The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
914.
The paper
explained that there had been “substantial discussion”
between
departments
over governance and accountability. The proposed arrangements took
into
account the
need for:
•
policy and
strategy decisions to be taken inter-departmentally (policy
would
be set
jointly by departments through a Cabinet Office-chaired steering
group,
reporting
to a DOP Sub-Committee chaired by the Foreign Secretary);
and
•
financial
accountability to be the preserve of the DFID Permanent
Secretary
as Accounting
Officer for DFID funds.
915.
The paper
stated that PCRU staffing would grow over two to three years
to
become
fully operational with a core staff of about 40. It would have “an
additional surge
capacity
and deployable element drawn from volunteers from across Whitehall,
NGOs
and the
private sector”. The proposed size reflected:
“… the need
to support the likely scales of effort and concurrency of UK
military
deployments
as reflected in the Defence White Paper: one enduring
minimum
deployment
(e.g. the Balkans or Iraq) plus either two enduring
small-scale
deployments
(e.g. Sierra Leone or Mozambique flood relief) or one
short-term
medium
deployment (e.g. Afghanistan).”
916.
On 6
September, Sir Nigel Sheinwald informed members of DOP and
Sir Andrew
Turnbull,
the Cabinet Secretary, that Mr Blair was content with the
management
arrangements
set out in the July DOP paper. Mr Blair believed the PCRU
should be
“lean”,
with an ability to surge when required, and wanted staffing to be
kept under
review.576
The Cabinet
Office would now start to establish the necessary
committee
structures.
917.
Mr Benn
informed Parliament on 16 September of “the Government’s intention
to
improve the
United Kingdom’s capacity to deal with immediate post-conflict
stabilisation,
including
by integrating civilian and military policy, planning and
operations”.577
The
FCO,
the MOD and
DFID were working closely to develop the capabilities that were
needed
and
expected to be in a position formally to establish the PCRU later
in the year.
918.
The PCRU was
established in September 2004.578
576
Letter
Sheinwald to Malik, 6 September 2004, ‘Lessons of Iraq: Whitehall
Responses’.
577
House of
Commons, Official
Report, 16
September 2004, column 173WS.
578
Minute
[DFID junior official] to Drummond, 29 June 2005, ‘PCRU Update
Meeting with the PUSS,
21 June’.
510