Written question asked by Jeremy Corbyn (Labour) on Tuesday, 20 May 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 22 May 2008. It was answered by Kim Howells (Labour) on Wednesday, 4 June 2008 on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Iraq: Diplomatic Service

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the cost of the UK diplomatic presence in Iraq was in each year from 1998 to 2007.

Answer

The cost of the UK diplomatic presence in Iraq each year from 1998 to 2007 was as follows:

	£ million
1998 to 2001	¹—
2001-2002	²<0.1
2002-2003	²0.4
2003-2004	5.5
2004-2005	³45.5
2005-2006	³54.7
2006-2007	³88.6
2007-2008	³49.7
¹ Data on costs prior to 2001 are not held in a format that would enable us to answer the question without incurring disproportionate cost.
² Iraq costs for 2001-02 and 2002-03 are relatively small because the UK was not represented in Baghdad at the time, our embassy having closed in January 1991.
³ Iraq costs from 2004-05 to 2007-08 include the costs of supporting other Government Departments for which the FCO is reimbursed.
Notes:
1. The figures listed include all direct and indirect Post expenditure, including money spent by the centre on behalf of Posts, including:
Administrative costs;
Staff costs (UK based and locally engaged); and
Programme costs (for example, the Global Opportunities Fund and the Global Conflict Prevention Pool).
2. The figures listed do not include the following:
A share of central Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) overhead;
Depreciation;
Cost of Capital;
A share of impairment costs; and
Post income (Visa, Consular and other receipts).
Source:
FCO's Expenditure Allocation Report which shows a detailed breakdown of the costs of all FCO posts.

Secondary information