Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many and what proportion of staff employed by his Department are employed on a contract which is (a) full-time permanent, (b) part-time permanent, (c) for less than two years' duration, (d) on an agency basis and (e) zero-hours.

As of the 31^st March 2017, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office employs 4499 UK-based staff of whom 4278 work full-time and 221 work part-time. There are 47 fee-paid staff on zero hours contracts. The FCO uses zero hours contracts to carry out functions that require specialist expertise but have a fluctuating workload. We only use them for exceptional roles where they represent the best value for the taxpayer and where terms are mutually agreed with the employee. This type of contract does not preclude employees from taking secondary employment.

As of the 13^thApril 2017, there were 65 temporary agency workers assigned to the FCO in the UK. Of the 65 workers, 45 have been in their assignment for less than 2 years.

The proportion of staff employed is detailed below: