By IRNA,
London : The Foreign Office is wasting millions on expansive embassy buildings around the world while cutting funding for crucial security measures in high-risk countries, a parliamentary watchdog warned Thursday.
The National Audit Office (NAO) said that ministers have “no clear strategy” for the 4,062 embassies and residential homes for diplomats in 279 locations across the world.
The best figures the auditors could find suggested that more than two-thirds of staff overseas were residing in offices that were 50% larger than the guidelines suggest they need be. Six in 10 of the offices around the world had unused space.
The spending watchdog also reported that as a result of the Foreign Office facing falling budgets due to the slump in the value of the pound, nine projects, costing £87 million had been delayed. Four of these were security-driven projects.
The future of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in Kabul was said to have been “threatened” following its failure to get an agreement from other government departments to start planning a high-security replacement for its offices.
A third of staff in the building are from other government departments but the Foreign Office failed to persuade ministers in the other departments to share the costs.
“Although the department has begun to remedy some of the shortcomings we identified and has started work on its strategy for managing the estate, it still needs to get the basics right,” said Amyas Morse, head of the NAO.
“It needs to lay out the priorities for its overseas estate and work out how to get more robust information. While there are examples of good practice at individual posts, the department needs to spread this across the whole estate if it is to make real efficiencies,” Morse said.
Last month, the British government was reported to be drawing up a secret hit list of embassies to be closed as a result of the sharp fall in the value of the pound.