Hannah Bardell

I was pleased to meet with the Honourable Lady on 19th October to discuss the FCDO's consular work.

The funding allocated to the Lucie Blackman Trust is to support missing British nationals abroad and their families; the Lucie Blackman Trust has not received funding from the FCDO to support families bereaved abroad.

I was pleased to meet with the Honourable Lady on 19th October to discuss the FCDO's consular work.

As part of our overall approach to crisis preparedness in the FCDO, we continuously review our plans and processes to ensure that they reflect lessons learned from recent crisis responses. Our learning from the COVID-19 pandemic response has led to us increasing our capacity to plan for pandemics of this scale in the future, including the provision of consular services and the repatriation of British nationals overseas. We have set up a Repatriation Taskforce which is continuing to monitor future repatriation risk, build future FCDO capability and is able to run more charters if needed. Going forward, planning for large scale repatriations will be incorporated into the FCDO's core crisis response capability.

As I discussed with the Honourable Lady on 19th October, consular staff assess the vulnerability of a British national on a case-by-case basis, to provide a tailored level of assistance to the individual. This assessment will also take into account any family members, including children, with whom the British national may be travelling.

We are able to provide full consular support to dual British nationals in a third country (a country of which they are not a national). We would not normally provide consular support to dual British nationals in the country of their other nationality, or get involved in dealings between the individual and the authorities of that state. We may make an exception to this rule if, depending on the circumstances of the case, we consider that the individual is vulnerable and we have humanitarian concerns, for example cases involving a murder or manslaughter, children, forced marriage or an offence which carries the death penalty. However, the help we can provide will depend on the circumstances and the state of the British national's other nationality agreeing to our help.

The FCDO provides consular staff with extensive training to ensure they respond to British people in an empathetic and knowledgeable manner. We use feedback gathered by our dedicated Insight Team, shadowing, skills practice, and 'mystery shopping' to inform and continually develop the skills and knowledge of our staff. While there is no definitive international best practice on how to train consular staff, the UK is an active member of international consular forums and learns from, and shares experiences and practice with, a range of other countries including on the learning and development of consular staff.

As I discussed with the Honourable Lady on 19th October, the level and type of assistance and advice we offer is tailored to the individual circumstances of each person. Our staff will make an assessment of the vulnerability of a British national and the needs they have, based on who they are, where they are, and their situation. We aim to assess their needs promptly and provide effective assistance based on their individual circumstances and local conditions, making every effort to contact vulnerable British nationals within 24 hours of being notified of their situation.

I was pleased to meet with the Hon Lady on 19th October to discuss the FCDO's consular work.

As part of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office's (FCDO) commitment to transparency, details of FCDO's consular assistance are available online on http://www.gov.uk in our publication entitled "Support for British Nationals Abroad: A Guide". We consider that there is a strong public interest in protecting the space our staff have to consider and discuss options when making decisions on individual cases, particularly when offering assistance in difficult and distressing circumstances. We consider that their ability to do this, and our overall ability to ensure that we provide a tailored service to those most in need of our help, is likely to be negatively impacted by placing our internal guidance in the Library, which would not be in the public interest.

I was pleased to meet with the Honourable Lady on 19th October to discuss the FCDO's consular work.

There are no plans to bring forward legislative proposals to make consular assistance a legal right. Even if a right to assistance were to be enshrined in UK law, our ability to assist British nationals abroad would continue to remain dependent on co-operation from host countries and local laws. While there is no duty in international or domestic law to provide consular assistance, we strive to provide the right tailored assistance to those who need our help, doing more for those who most need our help.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) works closely with other departments, including the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), to provide consular assistance to British nationals overseas. The FCDO and MoJ work collaboratively in supporting victims bereaved by suspicious death and homicides abroad through our funded partner Victim Support Homicide Service. To support British nationals detained overseas and their families, the FCDO works closely with the NGOs Prisoners Abroad, the Death Penalty Project and Reprieve.

As discussed during the meeting I held with the Honourable Lady on 19th October, we have carefully considered the feedback in the APPG's report and will be pleased to issue a response in the coming weeks. Consular assistance continues to be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week from anywhere in the world, by phone, online and via social media. We will continue our focus on those British nationals overseas who are the most vulnerable, training expert frontline staff to provide assistance in country and offering a wider choice of digital services where these can be provided more effectively online.

The FCDO can confirm that consular officials fully responded to the RAND survey in writing in the interests of transparency.

The FCDO is an active member of international consular forums and learns from, and shares experiences and practice with, a range of other countries.

The United Kingdom's consular relations are generally regulated by the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations 1963, multilateral agreements, and bilateral consular conventions which does not specify language that should be used.

The 'Customer Charter' in in the publication 'Support for British Nationals Abroad: A Guide' (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/914039/FCO_BritsAbroad_A4web_020920.pdf) reflects the FCDO's commitment to provide a high quality service to those who need our support. As well as supporting British individuals who have experienced crime or trauma we also issue travel documents and provide notarial services and our publication seeks to set out the full range of help available. I was happy to meet the Honourable Lady on the 19th of October to discuss this aspect of the APPG report "Deaths Abroad, Consular Services and Assistance: Why Families Deserve Better and What Can Be Done".

The FCDO cannot comment on other states' choice of terminology in relation to consular matters.

We welcome the report of the APPG's Death Abroad, Consular Services and Assistance 2019. On 28 August I, (Minister Adams) replied to APPG chair, Hannah Bardell's letter of 28 July. In that letter I confirmed that I and my predecessors have repeatedly offered to meet the APPG to discuss their concerns and recommendations. This offer has not been taken up. We have carefully considered the issues raised in the report.

The Government sent its response to the Foreign Affairs Committee on 25 September.

The FCO noted in its January 2015 review of consular assistance following murder and manslaughter cases overseas, that a new Access to Justice Unit would be operational by January 2015, and that we would report on progress by June 2015. An update was included in a published report called "Consular Strategy 2013-16: progress during year two" published in May 2015.

"Support for British Nationals Abroad: A Guide" sets what we can and cannot provide in terms of consular assistance. In addition we have published guidance on gov.uk outlining consular support available to those bereaved through murder of manslaughter abroad called "Consular support for those bereaved through murder or manslaughter abroad". Vulnerability is assessed individually, according to each person or family's need.

The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) works with a number of partner organisations where they can provide expertise, specialist support or services that the FCDO cannot. The FCDO contributes grant funding, via the Ministry of Justice, to the Victim Support Homicide Service to provide support to eligible families bereaved abroad. The grant funding provided to the Lucie Blackman Trust is to support missing British nationals and their families.

FCDO officials are in discussion with the Ministry of Justice about the Code of Practice for Victims of Crime (Victims' Code) following recommendations made by the Victims' Commissioner for England and Wales in 2019. The Ministry of Justice recently ran a public consultation exercise on changes to the Victims' Code and their officials continue to analyse the responses received.

The creation of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has unified our international efforts so we can maximise the UK's influence around the world.

As the Foreign Secretary has said, we will implement the merger in the most cost-effective way possible. The ultimate shape of the FCDO will depend on the outcomes of the Integrated Review and Spending Review which will define the Government's ambition for the UK's role in the world and the long-term strategic aims for our national security, defence, development and foreign policy. As such, it is not possible to determine yet the anticipated final costs of the merger or the size of the department needed to deliver against those ambitions. We anticipate there may be cost savings in the long term as a result of using our resources more effectively and efficiently, though this is not the primary goal of the merger.

The Foreign Secretary has said there will be no compulsory redundancies as a result of the merger, but that some roles and responsibilities may change. We will continue to engage with staff throughout this process.