Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many UK-based staff of his Department have resigned since September 2016.
Answered by Alan Duncan
Five UK-based staff resigned from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in the period 1 October to 31 December 2016.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, which countries he has identified as actively persecuting LGBT citizens; and what discussions he has had with his counterparts in those countries relating to such persecution.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
Defending the rights of LGB&T people is an important part of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office's human rights work. There are many countries in which LGB&T people are discriminated against, including by the state. For example, there are 73 countries that criminalise private, consensual sexual relations between adults of the same sex. All UK Embassies and High Commissions monitor and raise human rights issues in their host countries. We will continue to encourage all governments to respect the rights of LGB&T people, especially those that criminalise homosexuality and those that fail to defend the rights of LGB&T people against social prejudice and violence.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how much his Department spent on travel that was not standard class in each of the last five years.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The FCO's spending on non standard class travel is detailed in the table below as First class rail and Business class air travel. The data represents travel originating in the UK and booked through the Government's nominated travel agency.
| First class rail | Business class air |
2010/11 | £38,081 | £4,785,512 |
2011/12 | £24,455 | £5,167,379 |
2012/13 | £19,724 | £6,103,300 |
2013/14 | £1,590 | £5,421,348 |
2014/15 | £3,057 | £4,496,046 |
2015/16 | £2,597 | £4,629,774 |
2016/17 (to end November 2016) | £142 | £2,011,741 |
FCO Policy is that public transport should be used whenever possible.
FCO staff travelling by air are required to book the lowest standard fare possible, subject to budget holder approval. As the FCO is present in over 170 countries there is a need for long distance travel, but FCO officials may fly business class only if the flight is ten hours or longer, although there are occasional exceptions to this rule.
All FCO staff are directed to use standard class for rail travel unless there are exceptional circumstances e.g. illness, disability or where First class facilities are essential for working while travelling. In these exceptional circumstances, prior line management approval must be given.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what proportion of payments by his Department to small businesses are made on time and in accordance with the prompt payment code.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office aims to comply with the prompt payment code for all support. In the second quarter of this financial year (July-September), we paid 84.25 % of invoices within 5 days, and 95.45 % of invoices within 30 days.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many times his Department has (a) terminated a contract, (b) imposed a penalty and (c) denied permission for a company to tender on the grounds of grave professional misconduct since November 2015.
Answered by Alan Duncan
Our records show no such instances since November 2015.
Due to devolved contractual authority central FCO records cover only UK let contracts of a value of £80k or more.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many UK citizens have been charged with sexual abuse against children by jurisdictions outside the UK in each year since 2010.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
Based on data recorded in FCO's consular case management system, the figures are as follows:
| 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016* |
Arrest/detention – Child Sex | 64 | 75 | 90 | 61 | 63 | 85 | 57 |
Arrest/detention – Child Pornography | - | - | - | - | - | - | 12 |
*Data up until the end of October.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how much his Department has spent on agency workers in each of the last five years.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The FCO has a Temporary Agency worker supply contract with Hays Specialist Recruitment. Records of the FCO's expenditure with them, began in April 2013 and are:
| Financial Year | (£m) |
| FY 13-14 | 6.2 |
| FY 14-15 | 4.3 |
| FY 15-16 | 4.7 |
| FY 16-17 (to end of September 2016) | 2.6 |
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many officials of his Department have opted out of the EU Working Time Directive.
Answered by Alan Duncan
We do not centrally hold details of how many officials at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) have opted out of the EU Working Time Directive. To provide you with this would require us to gather information from the personnel file of each staff member and the cost of doing this would be disproportionate and exceed the appropriate limit. Managers in the FCO are however, expected to reorganise and reprioritise work rather than ask staff to sign voluntary opt outs.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, for what reasons he has not made a counter-Daesh quarterly update to the House since May 2016; and when he next plans to provide such an update.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
My Rt Hon Friend, the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Boris Johnson MP, member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip, intends to update the House in the near future.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many staff of his Department's resigned in each half of each year since 2010.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The following table contains the numbers of UK-based staff that have resigned from the Foreign & Commonwealth Office in each six month period since 2010:
FY | Six month period | Resignations | FY Total |
2010/11 | April - September 2010 | 22 | 61 |
| October 2010 - March 2011 | 39 | |
2011/12 | April - September 2011 | 43 | 70 |
| October 2011 - March 2012 | 27 | |
2012/13 | April - September 2012 | 35 | 53 |
| October 2012 - March 2013 | 18 | |
2013/14 | April - September 2013 | 29 | 46 |
| October 2013 - March 2014 | 17 | |
2014/15 | April - September 2014 | 17 | 48 |
| October 2014 - March 2015 | 31 | |
2015/16 | April - September 2015 | 23 | 47 |
| October 2015 - March 2016 | 24 | |
2016 | April - September 2016 | 34 | 34 |
Details are not held centrally for local staff.