R Munday Esq PSA
Wellesley Road CROYDON
'NT IDENTIAL
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1A 2AH
(14)
28 April 1982
нка 36411
сп.
пи Минчин,
GIBRALTAR:
GOVERNOR'S RESIDENCE
Thank you for your letter of 15 April about future arrange- ments for the upkeep of the Convent in Gibraltar.
1.
2.
It seems clear that HMG's agreement to pay for the upkeep of the Convent following the closure of the border with Spain in 1969 is part of the ''Support and Sustain'' policy.
(I understand that although PSA are responsible for maintaining C in Cresidences overseas they do not usually maintain those of Governors and we seem historically to have accepted that you should not be responsible for the Convent in normal circumstances.) Logically therefore when the border is open the arrangements should be discontinued and I note that this point was made at the time. To do so immediately the border opens would however come as a blow to the Treasury in Gibraltar at a time when they are likely to find the economic climate particularly chilly. The political implications of simultaneously stopping a number of measures taken in the context of Support and Sustain at a time when the dockyard is to be closed will also need to be considered carefully. I think therefore that we must look at your proposal in the wider context of a review of the whole Support and Sustain policy. We have no immediate plans to submit on this to Ministers, but once the border is open and the main measures to be taken following dockyard closure are known, we shall have to address the problem and seek Ministerial guidance.
3.
Without wishing to anticipate what Ministers will say, I think it would be prudent if you were to think in terms of planning to pay for the upkeep of the Convent at least for one more financial year. Certainly any notification to your representative in Gibraltarthow that he is soon to have no further responsibility for the Convent would be premature.
4.
I would of course be happy to get together with you and Newham Beaumont at any time to talk over the problem.
But
CONFIDENTIAL
/unless