The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
to report
to Ministers in November, drawing on responses to a questionnaire
to be given
to
secondees within a month of their return from Iraq.458
703.
Mr Straw
told Cabinet on 27 November that he had spoken to some 60 UK
staff
at CPA
headquarters in Baghdad, whose “extraordinary stoicism”, commitment
and
contribution
should be recognised.459
There was,
however, a sense that staff from
departments
that did not normally send people on overseas postings were not
properly
appreciated
by those departments, either while in Iraq or on their return.
Mr Straw
asked
colleagues to ensure Permanent Secretaries were “managing and
supporting”
their
seconded staff and suggested that regular contact should be
maintained between
departmental
top management and their secondees.
704.
On 1 December,
Mr John Barker, a Director in the Cabinet Office
Corporate
Development
Group, updated Sir Andrew Turnbull on responses to the
questionnaire
given to
returning UK secondees to the CPA.460
Mr Barker
reported:
“So far we
have only had eight questionnaires returned. Although they have
raised
a small
number of niggles for example in relation to visa problems in
Kuwait delaying
travel
arrangements and to difficulties in getting help to arrange flights
home, the
overall
response has been positive. Volunteers have enjoyed the
experience,
learned
from it, felt proud to have been involved, enjoyed the comradeship
and will
be happy to
recommend others to go out there. None of the questionnaires
mention
concerns
about treatment on return to their department.
“There may
of course be people who have not let us know of difficulties
…”
705.
Mr Barker
proposed that Sir Andrew Turnbull write to Permanent
Secretaries,
reminding
them that:
“…
colleagues are doing a splendid job in very trying circumstances
and will
be
developing their competences in many of the areas we would want
them to.
We should
ensure that their contribution is recognised and that they do not
have
grounds for
believing that their careers have suffered because of being
there.”
706.
Sir Andrew
Turnbull wrote to Permanent Secretaries on 3
December.461
He reported
that Ministers greatly appreciated the “courage, persistence
and
determination”
of staff in Iraq and felt more could be done to recognise what they
were
achieving:
“Please
encourage your Human Resources and Communications teams to
address
this, for
example by generating reports for your house journals, sending
messages
458
Minute Dodd
to Barker, 4 August 2003, ‘Iraq: feedback from
secondees’.
459
Cabinet
Conclusions, 27 November 2003.
460
Minute
Barker to Turnbull, 1 December 2003, ‘Iraq
Volunteers’.
461
Letter
Turnbull to Phillips, 3 December 2003, ‘Iraq: Civilian
Staffing’.
364