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Written Question
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Equality
Friday 1st March 2024

Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, how many staff in their Department have job titles that include the words (a) equality, (b) diversity, (c) inclusion, (d) gender, (e) LGBT and (f) race.

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

The Government is auditing the cost-effectiveness of all equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) activities, through the review of EDI spending announced last June. As stated in the Autumn Statement by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Minister for Cabinet Office will be outlining the final proposals in response to the review in due course. Information on job titles is not collected centrally in the FCDO.


Written Question
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Equality
Tuesday 23rd January 2024

Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, how many equalities impact assessments his Department completed in each of the last five years for which data is available.

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

Under the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) the FCDO is required to pay due regard to the need to: eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between different people when carrying out their activities. Equality Impact Assessments (EIAs) are one of the tools used to assess whether a new policy or change to existing policy is likely to have a disproportionate impact on those with protected characteristics as defined in the 2010 Equality Act. The FCDO does not centrally monitor how many EIAs are completed, therefore no information is held on this question.


Written Question
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Staff
Tuesday 6th October 2020

Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many people work in the diversity and inclusion team in his Department's human resources department.

Answered by Nigel Adams

Diversity and inclusion work is the responsibility of a number of people working in HR and across the network in the FCDO, including circa 25 members of staff from the former FCO and DFID diversity and inclusion teams.

The FCDO is committed to putting diversity and inclusion at its heart, and is working towards its aspiration to be the most inclusive government department.


Written Question
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Equality
Tuesday 29th September 2020

Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many people his Department and its agencies employ in teams working on issues relating to diversity, equality or inclusion.

Answered by Nigel Adams

This information is not held centrally. The FCDO is committed to putting diversity, equality and inclusion at its heart.


Written Question
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Staff
Friday 18th September 2020

Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many members of staff in their Department have one or more of the words equality, diversity, inclusion, gender, LGBT or race in their job title.

Answered by Nigel Adams

This information is not held centrally. The FCDO is committed to putting diversity and inclusion at its heart.


Written Question
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Staff
Friday 18th September 2020

Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many members of staff in his Department have equality, diversity or inclusion in their job title.

Answered by Nigel Adams

This information is not held centrally. The FCDO is committed to putting diversity and inclusion at its heart.


Written Question
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Training
Thursday 17th September 2020

Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much the Department spent on unconscious bias training in each of the last five years.

Answered by Nigel Adams

There are three ways the FCDO supports staff in this learning: by direct access to the Civil Service Learning (CSL) website, by accessing CSL via the FCDO's internal learning system, Global Learning Opportunities (GLO), or by learning provided by specialists and learning champions overseas. There is no cost to departments for the online CSL unconscious bias training. We do not hold any data centrally for unconscious bias courses delivered overseas or for earlier periods.


Written Question
Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Training
Monday 7th September 2020

Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many staff of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office have undertaken unconscious bias training in each of the last five years.

Answered by Nigel Adams

The FCO takes unconscious bias training seriously. All staff must complete mandatory online unconscious bias training once every three years. There are three ways the FCO supports staff in this learning: by direct access to the Civil Service Learning (CSL) website, by accessing CSL via the FCO's internal learning system, Global Learning Opportunities (GLO), or by attending courses delivered overseas by learning specialists and learning champions.

The FCO is only able to access records for staff who have accessed the CSL unconscious bias training offer via the second of these routes, i.e. via GLO. Over the last five years, a total of 2,896 FCO staff accessed CSL unconscious bias training in this way. The FCO can provide an annual breakdown for 2019 and 2020, but not for 2016-18. In 2019, 566 FCO members of staff completed the CSL online unconscious bias training, and so far in 2020, 555 FCO members of staff have undertaken the training.


Written Question
India: Pakistan
Monday 28th October 2019

Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to improve relations between different faith groups in India and Pakistan.

Answered by Heather Wheeler

We are in regular contact with the governments of India and of Pakistan and encourage both countries to engage in dialogue and find lasting, diplomatic solutions to maintain regional stability. We welcome their recent agreement to allow pilgrims to cross the Kartarpur corridor without the need to obtain a visa.


Written Question
Treaties
Thursday 28th March 2019

Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 22 March 2019 to Question 234199 on Treaties, if he will provide a full list naming each of the 52 multilateral treaties from which the UK has unilaterally withdrawn since 1 January 1988.

Answered by Alan Duncan

A full list of those 52 multilateral treaties from which the UK has unilaterally withdrawn since 1 January 1988 is attached.