HC Deb 05 February 2004 vol 417 cc46-8WS
The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs(Mr. Jack Straw)

This week, I laid before Parliament Government White Paper Command 6107, "Twelfth Report of the Foreign Affairs Committee Session 2002–03 Foreign and Commonwealth Office Annual Report 2003 Response of the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs".

The Committee draws a number of conclusions and makes various recommendations in its Report on a variety of issues including staff management, resources and the FCO's overseas estate. My response covers all these points.

The FCO welcomes the Committee's recognition among other things of its staffs commitment, often in difficult circumstances; its Public Diplomacy efforts with the BBC World Service and British Council to improve perceptions of the UK in the Arab and Muslim worlds; the improved management of its locally-engaged staff overseas and its innovative and effective handling of rapidly increasing visa applications. The FCO will build on good practice in these areas and report on progress in future annual reports.

The Command Paper addresses the Foreign Affairs Committee's concerns about the FCO's asset recycling programme. The programme permits the FCO to invest part of the funds gained from the sale of underperforming or unsuitable property in other projects such as ICT development. The Response provides details of how we identify potential property for sale, in line with the FCO's strategic priorities. It also explains that half such capital is reinvested into the FCO's estate and that this figure will rise to 80 per cent from I April this year. The Paper admits the difficulties involved in sustaining the programme over the long term, but also describes how it has allowed the FCO to develop important capital estate projects such as the UK's new Embassies in Berlin and Moscow.

The paper takes issue with the Committee's observation that the FCO attempted to conceal losses associated with a cancelled ICT programme in its 2003 Annual Report and emphasises its commitment to reporting FCO activity, including costs incurred, as clearly as possible.

In its report the Committee highlighted the increasing demands being placed on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office from new challenges such as Iraq while operating within a finite resource climate. Its report recommended that the Government increase the resources allocated to the FCO to prevent erosion of its core activity. The FCO's response welcomes the Committee's recognition of the difficult resource climate in which the FCO currently has to operate. It describes how the new FCO Strategy (Government White Paper Command 6052, "UK International Priorities: A Strategy for the FCO") which I laid before Parliament on 2 December 2003 will be a major tool in prioritising our work in future and ensuring that resources are targeted to achieve the most important goals of the Government's international policies.

We are now in the process of putting the FCO Strategy into practice. We have established a departmental change programme, derived from the Strategy, which sets out what we intend to do to focus our resources on priorities, become more flexible and responsive, improve the diversity of our people, skills and experience, and target our activity to meet the needs of our customers across Government and the UK public. As part of the Change Programme we are reviewing our organisation in London and abroad to ensure that it is aligned with our priorities and able to deliver the outcomes we seek.

The Foreign Affairs Committee outlines some concerns it has about the FCO's posts overseas. It recommends that the FCO open a new post in Kyrgyzstan, and suggests that where post closures are being considered, the Department should seek creative alternatives. The Response explains that, to meet its strategic priorities and ensure safe and secure working environments for its staff while working within resource limitations, the FCO is obliged to adapt and amend its pattern of overseas representation. The FCO has already introduced alternative methods of representation in some parts of West Africa and agrees with the Committee that such options are preferable to Post closure. The FCO's network of diplomatic posts will remain a vital means of delivering the Government's priorities and building UK influence abroad. We need to ensure that it is adequately resourced, secure and tasked to address our most important priorities.