks to
their own staff (eg while travelling to and from post)”. Contracts
with such firms
and
agencies needed to be carefully vetted and contractors were
required to have
employers’
liability insurance.
451.
The IPU
recommended that as many members of the FCO Board as
possible
attend a
meeting to discuss:
•
the impact
of the Iraqiisation of Iraqi Security Forces on security in
Baghdad;
•
the impact
of the withdrawal of UK military personnel on security in the
South;
•
a thorough
review of staffing levels; and
•
a contingency
planning exercise on coping with an emergency in Iraq, to
be
attended by
as many Board members as possible.
452.
Sir Michael
Jay agreed the IPU recommendations on 3 July.299
He asked
for:
•
the status
of civilian police to be clarified quickly;
•
confirmation
that a number of specific issues were being addressed;
and
•
advice on
measures to protect local staff should UK‑based staff be
evacuated.
453.
The IPU
responded on 19 July:
•
Efforts
were in hand to tighten DFID’s pre‑deployment medical
screening
procedures
for staff and contractors.
•
Pre‑deployment
procedures for police officers would be brought in line
with
those for
FCO personnel by 1 September.
•
Concerns
remained about arrangements for the evacuation of third
country
nationals
employed by the UK. A UK military assumption that third
country
nationals
would be evacuated was unsatisfactory and was being pursued
with
the
MOD.
•
The Home
Office had challenged the FCO view that police officers
on
secondment
from their home police force were not FCO employees. The
issue
was with
lawyers. The status of retired police officers was also being
discussed
454.
Dr Rosalind
Marsden, the newly arrived British Consul General in Basra,
sent
a detailed
assessment of the security situation to Mr Casey on 31
August:
“The
following strikes me, as a newcomer:
(a) how
exposed the Basra Palace Compound (BPC) is. We abut the
city:
houses,
parks and fishing boats crowd around our walls. The ‘badlands’
start
about two
hundred feet from my office …
(b) the
risks our local staff run to work for us …
299
Minute Jay
to Asquith, 3 July 2006, ‘Iraq: Review of Security’.
300
Minute IPU
[junior official] to PS/PUS [FCO], 19 July 2006, ‘Iraq: Review of
Security’.
323