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As I said to colleagues on Wednesday, staff from many Departments and ) Agencies are making significant contributions on the ground in Iraq. Ministers greatly appreciate their courage, persistence and determination. Jack Straw underlined this at Cabinet after his visit to Iraq last week.
Ministers feel more should be done to recognise what our secondees in Iraq are Please encourage your Human Resources and Communications teams to achieving.
address this, for example by generating reports for your house journals, sending messages of support and appreciation to secondees, and feeding stories newspapers and radio stations (as our military colleagues often do so well). Geoff Hoon has kindly offered MOD help with the latter, on which FCO officals will co- ordinate.
We should also ensure that the experience gained by secondees in Iraq is valued In many properly, and reflected in their appraisals and future career development.
cases, secondees will have displayed or acquired skills which should be strong assets as they return to new jobs at home.
Many of you have been very helpful in releasing staff for work in Iraq. I hope you will continue to look sympathetically at further requests over the next few months
- but always on the clear understanding that secondments in Iraq must be entirely voluntary, and that all volunteers will be fully briefed on the security situation.
I am copying this letter to Wednesday morning colleagues.
You sur
Andrew Turnbull
Sir Hayden Phillips GCB
Department for Constitutional Affairs Ref: A02003/1708 DECLASSIFIED