Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many and what proportion of serving HM Ambassadors and High Commissioners are not career diplomats.

As at 21 March 2017, 12 of the UK's 157 serving HM Ambassadors and High Commissioners were recruited to these roles from another UK Government Department or from outside the UK Civil Service. This represents 8 per cent of the total.