Corps news – Embassy 18 – July/August 2009

Embassy debts increase by 50%

The British government is subsidising diplomatic missions that do not pay their rates and taxes to the tune of over £600,000, up almost 50% from 2008, according to recent figures released by the Foreign Office.

In a sign that missions are feeling the pinch of the global financial crisis, debts owed by embassies have shot up from £424,700 last year to £634,205 this year.

Zimbabwe owes the most with arrears of £79,883. Apart from a single payment in 2006-07, the embassy has not paid its rates since 2000-01. A further seven missions have debts of more than £10,000, totalling £353,961.

Asked if local authorities had the power to withdraw services from non-paying missions, Foreign Office minister Chris Bryant explained that National Non-Domestic Rates (NNDR) for diplomatic premises were paid in full to local authorities by the Valuation Office Agency, which then bills individual missions for services.

“As diplomatic missions do not pay NNDR direct to local authorities, it would not be appropriate for local authorities to withdraw services,” he said.