HC Deb 11 May 1999 vol 331 cc118-9W
Mr. Bercow

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the(a) remit, (b) cost and (c) activity of the working group of young officials to monitor implementation of his Department's modernisation programme; how many times

it has met; what documents and recommendations it has produced; and what actions have, as a result, been taken by him. [83731]

Mr. Robin Cook

The Modernisation Group has been tasked with exploring how the FCO could work better, and how it could become a better place to work.

Its costs are minimal. The group does not have a budget.

It has thirty members, five working groups on different subjects, and a mailing list of over a hundred from across the network of posts. It meets at least once every two weeks. I keep in close touch with its work. It has so far produced recommendations on encouraging creativity and on improving personnel management. Implementation of its ideas is already being taken forward. It will soon be sending me a further set of ideas.