The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
505.
Mr Stephen
Timms, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, approved the request
on
30 May,
but asked Mr Browne to take a government‑wide view of how to
allocate the
funds,
working with Mrs Beckett and others.334
506.
The next day,
Mrs Beckett submitted a parallel request for additional funds
for
an urgent
programme of security works at the British Embassy Baghdad to meet
the
increased
threat that would follow Iraqiisation of security in the
International Zone.335
Mrs Beckett
explained:
“The £23m
work in Baghdad … will only be affordable if other
departments
who use the
compound are prepared to contribute their full share … Of
‘teeth’
staff on
the compound, and contractors involved in operational delivery
(such
as police
advisers), fewer than 50 percent are FCO … Of course, there are
also
large
numbers of contractors who provide security and life support, which
is a
shared
benefit.
“If we are
not able collectively to make this investment, we would have to
look hard
at how we
could continue to operate safely and sustainably, meeting our duty
of care
to all
compound users and residents …”
507.
Mr Timms
replied on 19 June. He welcomed FCO efforts to reduce and
absorb
costs and
agreed that the FCO should “work with other departments to agree
joint
funding”.336
He
expressed willingness to agree a request to use End‑Year
Flexibility337
“if, after
agreeing contributions with other departments and taking all viable
steps to
reduce and
absorb this pressure, the costs cannot be managed within your
capital
budget this
year”.
508.
The limited
availability of hardened accommodation at the COB and the lack
of
space to
build more caused growing concern as the frequency and accuracy of
IDF
509.
On 20 April.
the IPU explained to Sir Peter Ricketts that IPAs employed by
the FCO
contractor
ArmorGroup were housed in the Skylink commercial caravan park,
which
offered a
lower standard of protection from IDF attacks. The Skylink
accommodation no
longer
presented an acceptable level of risk. In response, the FCO
intended:
“… to
continue to exert downwards pressure on overall civilian staff
numbers in
Basra, so
as to allow us to move all our IPAs into our new compound as soon
as
possible …
To this end, we and post will continue to look critically at all
civilian slots,
334
Letter
Timms to Browne, 30 May 2007, ‘Hardened Accommodation in
Iraq’.
335
Letter
Beckett to Timms, 31 May 2007, ‘Urgent Security Works at the
British Embassy Baghdad’.
336
Letter
Timms to Beckett, 19 June 2007, ‘British Embassy
Baghdad’.
337
In the
period covered by the Inquiry, the Treasury allowed departments to
carry forward unspent funds
from one
financial year to the next under the End‑Year Flexibility (EYF)
system. Unspent funds would
otherwise
have to be returned to the Treasury.
338
Minute IPU
[junior official] to PS/PUS [FCO], 20 April 2007, ‘Accommodating
ArmorGroup IPA at the
Contingency
Operating Base in Basra’.
334