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Written Question
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Official Hospitality
Wednesday 13th December 2023

Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, how much their Department spent on hospitality in (a) 2021, (b) 2022 and (c) 2023.

Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

We do not routinely publish this data, as has been the case under successive administrations. All Business Units within the FCDO have a responsibility to keep official hospitality costs as low as possible and demonstrate good value for money.

Details of ministerial and senior official hospitality are published on a quarterly basis, and are available on GOV.UK.


Written Question
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Taxis
Tuesday 25th October 2022

Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much his Department spent on taxi cabs for (a) ministers and (b) civil servants in each of the last three years.

Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)

Total taxi travel spend for those financial years is listed below:

FY 2020 - £1,989,134

FY 2021 - £ 1,072,219

FY 2022 - £1,312,289


Written Question
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Railways
Tuesday 25th October 2022

Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much his Department spent on first class train travel for (a) ministers and (b) civil servants in (i) 2020, (i) 2021 and (iii) 2022.

Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)

Total rail travel spend for those financial years are in the table below.

FY2020 - 2305799

FY2021 - 157608

FY2022 - 773084


Written Question
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Agency Workers
Monday 5th September 2022

Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much her Department has spent on (a) agency workers and (b) agency retainer fees in (i) 2020, (ii) 2021 and (iii) 2022.

Answered by Amanda Milling - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The FCDO spend on agency staff is contained in the published FCDO Annual Report and Accounts:

Financial Year

2019-20

2020-21

2021-22

Temporary Staff Costs

£12,086,112

£25,679,267

£39,575,855

The figures provided are inclusive of both the cost of the contingent labourer and the agency fee for provision of their services.


Written Question
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Consultants
Wednesday 3rd August 2022

Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much her Department has spent on consultancy fees in (a) 2020, (b) 2021 and (c) 2022; and what the name is of each consultancy contracted.

Answered by Amanda Milling - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

FCDO consultancy spend in financial years 2021-22 and 2020-21 was £5.7 million and £2.7 million respectively. Total FCO plus DFID spend for 2019-20 was £3 million.

More detailed information can be found on a contract by contract basis at https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder Contracts Finder records details of contracts worth over £10,000 with the government and its agencies.


Written Question
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Advertising
Tuesday 2nd August 2022

Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much her Department spent on advertising in (a) 2020, (b) 2021 and (c) 2022.

Answered by Amanda Milling - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The information requested is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.


Written Question
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Aviation
Wednesday 27th July 2022

Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much their Department has spent on air travel for (a) Ministers and (b) officials in (i) 2020, (ii) 2021 and (iii) 2022.

Answered by Amanda Milling - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

Details of ministerial commercial travel is published quarterly on gov.uk. Please see the link below for the FCDO return. https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/fcdo-ministerial-gifts-hospitality-travel-and-meetings#full-publication-update-history

The latest data was published on 14 July with an accompanying Written Ministerial Statement made in both Houses of Parliament on 15 July:

https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2022-07-15/debates/2207152000007/GovernmentTransparencyAndAccountability#

Air travel costs for officials in financial year 2020-21 was £3.9m and for financial year 2021-22 was £7.4m. These figures are taken from the FCDO's financial systems and should exclude travel incurred by Ministers, and any non-air travel costs. These figures are for flights taken as part of duty travel; travel taken as part of staff members' overseas allowance packages are excluded as these costs are not split on the system between air travel and other types of travel.


Written Question
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Contracts
Monday 18th July 2022

Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many contracts that are worth (a) between £1 million and £3 million and (b) over £3 million their (i) Department and (ii) Department’s agencies and non-departmental public bodies (A) have agreed since 2010 and (B) are due to agree within the next 12 months; how much their Department has spent on monitoring each contract in each year since 2010; and how many officials have been working on that monitoring in each year since 2010.

Answered by Vicky Ford

We would ask you to please see the link below to our contract finder https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Search. Details of Government contracts from 2016 above £10,000, and £25,000 in the wider public sector, are published on Contracts Finder. Publications include early engagement, future opportunities, and opportunities.

In relation to your request, part b) this information is not readily available/held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.


Written Question
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Legal Costs
Friday 15th July 2022

Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much their Department and its associated agencies spent on legal disputes in (a) 2020, (b) 2021 and (c) 2022.

Answered by Amanda Milling - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The FCDO does not hold detailed information centrally regarding spend on legal disputes.


Written Question
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Contracts
Wednesday 13th July 2022

Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what the total value has been of contracts held by their Department with (a) G4S, (b) Serco and (c) Capita in each year since 2020.

Answered by Vicky Ford

Details of Government contracts from 2016 above £10,000, and £25,000 in the wider public sector, are published on Contracts Finder (https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder).