15.1 | Civilian
personnel
of
psychological profiling, to see if they have the tenacity and
resilience to be able
to work
in such tough environments.
“We also
make sure to support them when they are there. So – particularly
after
security
incidents, we make sure that our welfare people and our
counselling
services
are available to them to deal with any concerns that they have, but
it
is providing
emotional support.” 487
760.
Civil servants
deployed to Iraq were covered for death and injury by the
provisions
of the
Civil Service Pension Scheme.488
761.
In June 2003,
Treasury Solicitors advised DFID that its duty of care in Iraq
did
not extend
to “the provision of personal accident insurance against special
risks arising
out of
postings or travel overseas or, for that matter, advising employees
to obtain
appropriate
insurance cover”.489
762.
In October
2003, COBR commissioned an FCO‑led review of training, security
and
insurance
for UK civilians serving in Iraq to “ensure that there is
consistency across all
government
departments seconding staff and consultants”.490
763.
On 11
November, Sir Michael Jay reported to Permanent Secretaries
and the heads
of other
organisations with personnel serving in Iraq that the review had
found “no material
gaps or
inconsistencies” between departments, except in the case of
insurance, where
there was a
difference between arrangements for MOD civilians and other civil
servants.491
764.
Sir Michael
enclosed a paper summarising the death and injury provisions of
the
Civil
Service Pension Scheme and the advice on life insurance offered to
secondees by
the FCO,
the MOD and DFID. The paper explained that the FCO advised
secondees
from the
FCO and other government departments (excluding DFID and the MOD)
to
check
whether their life insurance policies covered death in Iraq. If
insurers required
an extra
premium to provide cover under an existing policy, the FCO would
cover that
cost for
maximum life cover of four times the officer’s salary. If insurers
were unwilling
to provide
cover, the FCO recommended taking out a new policy, on which the
Iraq
Directorate
could offer advice. As long as the policy had a term of at least 10
years,
the FCO
would cover the costs on the same terms as for those paying extra
premiums
for
existing policies.
765.
The paper
stated that DFID offered its staff the same support.
487
Public
hearing, 13 January 2010, page 30.
488
Letter Jay
to Chakrabarti, 11 November 2003, ‘Security of UK Civilian
Secondees in Iraq’ attaching
Paper,
‘Iraq: Civilian Staff: Training, Briefing, Security and
Insurance’.
489
Letter
Treasury Solicitors [junior official] to Department for
International Development [junior official],
25 June
2004, ‘Duty of care to staff in Iraq’.
490
Minute OD
Secretariat to Sheinwald, 28 October 2003, ‘Iraq: Review of
Security Arrangements for
UK Staff’.
491
Letter Jay
to Chakrabarti, 11 November 2003, ‘Security of UK Civilian
Secondees in Iraq’ attaching
Paper,
‘Iraq: Civilian Staff: Training, Briefing, Security and
Insurance’.
373