15.1 | Civilian
personnel
staff … Key
local government politicians and officials are more willing to
engage with
DFID than
with the UK military and FCO.” 529
830.
On 25 April,
DFID officials advised Mr Benn that two LE staff working for
the UK
at the
Basra Palace site had left Iraq in fear of their lives after being
followed home from
work.530
The
incident had caused concern among other LE staff, who had been
given the
remainder
of the week off. All local staff continued to have “standing
permission not to
come to
work if they felt unsafe”. The situation was to be reviewed once it
was clearer
how many
local staff considered it safe to return to work and it was
possible to assess
the impact
on the DFID programme.
831.
Mr Benn
commented: “The right approach – our local staff have shown a lot
of
courage and
deserve all our support.” 531
832.
On 18 June, an
LE member of staff at the British Embassy Office Basra
was
murdered.
His wife, also a local member of staff, was seriously
injured.532
833.
On 29 June,
local staff working for the British Embassy Office Basra were
advised
that they
could take the available severance package if they no longer felt
safe working
there.533
They were
told there might come a point when their employment would
have
to be
terminated because of the risk to their safety, but the Embassy
Office judged that
point had
not yet been reached.
834.
During the
second half of 2006, FCO and DFID officials exchanged views
on
departments’
duty of care to LE staff.
835.
Ms Diana
Brookes, FCO Legal Counsellor, advised FCO officials:
“The
important point is that even if they [LE staff] have accepted the
risks involved
this does
not absolve the FCO from liability in terms of duty of care in an
individual
case. If
the view is taken that the risk is so great that LE staff should
not continue
working at
this time then I do not see how we could be meeting our duty of
care to
them by
allowing them to turn down the voluntary severance package. If the
risk is
that high
then the severance package should be made compulsory for all LE
staff,
otherwise
we risk the possibility of liability for breach of our duty of care
if a further
incident
were to happen.” 534
529
Letter Lamb
to IPU [junior official], 20 April 2006, ‘Basra: Security and
Drawdown’.
530
Minute DFID
[junior official] to PS/Secretary of State [DFID], 25 April
2006, ‘Basra
Security and Staffing’.
531
Manuscript
comment Benn on Minute [DFID junior official] to PS/Secretary of
State [DFID], 25 April
2006,
‘Basra Security and Staffing’.
532
Minute
Asquith to Private Secretary [FCO], 21 June 2006, ‘Assassination of
Locally Engaged Staff
in Basra’.
533
Email
[Basra junior official] to [FCO junior official], 29 June 2006,
‘Local Staff’.
534
Email
Brookes to [FCO junior official], 29 June 2006, ‘Local
Staff’.
385