Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many full-time equivalent staff in her Department have been employed for the purpose of making social media content in each of the last three years.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Due to the difficulty of disaggregating the number of staff who work on social media from staff who work on broader digital communications, it is not possible to provide the requested data in response to this question.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many and what proportion of civil servants in her Department are (a) on temporary contract and (b) consultants.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Information on the number of civil servants employed on temporary contracts is published quarterly by the Office for National Statistics as part of the quarterly Public Sector Employment statistics. Information can be accessed for September 2025 at the following web address:
https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/publicsectorpersonnel/bulletins/publicsectoremployment/september2025.
Departmental expenditure on consultancy is published within the Annual Report and Accounts. The latest report for Financial Year 2024/25 can be found at the following web address:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fcdo-annual-report-and-accounts-2024-to-2025.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many (a) single sex and (b) gender neutral bathroom facilities her Department provides in its Whitehall premises.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I will be glad to schedule an opportunity for the Rt Hon Member to come into the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office's King Charles Street offices and count the number of toilets if he considers that a sensible and appropriate use of his time. He will find that there has been no change to the provision of facilities to that in place under the previous government.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if she will list the titles of all the events organised by Civil Service networks in her Department since 2017.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Rt. Hon. Member to the answer of 25 June 2025 to question 59393.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what measures her Department has in place to run critical services in the event of a major internet outage.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has established business continuity and IT service continuity arrangements to sustain critical services during severe disruption, including a major internet outage. For security reasons, the department does not publish operational details of its resilience arrangements.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether overseas aid provided to the Safe Abortion Action Fund has been given to Las Libres since 2022.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK provides overseas aid to the Safe Abortion Action Fund (SAAF), which works to expand access to legal, safe and life-saving abortion services in low- and middle-income countries. SAAF is a pooled fund which supports a number of partners globally, details of which can be found on its website.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many times (a) Ministers and (b) special advisers in her Department have met with abortion providers since July 2024.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
All ministerial meetings with external organisations, and relevant Special Adviser meetings, are published in the usual way on gov.uk.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many days was the Union Flag flown on the main Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office building in (a) 2024 and (b) 2025 to date.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office building on King Charles Street has flown the Union Flag daily throughout 2024 and thus far in 2025.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department has spent money on promotion through social media influencers since July 2024.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office's central communication team has not paid any social media influencers for promotion since July 2024.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, on what dates the Chagos Contact Group (a) has met and (b) has plans to meet.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Contact Group is part of this government's commitment to increase UK support to Chagossian communities. Its first meeting, which I attended, took place on 2 September 2025. The Contact Group will meet quarterly as part of wider engagement between the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and Chagossians.