These points were again made by the Foreign Secretary. The way the FCO is resourced and how those resources are directed are questions which go far beyond the Sierra Leone inquiry. For this reason, we shall be conducting a separate inquiry into FCO resources later in 1999. Nevertheless, there are a few observations we wish to make in the context of the current inquiry. He attributed this to the unpredictability of foreign policy work, as well as to past cuts in resources.
Most managerial jobs have to cope with unpredictability.
But we believe that something is fundamentally wrong with the management of the FCO if officials are regularly expected to work excessive hours. Not only are they doing themselves no good, but the end result of their work is bound to be inferior to work done by staff who have reasonable opportunity for relaxation. We suspect that there may be a culture in the FCO of clocking up hours to impress managers. This was recognised by the Foreign Secretary. If that is so, it is undesirable.