Vol. 489 No. 7
50 Ms O. Mitchell asked the Minister for Defence the plans, if any, he has to address the anomaly whereby some officers and non-commissioned officers who are posted to UNICYP receive an accompanied allowance, if married, whereas others, who serve for a similar period, do not. [9278/98]
A daily overseas allowance, the current rates of which range from £16.95 to £23.29 per day depending upon rank, is payable to officers and non-commissioned personnel of the Permanent Defence Force serving with the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP). The same rate is payable to all personnel irrespective of marital status or whether the individual is accompanied or unaccompanied. An accompanied allowance is not payable to Permanent Defence Force personnel serving with the mission.
Defence Force personnel serve with two distinct groups of the UNFICYP mission in Cyprus, namely (i) Headquarters Staff, members of which may be accommodated locally, and (ii) Camp Command Component, an armed unit whose members are required by the United Nations to live on base and are provided with both accommodation and food. Headquarters Staff personnel may be accompanied by their families and may receive travel, educational and rent allowances, as appropriate, if accompanied by their families to the mission area. In such instances 75 per cent of vouched cost of accommodation may be reimbursed to officers and non-commissioned officers who are married and accompanied by their families on the mission.
