Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with the Italian government on resolving discrimination amongst the lettori.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The Government has continued to press the Italian government to end the unacceptable discrimination against the Lettori (UK and foreign lecturers in Italy). The Prime Minister, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Maidenhead (Mrs May) and the Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Mr Johnson) raised this issue with their Italian counterparts in July and September.
Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what total amount of expenses was claimed by officials working for the UK Permanent Representation to the EU in each of the last five years.
Answered by David Lidington
We cannot provide a figure for the total amount of expenses claimed by officials working for the UK Permanent Representation to the EU (UKRep) in each of the last five years, except at disproportionate cost. Expense claims made by UKRep officials are incorporated into budgets that are aggregated across the Government’s Brussels platform as a whole, which consists of UKRep, the British Embassy in Belgium, including UKTI and Consular operations, the UK Joint Delegation to NATO and Corporate Services Benelux.Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many civil servants and diplomats form part of the UK Permanent Representation to the EU; how many such officials there were in each pay band in each of the last five years; and what the total staffing cost of UKREP was in 2015-16.
Answered by David Lidington
UKRep includes staff from a number of different Government Departments. The number of staff employed by UKRep varies throughout the year, depending on changing requirements at the Representation. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) currently has 122 full time posts at UKRep, both UK based and Locally Engaged. Details of the current senior team at UKRep can be found here https://www.gov.uk/government/world/organisations/uk-representation-to-the-eu/about/our-governance .
A breakdown of officials by pay band for the last five years could not be obtained without incurring a disproportionate cost; however FCO's annual report and accounts for each financial year, including an overview of salary costs, can be found on GOV.UK .
Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the total cost was of maintaining the UK Permanent Representation to the EU in each of the last five years.
Answered by David Lidington
We cannot provide a figure for the total cost of maintaining the UK Permanent Representation to the EU (UKRep) in each of the last five years, except at disproportionate cost.
The budgets involved are aggregated in different ways, normally across HMG’s Brussels platform as a whole, which consists of UKRep, the British Embassy in Belgium, including UKTI and Consular operations, the UK Joint Delegation to NATO and Corporate Services Benelux.
Administrative resource spend, which includes, but is not limited to, Locally Engaged staff salaries, travel costs, telecoms, catering and entertainment and IT, is shared across the Brussels platform and difficult to disaggregate. Facilities management costs (eg security, reception, cleaning) are also shared across the Brussels platform and difficult to disaggregate. The rent spent on the offices which house UKRep and the British Embassy is aggregated. Salaries and allowances paid to UK-based staff working at UKRep are captured in further separate budgets, and would involve significant resource to disaggregate.
Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will estimate the cost of travel for (a) Ministers and (b) officials to attend EU meetings in each of the last three years.
Answered by David Lidington
The Government publishes information about ministers' and senior officials' visits overseas on a quarterly basis in the transparency data section of the gov.uk website. Information on travel overseas for staff at Senior Civil Service Band 1 and below could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what estimate he has made of the number of Government officials engaged in matters relating to policies from the EU; and what the staff cost of such engagement is.
Answered by David Lidington
Departments are appropriately resourced to support the Government's priorities in Europe. The staff costs of engagement on EU business cannot be obtained without incurring disproportionate cost.