Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to improve consular support for British nationals overseas.

Providing consular support is a vital public service, with more than 20,000 British people given tailored assistance each year.

We are continually investing in improvements, including integration of AI to improve efficiency, alongside staff training and crisis exercising to give a better service.

We are determined to reassure families that their voices are heard, which is why Ministers have held well over 20 meetings with the families of Brits detained abroad, and continually raise their cases with foreign governments at the highest levels.

In the last full financial year, the FCDO answered over 400,000 requests for consular support from British nationals overseas, and provided more tailored assistance in over 22,000 cases, including support for the families of more than 6,000 British nationals who had died overseas, and 3,500 who had been hospitalised.