opening up Egypt to a broad range of external influences were giving correspondingly greater importance to English teaching.
HQ relocation project
6.
and
There was general satisfaction at the way in which relocation had been carried out, and the increase in the estimated recurrent savings, now expected from 1993/4, a year earlier than originally forecast. Mr Lankester spoke on the lines of the brief.
1992 PES round: policy issues and financial framework for 1993/4 estimates
7. John Hanson introduced the Board paper BCB (92)36, drawing attention to the options for cuts in 1993/4 set out in paragraph 6. He emphasised the difficulties of next year's funding in view of the restructuring exercise. He said that the implications of the PES round for ODA funding were not yet clear. Several Board members suggested that the operational budget should be spared as far as possible. George Robertson suggested that cuts of the order of £6.8m would require a fundamental reappraisal of what the British Council did.
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8. In discussing the implications of the cuts in FCO DW grant-in-aid for 1994/5 and 1995/6 (plus the carry over of £2.8m to 1994/5 for restructuring costs), John Hanson said the Council would intensify the programme of UK cost reductions. Top priorities in the Corporate Plan, notably Eastern and Central Europe and the former Soviet Union would need to be protected, but elsewhere some cuts in posts, possibly in Western Europe, might be required. The Council would need to consider in consultation with the FCO - and taking into account our response to the cuts whether it should attempt to maintain its global representation in present circumstances. thanked John Hanson for his undertaking to take account of FCO dispositions, mentioned the size of the DW cuts (of which some Board members were evidently not aware), and said that we ourselves would need to do some fairly fundamental rethinking. We would be in touch with the Council once our own approach was reasonably clear. Sir M Russell suggested there might be scope for FCO/British Council pooling of resources. Sir M Jacomb replied that the Council were ready to save money wherever possible.
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9. Mr Lankester said he was not yet in a position to confirm the ODA grant-in-aid of £30.1m for 1993/4 but made it clear that this was what he expected. ODA would have much greater difficulty with the grant-in-aid funding from 1994/5 onwards, in view of the increasing share of ODA funds that would be claimed by multilateral programmes. The consequential reduction in bilateral aid would also have repercussions on the Council's agency business.