38
APPENDICES TO THE MINUTES OF EVIDENCE TAKEN BEFORE THE
ACCOMMODATION POLICY IN ATHENS
Offices
1. The PSA-owned main Chancery building, being nearly new and purpose-built, is admirably suited to our present purposes.
2. The Information Department is outhoused but there are operational reasons for this and it would, in any case, be physically impossible to house the staff of the Department in the main building.
Residential Accommodation
3. We constantly monitor the property market in an attempt to find properties that might be bought but values are currently so high that nothing suitable has yet been found. The latest survey (October 1975) indicated that the purchase prices of properties in central Athens represent between 21 and 40 years' rent. There is little prospect of property values declining to a level that would enable us to buy more residential property within the recommended limits. However, so far, we have encountered no difficulty in renting suitable accommodation. At present HMG own only one residential property-HM Ambassador's Residence.
4. Overall our balance of Post Hirings and Rent Allowance Hirings approximates to the recommended /. Within grades, however, there is a preponderence of Rent Allowance Hirings at the lower end of the scale. This is partially an inherited pattern (and it is now difficult to convert a Rent Allowance Hiring to a Post Hiring because of long delays in the supply of furniture from the UK) and partly a matter of policy designed to give junior staff, particularly the single girls, greater personal choice in accommodation.
EXPENDITURE IN ATHENS
1. During the year 1 November 1974 to 31 October 1975, the total local expendi- ture of the Embassy was £797,899.
2. A breakdown of this figure is attached.
BRITISH EMBASSY (ATHENS)—DISBURSEMENTS DURING PERIOD 1 NOVEMBER 1974–31 OCTOBER 1975
£
£
Accountable Entertainment and Indirect Representational Supplement Local Education and Language Tuition
9,423
4,990
Local Staff: Pay, Overtime, Social Insurance and Gratuities, etc Honorary Consuls' Fees ...
219,965
1,063
Transportation and Travel
12,888
Medical Expenditure
1,407
Queen's Birthday Parties ...
1,101
Official Transport-Maintenance etc
3,181
Residential Accommodation, including Rents, Concessional Charges/
Paint and Furnishings ...
79,810
Office Premises: Rents, Maintenance, Furnishings etc
4,773
Postage, Telephones, Telegrams and Telex
13,064
Information Services
1,612
Distressed British Subjects and Financial Assistance against Deposits
FCO
...
...
Exchange of Sterling, Cheques,
Sundries
TOTAL (carried forward to page 39)
38,089 91,390
...
:
8,319
:
:
491,075
...
:
:
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