British Council

HC Deb 30 June 1998 vol 315 cc162-3W

Mrs. Gillan

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the number of British Council staff at overseas locations on(a) 1 May 1997 and (b) 24 June 1998. [48205]

Mr. Fatchett

Precise figures for the numbers of British Council staff on the dates requested are not available, but the estimated average numbers of staff working overseas in 1997–98 and 1998–99 are as follows:

	1997–98	1998–99
Overseas general managers	229	237
Locally engaged staff	3,700	3,874
Teachers	1,670	1,737
Total	5,599	5,848

UK-appointed management staff have remained roughly constant over the past three years, whereas the numbers of local staff have grown markedly. This reflects a policy of increasing localisation of work to reduce costs and the expansion in activity and turnover from non-HMG sources. The number of teachers continues to grow annually at around 5 per cent., with the expansion of the Council's self-funded teaching centre network.