THE HAGUE, 30/03/07 - Dutch embassies still do not screen their staff adequately for trustworthiness, the government auditors (Algemen Rekenkamer) concluded in a report yesterday.

In 2005, the auditors found that 454 staff members sent out to embassies and 210 locally hired employees had a confidential post at an embassy without having undergone a valid screening. A recommendation to carry out this statutorily required screening correctly has not yet been implemented, the auditors say now.

The foreign ministry did implement three other recommendations from 2005. "Security policy has been clarified, the system of supervision of embassies' security is improved and the ministry has invested much in raising security-consciousness." All in all, the auditors are "pleased to see that the minister has followed up three of the four recommendations."

The government auditors published reports yesterday on 11 areas of government policy. As well as the security of Dutch embassies abroad, these were subsidised jobs, 'green' electricity, noise pollution by Schiphol airport, combating fraud, aviation supervision, soil purification, the Coastguard, local security policy, collecting employees insurance premiums and border controls in combating terrorism.